October

After our travels to Florida in the beginning on the month, the rest of October flew by.  Before we knew it, it was Halloween!

So pretty as the sun was setting

This girl LOVEs to draw and color and is good at it!  Her is her Elsa and Anna pictures she did all by herself. 

Cole helping me grocery shop and pretending these sausages were hand weights while we were waiting for our deli meat. 

It has been an unseasonably warm October - and we are not complaining!!

Happy beach boy

The forestation hosted their annual open house the second weekend in October.  Last year it was raining and this year was about 90 degrees. We still had a ton of fun!

Car demolish demonstration

Kids inside the smoke trailer - teaching them how to stay low and roll if the room is filled with smoke

The line for face painting was ridiculously long and was moving SO. SLOW.  We told the kids once we got home daddy would paint their faces with whatever they wanted - SOLD!

Cole chose Leaonardo. 

Sydney chose and Elsa crown. 

Our neighbor and friend, Mr. Todd, dropped off this dirt and asked the kids to watch it for him while he was out of town.  Slowly but surely, we saw cocoons appear and two moths appeared!  Incredible for the kids (and parents!) to see. 

Syd syd and momma

Cole holding a friends new baby

Sydney and Cole loving the new babies!

Bike riding by the bay

Silly kiddos

Zoo day

Getting ready to watch the homecoming parade with friends

Nani and Poppa finished off their backyard renovations and making Poppa's dream come true - having his own putting green!  Cole had to test it out... 

Halloween playdate party

Decorating sugar cookies

Sea World day!

Cole normally just watches Sydney touch the sharks but he finally worked up the courage and touched them.  Now, you can't stop it.  He loves it!  It's been fun to watch them grow in their confidence with the animals. 

I told Lindsay that I had a costume I could send out for Finn's first Halloween that Cole wore for his first Halloween,  Of course the second I take it out, Cole is obsessed with it and cannot part with it (he hasn't seen it in 3 years!!).  So, he had to try it on one last time before it was sent to New York. 

Painting pumpkins

She drew this in the sand.  Heart her.  

(If you can't see it, it is the word Mom with a heart above and below. 

Ferry landing playdate with friends

Cole wanted to take our picture!

And then we went through the entire family... 

Skype with baby Finn and he rolled over for us!

Florida Part II

After a 5 hour drive, we made it to Marco Island and our rental house for the next 3 days.  It was in such a great location - 1/2 mile from the beach and 1/2 mile from where all of my dads family was staying. With 3 bedrooms, a beautiful pool and a/c, we could have stayed there a lot longer!

The car ride down.  Thank goodness for a DVD player in the van we rented!

Ahhhh. Marco Island. 

Gorgeous stretches of beaches

Lots of fun shell collecting

Walkway from beach to our house

Stopping along the way... 

One Friday night, Kate & Shane held a cocktail recpetion for everyone at the hotel they were getting married at.  We put the kids to bed and headed out to see everyone.  We had so much fun that this is the only picture I got from the evening:

My Uncle JP with Kate's wedding sign - hahahah.  We had a good laugh about that one!

While we were moving a little slow the next morning, the kids were not and were up and ready to go by 6 am!  So, off to the beach we went :) 

The water was SO warm!

The only family picture we got!

A morning at the beach only meant one thing, the afternoon at the pool: 

We fixed the kids dinner, got ready and left for the wedding.  This was the scene when we left :) 

Looks like they were winding up instead of down :) 

Pillow fights with Jawg

Off to Kate'swedding

We headed to the hotel and went out on the beach for the ceremony.  Shoes were optional.  Uncle JP was feeling it... 

Here comes the bride... 

Simply beautiful! 

After the ceremony there was a cocktail hour on the beach

Love him!

Us with my parents

My dad's side of the family who went to the wedding

Watching the sun set

Having fun and photo-bombing selfies!

And, clearly we aren't professional photographers.  We were trying to get a picture (on the sly) of my dad and his brothers...

There was a skateboard at the rental house.  She enjoyed trying it out.

And he was a fan of the shark shovel

This water was like a bath

My sweet boy

Sydney caught the tiniest fish - can you spot it?

On Sunday afternoon, we all went over to the house my dad and his siblings rented for a BBQ.  The kids enjoyed some swimming before everyone arrived.

Uncle Mike, my dads brother, gave Cole a new swim cap- and Cole kept saying he was Michael Phelps!

These next series of photos are fun.  Sydney practiced being thrown in the air several times  - and was loving it!

Wheeeeeeeeeeeee!

Thanks for a fun time, Florida!!!