Mexico!!

Bart and I got bumped from a flight this last summer and we got to use the free tickets they gave us to go to Playa del Carmen. My sister, Corinne and her husband hooked us up with their sweet timeshare place so we had an excellent deal that we couldn't pass up. Bart's mom and my two sisters split up watching our kids for a total of 9 days. Just getting away for that long was so nice and then to be in Mexico was so awesome. We did a snorkel tour where they took us out on a glass bottomed boat to the reef.
This is bart at the opening of a cenote (where ground water surfaces, this one was in a cave). Bart really loved snorkeling there. They kind of gave me the creeps b/c it seemed like anything could come up from underneath.

We spent a day in Tulum (above is a temple that overlooks the water) it was cool learning a bit about the ancient inhabitants and their architecture. We had an LDS tour guide that was reaching at times to make a connection to the Book of Mormon but it was still informative.
This is how they cook the pork for tacos al pastor. They slice off pieces right onto your taco and then hack a little chunk of pinapple that's resting on top while catching it in the taco a few feet below. It was really entertaining to watch and they're sooo good.

We just thought this was so funny...a muffin with fruit loops on top.

Bart riding the surf in Cancun. The waves were so strong it was so fun to body surf until I got smashed in the sand one too many times.

After so many days of having our own schedule and doing whatever we wanted whenever we wanted we headed back for home. It was good to see the kids again and we were so glad to have had such great family take care of them while we were gone.

scuba diving

Bart has been certified to dive since his first semester at WSU and used to go back before we got married. So after a long hiatus he started up again with a friend. Last time they went they caught 28 prawns and the time before that he brought home lots of crab. He really loves the ocean and watching the fish. I honestly don't know how he handles the cold b/c the best time to dive in the puget sound is the winter (b/c of higher visibility--there's less algae growing) and he only has a wet suit.

Asher says he wants to be a scuba diver when he grows up. This is from a while back at the seattle aquarium.

Costumes

So here's the kids' outfits. Indiana was sumo wrestler. I took advantage of the last year I'll be able to pick out her costume. I forgot about her loin cloth so we took the batman cape and turned it into one. Asher is Dr. Octopus from the Spiderman comic. Yes, he chose that himself. Although, we had 4 different activities for the kids to dress up in (school, church, apartment complex and halloween) so by the last one he was sick of his costume and ended up being a bat.

This is a Dr. Octopus figurine in case you didn't know what he looked like.

Here's asher with his friend, Jude. They pretty much always dress up as something when they get together.
For Beren's Ironman, bart insisted we get an LED light for the arc reactor on his chest. I was just going to paint it blue but it was pretty cool with the light even though you can't really get the full affect from the picture.

I cut out the cardboard for the armour and bart made the helmet and painted it. (I had to post this other pic so you could see how great he did on the helmet.)

Bart was a monk and I was his nun. And yes, he did really shave the top of his head and the sides to make it legit. He's always looking for a way to shave all his hair off for Halloween...and no he didn't leave it like that, although our friends at our fondue party wanted him to wear it like that to church.

These are our friends that made it to the Fondue party. They had some pretty sweet costumes! My brother, Jared, is in the upper right corner and I didn't recognize him when he came in. I thought I had invited someone that I didn't know their husband...and I didn't think he remembered to dress up ;) I also really liked Juno and Paulie. I asked her how she come up with it and she said there wasn't much else to be when you're due in a few weeks.

Pumpkins

We went to Fall City Farm's pumpkin patch this year. The kids had a great time running around the field and bart loved the fact that he actually picked the pumpkin off its vine since most of the time that's already been done.

The boys chose this little pumpkin for Indiana. She seemed to like it, though.

It seemed Beren chose every pumpkin to be his for a few seconds and then moved on to another.

Not sure why Asher was sad. (He is dressed up like a bat and no it wasn't b/c we were hitting the pumpkin patch...he's dressed up most days still as something.)


This was the pumpkin Bart picked out. It was the densest pumpkin I've ever come across it weighed 45 lbs! I almost put it back in the patch b/c I'm so cheap but I thought I'd support our local farmers and pay the hefty price. This is supposed to be Jack Skellington from the Nightmare before Christmas.This was Asher's pumpkin (bart helped him pick b/c I wouldn't let bart get two...that's where I draw the line at how much we'll spend) Asher drew a picture and this was bart's interpretation of it.

I helped beren with his but I didn't get it a picture of it. He drew his triangle nose a little too close to the "bat" mouth so after it was done being cut the "upper lip" broke off. I really should have taken a picture b/c it looked like the pumpkin had cleft palate and was pretty disgusting. His got moldy before I got around to taking the photos.

Beren's B-day Party

I asked Beren what kind of cake he wanted and, of course, he chose Ironman. No he hasn't seen the movie but he's in love with him. When I asked him what he wanted the cake made out of he said, "Metal." Then he got around to choosing carrot cake. I got some new tips for decorating so this cake was fun to work on.

This was the get together for cake and ice cream. We had to celebrate a little early b/c his birthday was on sat when I was in Long Beach, CA.

Squirrel Fun

Beren asked me a couple weeks ago if he could have a pet squirrel and I told him he could if he could catch one...knowing that he wouldn't be able to. What I hadn't thought about was him getting help from the neighbors' dads on how to trap a squirrel. They told him if he lined up nuts leading to the house that he could catch one. The first day I saw him line up his little trail of bird seed leading to the door I thought, "Dang, beren's smart." But then I realized he hadn't thought that one up on his own. Anyway, the squirrels ate all the seeds but didn't come in b/c I kept making beren shut the door. Then a few days later he set up his acorn trail and made sure that it was all lined up just right. Yesterday when we all took asher down to the bus, beren came running out with no shoes on so I had him go back to grab a pair. Then he ran out of the house yelling about squirrels inside. I totally thought he was joking but he wasn't. One climbed up on top of the bookshelf in our laundry room/office and the other was in the living room. Yes, there were two in the house!! Thank goodness they just ran out without much prompting b/c mice scare me a bit and to have those big nasty bushy tailed rodents inside I was feeling a bit jittery. Beren still thinks he should have a pet squirrel and I was actually kind of proud of him for being so diligent with his goal. He's a cutie.

Pool time fun

The water is pretty nasty b/c they put sand in it...and yes, Indiana does own a swimming suit.