Pumpkin Carving

Flash back to fall of 2008 and poor little Evelyn was subject to one of Erin's creative ideas.

In the end, Evelyn did not like being a pumpkin at all.

Three years later (last month) Evelyn had nothing to worry about and she happily picked her pumpkin at Papa and Nana's house.

This year William and Jack were subject to Erin's creativity. They actually didn't mind being stuck inside a pumpkin. It may look like they were trying to eat their way out, but really they just liked the taste of fresh pumpkin.

Arizona Trip: Part 3

One night we went to an outdoor mall that had a big screen and dance area. They were playing music videos and the kids went nuts dancing around. It was great. I think Jack had the most fun of everyone.

After 2 months without swimming, Evelyn made up for lost time in Arizona.


One of the highlights of the week was watching Evelyn and Kaylee become great friends. The two girls were side-by-side virtually all week and played extremely well together.

This was at the playground the first morning. Little did we know it was the closest we'd get to a group photo all week.
We spent an hour searching for this (hardly) famous sculpture.

There were plenty of these moments...
Overall it was a terrific week with family and friends!

Arizona Trip: Part 2

For the most part, we all hung out at the condo and let the kids play. However, one day we visited Arizona Air Park - a trampoline gym. I had never been to one before but I love trampolines. The air park was even better than I imagined! I figured there would be tons of rules and annoyances. Instead, we had the entire place to ourselves and there were virtually no rules. Also, we only had to pay for Evie. $7 for 2 hours for 5 people is quite a bargain.

The foam pit was great. Even Erin "sky-ed" into the foam pit.

Evie was a crazy girl. By the end, she would run in circles trying to gather speed in preparation for jumping into the foam pit. I timed her last one; she ran around and around for 90 seconds before jumping.
The basketball hoop was my favorite. I always loved dunking on 7' rims. Here I could dunk on regulation rims, and with awesome hang time.

I don't remember when or how I started, but I've been doing flips for a long time. I can confidently flip into water in almost any circumstance and I easily do front flips on trampolines. Evie made me so proud. After seeing me do a few flips, she waltzed up to the edge of the foam pit and did one herself.
Later that afternoon Evie was swimming and casually asked "daddy, want me do a fwip?" I grinned and said sure! She climbed out, walked to the edge and....!!!

That's my girl!

Trip to Arizona: Part 1

We ventured to Scottsdale, AZ for our first time flying as a family of 5. As expected, it wasn't always fun but we made it!

It is RARE for William to fall asleep outside of his crib. The early morning flight and long lay over finally forced him into sleep in the Chicago airport.

Evelyn was happy to share her seat with William (and buckle him in). That arrangement lasted for about 3 seconds...
Jack had a crash of his own. The 3 hour flight from Chicago to Phoenix was long and frustrating. Both boys slept for over an hour, but also fidgeted, fought, whined, and squirmed for the remaining 2 hours.
The trip has definitely focused on the kids. There are 6 adults and 6 kids. The kids' ages are 4,3,2,0.9, 0.9, and 0.5.

We did a very short hike up (part of) the side of a mountain.
Monday was Halloween. It was a unique Halloween for us:

• Temperature was 70+ so we walked around barefoot and with no coats
• Several neighbors set up tables so they could sit outside to hand out candy
• The neighborhood we are staying in is way upscale. The quality of candy was amazing.
• Evelyn is old enough to enjoy and understand the experience. She had a blast.