Halloween Fun!

Another Halloween has come and gone. Candy has been collected and tonight after the kids are asleep it will disappear when the 'switch witch' comes and leaves presents. 

Elsa's second grade class in their costumes today. 

Walking in the neighborhood. Elsa's favorite treat was not candy. It was a Cup o' Noodles. I've never seen anyone give that out. She chose it over candy. 

Elsa told jokes in addition to saying "trick or treat". Why didn't the pumpkin play sports? Because everyone said boo.  

Elsa was "Super Elsa", not a robber. 

Elsa and Liam at the Cadence Halloween party last week.  

Big pumpkins.

Big smiles. 

Outdoor Fun and Princeton Connections

October was a month filled with fun adventures.  We started out the month heading up to Fallen Leaf lake, for Princeton in the Sierras.  This was the fourth year of this family tradition.  We stopped at Fenton's on the way up for some yummy food and ice cream.

 As we got close to the lake, both kids had fallen asleep.

Once again, one of the fun activities was rock climbing!

 Elsa excelled at this, and Liam is starting to enjoy it.

 The kids really enjoyed "fishing" for crawdads and playing on the docks. 

 And even on a trip needed their night-time storytime.

 On Sunday, before leaving, we had some fun time on the water on a stand-up paddle board and paddle boating with friends.  

A lovely weekend of family time. 

The next weekend in October I headed out in Boston for the Head of the Charles regatta.  I raced in the Princeton Alumni Fat Cats Women's Masters 8.  It was amazing.  

My classmate Stephanie helped organize the team and added me to the roster.

I got to see other college friends like Phoebe, who was racing against us.

And a Bay Area friend, Julia, came out to watch.

It was a perfectly awesome race weekend.

For the last weekend in October we went to Apple Hill for apple picking and hanging out with some Princeton friends, Chris and Steve, at their home in the foothills.  Kelli was also out visiting from DC, making it a mini-Princeton reunion.

 I enjoyed my morning yoga.

 The kids enjoyed picking over 60 apples!

 Elsa was very good at climbing in the tree.

 We then had a lot of apples to peel for an apple pie, stewed apples over pancakes, and apple sauce!

What a great fall month!

Girl Scout Santa Cruz Overnight

 

This last weekend, I took Elsa and her Girl Scout Troop to Santa Cruz to camp on the boardwalk and enjoy some fun in the sun.  We met up at her school, and then caravanned down to the Santa Cruz Boardwalk.  After checking in, along with 2000 other girls scouts and parents, we found a place on the Boardwalk to set up our tent.  The girls were setting up a big tent that would fit all 9 of them!

  

 

 

Then we headed out on to a dinner on the sand and then a movie under the stars!  We saw Zootopia, and soon after the movie ended, the girls were all nestled in their sleeping bags. 

By 6AM they were up making noise, and soon after that, they packed up all the gear.

 

Then we headed back to the beach for breakfast and then a sand castle making content, which mostly involved playing in the ocean.

 

 

 

 

The MOMS!

After the contest it was time to change into dry clothes and go on the rides.  The girls had a lot of fun on the rides, and so did I!

 

 

Some of the rides were too spiny for Elsa, so she played a ping pong ball toss game and won a large turtle!

 

By early afternoon we were all very tired, so we headed home, stopping by to see Auntie Amanda and get some ice cream!