KOA (Kampgrounds of America)

Our good friends the Williams invited us to tag along for the Halloween experience at KOA.  It has been a long time since we “camped” and thought the cabin experience would be a good start.  It was great…we had our own room and the kids slept in bunks (Ainsley had a sleepover the first night with her best bud Daniella), but we had no bathroom or kitchen.  We happened to be right across from Laura’s mom, who is a fabulous cook.  She just kept calling us over to eat and we enjoyed it so much.  We did contribute our stuff, but Ryan felt bad eating all their food, so next year, he asked her for a shopping list.  I am getting happy just thinking about all the good food.  Our kids tried a few new things and really liked them :o).  K tried smores for the first time and you can imagine the smile on his face.  They had a big pillow jumper that was kina like a trampoline, but much closer to the ground and no springs that the kids wore themselves out on.  We brought the bikes and they rode and rode and had fun on the play structure too.  It was a little cold, but that didn’t stop the kids from going in the pool!  It was a bit tricky keeping track of all the kids, going this way and that way, so it was good there were lots of watching eyes.

Sat. night everyone dressed up and went trick-or-treating.  I guess the weekend we were there is more adult oriented, so we had some blended treats and jello shots.  It made trick-or-treating even more fun.  There were some seriously funny costumes and an amazing showing of people decorating their cabins.  I’m not sure how they got all of the stuff in their vehicles, but we certainly enjoyed viewing all of their hard work. 
They are already booked up for next year, so it is good Laura made her reservation before we got there.  We  are going to stay in the Deluxe Cabin with them…it will be very nice to have a bathroom and the kids are going to have so much fun!!!  

Visit from Grandma and Grandpa

My parents were in town a few weeks ago (can’t believe how time flies).  Now I can’t even remember what we did!!!  The kids had their regular activities, so mom tagged along to see Ainlsey do her first round-off backhandspring and dad got to see Reggie play piano.  We also had soccer and scouts, so I guess we did have a lot going on.  Reggie sitting on grandpa's lap...his legs probably went numb!

The kids were off of school Thursday and Friday which was nice to have a little more free-time.  Thursday we went down to the thrift store in Milpitas (Value Village-here it is called Savers) to shop for some Halloween costumes.  We found a Ninja and Rapunzel costume and we left there with happy children. K was in preschool, but was very excited to see his Spiderman costume when we picked him up :o).  That night we headed to the famous market!  Mom and Dad finally got to experience it, but it was a lot more chilly than normal.  We splurged and got the largest bag of kettle corn and ½ flat of strawberries (where else can you get that for $5!).  Everyone was very focused on eating!  

On Friday, we had our respite provider come to hang with K while we enjoyed a hike at Del Valle and the movie Hotel Transylvania :o).  It was a great movie and a good hike (the kids got to see/smell a dead dear).   We have been taking advantage of the respite that is provided through the foster system.  We get 24 hours per month and can break it up, so it allows for some serious date nights!  

Collecting pine cones...

After Ainsley’s soccer game on Sat., we went to the Livermore Airport open house.  We saw all kinds of planes and an air show.  The kids were kinda bored, but we enjoyed ourselves.  Later that day, we had our respite provider come again to watch all the kids on Sat. and the 4 adults went out and enjoyed some dinner at Sauced (a BBQ place) and shopping around for the MIL (mother-in-law) house on our property.  We then headed to a bar to watch the Huskies play Oregon….the game was a major disappointment, but it was fun to get out and be adults together :o).  

The next day Ryan and I went to the Madonna concert.  We had fun hanging out with friends and looking at the fun people at the concert, but she was a total let down.  She came out over 2 hours late (around 10:30) and sang all of her new songs.  I only knew 2 songs and we ended up leaving early, sometime after midnight.  This was a Sunday, so we were kinda shot for Monday :o(.

Dad was out working in the yard as usual (we are still filling the green waste from their visit!) and talking with all the neighbors-thank goodness the guy right next door has a Romney sign in his yard).  Dad thought he found a termite problem and thank goodness it wasn’t!  Mom played a lot with the kids and pondered options for the lay-out of the MIL.  The week went super quick and it will be nice when they can stay in their new house for a longer period of time and enjoy the sun in the winter :o).

Is this Reggie or grandpa???

Foreign Object

Well, we had a bit of an adventure last Friday....Thursday night Ainsley didn't want to say goodnight to K because he stunk.  I had noticed a smell a little earlier, but it had grown to an amazingly strong infection smell.  He had a cold and sounded stuffy, so I assumed he had a sinus infection.  We went to the doctor first thing in the morning and she saw something and thought the smell might be coming from a foreign object.  She got out her tools and started poking around and ended up shoving it much farther up his nose :o(.  Let's just say, I have never had a good experience there and am switching his insurance, so we can take him to the kids' doctor.  Anyway, she said we needed to go to Children's Hospital in Oakland and they would be ready for us.  We started in emergency and got referred to the ENT specialist.  4 hours later and a very hungry (they wouldn't let him eat in case he had to have emergency surgery) and grumpy boy, it was determined they were going to have to put him under to get it out.  Because he is a foster child, that meant getting a court order, so with that and the doctors schedule, we went in this morning.  It was a long 6 days and we were all very ready to get it out...he was quite stinky and his nose was pretty irritated.  So, the big question was, what was it????  I asked him and he and Ainsley concocted a story about Spongebob's hand and it was too weird.  Turns out, they were right, he had a Spongebob paper/cardboard cut-out with felt arms/hands and I remember the hand falling off.  For some reason, he thought it would be a good idea to stick it up his nose!  He had a bloody nose about 3 weeks ago and I think that is when it happened.  I am pretty sure he won't be doing that again any time soon!
I have to say, Children's Hospital surgery center really has it all figured out.  It was such a pleasant, seamless experience.  He was really upset and hungry when he woke up, but other than that, it went very smoothly :o).    Glad its over....
K in his surgery suit:

Backhandspring

We haven't had much free time between getting the house organized and school starting, but we had a little time one weekend and she did this after about 1/2 hour (you have to go to the blog to see the video (arrtwade.blogspot.com):