Halloween

Well we survived our first Halloween back in the states and it was a major success! We allowed the kids to go out alone for the first time ever accompanied by Caroline's cell phone. Bill and I manned the homefront with candy duty and a good time was had by all.

Happy Halloween!

Emmy checking out this year's haul

Beware, the blue eyed ninja is afoot.....

And they're off!

Our First Annual Pumkin Carving Party

YUMMY, want some?

To honor our first Halloween back in the states and Bill's homecoming, we had a pumpkin carving party. What fun!!! We got to gather together so many friends, new and old, and family to catch up on old times, snack and of course carve our pumpkins for Wednesday. It was a fun party and everyone, kids and grownups seemed to have a good time. I'll definitely do it again next year!

Garrett giving specifications for his design


Caroline and Alex are totally absorbed in carving their pumpkins

Emmy and friend Emma working their groovy gourds, work it girls!

Lots of pumpkin goings on......

So we're goin to the mountains and we're gonna pick some pumpkins.....

Dad, CC, Emmy, Garrett and me

So my Dad told me about a great place to go see a pumpkin patch with games and fun stuff for the kids in the mountains. We went this Saturday and Dad's friend Kathy was able to go as well. We LOVED the pumpkin patch- actually planned on buying ours there but they were WAY too big to carve so we just enjoyed browsing

Emmy with "Fred" the pumpkin

This one's mine!

Miss Caroline & Pumpkin

We also got to do really fun things from painting pumpkins, finding the way through an amazing maize (corn) maze and, Garrett's personal favorite; apple vaulting.

All in all, it was a really good day!

"Apple Vaulting"

Simply Amaizing!

You belong in a zoo.....

Look carefully. See the elephant?

Because this entire Summer has been based on all the things that go with moving, we haven't had a lot of fun. So when we had our first school holiday, my sister in law Kristin and I took the children to the Atlanta Zoo along with the other million people who had the same idea!Kristin, Cooper and Porter on the train

Climb every mountain.....

Discovering Dunkin Donuts

The kids were seeming kind of down after a long week at school so I decided they needed a pick me up. I started thinking about things we could do and realized they'd never been to Dunkin Donuts in Georgia! Anyway, I loaded them up and off we went! Not that it was a religious experience by any means, but, you would have thought we'd gone to heaven!
Caroline Consuming a Chocolate Crueller

Garrett hits the big "8"!

So, for the first time since turning one year old, Garrett celebrated his (8th) birthday in the states. Bill was able to fly down for a quiet celebration which included presents, an outing to "The Simpsons" movie and a dinner with our entire family including his Grandparents, cousins and his Uncle Ben and Aunt Kristin. As hard as it is dealing with so many changes in our life, having the family connection on a daily basis again means SO much to us!

Pony Club Farewells

So for our last ta-daa before Anita and I move away, we painted the leopard jump that I'd been promising for more than a year. This being a typical pony club meeting, we had SO MUCH FUN! Many hugs and few tears completed this bittersweet au revoir with promises to get together again soon.

Melissa, Anita and myself; note the beautiful jump standard behind us


Our favorite instructor, Miss Melissa

Caroline and Leica sitting in a tree.......

Pony Club Power!