Happy Halloween...I'm a turtle

It seems like October came and went in a blink of an eye. My mom kicked off Halloween activities at her house for dinner one night. The kids decorated the mini pumpkins with Mr. Potato Head accessories she got from Walmart. The pumpkins came out so cute and it was a fun and non-messy activity.

I made this one for Brock.

Here are some of the cousins posing with their creative masterpieces.


On Halloween, we stopped by to visit with Grandma and Grandpa Parks and to see his 10 month old cousin, Trevor.

Trevor was the cutest little Mickey Mouse.

We then went to my mom's church, as they were having a Trunk-or-Treat in their parking lot. This year Brock dressed as a turtle. He is only crawling, so I thought he would make a cute turtle crawling with a shell on his back. I ordered a size to fit 2-4 year olds and I had to squeeze him into his costume. He is really tall and the shoulders were way too tight, but he managed to keep it on without too much complaining.

Daddy and the turtle
We then headed over to my mom's home after the party to hang out for a bit. Brock was being a little too quiet when I realized he got into the cupcakes on the kitchen table. This boy has a long reach. Look at that face -- he looks so guilty, but he really enjoyed that cupcake.


Sadie, my 4 month old niece, was there with her "BOO" shirt on. Oh, she is just the cutest baby! She has the best smile that makes me melt!!


Logan and Blake were, predictably, some type of Star Wars characters.

My Benihana Birthday Dinner

Scott & I went to Benihana for dinner to celebrate my birthday tonight. Grandma Epi is safely back from Samoa and babysat our sick little one so we could enjoy dinner without yelling and throwing food. I take that back, if you have been to Benihana you know they throw food too. The restaurant has a new birthday promotion going on. They will send you a voucher via email during the month of your birthday with a complimentary meal up to a $30 value. If you would like to participate sign up at http://www.benihana.com/email. They sang Happy Birthday to me, took our picture, and fed us fresh pineapple for dessert. The pineapple got me excited for our upcoming trip to Hawaii next month. I was happy to return home with Brock happily playing with grandma and her friend Dee.

I wore my first pair of shoes

Scott has been anxious to take Brock to Disneyland. He has been looking forward to getting a side profile picture done by the artist in Downtown Disney. He had one done when he was about the same age. It was pretty crowded today but we managed to ride the Carousel which the baby loved and then Pinocchio which he started to whimper towards the end. I think he was afraid. The baby loves to people watch and is becoming quite the flirt with the ladies. Today was his first time keeping on his shoes for a whole 4 hours. I think I finally found a pair that he can't get off in 15 seconds.

San Francisco Trip

We took the ferry over to go and see Alcatraz. This was my first tour and quite interesting. Scott already wants to go back to take a night tour. Sounds kind of spooky to me.

We decided to go take a walk on the Golden Gate Bridge. We walked to the half way point. I must be getting old. The height was making me nervous as you can feel the cars whiz right past you. The view was just amazing.

Scott pretending to be nervous. They actually had "crisis" phones through out the bridge to call for help.



On the way back home we decided to take the more scenic route. The California coastline is just majestic. I made Scott stop a few times so I could take pictures, eat, buy knick knacks. We ate dinner in Carpinteria at The Spot. We also stopped in Ventura to visit my friend Cheri' real quick. I was excited to go home and see Brock. When we picked him up it looked as if he didn't want to leave. I think I missed him more than he missed me. Overall we had a great trip but it went by way too fast.

It seems like the month of September just flew right by for our family. We planned a quick trip to San Francisco for a few days to celebrate my birthday. This was our first getaway without Brock. Grandma & Grandpa Parks thankfully watched him for us. It was so nice just to get away and sleep through the night.