Pumpkin Friends

I saw a post this year about letting kids take baths with their pumpkins for an easy halloween activity. I took it to heart and added other wholesome activities for our pumpkins to take part in.  

Pumpkin makeover! Annie chose this makeup kit as part of her "learn how to ride a bike" sticker chart. We have deeply regretted letting her pick it. She's a bit obsessed with it, and it makes a big powdery mess whenever she gets it out. 

She got pouty when I explained that eyeshadow doesn't belong under her eyes. The random marker by her mouth really is the cherry on top of her accidental vampire look. 

Bringing the pumpkins to the park is an activity I'll definitely keep doing with my toddlers! The pumpkins went on the swings and down the slides. Carved pumpkins rot so quick after carving them down here, so playing with them uncarved lets us get some more mileage out of them. This year we carved them on Halloween day and then tossed them in the compost a couple of days later. 

Just a boy on a playdate with his pumpkin friend!

XR Trading did another virtual kids Halloween party. They wore costumes and made monster treats. 

Isaac made several where he dipped the pretzel rod in the melted candy and added a single eyeball sprinkle to the top. 

We went to two trunk or treats (one at our ward, one at Mary's house) and actual trick or treating this year. Isaac alternated between the doggy costume and the clownfish depending on the weather. 

Mimi hooked Elliot up with this Ender Dragon costume as an early birthday present

I greatly enjoy making endless variants of the "I can tell you are an experienced nose picker!" joke while dispensing candy through my Frankenstein head. 

Playa Bonita

 This was our fifth trip to Rocky point, but this time with several twists! The biggest was that we stayed at Playa Bonita RV resort instead of our usual rental houses. I have been hearing about people camping at the RV resort for years, so it was good to finally check it out and explore a different stretch of Rocky point. 

Our classic "lets just walk down to the beach right when we get there and not get our clothes wet" picture. I adore this shot of Isaac. 

Elliot got right to finding hermit crabs in the tide pools. I love playing with the little critters

We went with the Flythes and Allens. They really know their way around! They know which beaches are the best for snorkeling and which ones are most likely to have awesome conch shells. AND they had kayaks! They got there a few days before we did and chartered a fishing boat to have a fish taco extravaganza with some other folks who left before we got there. 

The highlight for Annie was her BRAIDS! She used her Grandma Blood birthday money to pay a lady on the beach for an awesome hairstyle. It was pretty practical too- it kept her hair out of her eyes and lasted the whole trip. 

The kids were constantly asking to hang out at the Jacuzzi pool. They were not swayed by my argument that the most important part of going to the beach is GOING TO THE BEACH. At least I usually had good company to chat with while hanging out poolside. 

I'm a total sucker for chilled mangoes on sticks. 

Feeding the wildlife

Isaac was very skeptical about the mango Elliot kept trying to get him to bite, but as soon as he tasted it he had a death grip on the stick.

Aaron discovered Hermit Crab City, a rock in some shallow water that had a crazy amount of hermit crabs clinging to it. We had challenges to see how many hermit crabs we could hold in our hands before the tickling got too bad. 

Level two of the challenge was lining the crabs on shoulders and the ticklish parts of our legs. There was also a diligently constructed hermit crab prison. 

pollo luuuuucas

A dead sea turtle washed up on shore one morning. A science dude on an ATV showed up and said that the turtle was probably around 60 years old and died of old age. Some people nearby said that they had seen some live ones while snorkeling nearby. My goal for the week was to find an octopus. The Allens found a little one hiding in a seashell the day before we got there so I diligently checked shells for days, but no luck this year. The quest continues. 

I adore rocky point, but I'm not sold on the RV park. The thing I like about camping is that there is space for the kids to run free and that it is so scenic and peaceful. None of that is true when camping in an RV park. It was literally a big parking lot. It was convenient being so close to the beach, and the amenities were good, but I wasn't a fan of dealing with noisy neighbors right next to my tent. I had to get out of my tent and yell something weirdly similar to "get off my lawn" to a group of kids who were playing tag and literally tripped over our tent at 10:30 at night. We also had crazy wind one night. It knocked the rain fly pole out of its grommets 5 different times. After the fifth time, I moved the van to be right in front of the tent hoping it would somewhat block the wind. It was still whipping the tent around after that, but not quite enough to get the pole out of place. 

Our camp setup next to the Flythe's van. The under table drying ropes was a great hack we copied. 

All in all, I would pick a Playa Bonita RV vacation over a weekend at home if the company was good- but I would definitely rather pick a luxurious rental house and save our camping for the mountains. 

Annie Turns 5

 Annie has been obsessed with birthdays for a while and was SO excited for hers to come this year! She opted for a unicorn birthday party and was quite invested in the planning of it. 

The cake was pink strawberry inside and unicorn sparkles on the outside. The shrinky dink made at the library is my favorite detail. 

All set up and ready for unicorn crafts!

Mimi had an idea to tie sparkly ribbon around their wrists and ankles to make hooves for enhanced prancing

We played follow the unicorn, find the unicorn, freeze dance, charades, and did a treasure hunt in the backyard to find some candy. 

When the kids got their wands, I asked if anyone knew any magic spells. Bree immediately went into improv magic school and taught the kids how to hide a book behind their backs, say a spell, then throw it out so you look like you made it appear. The kids were eating it up!

Annie at five is delightful. She is quick to get a blanket or stuffed animal for her brothers when they get hurt. She deeply loves her people and is always making new friends at the park, even if she is a bit shy at first. Her best friend is Sydney Graham. She loves exploring, the TV show T.O.T.S, and all things girly- hairstyles, pink, unicorns, mermaids, fairies, and ballerinas. She has spent a ton of time lately covering sheets of paper with random letters or having me help her spell out messages. She loves singing, and I'll often catch her narrating her life in song. 

Happy Birthday, Annie!

Chiricahua

 My new year's resolution was to go camping more often. Sadly, it took us until September to finally go. We went to Chiricahua- my favorite local spot- with the Flythes and Allens. 

There was a total flash flood as we were driving up there! We pulled to the side and watched several smaller cars cross this wash before we braved it. It really felt like driving in a river. Luckily, the rain was very localized, and once we got out of the storm, it was smooth sailing. It wasn't wet at all up in the mountains. 

We took a stroll from the campground to the visitors center after dinner. We got to throw rocks into the stream and found some mini waterfalls along the way. 

The fire pit was just the right size to fit a body. Not suspicious at all. This is a morning picture- the night before we enjoyed roasting marshmallows and staying up late swapping stories. We let the boys practice starting small fires the next morning- hence Elliot's delighted face. 

Nature Isaac!

All Elliot needs to be happy is a stick. He wanders around swinging it and periodically comes over to tell me that he defeated the boss. 

The Flythe girls brought their guitar and Ukulele! In an extremely confidence boosting twist of fate, Belle's handful of printed music were all songs that I learned when I learned how to play guitar ten years ago. We were jamming out to Hey Soul Sister and Fireflies and having a swell time after packing up in the morning. 

Next we were onto our favorite hike: Echo Canyon Grottoes! 

There are so many cool rock formations and so many kids begging for photo ops

At one point along the trail, Elliot climbed up this little slot and said there was a good view up the cliff. So the whole gang followed him up and sure enough good views were had!

Elliot goes into "Take a picture of me!" mode when we hike lately. He was leaning into the "hands on hips" pose this trip. 

There are so many good ones of Elliot. This one is selected for the hip pop and leg crossover. 

Love this girl

It's hard to get good pictures in the actual grotto. This shot shows the boulder suspended above their heads pretty well. It is such a cool place!

Outdoor adventure Elliot is the best Elliot

Holden 2022

This year's Holden Beach trip featured us, Mimi and Grumpa, Breezy, and Blake. We missed having the other Johnson siblings and extended Blood family around, but it was still a lovely beach trip. It was was well worth pulling the kids out of school for a week!

Isaac was baffled and then delighted by the ocean

This needs to be made into some album art

A major highlight of the trip was the food! Dinner our first night there was a seafood feast with lobster claws, bacon wrapped shrimp, steak, corn on the cob, and scallops. 

 

Blake made us his super nachos with THREE DIFFERENT SAUCES. 

This one is a sand boy!

 He's a fan of bobbing in the waves too. Unfortunately the waves were no good for boogie boarding this year. 

My favorite: hunting for sand crabs! We fried up a plate and felt cool about it. 

Best breezy laugh ever to be captured. We were playing fishbowl. I forget what word Dad was acting out, but clearly he was nailing it. 

Mimi was AWESOME about having crafts for the kids. She brought a thumbprint art book, magna-tiles, and blank art books for them to fill. They were all about it and were crafting at least a bit every day. The big craft was a shell mobile for Elliot and Annie! They spent days collecting shells that had little holes in them. The best ones were lovingly selected, painted, and strung up on thread to become awesome wall décor that is now hung up in their bedrooms. 

Finished shell art

two good looking goofs

Breezy had a birthday while we were there! Note the sign above her head lovingly designed by Mimi, Elliot, and Annie. For her birthday, we went out to a seafood restaurant and then watched an epic bollywood action movie called RRR. It had multiple tiger fighting scenes and a very intense dance off. It was a little beyond my violence threshold but excellent other than that. 

These two are great buds

Look at these too cool Kimberlys. It is fun watching Annie become more and more like my Mom as she gets older.

Elliot made a rock collection that evolved into a game requiring two color coded reference sheets

A huge highlight was a visit from my friend Kathleen! She was recently released from a 6 year prison term. We wrote fairly regularly during her whole sentence, and I managed to visit her once a few years ago on the way back to McLean from Holden. It was wonderful to spend a day bobbing in the waves with my old friend and hearing her stories in person. To me, she is a wonderful example of hope and repentance and trying to make the most of a difficult situation. 

The Knells were awesome enough to make the 2.5 hour drive to spend a day at the beach with us! Whenever we are together, it is just like old times. I think that the Knells are the easiest to talk to friends we have ever had, and I never get enough of the good conversation time. 

The last night at the beach, Annie had a stuffy nose. She kept waking up and screaming because she couldn't find a tissue (they were right next to her). This was a problem because she was sharing a room with Elliot and Isaac. I ended up sleeping in her full size bed with her. Needless to say, we were all quite tired on the flight home the next day. 

Annie asleep in the airport

Isaac slept the entire first leg of our flight