Happy Thanksgiving!

Now that it's almost time for Christmas, let's talk about Thanksgiving.  I could say this late update is an effort to refocus on our abundant blessings in this season of high-pressure-super-commercialized-neverending-spending...  But the real reason why I'm just getting around to discussing Thanksgiving is that we have been too busy, busy, busy!

Thanksgiving this year was different.  Katie went camping with a neighbor's family, so we decided to have Thanksgiving dinner the Sunday before Thanksgiving so that we could still have turkey with her one last time before she goes off to college.  And leaves us forever.

Since Kate ditched us, we decided to do something extra special so as to avoid falling into an abyss of self-pity over not spending the day together as a family...  So, Mac and I took the younger kids to some theme parks!

We spent a few days in Disneyland the past summer, so Kate didn't feel like she missed out on too much by not going again.  She is very much in an I-Love-Nature phase right now, so she says spending 4 days in the woods was so much better than SoCal anyway.  Falling in a creek up to my neck *almost* destroying an iPhone 4 sounds lovely to me!

The crowds were really not that bad.
These were the people just waiting for
the park to open!

Disneyland on Thanksgiving Day was fairly crowded, but not as bad as it was during the summer.  We managed to go on all the big rides we wanted, and we saw all the special Christmas themed rides and decorations.  One of the BEST things about the day was that we happened to meet some of our very old friends back from the early Maryland days.  We saw them in a switchback in line for the Indiana Jones ride, and met up with them after the ride at the exit.  It was so much fun to see them all!  Back in Maryland we connected because we both had large families, and I used to babysit their girls all the time.  THIS meet up was a huge blessing and made my entire day.

Anyway, besides that really great surprise of meeting old friends among the crowds (really, there were tens of thousands of people in Disneyland that day!), we really enjoyed all of the Christmas theming.  In true Disney style, More is always More!  The decorations were over the top, and "It's a Small World" was really, really, really special.  There were over 40,000 extra lights covering the exterior, and even the inside of the ride was completely transformed.  The music was even changed to a mixture of "Small World" and I think "Deck the Halls"...  Many of the dolls in the various scenes were dressed up, and ornaments and decorations were found in all the "worlds".  That transformation must have taken FOREVER.

It's a Small World...  With a working cuckoo clock of sorts.

An example of some of the decorations inside one of the "lands".

Another land.  Beeeautiful.  The Giant Snowman is not normally in this land...

See what I mean?  40,000 lights...  "More is definitely More."

Both parks were decorated (we popped over to California Adventure for the first part of the day, then on to Disneyland for the rest of the day.)  There were Christmas trees, Christmas lights, characters in Christmas costumes...  "The Haunted Mansion" was completely different, with a "The Nightmare Before Christmas" theme.  There was a "North Pole" area too, and we were able to see Santa without even having to wait in line at all.  And we didn't have to buy a photo.  Score!

Decorations in CarsLand

Gotta meet Daisy when you have a chance!  She's one of the hardest characters to find...

Look!  Santa's flying behind us!

Frozone was pretty fun.  He set all the kids up in a superhero pose.

And here are the little superheroes.   

Meeting Minnie...  She's another tough-to-find character.

Even TowMater dressed up for Christmas!

Pluto is the best.

"Really Luke?  That's what you want for Christmas?"

Everyone still believes...

Dancing Snowmen...  Now WHO could  RESIST a Disney parade?

I FORCED everyone to watch the special holiday parade as well.  They all enjoyed it a lot.  They wouldn't DREAM of admitting it if they did not!

Mickey...

Pluto and Goofy making a Gingerbread house.

Beautiful Sleeping Beauty and her handsome prince...

"Santa!!!" 

Told you...

When his reindeer don't pull the sleigh, they dance.

Luke rode this upside-down-ride several times.
He was scared of it this past summer, but now he just can't get enough...

One of the best things about the day at Disney was that Luke was ready to conquer the flips and big drops on the big rides that he wasn't ready for last summer.  He had so much fun riding the rides this time!  Josie, as always, conquered all the rides she was tall enough for.  She's a little thrill-seeker, with Space Mountain being one of her favorite rides.  (That's because Space Mountain is the best ride ever.)

We all love Space Mountain. 

But Josie loves it the most!

After an exhausting day, we watched the fireworks from in front of "It's A Small World".  They had a light show synchronized to the fireworks show which covered the facade of "It's a Small World" (no really, they did), and at the end of the light show and the fireworks, fake snow fell down on us all (SoCal style...  foam soap bubbles floating down on everyone from fans disguised as wreaths).

Izzy thought it would be REAL snow... 

Luke liked the snow, even if it was just soap bubbles.  

Castle at night... 

"Ahhhhhh!"  Castle at night with the lights on!

ME:  "Mac, let's stay for Fantasmic.  It starts in 30 minutes!"
MAC:  "No."

Josie and Luke get their animals stuffed.

The day after Thanksgiving, we planned to hang out in Downtown Disney and maybe go ice skating in their tiny little rink they set up for the Christmas season.  Well, the day started out raining.  I regretted not going to the parks on THAT day because the crowds would be kept away by the rain!  Mac was just as happy to avoid the rain.  We still went to Downtown Disney, where all the stores were magically unaffected by the rain, and the kids spent their souvenir money.  (Mostly they bought stuffed animals...  I have given up the fight against these little dust bunny creatures.  They have taken over the house.  They win.  I lose.)

Izzy is not too old for stuffed animals.  Apparently.

After you stuff your bear, you must fluff it and brush it.  So much WORK.

After stuffing the bears, we had lunch at the Rainforest Cafe, and then we saw the movie "Frozen" (really liked it!).

Josie has been learning how to pose for Instagram-like pictures from her big sister.  Ah joy.  A five year old teen.  JUST what this family needs!

We scored a seat next to the tropical fish!

The main event for the day was the Medieval Times dinner show.  Real horses, real "props" for "real" fighting scenes...  The kids (and Mac) loved it.  Mac still chants "Red, Red, Red" on occasion for no apparent reason.  "Red" was our color flag, and our knight was dressed in red. (He was the BEST of them all even though he was killed off in round 4 or something- it was totally rigged.)  I even caught a pink carnation our red knight threw out to the crowd.  Sigh...  I think he was probably aiming for Mac.  The most enthusiastic fan in the crowd...

The horses were amazing, and the riders were talented.  The plot was...  well...  The horses were really superb...  There were many heavily scripted fights, including jousting matches which always ended in some type of combat to the death.  I had to reassure Luke and Josie SEVERAL times that no one was actually hurt, and that the swords and other various weapons were just props.  Anyway, it was truly a fun time.  I kept thinking that Guy and Grace would love the show, and it was a shame that we didn't go during the summer visit.

"Red!  Red!  Red!"

The view from our table.

"You want me to eat what?"

No utensils.  Totally Luke's style.

Our noble knight.  

All the knights together.  

The next day we headed to Grinchmas at Universal Studios Hollywood.  The kids and I have been to Universal three times in the past 6 months, so we really had no driving need to see anything in particular; however, there were many added attractions for Grinchmas, so we were kept amazed the whole time.  The decorations were modeled after Dr. Seuss's "How the Grinch Stole Christmas," complete with crooked trees and actors dressed up as "whos".  We even got to meet the very funny, and very odd, Grinch himself.  His dog was even there with him in the photo shoot-- an amazing little terrier mix that stayed in a sit for most of the day!

Besides meeting The Grinch and seeing all the decorations, the main event at Universal was the tram ride where we sort of got to see "whobilation", a reenactment of the "whos" celebration on the set they used in filming "How the Grinch Stole Christmas."  We were in the last car of the tram, so we didn't really see the dancing and what not that well.  I am pretty certain that we did get to see enough, though...  Anyway, we managed to slip out of the park for a nice and relaxing lunch at a great Mexican place called "Camacho's Cantina".  No discount for us, even though the place totally stole our name.  When we came back to Universal, it was packed!  So many people EVERYWHERE!  People were arriving at 2 pm and buying tickets to get into that mess.  We stuck to the area around the Grinch, where they had crafts, lots of whos, and a whobilation tree lighting on the half hour, capped off with more of that fluffy white SoCal soap-foam snow...

The kids met the mayor of Whoville

Uh oh...  Heed the warnings.

Look at that amazing little terrier mix!

The Grinch is actually very charming.

The Whobilation show on the actual set they used in filming "How the Grinch Stole Christmas".

You don't see a lot from the back of the tram...

But you get a view that those in the first cars missed...

The kids are so excited for the new Minion Mayhem ride.  This is outside the construction area.

Meeting more Whos.  

I don't know what this bike and buggy are from...  But they are cute.

Nice to see "Christmas" used in a theme park.  After all the "Happy Holidays" and "Seasons Greetings" from Disney, it was refreshing to see Christmas actually proclaimed...

Crafting keeps us busy as we wait for the SoCal snowstorm.

A cast can't keep Luke from crafts.

Oh yeah.  They are cool.  Quick-- someone post that pic on Instagram..

Beauuuuutiful!

The next day we drove home, along with almost everyone else in California.  We learned a valuable lesson:  take "the 101", not "the I-5", no matter what your GPS says.  Kate was home when we got there, and it was great to get back to reality after our weekend in tinseltown...

Since Thanksgiving weekend, it has been a flurry of swim meets, class parties, Christmas shopping, Christmas decorating, and all sorts of busyness...  I think I'll post pictures from the swim meets in a future post...

Also, check out the kids' wish lists.  Those are always fun to see!  Isabel erased all of her previous years' lists (Oh Izzy!) and I tried with my limited computer skills to find the previous entries, but I could not.  I even tried the cached page, which I did find, but it lacked the "page id" number that I needed to get the text...  So...  boo hoo...  I guess we will just have to be satisfied with the current year's list!  All the other kids have their previous lists.  Katie just sent me a whole bunch of web links, and those aren't really useful...  She wishes for sweaters and scarves and shoes.  And money.  Lots of money...

Just a regular week...

This entry is from a few weeks ago, just after Grandma and Grandpa visited from November 16 through the 20th.  Oops!!  "Better late than never..."

This past week Grandma and Grandpa blessed us with their presence for a four day weekend.  We filled the time by eating out a lot!  We had Thai, Italian, Afghani, Greek, and even a little bit of "American" comfort food.  It was fun, and finally the kids' taste buds are getting a little bit more adventurous.  Steven, Mr. Supreme Picky Eater, even said he liked the Thai food.  Granted, he stuck to the BBQ pork and pineapple fried rice, but still.  This is a big improvement for the boy who will not mix his food and hates sauces...

While Grandma and Grandpa provided the food, we provided the entertainment, as this was a swim meet weekend.  Isabel swam in the morning, and Steven swam in the afternoon, which made for a very full day poolside from about 8:30 am to 5 pm, with a lunch break in the middle.  Kudos to Grandma and Grandpa for sticking it out through the meet and seeing most of the events!

The kids did well, even though Isabel will not admit that SHE swam well.  She dropped a lot of time in the longer-distance events, but didn't drop in her short sprints.  So, she was unhappy with that.  But I think she did great, and I was even on my game enough to be able to take a few pictures of her.  I watched her swim the second day only, as Mac and I switch off on watching the kids on these long swim meet days.

Backstroke, which she likes sometimes, but not always...

Butterfly, which she does like...

Steven swam very well at this meet, and dropped time in several events.  He qualified in a couple of events for the Junior Olympics meet coming up in a few weeks, and he dropped lots of time in the long-distance swims that he hasn't done for several months.  He's getting into better shape, I guess.  I watched Steven on the first day of the meet, and so I didn't get any photos this time.  Next time, Steven.  I did cheer though, so that counts for something...

Full days of swim meets leaves very little time for anything else, so that was pretty much The Event of the weekend.

Grandma and Grandpa were here for our standard Monday and Tuesday of our regular, chaotic, crazy, over-scheduled lives.  Mondays are particularly challenging since that is music lesson day, and so the twins don't even get home until nearly 8 pm.  I took a break from my regular Monday routine to hang out with the parents...  We did some shopping and some eating (of course!), and then rushed to pick up Josie by 2 pm.  They were able to pick her up with me both days, which she loved.  She felt so special showing them her classroom!  Then, they stayed in the house spending time with whichever grandkids came in and out of the scene, as well as the dog.  Since Luke is out of commission for a while with his broken arm, he was able to spend lots of extra time with them!  Lucky Luke!

Tuesday was pretty much a repeat of Monday.  Since we didn't have after dinner activities, we were able to have a big Italian meal together, which was a nice cap to the visit.  The kids had a great time, and they love it when Grandma and Grandpa come.  This is a reflection from Josie:

     Josie:  "I love it when Grandma and Grandpa come to visit!!!"
     Me:  "Why?"
     Josie:  "Grandma brings me presents!!"
     Me:  "Well, that's nice.  But don't you like to be able to just spend time with them?"
     Josie:  thinks about this...  "Yes, because Grandma always has Mentos in her purse!"

Anyway, Josie really does enjoy hanging out with the grandparents.  It's not all about the STUFF...

Grandma and Grandpa left on Wednesday.  As they were heading to the airport, I was chaperoning Josie's class field trip to the firehouse.  The firehouse is very close to the school, so we walked there.  One teacher, 4 chaperones, and 25 kindergartners.  They did well on the walk, thankfully.  At the fire house they stuck with their buddies and learning how to stop, drop, and roll.  (But Josie is convinced she should "Stand, Drop, and Roll" because that's what she sees in the coloring book pictures.)

Josie's class

Besides those exciting events, we've had the normal ho hum.  Luke has been very very busy teaching himself how to draw the numerous characters from the Super Smash Bros video game.  Katie taught Pekoe the dog how to shake hands as part of an assignment for her AP Psych class.  Now Pekoe comes up to you, sits down, and hits you with his left paw expecting a treat...  Thanks Kate!  Steven and Isabel keep on swimming, and Mac keeps on working during the day and writing papers during the night.  I finally went to the doc for my bronchitis, and am now being treated and trust I will be on the mend soon.  So, that's what's been up this week!

And that is it!  I actually felt much improved a few days after starting the medicine, so who knows if the Z-pack was needed but I think it probably was...  Soon after this week, we had Thanksgiving.  I'll update on those festivities soon...
   

City Sans Twins

Luke checking out the Bay Bridge in San Francisco

Last weekend, the twins went to a youth group retreat, leaving the house too quiet. Katie was home, but she is always fairly quiet, keeping to her room or hanging out with the neighbor kids.  The twins, on the other hand, raise the noise factor considerably!  Part of that comes from practicing their instruments (Steven practices clarinet and sax, and Isabel the trombone), but most of their noise  is from the constant back and forth chatter about all the middle school drama that is going on all the time.  So much drama.  Just, don't even ask.  Trust me...  It's dramatic.  

Steven and Isabel enjoyed the retreat, but they thought there was too much free time.  Steven, my introvert in training, felt like there wasn't enough to do during the free time.  Isabel, a definitive extrovert, thought the free time made the weekend go by too quickly!  I am sure the leaders needed the afternoon time to recover from the late evening activities.  The kids stayed up until 12:30 or later every night, playing games and just being middle schoolers.  They came back exhausted after the 3 night long retreat.  Steven said that he rarely got a chance to check his sugar, since he was snacking so much, so he pretty much just took insulin with every single snack.  I guess that's better than no insulin at all and sugar levels in the 600s...  This was a very different experience from diabetes camp!

In the meantime, Mac and I tried out what it would be like to have only 2 children.  We took Luke and Josie in to San Francisco to go to the Exploratorium.  This museum is basically a hands-on science museum geared towards elementary school aged kids and their parents.  I'm sure that Steven and Isabel will enjoy it when they go as well, but they might just not be able to admit it due to the "cool" factor.  The first display we came upon was fairly clever...

"You want me to do what?"

This display explored a social experiment comparing drinking from a toilet fountain vs a regular fountain.  Josie was skeptical, but Luke simply shrugged and went for it.  He reported that the toilet fountain water tasted like regular water.  Phew.  

After Luke finished his drink, a cavalier man elected to fill his water bottle from the toilet fountain, even though the other fountain was available.  I think I'll stick with the traditional fountains!

The museum was filled with clever displays.  Luke really enjoyed working with mirrors and light beams the most, and Josie seemed to like the climbing structure outside.  It was a beautiful day in the city, with temperatures in the low 70s, clear sky, and lots and lots and lots of tourists visiting for the Veterans' Day weekend...

A bridge outside the museum gets covered in a thick fog periodically.  You literally can lose your children in this fog!

After the museum, we walked (and walked, and walked) to Pier 39, which is an extremely touristy area on the wharf.  After lunch and a little bit of people watching, we headed home.  It was a fun day, and an interesting experience for Mac and me to NOT be outnumbered by children.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...  If you use your imagination.

Not much else happened this week.  The dog continues to heal, and to find inventive ways to remove his cone of shame.  The twins are preparing for a swim meet this weekend, and they are back in their regular school and swim routine.  Mac has brokered a deal which will allow him some O.R. time starting in January, so he's happy about that.  Kate was selected at the last moment for a camp through her school.  It's some kind of a leadership camp, and she's been gone since Wednesday and will come back tomorrow.  I'm sure she'll be ready to take over the world!  But hopefully she will finish her college applications first.  I have been trying to get over a cold and nasty cough...  It's been a tough fall.  The kids have brought home way too many germs this year.  Mom and Dad come to visit tomorrow, which is always very exciting for everyone!   Maybe they will bring some of our germs back home with them after their visit...  I hope not!

Doctor, Doctor, Doctor...

Luke and Pekoe both injured their left "arms" this past week.  One of them is feeling very very sorry for himself!  Can you guess which one?  Man or Man's Best Friend?

So many DOCTOR appointments lately!!  Even the PET DOCTOR!  Ugh...

I just can not get away from medicine...

The first doctor visit was a standard follow up for Steven at the diabetes clinic.  His numbers look much better than last time, so of course now his doctors are concerned that he is running too low.  Well, ok then.  It's amazing the effect of swimming on his A1C (basically a Blood Glucose average level over a period of 3 months).  The last time he had his A1C read, he wasn't swimming quite as regularly due to various vacations and camps over the summer months.  For this current A1C reading, he's been swimming 5-6 days a week since mid-August, and his A1C value was 2.2 lower than the previous reading.  Now he is on the low end of the target for his age, and so we have to be concerned with running low...  Such is it with diabetes.  You never can get a formula that "works" because physiology is far more complicated and dynamic than that.  Too bad!  Anyway, that was Doctor Appointment number 1, which took up an entire afternoon.

The next series of doctor appointments were not on the master plan...

Luke, in his quest to actually FLY for REAL, had a series of hard falls on his left wrist.  The first one happened about two weeks ago, on the playground at school.  He told me about the fall, after a failed attempt at flipping off of the monkey bars, and that his wrist hurt, but he had full range of motion and no swelling.  And the injury didn't slow him down, so we just decided to watch it.  I also told him to NOT try to do flips off of the swings and monkey bars at school...  but, you know, Luke really needs to defy gravity...  So, a week after that he injured himself AGAIN.  Same spot.  Same lack of dramatic evidence of injury.  Then a couple of nights ago, he decided to try to take flight off of the furniture in our house.  I was able to hear the cries of agony with my very own ears...  So I decided to take him to the doctor the next day.  Five hours later he was given a nice, fresh-smelling, indigo cast.  He is thrilled, full of images of collecting signatures.  For a fourth grade boy, a cast is "way cool".  He can't swim or do taekwondo until he's all patched up...  He thinks he's going to have SO MUCH TIME to play video games...  Maybe not, Luke.  But maybe, just maybe, he will give up his quest to fly...  I'm not really holding out hope on this one, seeing as he dislocated his shoulder (or something) almost a year ago trying to fly off of the bathroom sink...  Ouch.

At the same time as Luke was busy doing his thing, our dog Pekoe has been up to all sorts of puppyish antics.  Pekoe is almost 15 months old...  Shouldn't he be a little bit...  calmer?  We can't be sure how he injured himself, but one morning, the same morning as Luke's Last Big Fall, Mac took Pekoe on the morning run and all was well.  When they came home, Pekoe did his usual routine of trying to capture the light reflection that hits the fence in the morning whenever we open the back door.  This is his absolute favorite game in the world.  One of these days, he's going to catch the light reflection.  He just KNOWS it.  And then he will chew that light reflection up and it will tease him no longer.  Anyway, he was busy slamming into the fence trying to catch the light, and I noticed that he had a bloody leg...  Mac, who had JUST left for work, came back to look at his leg and "didn't see any laceration" so we just tried to clean it.  Good old Pekoe kept on running after the light, albeit with slightly less enthusiasm.  We tried to apply some ointment to his wounded leg, but over the course of a couple of days, he became more and more hostile towards our healing attempts.  So, finally, I took him to the vet.

Of course, I ended up taking Luke to the doctor for his hijinks on the same day as I took Pekoe to the vet for his hijinks.  This made for a very busy day.  But it was the one day in the week that I had a few spare hours...

The final diagnoses:  Luke has a buckle fracture and is in a cast for 4 weeks; and Pekoe tore his dew claw from the base and had to have it removed, and he needs to be in the Cone of Shame for 4 days.  Of course, the vet said that if I think he won't mess with the bandage on his foot, he doesn't need the cone...  Ummmmm, that would be a "not a chance."  Pekoe is the dog that managed to USE his cone when he was neutered to mess with his laceration, causing a secondary infection.  Why do people get dogs?  I ask myself this A LOT.

Last weekend, before all the doctor visits, we were all feeling pretty healthy and so we took the opportunity of a weekend free from a swim meet or other obligation to do something "fun".  Pekoe went to the doggie daycare to hang out with the Big Dog Pack, which is just about his favorite thing to do.  The rest of us headed to San Francisco.  I even made Katie join The Family for our visit to the California Academy of Sciences.  This is so rare for her to come to a museum with us...  But she did, largely because she did not have a choice!

These huge toads were pretty interesting.  

The kids looking at the Living Roof of the Academy.  Grass, weeds, and some wildflowers actually grow on the roof.  The kids were all pretty interested in this.

We arrived early for the "members only" access.  We found many years ago that it is more economical for a family of our size to just buy a membership for places like this, since individual tickets usually are about the same price as a family membership.  So we have LOTS of memberships.  We are such a CULTURAL family.  We have memberships to the Monterrey Aquarium, the California Academy of Sciences, the San Jose Children's Museum, the Oakland Zoo, and soon we will add the Exploratorium.  We are just so very cultural I can barely stand it...

We saw a very cool show in the Planetarium about earthquakes, which Josie loved.  Planetarium people are always nervous about young kids in the theater, but she's a pro.  We also went to the earthquake simulator, the rainforest, and we even dragged Kate to the aquarium exhibits.

Before we left, we decided to try the 3D show about the last coral reef.  We all found this one a bit confusing.  The premise of the show was that humans are destroying the coral reefs due to carbon emissions, but the show led with a description of how a coral reef rebuilt itself into a vibrant ecosystem after being destroyed by nuclear bomb testing in the 1940s.  The ending scenes of the movie showed a coral reef growing around a shipwreck site with all sorts of statues on the bottom of the ocean.  The reefs were growing off of the statues, which made for some very interesting images.  Again, the resiliency of coral reefs was highlighted. Steven surmised that the way to save the coral reefs is "to throw statues in the bottom of the ocean." The carbon emissions link to coral reef destruction was not explained at all...  This was a strange movie if it's purpose was to motivate some type of lifestyle change.  Cool 3D pictures of fish in the coral reefs though.

So, that's pretty much what has occupied us for the last week.  Steven and Isabel are off to a youth group retreat this weekend, which should be interesting.  Hopefully they will have a good time, and Steven will "be good" with managing his sugars...

Halloween 2013

Trick or Treat 2013

I dressed up for Halloween in my TaeKwonDo uniform...  just because I came straight from class with no time to change before the trick-or-treaters descended!  Josie trick-or-treated at our house a few times!

Well, it has been a LONG time since I have updated here.  We have been very, very busy.  California living has been an adjustment.  One major adjustment:  no school bus transportation!  This makes a big difference to me, since I need to drive the twins to middle school, followed by Luke and Josie to elementary school.  School for the twins starts 40 minutes before school for Josie and Luke, so that means a lot of wasted time driving for dropping off kids to school and picking them up!  I have found that I have very little time for anything; however, I will ENDEAVOR to update this blog on Fridays!

Regardless, today I will talk about Halloween.  There were some minor pre-Halloween events  (such as trick-or-treating at the Great America amusement park, and trunk or treat at the church), but the kids really only were excited about Halloween on the actual day.  (By kids I mean Josie, Luke, Steven, and Isabel... Kate is not really considered a "kid" anymore, sadly.)

Since we needed to be out of the door by 7:35 AM on Halloween morning, the kids had to get ready in a hurry.  Isabel, who usually sleeps in until the last possible minute and then runs to the car with her shoes in her hand as I am just about to give up waiting for her, woke early to perfect her Harry Potter look.  Steven chose to wear a Hula skirt to match his girlfriend (AAWWW, how SWEEEET!).  Luke, dismayed that no masks were allowed in school, went with the old standby:  Padawan, otherwise known as a Jedi Knight in Training.  Josie, dismayed that she was not allowed to wear makeup (also due to a school rule), chose a fairy dress from her dress up box and was convinced she looked "ridiculous" in her outfit...

Steven and Isabel had normal school days (they are both in seventh grade).  Luke and Josie were allowed a little more fun though, since they are in elementary school.

Luke and Josie before school and all the festivities.

For Luke, Halloween at school is old hat.  He's in 4th grade this year, so he is practically the King of the School.  He relishes being a big brother at school, and loves it when he happens upon Josie during the day.  Josie is in Kindergarten.  Everything is new to her.  

Upon arrival at her classroom, Josie at first proclaimed to any child within earshot the she looked "so ridiculous" but soon she got into the spirit, lined up with her classmates, and prepared for the main event:  the Halloween Parade.  

Josie and her best friend marching in the parade

At Monta Loma Elementary School, Halloween morning starts with a parade.  The whole school gathers on the playground, and the kids march around by grade levels so that everyone can see the costumes.  Josie marched along with her best friend, Batgirl, and was adored by the entire student body.   After they marched, the kindergartners sat down to enjoy the rest of the parade.

Luke went through the motions...  He was a very focused Padawan...

After the parade, the kids went back to class for a couple of hours of learning...

The next big Halloween event:  Trick-or-Treating in our neighborhood.

Since we live in a military housing community, there are a lot of houses with a lot of children packed into a small area.  These are ideal conditions for trick-or-treating.  We started getting trick-or-treaters at 5:30 PM!!!  These early birds were mostly parents with small children who were afraid of the dark and scary Halloween decorations.  Steven found this wizard's robe in our Halloween Bin of Random Old Costumes, mostly acquired or even sewn back when I had a little bit of motivation for that business!  I think it looks like a choir robe actually.

Anyway, when Mac FINALLY got back from work, the kids were able to start trick-or-treating.  Luke, Steven, Isabel, and Isabel's friend (who happens to be Steven's true love) took off on their own.  Josie stuck with Mac.  The dog, Kate, and I handed out candy.  It was a busy night!

Luke as Ash Ketchum, the master Pokemon trainer...

Beautiful (definitely not "ridiculous") Rapunzel from Tangled

Izzy as Harry Potter, and her friend Claire, the Hula Dancer.

I don't know what Steven is going for here.  Choir-wizard robe, tiny angel wings, and a cat mask.  It's totally Steven.  More is always more with him...

Anyway, that was Halloween.  It was busy, chaotic, and just another late night in the Camacho household.  Our dog, Pekoe, did better than last year, although he did need to be taken inside if another dog came near our house.  (He's too friendly with other dogs, but since he weighs nearly 80 pounds and he's full of puppy energy still, his "friendly" is way too much for most people and dogs!)  Kate went trick-or-treating with a friend during the late rotation after most of the real trick-or-treaters had passed through. (Lest you think Kate is too old for this, take note that in our neighborhood even adults go trick-or-treating...  adults without children!  It's a truly unique social event.)

Scary jack-o-lanterns.  Mac only helped to carved these (the older kids took over in places).  Clockwise from the top left:  Isabel (the biggest pumpkin), Steven (I think he carved it himself), Luke (who needs a nose?), and Josie (every good jack-o-lantern should have eyelashes).  

In all, it was a fun Halloween.  We don't know where we will be for Halloween next year.  We do know that things will be different.  Kate will be in college, it may not be 70 degrees outside, and we will live in a different part of the country.  Alas, many of our costumes will be the same.  That's the one constant-- there will be capes, there will be a padowan, there will be a character from Harry Potter, and there will be a hodgepodge of pieces from costumes from years past.