Halloween and Grandma and Grandpa visit!

We had no school on Halloween, which worked out so well, since we could all go to the airport to pick up Grandma and Grandpa. The kids were counting down the days!
Ryan’s new job invited family to trick or treat, so we took the opportunity to visit him at his new office after the airport pick-up. We even scored some pizza :o). Later that day, we headed over to the Williams for a Halloween party. We had a nice time visiting, watching some football and drinking a little wine (that made trick-or-treating a little more fun!). The kids got way too much candy, so I kept some for chocolate emergencies and gave the rest to my mom.

Max

They were in school the rest of the week, so it wasn’t all that exciting. It was conference week, so our schedule was out of sorts, but they got to spend a little more time with Grandma and Grandpa. It was a nice treat for me to be able to go to the conferences without worrying about what to do with the kids! Both of them are right where they should be. Still have to work on Reggie’s speed when reading and doing timed math. He does nothing in life fast, so I think this might be a long term challenge. Ainsley has really picked up reading and loves “playing” school, so I think things will come easy for her. She has the same magic as Reggie, having her friends fighting over sitting by her.

The weather was decent during mom and dad’s visit, so they had their usual Vitamin D load in the afternoon, lounging in the lawn chairs. The kids had lots of playtime, wrestling with Grandpa and doing homework with Grandma (thank you Mom!!!). We didn’t have a single visit to the doctor, so that alone made the visit perfect!

We finally had a little fun on Friday when we got a babysitter and headed to Napa. None of us had been there and Liha kept urging us to go to a castle there. After just visiting Germany and seeing their castles, Ryan and I were not that impressed, except when it came to the torture room….all kinds of fun things in there. Mom and dad thought it was great and I knew nothing about wine, and much of the tour talked about that process, so we all thought it was great! We hit a roadside burger joint for dinner and then we were ready to go wine tasting. We pulled into the first winery and the sign said it was closed. Hmm, I was going to get some wine for my friend, Laura, who watched the kids, so mom and I snuck in the exit. We got a very dirty look, but I explained what we were looking for and we were out of there before the rest of the people in the wine shop. Since everything closed at 6, we headed back to Livermore and I had a craving for chocolate chip cookies, so we stopped at the Nestle Tollhouse Café. It happened to be their 2^nd birthday, so it was 2 cookies for $2 and 2 scoops of ice cream for $2. Let’s just say we all felt sick when we left, but not as sick as the new friend we met who was doing a man vs. food challenge and was eating 2, 9 inch cookies with ½ gallon of ice cream in the middle! That was something to see.

Ainsley had her last soccer game on Sat. She came a long way, standing and biting her nails the first game to scoring goals in almost every game! Later that morning, we went to see Puss In Boots which everyone enjoyed. On the way home from the movie, we finally went to see the oldest working light bulb. Mom has been wanting to do this for awhile and we had a bit of time, so we headed to the fire station in Livermore to see the light bulb that has been working since 1901. It didn’t appear anyone was at the fire station, but I peeked through the window and caught someone in their boxers! He finally saw us and went and got someone to open the door. We got a little history lesson about the light bulb and then got to see some cool equipment and listen to dad BS with the fireman. It is always interesting to see how people respond to my dad…he is a character! The last fun thing we did was visit the Chabot Space Center. There was too much to see and there were a lot of interactive things which required reading, so I think might be for kids a little older. I’m glad it was Bank of America day because all of us adults got in free, just for having a credit card!! We did enjoy the IMAX movies and came away with a little more knowledge about space. It is so hard for me to comprehend the size of space…God has quite the imagination!

Thanks for a great visit!!!