Halloween Festivities

Halloween this year was full of excitement and I'm happy to say that both of our girls are "experts" when it comes to the holiday. Eva and Lila understand the phenomena that on one day per year you can knock on someone's door, say "trick-or-treat" and they in turn provide you with candy. It doesn't take long for kids to figure out exactly how this works. They even learn to say "thank you" and on special occasions "Happy Halloween". I love this fun holiday and this year was again filled with many fun activities. At last count the kids wore their costumes 4 times. Eva was "Dora" 3 out of 4 times and a Fairy Princess once. Lila was Ariel, as planned, for all of the events.

Boo Bash in Camas. Notice that I edited the photo and wrote Boo Bash 2012. I guess I'm ready for the new year? Really though, it was Boo Bash 2011. 

Getting ready for the Spooktacular Event at The Goddard School

Lila with her buddy Kevin at Goddard School

Carving pumpkins

It's finally Halloween! Lila and Eva ready to scare the neighborhood. Boo!

Lila, Thad, Ethan and Eva

Neighborhood kiddos with Dave and Margaret. Their whole family dressed up as The Wizard of Oz - it was fantastic!

Eva and I trick-or-treated with several of her buddies from school. The two year old pace is generally much slower than the 4, 5 and 6 year old pace of the group Lila was in (with neighbors). It was perfect...two year olds really enjoy the moment and every second of the experience. Here is Eva returning home and trick-or-treating. You can see Lila's surprise when she answered the door and Eva was there. So precious!

Eva with 5 of her friends from school.

Trick-or-Treating at the Griffiths.

More time in Palm Springs

We went to the zoo in Palm Springs called "The Living Desert". It was certainly different than our Pacific Northwest Zoo and we loved it. The girls got to feed a giraffe! 

We visited a pumpkin patch in So. Cal which was a new, fun experience. The best part was it was beautiful and sunny - hooray!

And we hiked! We hiked in the Indian Canyon on the Murray Canyon trail on our way to the Seven Sisters waterfall. With two kids on our backs we didn't make it all the way to the waterfall...this time. :)

The pool at the complex we stayed at was perfect. Here Lila swimming and Eva sunbathing and playing on Scott's iPhone. Eva was much more interested in sitting on the lounge chairs than swimming. I'm convinced she was disinterested only because we were encouraging her to get into the pool - 2!

Our lovely ladies shared a room in Palm Springs which isn't unusual because they share a room at home. What was new is that they shared a bed. Scott and I watched them all nestled up often; aren't they so cute all snuggled up? 

The End. Family vacation #1 = Success!