Halloween!

Happy Halloween!! The week of Halloween was full of Halloween parties and birthday celebrations. Saturday before Halloween we went to the most bizarre pumpkin patch - a floating pumpkin patch at the Richmond Plunge community pool. The city put on a Harvest Festival for the first time, and it was at the Plunge. We paid to swim, and there were HUGE pumpkins floating all around the pool. Then when we were done we got to take pumpkins home with us! It was quite a fun experience, but definitely different from my childhood tradition of picking out pumpkins at the Book Family Pumpkin Patch. 

Saturday night we went to a party at Leah and Julian's house in Berkeley, and Alpin made his debut in his bumblebee outfit. He wasn't even spooked by all the creepy/gory/scary costumes all the adults were wearing. Sunday night we went out for my birthday with friends and family to dinner at Picante. Tuesday was my birthday so the three of us went to Half Moon Bay. Wednesday night we went to Mary Ann's house to carve pumpkins with her and Aaron. Thursday night was Halloween, and we made a mission over to Russell St in South Berkeley to meet up with friends from REI.

Russell Street was quite an experience - the city shuts down several blocks east of College, and the houses go all out for decorations and trick-or-treating. Early on it was all families with little kids like us, and then slowly the older kids and teenagers came out. The houses were amazing, one had a full set up of Batman complete with Bat Cave, Bat Mobile and Batman uniform. Another had an animatronic alien show acting out Mars Attack. Alpin loved seeing everyone in costume and watching all the kids bouncing off the walls on sugar highs. Our friend Sage had the most amazing costume on the block, the Frost Fairy, so people were stopping her to take pictures with her every other minute. It was all so fun and reminded me why I love Halloween so much. It was also the first time out with trick-or -treaters in over a decade.

Then Friday night we went out to dinner for Grandma Leta's birthday. So it was quite a busy week with all the parties and pumpkins and Scorpio birthdays going on. We can't wait for next year!

picking pumpkins at the Plunge

"I want that in my mouth"

loving the water

"I want this in my mouth, too"

bzzzzzzzzz

flying babies!

Rainbow Bright and Bumblebee

Frost Fairy (Sage) 

REI folks on Russell Street

I'm a Lumberjack and I'm OK!

3' tall pumpkin

pumpkins in pumpkin

Rainbow Brite

Busy Bumblebee

Toad, Bee, Brite

2 Pumpkins.

sleepy pumpkin

getting ready to carve a pumpkin

5 pumpkins.

2 pumpkins!

pumpkin booty

Auntie CC and New Years Lion

8 Months Old!

       


Our baby boy is officially 2/3 of a year old, and he just keeps getting cuter and sweeter every day. This last month saw a few new milestones. Two teeth are coming in on the bottom (they popped up at Davey and CC's Wedding). He is still pulling himself up to stand, but now moves around and also can push himself up to stand on his own for a few seconds. This boy just doesn't stop.

He is also developing socially - giving (open mouth) kisses to his mama and papa (and Martina and Terry at daycare) and will wave his arm in greeting (although we're still working on appropriate timing). He chatters away and makes the most ridiculously cute face we call the 'huff and puff' or 'tough guy' face (scrunches up nose and mouth and sniffs in and out really fast).

As you'll see from my last post about our vacation on Hwy 395, he still loves to swim and had the best time ever at Keauhou Hot Springs in Bishop. We will have to make an effort to get him to and indoor pool throughout the winter. Second best is bath time, which he looks forward to every day.

He puts away the solid food like a champ, new additions include spinach, peaches, applesauce and butternut squash. He's growing so quickly and packing on the pounds. We are very proud parents.

Here's a video of his typical antics (I apologize for the singing):

Monica babysitting Alps

wintery stripes

wedding digs

Alp's first Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival

HSBF crew at Banjo Stage

hangin' in Chico

dinner time with auntie

storybook time with cousin Talia

cuddling with Great Grandma

loving his star pool

sleeping with Grandma

playing in his room

A's win the AL West!

In his big boy chair thanks to Auntie Cindy sewing cushions!

Busy Bee

bzzzzzzz

because it's never too early for Halloween costumes!

always buzzing around the house

Alpin's 3rd A's game

A's win the division!

Mama's hat almost fits

with uncle Davey at HSBF