Happy Halloween.........

 October has been a fun and busy month for us. Lots of trips and Halloween fun. We had a little neighborhood party a few weeks before Halloween and the kids had a blast. They had games, food, and a little parade, prizes and a photo booth! It was a great way to start of Halloween :)

 It's just not Halloween without pumpkins. I just kept putting it off this year for some reason but finally we found a big variety at Macy's and picked a few out. The kids loved being able to climb up the pumpkin mountain and pick out their own pumpkins. And then of course be able to carve. Well, at least pull out the insides while mom and dad had to carve them. Christian didn't want to have anything to do with the insides but Julia was all over it!

We all decided to have Halloween/Trick or Treating at our house this year. All the girls decided to be witches this year, which was really cute! So we had a knight and monster, but you could never tell what Christian was because he never wanted to keep his hat on. So we kept trying to come up with what he could be without the hat, a virus or some kind of candy!

It was great trick or treating in our neighborhood because all the houses are pretty close together and lots of them. We went for an hour and the bags were getting heavy so we stopped by the house to drop off the younger kiddos and let the bigger kids keep going. They made out like bandits. It was a lot of fun. It brought back lots of memories. I use to go over to my cousins every year and go trick or treating with them when I was a kid, fun times!

This year we did try something new. Instead of having our kids on a sugar high for a month, Layne offered to buy the kids candy back. They picked out however many pieces they wanted and then Layne would pay them for what was left. Christian got $5 and Julia got $10 this year. I thought it was a great idea. Layne then took the candy to work to have his coworkers eat the rest!

Winner, Winner.............

We had our annual Halloween coloring contest at work. Julia wanted to enter so she worked extra hard this year. Her age group was 7-11 years old and also had the most entries. But come to find out she won! I told her the news and she was so excited! She won 4 tickets to go to Cornbelly's at Thanksgiving Point. So we all got to go for free this year! It was awesome. Thanks Julia for sharing your prized with us! We had a great time!

Park City.....

                                                                                                        

Layne and I took off for the weekend to get some early Christmas shopping done and to have a little break from the kiddos. It was a great little get away and we stayed at a little cute B&B, The Torchlight Inn. I've never stayed in a b&b but have always wanted to. I didn't even know it was a bed and breakfast till we got up to the place. I thought it was going to be a hotel, so that was a nice surprise. It had different rooms named after different winter Olympics. It felt cozy and comfortable like a home but not like a hotel. Real wood burning fireplaces, cozy rooms, down comforters, very nice.We had a cozy night watching the Giants game! Breakfast the next morning was fantastic. The owners cooked for us and all homemade it was fantastic! The owners are from back east, wife from New England and hubby from Scotland. It was interesting to talk to them and hear their story about the Torchlight Inn. I would recommend it to anyone going to stay in Park City.

Pumpkin Patch........

Christian is loving preschool this year. He got to visit a pumpkin patch today and said he had so much fun. He got to pet the goats, ride a train, pick out a pumpkin, play in the corn, and ride on the tractor(hayride). His teacher, Mrs. Gen., took a few pictures for me since I wasn't able to attend. Looks like he had a fun time on his first field trip! Such cute kiddos!

 He does everything with his new best friend Logan!

Bucket List.......

 Well, Layne did it! He said if the Giants get to the National League playoffs I'm going! So he did and took me along. The last 2 years the Giants went to the playoffs to go on to the win the World Series he regretted not going so he said not this year! It's been so fun to watch them play over the last few years and become a fan! It is actually torture to watch them play but they play with heart and play as a team and some how pull it off! The weekend before we left we went to see what Giants gear they had at the store and got everybody something! To say we don't have any superstition in our house would be a lie, lets just leave it at that!

We made it a day trip. We left at 5am and got back about 11pm. It was a crazy, fun, exciting day! We hit the local transportation and that was an experience in and of its self! The BART. Just as crowded as a subway, standing room only, at least in the morning. We were in Oakland and had to cross under the bay to get to San Francisco. So yes, we took the tunnel under the water. Couldn't think about that one to long or I would get panicky. Made it safely to San Francisco and walked for miles to eat and take in the sights. Grab a trax type of train to get to the stadium earlier enough to walk around before the game. Layne was giddy and so excited. He just kept saying, "I can't believe I've never been here." Or, "I can't believe I'm finally here!" I was happy for him.

 We walked around the stadium and took it all in. It's amazing how much smaller the ball park/field actually looks in person than on TV. It looks so huge on TV. We walked down behind home plate and got some pictures. We found out that the Coke bottle in the background is actually a slide little kids can go down. We got to go down behind the right field gate and look around. We took our seats over on the left field side. Every seat in the park looks like a great seat. It was awesome just being there. The excitement in the air. Everyone dressed in orange and black. The anticipation!

 The Giants came out on fire. 4 runs right off the bat. Then it was torture the rest of the way. (Now Layne could tell you who was on base and who was up with so and so on deck but I cannot so here is the gist). By the 9th inning it was all tied back up. I was thinking to myself, "I came all this way, you guys better pull this off and win!" I'm sure Layne was thinking this too. So in the 10th inning Giants win with a walk off bunt! A bunt, of all things! Blanco bunts back to the pitcher and he over throws the ball to first. I just saw the ball soar past first base and the stadium exploded I didn't even see what happened next. You just knew what happened.....we had just WON! I was squashed in between Layne and the guy next to me embraced in a high 5 bear hug. Wow! It was so awesome. It's so much better to experience those moments in person! It made the trip worth it!

Layne checking his pulse after we WON!

After winning the National League Title it was off to the World Series. It was a great World Series to watch. And we watched every game!

Superstitions that we held strong to each game:                                                    
* Julia wore her shirt every night to bed.
* Christian would chant "Buster Posey" or "Kung Fu Panda" all the time.
* Every time Hunter Pence got up to bat I would have to say something to the effect of "come on crazy eyes."
*Layne said he would eat licorice each game and didn't wash his Giants shirt.
 I guess it paid off!
GO GIANTS!!