Halloween Fun

Gramma bought Bradley a ninja costume this year for Halloween, needless to say Alayna was Snow White, (also from gramma) and Laura was a pumpkin one night and decided she wanted to be a ladybug for the next event. Lucky girl got two costumes. A week before Halloween we went to the Annual Hallellujah Harvest which the kids always have a great time trunk or treating and we were able to beat the crowds and they both able to go on a pony ride and loved that as well. Halloween night we helped with our church out reach and at the same time the kids got to go trick or treating in the neighborhood we were in. Once again more candy than we know what to do with. Gramma put a big dent in the bucket though since she is a sugaraholic. Give her candy and torts and she's in pure heaven. Some of the pics were taken with her $3 dinosaur garage sale camera which is why they are a little off. Gotta love ya mom!

Alayna thought it was so cool to meet the "real" snow white....imagine that!

Our little lady bug

Corn Maze

Mom and I took the kids to a corn maze and met Sue and her kids there. I've always wanted to go to a corn maze because I've heard how fun it was and this was the first year that our area had one so we were so excited to go. They had questions that you had to answer correctly to get you through the maze. I think the kids had a great time, but I think you can put them in a open field and they'd have just as much fun. They just love being together the most I think. The little ones were too little to get it. It was something different to do on a beautiful fall day.

The whole gang....Maddie, Hamilton, Bradley, Laura, Alexander,& Alayna

Grammie & Laura

Watch out Gram, it might bite ya!

Hamilton & Alayna picking corn

Camping at Montebello

We had another great camping trip with Dave, Sue and their kiddos. We tried a new place called Montebello up in the mountains. Our campsites were sort of nestled in a little wooded area that had a little brook for the kids to play around and a hill to climb with a lake at the top of it to fish in. It was a quaint little spot and a little different than what we were used to. It doesn't take much for the kids to be entertained and have a ball in a place like that. Finding critters, rocks and sticks it all life is about for them out there. The goal for Saturday was to take a 4+ mile hike with our 6 little ones in tow all ranging from 9 months to 6 years. Are we crazy or what? We made it there no problem and had our picnic lunch and played for awhile and saw some pretty views. The water was low at the falls so we didn't get the full effect of them, but the day couldn't have been more beautiful for a hike and see what we did. The walk back was a little challenging at times. There was always one that needed a break to be carried, myself included HA! Didn't get my way on that one though. We did it though!

Friday night was cold, but Saturday was unbearable freezing!! By the middle of the night we were all on top of each other literally to keep warm and that was even questionable. The morning was still so cold. Sue and I laughed and cracked a few jokes about it and then we all kicked into gear so we wouldn't freeze in place to get packed up to head home. Another one for the books to walk down memory lane one day and have a chuckle or two.

Sweet little friends Alayna and Hamilton enjoying the fire together.

A have a secret for you daddy.

Me and my best camping buddy

They had fun climbing the big rocks

A view from the top

The whole gang!

On a missions as always

Itty bitty girlfriends...too cute! Maddie is waiting patiently for this baby to grow up.

Hmmmm...whats under here?

Watching daddy cook breakfast

Suggle baby!

Good morning girl!

Myrtle Beach

We took our family vacation this year to Myrtle Beach. The resort we went to was called Beach Cove and we heard about it from a few different friends that go every year around the same time and they love going back to the same place. It's a great place to go and the rates drop quite abit this time of year so that makes it even better. Going through the pictures is overwhelming and it's so hard to capture almost a weeks worth of time in words. Needless to say we had a wonderful time! It was such a relaxing trip and environment. It was so great to leave housework (for me) and work (for Craig) behind for a little bit and just hang out as a family doing whatever we wanted to do whenever we wanted to. So many sweet memories that weren't captured on camera, but we'll remember forever. It was sort of nice to sometimes not stress everyone out with pictures and just leave the camera behind and enjoy the moment. It all went by way too fast! We've realized the importance of family vacations and you just can't always put words or pictures with it. From waking up every morning together and starting the day together and watching the sun come up, my morning beach walk with Bradley, playing in the sand digging big holes with the kids, family walks on the beach, playing with friends, late nights on the beach, swimming in the pool and hot tub, looking for sea treasures, fun times at barefoot landing. The kids did great for being out of their normal routine for a week, Laura as always went with the flow. It was a nice environment for the ages of all the kids. We are thankful for being able to go!

These two right off the bat had a ball on the luggage rack.

The resort had 4 pools, 4 hot tubs, and a lazy river

Tried to get a good shot of the 3 kids and this was the best I got....Oh well...it's not the end of the world.

This was the cove and it was such a neat little spot that we would walk to everyday and look for shells. At night it would fill up with water and then in the morning we'd go look for treasure after the water went down. We found baby hermit crabs, sea urchins, sand dollars, unique shells ect... It was a highlight for the kids.

The Johnstons were there the same week with their family so it was fun to connect with them and for the kids to play together.

Peyton and Alayna pretending they were puppys. They were quite entertaining!
Bradley and the sea urchin he found

Me and my best buddy!

Sweet times with my baby

All the kiddos

It was so relaxing sitting out on the deck in the morning for our morning coffee. We were on the 16th floor which at first almost made me want to throw up when the kids would get close to the railing. Had to get used to that.
Morning snuggle time with daddy

Sunrise
So cute....she was on a mission to get to the beach

Me and my girls

The kids thought it was cool to eat their breakfast up on the stool. I guess it's the little things that make it fun for them.
This was another highlight for them. Jumping from bed to bed.

Super Man

Bathing beauty

Sweet baby...
...all she wanted to do was eat sand

He was amused at something?

I think one of the funnest things was every night we'd go down and hang in the hot tub and pool and swim and them we go out to the beach and play tag, flashlight tag and goof off. I guess because it's something you don't always get to do. The beach and experience has a whole different feeling when you can go back and forth from beach to pool and not have to pack a ton of stuff since you are right there.

Barefoot landing is a neat little place with little shops, and restuarants and fun things for the kids to do. We all went there one night and had dinner. Bradley did this bugee jumping thing and he had so much fun. I'm mad I didn't do it now!

This was awesome being able to be up this close to the tiger. You could get your pictures taken too holding a baby one.

Bradley wanted to do the mechanical bull ride too. It was so funny!

Playing in the waves... It was crazy....Craig seen something swimming along the shore and he swore it was a Hammer Head shark and he asked the lifeguard about it and sure enough it was. The lifeguard said people see them all the time swimming around. Apparently they are bottom feeder and don't bother you. Very freaky! Craig followed it up the shore for a ways.

We went to King Henry's Feast for our last night and the kids loved it! Craig went to one years ago in the Navy and wanted to take us. It was a neat dinner and show, but I think I enjoyed watching to looks on Craig's and Bradley's faces as they were watching the fighting more.