Halloween 2011

We had a wonderful Halloween this year. It started in the morning when Liliana performed her "Boogie Woogie Pumpkin Man" tap number. She was SO excited that Adam swung by to see her dance. She told everyone that he was coming and when he walked in her face lit up and she yelled, "Daddy! You're here! I love you!!" She didn't have a stitch of stage fright and she enjoyed every minute of performing for all of the parents.

Lining up with her dance bag

Being introduced by Ms. Sharon
Cheesing it up. She had the best "facials" of the group! So dramatic.
Here is a video of her dance.

That evening we went to a Halloween party at the Gale's. Liliana L-O-V-E-S Gianna and was so excited to see her. The two of them pranced around in their Halloween dresses, twirling every chance they got and singing and performing for people. Adam got his 2nd gold star of the day from Liliana because he was one of the only dads dressed up and he dressed as Mary Poppins' "Bert". Liliana was thrilled and so proud of him. I was supposed to dress as a chimney sweep also, but Liliana had a meltdown about it as we were getting ready to leave for the party. Leading up to Halloween she liked the idea, but when the time came for us to get dressed she changed her mind. I told her that I would be sad if I couldn't dress up with our family for Halloween. She retorted, "I will be so sad if you dress like a MAN!" The holidays are all about her, so I went as myself.

Bert and Mary

The girls
Playing "stage"
Cat and G: The 2 Dorothys
Roe as Buzz
Adam was the only guy dressed up. What a dad!
Cannon and Hudson as dinosaurs...of course!

We left their party pretty early and came back to trick or treat in our neighborhood. This was our first time cruising our 'hood and it was really fun. We live in an older neighborhood so there are no street lights. A lot of houses go all out and do Haunted Houses. The fact that the streets are dark made it that much spookier. On the really scary looking ones I would walk in first so that no ghouls would jump out and freak Liliana out, but she was surprisingly brave about it. "That one looks spooky Dad! Let's go to that one!" She freaked out at the idea of going in the Gale's haunted house, so maybe the candy aspect of trick-or-treating motivated her and helped her overcome her fears.

Last year we switched out the candy in her basket for other goodies, so this was the first year of real trick-or-treating. She was excited to gather and collect as much as she could, but wasn't that into actually eating it. While walking around our neighborhood we kept offering her some but she said that she wanted to wait until she got home to decide. I think most of the fun for her is to dump it all out and ask about it and sort it. She really hasn't gone that crazy. She chose 1 piece a day this week and now that it is Friday, we said Halloween is over and we threw it away. She is totally okay with it. She is already talking about what she wants to be next year. She also keeps asking, "is it really going to be Halloween again next year??? YAY!!!"

When we were walking home from the park the other day she asked me when people would take down their Halloween decorations and put up their Christmas decorations. I explained that they would probably wait until after Thanksgiving. She didn't remember that holiday from last year (we were in Costa Rica and I think the beach memories clouded the turkey dinner memories) so I explained what it was about. I told her that I was SO thankful for her and Daddy and asked her what she was thankful for. "Hmmm...I am really thankful for Layla Patricia. She is my best sister."

MORE PUMPKIN PATCHES and Movies in the park

Pumpkin City's Pumpkin Patch (right across the street!): The girls had fun on rides, in the bounce house, and going down the huge slide. We headed to our local Italian restaurant across the street afterwards. It was a great night.

Irvine Park Railroad Pumpkin Patch: The kids loved the train ride, pony rides, bounce house and straw maze.

"Woody" Will riding on Bullseye:
"Snow White" on "Astor"

Movie in the Park: Dana Point had a Halloween Festival and played a movie in the park afterwards. It was at Lantern Bay Park overlooking the Harbor and it was a beautiful sunset. There were fire pits and free popcorn. Liliana LOVED it!

Pumpkin Carving

Adam did it again! He makes awesome pumpkins and this year Liliana requested Tinkerbell (who she was dressed as that day) and Rapunzel. Liliana helps with the scooping and then Adam is left outside carving away at her requests. She is very happy with the final product and proudly shows everyone that comes to visit.

Disneyland at Halloween with the Tiltons

Disneyland was decorated for Halloween and we had so much fun there with the Tiltons. The highlight of the day was definitely the parade. I thought that Liliana might lose her voice or burst a blood vessel with how loudly and intensely she was screaming at all of the characters coming her way. Not surprisingly she got everyone's attention and either a wave, blown kiss, or hug from them.

Here is a video of Liliana and Ashlyn watching the princesses come down the parade.

Preschool Field Trip: South Coast Farms Pumpkin Patch

Liliana's school took a field trip to our local farm. Liliana and I make weekly visits to South Coast Farms to shop for our local, organic produce and we love what they did for Halloween. The kids ground cornmeal, measured the cornmeal on a scale, practiced pouring (Liliana giggled and called herself the "messy measurer"), hand washed towels on old fashioned wash boards and hung them to dry, strung beads, churned butter, and ran around in the pumpkins. And, Miss Linnie did her usual musical pow-wow. It was a really fun morning.

North Shore, Hawaii Trip

We went to Oahu with the Riese family and my parents. Adam and I haven't been to Hawaii in five years and it was Liliana's first trip. She loved it. We stayed at the Billabong surf team house which was beautiful and located directly on Pipeline beach in North Shore. It was really cool to sit in our house and watch amazing surfers on one of the most famous breaks in the world. The waves were too big for the girls to swim in front of the house, but there were tidepools and a really nice beach in front of Turtle Bay resort just a short drive away. We spent a couple days at the beach at Turtle Bay because the beach was perfect for the kids and they had a bar on the beach...2 very important things in our crew.

We went to a luau one night and Liliana loved it. She got on the stage and did the hula and has been practicing her moves and singing the song ever since.

On our last day there, we went with my parents to the Kahala resort where they were going to stay alone for a couple of nights after we left. We signed Liliana up for the dolphin encounter, which she really liked. She learned a lot of interesting facts about dolphins and got to interact with them, touch them, and kiss them.

Luau...

Our little wahine taking a walk on the beach in front of our house...
Sitting on the porch at our house, having a drink and watching the waves...
Tidepools...

The girls were in heaven running around naked for the whole trip. Here they are playing the "drum" in the backyard...

Paradise in our backyard...

Making bouilebaisse with Grandpa. This is their favorite beach activity together. They work for an hour chopping vegetables, adding spices and fish...

Giselle the sous-chef...

Mai-tais!

Pure bliss...

Turtle Bay Resort...

Modeling her cute new string 'kini that says "Aloha Hawaii" on the buns...

Dolphin Quest at the Kahala...

Dinner at the Kahala...

Here is a video of Liliana practicing her hula moves at the Kahala resort on our last night.