All Hallow's Eve

My little pumpkin's first Halloween!
Even I got into it this year. I just had a wild hair to dress up this afternoon. I've had this poodle skirt since 6th grade. Thank goodness for elastic waistbands!
My little ninja, pumpkin and princess Buttercup.

What beauties!
Jake the Army-man, and Emilie the Beauty (Belle that is.)

What a blast we had tonight! We trick-or-treated down in Mom and Dad's neighborhood, which didn't disappoint! They seriously got into it. I wish the kids dove into their chores and schoolwork with the same gusto as they collected candy! For that matter, I wish I did too.

Zeus' Family Reunion

On Thursday, Caitlyn's 2nd grade class had a Greek party to celebrate the end of a history unit on Greek mythology. All the kids dressed up as a different Greek god or goddess. Caitlyn was so excited to be Aphrodite, the goddess of love and beauty. (We decided it was best not to mention how Aphrodite is linked to false religion and worship throughout history.) In her mind, it was all about love and beauty. We fashioned a homemade toga out of a bedsheet, and a single red rose, a great up-do and a dash of lipstick.

Mrs. Green once again pulled off a very special event. She had Greek music playing, tablescapes and ambrosia (the food of the gods)for us all to enjoy. I got the biggest kick out of all the student's costumes. We were graced with the presence of Hera, Athena, Poisden, Zeus, Apollo and Demeter. I know I'm forgetting some, but the point is they were adorable.

A trip to the Aquarium

A beautiful autumn day at the Aquarium. Diamond days...

A Visit to Dad's New Shop

Today the kids and I visited my dad and brother's new shop. This has certainly been a walk of faith and a labor of love for both of them. I'm so happy to see it coming together and anxious to see the end result!

Atypical baby shower

All right, this is a little late, but better late than never, right? Leah, Kim and I took Ruth out in celebration of the birth of her impending little one. We enjoyed a wonderful lunch at Indigo Crow out on the patio. I can't remember what we all ate, but I do know it was delicious, and more importantly the company was fabulous! The weather was perfect; the village of Corrales was celebrating fall with hay rides down the street. We even heard the faint sound of a bag-piper. We followed lunch with a massage at Massage Envy. A story in it's own right, right Ruth?

Up, up and Away!

On Friday, my dad, Caitlyn and I had a wonderful opportunity to go up in a hot-air balloon. This was the kick-off event for the Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta, and balloons took off from schools all around town.

How did we get here? Well, let me back up. This summer, Oak Grove held a Silent Auction/Fundraiser event. This balloon ride was an item up for bid. I got in a bidding war with another person, and in the end, I had the winning bid. (Partly, because I was stalking the bid sheet, and giving dirty looks to anyone who might attempt to outbid me.) Dad and I decided this was going to be our thing. My sweet husband took me on a hot-air balloon ride on our honeymoon 11 years ago and vowed never to do it again. I knew he must really love me to do this, since he is afraid of heights.

The pilot of our balloon "Sky Draggin" was kind enough to allow me to bring my adventure seeking daughter, Caitlyn for the ride of her life thus far. I think it's funny that my dad is over 60 and this was his first flight, and Caitlyn, at 7 has already had this awesome experience.

So we got up at the "butt-crack" and went to Northstar Elementary. It was a thrill to have all these kids screaming and waving at us as we lifted up off the ground. Our ride took us over the Sandia Reservation. Albuquerque looks beautiful, calm and diverse from 1000 feet off the ground. The river valley was green,blue mountains and brown landscape all added to the beauty. It was fun to try to locate familiar landmarks. We saw our neighborhood, dad's new shop, downtown, Sandia Resort, Placitas, the Railrunner train, volcanoes way out west, and almost to Santa Fe.

Our pilot, Buzz, told us that he didn't want to land on the Res because our crew wouldn't be able to get on and we'd have to call the Indian police to be escorted off. When we landed we just barely made it to the other side of the Sandia boundary If you look closely in one of the photos you can see the fence just a stone's throw from where we landed. There was very little wind and so we ended up just "sitting" up there for a very long time. Which was totally okay with us. We were in no hurry to get down. (Buzz probably felt differently. By the time we landed, the fuel was very low.) Most flights are about 20-40 minutes; ours was about an hour and a half. The landing in and of itself was quite impressive. Buzz brought us down very smoothly in the middle of a cactus-filled landscape.

It was really neat to see how the crew works together to make a flight take place. It takes a lot of people to see these balloons safely off the earth, and safely back again. The crew initiated us by having us help deflate the balloon (quite a job!), a champagne toast, and certificate, and signing the official Balloon Fiesta banner that hangs on the gondola.

I think my favorite part of this whole experience was taking my dad. He kept saying how this was one of the highlights of his life. I could tell he was diggin' the whole experience. I love that it was a memory made for the books and we shared it together!

Family Camp and the Grand Canyon

This weekend we went to Young Life family camp at Lost Canyon near Williams, AZ. It was a blast--again. We went to this camp last year and enjoyed it so much we went back with the Didricksons and invited the Burdicks to join us.

The skits were side-splitting funny, the food was great, activities galore, and a beautiful setting to top it all off. This year, since I wasn't preggers, I was able to do the ropes course. I didn't do the zip line because that would've required getting in a bathing suit and landing in the cold lake. Caitlyn did it though and I was so proud of her! The kids loved the water slides, games and mostly just hanging out with their friends. It feels so weird, but we're able to let them just run around and play, not knowing where they were every second, but knowing that they were safe. A totally new concept for us city-dwellers!

On Saturday night we were able to put the kids to bed early. (YL even provided babysitters to sit outside our cabins and call us if we were needed.) We went to club and watched some of the funniest skits and YouTube videos I'd seen in a long time. The night culminated with a congo line to the pool and parents and kids jumping in with their clothes on. Then ice cream to top off the evening. I was glad our kids were asleep for this one. But what fun it was to see parents being silly and doing crazy things for their kids.

Yesterday, after our last club we decided to make a "quick stop" by the Grand Canyon. I was really so excited to go there again. There is nothing quite like standing on the edge of that massive canyon and realizing how majestic the Lord is, and how small I am. His creation is a wonder to behold.

The kids enjoyed it more than we expected. I was trying to explain what they were going to see on the drive. "Well, it's this really big hole, that's been carved out by the Colorado river. But you'll be amazed at how beautiful and colorful it is."

I tried my best to explain the differing views of 2 billion years old vs. a result of the flood. It ends up that they really didn't care that much, but hopefully it will be a great reference point in their memory as they study this in the future.

Our "little" stop got us home after 11pm, but it was so worth it!