Halloween Week

So since Halloween was on a Wednesday this year, I feel like the holiday lasted a long time! With the weekend before being "Halloween Weekend" we filled in lots of time for all things pumpkin. We had Tyler's parents with us the whole week and got to spend some time with them at downtown disney, animal kingdom, epcot, a pumpkin patch and our ward's Trunk or Treat.

Tyler & Jackson in heaven on the train at DTD

Our Pumpkin

"mama it's heavy!"

"A pumpkin for Abbie and a pumpkin for Jackson"

Tried so hard to get her to smile and not eat the hay!

Mama and Beauty girl

What's this? A family photo? Luckily we had grandma to snap the pic and grandpa to entertain the kids!

This year Jackson was a pirate and Abbie, a ladybug! I thought about doing the kids in a coordinating costume theme but I went with color coordinating instead. Just kidding, I actually didn't even plan the colors to match - is that random?

But I decided on Abbie being a ladybug partly in honor of my first car, the red beetle aka ladybug and love for all things ladybugs. She has inherited a couple of my ladybug stuffed animals and her ladybug music box is probably one of her favorite toys to snuggle with. I digress, but anyways she was a ladybug and her costume was even kind of partly home made which is totally not my thing normally :)

And Jackson is very much obsessd with pirates right now, mostly thanks to Jake & The Neverland Pirates show. I thought about a few other ideas but I was a little concerned that he wouldn't want to dress up in anything. Luckily he ended up proving me wrong :) But he is pretty particular about hats, shoes, socks, jackets, long sleeves, itchy tags, etc etc and not a real dress-up type of kid, so that's what I was going off of. We went to party city and I thought I could get him excited about being a pirate by getting him a sword. And oh how he loved that sword, and of course picked the biggest one they sold. But I tried to have him try on the actual pirate costumes with the stiped pants and puffy shirts and he wouldn't even let me try it on him. So we decided to go with the one size fits all hat/vest/belt/hook/eyepatch set. A lot of accessories that hopefully he'd wear a couple of.

While he had his concerns at first he eventually let us put everything on him when he learned he'd get candy! He didn't love it at first but he wore it, and now he loves putting on his pirate costume at home just for fun. 

The pirate arrives at trunk or treat

I think they love the little ladybug :)

Filling his pumpkin with Grandma!

"This way Grandma!"

The only family photo of the night

Discovery Cove

Last October we had the amazing opportunity to spend a day at Discovery Cove. I never would have guessed that the following October I'd be there again, this year with my kids and Tyler's parents!

Tyler's parents were able to visit us for the last week of October and we had lots of fun. But the highlight was our Thursday at D.C. We had told them how great it was and they decided to go for themselves. Since Jackson is free until he is 3 it was the perfect time to go :)

I wanted to take tons of pictures and walked away with not that many. Hopefully I can get a few more from Tyler's phone... But it was a great day! The weather wasn't perfect, overcast and breezy, but it was 80ish so it was still warm enough that we didn't mind being out in the water all day.

Terry & Vicki swam with the dolphins and we all got a picture with the group. Abbie was great, she took a great nap in her stroller during the morning and slept in my arms during the afternoon while the others were snorkeling. I was a little worried about Jackson and how he would do, but he did great. He didn't take a nap, but did have some "quiet time" watching yo gabba gabba on a lounge chair for about an hour. He looooved swimming in the resort pool, who wouldn't? But he loved the waterfalls, rocks to throw, sand, and most importantly the shallow water. He was able to swim around while touching the bottom which was a new world for him.

Started the day in the aviary, Jackson was intrigued but a little scared of the birds getting a little too close.

Tyler aka birdman

Grandma and Abbie with one of our favorite birds spotted.

Tyler trying to comfort Jackson

The setting is just so beautiful

Our Private Cabana!

Checking out the sting rays daddy snorkeled with

Jackson and Abbie weren't too sure about Axel the dolphin...

Checking out the fishies

Standing in front of the sharks

Jackson loved these parrots and still recreates their funny dances when he sees a colorful bird

This shallow pool was heaven for Jackson!

Family Week = Disney Week

What do you do when your husband goes to China? Have a party with your family of course! Luckily Tyler's trip coincided with my brother's October break so I got to spend 5 days with my parents and brother last week. Jackson is finally getting old enough to that he remembers his family and is excited to see them. It took no time to warm up to them, he was in heaven when he woke up to see them Wednesday morning.

We started out the trip with a bang and went to Magic Kingdom that morning. We just got our Disney passes renewed so Jackson had gone a few times recently but is still so excited to go each time. I have pictures of us on most of the rides, but we also rode Dumbo, Small World, Jungle Cruise, Space Mountain, and the kids rode the People Movers.

Having a little too much fun on Buzz- our first ride of the day

So excited to drive a racecar! @ Tomorrowland Speedway

He wanted to ride with Grammy on most of the rides.

Getting ready to head off on the Barnstormer Rollercoaster.

Grandad kept buying Jackson treats and drinks

Say Cheese on Winnie the Pooh

Ste and I rode Splash Mountain and apparently I was really excited although I have no memory of raising my arms or making this face.

I couldn't help myself and snapped this picture while feeding Abbie. Love those thighs!

After Lunch & The Jungle Cruise the park got crowded so we peaced out.

We headed home for some much needed naps, then ventured back out to Epcot and the Food & Wine Festival. We tried some cheddar cheese soup, spicy sausage, pork sliders and finished the night off with crepes in France. Steven and I rode Soarin while my mom braved the Aquarium alone with Jackson and Abbie.

Outside the Nemo Aquarium

 I don't have any pictures of Thursday but it was much more chill. Jackson went to joy school in the morning and then we headed up to Winter Garden Village for shopping and lunch. That night we went to Downtown Disney and Jackson had a total meltdown... maybe that's why I have no pictures...

But Friday got better when we went to Hollywood Studios!

Waiting intently for the Mickey Mouse Show to start.

Cute little Abbie always happy to be along for the ride

Happy after being fed and facetiming with Tyler - love technology and wifi at disney.

Abbie turned 6 months old, and it was also Tyler's birthday in China that day.

Steven, wearing the bright blue shirt in the middle, was a baller and rode Tower of Terror alone.

Abbie getting ready to ride Toy Story for the first time

After riding with Grammy

OK so these scores aren't impressive until you reazlie my mom (1) had Jackson on her lap and I (2) had Abbie on mine.

6 month photo shoot

Saturday we went over to Blizzard Beach! It was mid-October but in the high 80s so it was a perfect non-crowded day to be at the water park

Loving life going down this slide by himself.

Smiley baby girl

The boys in their matching suits.

His first time riding this tube slide!

Ste, so hot right now.

Jackson was spent after running and swimming all day, he took a mega 3 1/2 hour nap and didn't wake up til after 6. So that night we kept in simple and went to Chick-fil-a for dinner.

The next day was Sunday and the last day of their trip. It was so great to have such a fun week with my family and have them help out with the kids too! Luckily we will see them in less than 2 months for Christmas break :)