Happy Halloween!

What a nice, relaxing day we had today! It was almost like being on vacation.

When Dan and I opened the shades this morning and saw the sun (yes, that's right... the sun!) we decided to take the kids swimming. They've been begging us to take them since the night we arrived and they saw the pool all lit up from 5 stories above. Problem is, we've hardly been here and it's been pretty drizzly. Today turned out to be a beautiful day.

We also decorated trick or treat bags, went on a halloween scavenger hunt in which the kids were able to do some trick or treating in their costumes, and there was a fun halloween party at the pool tonight. We played games and Jolie & Gavin had their faces painted and Tristan had his caricature drawn.

Oh, and we went by the store and bought some Kit Kat bars since there wont be any trick or treat bags to raid after the kids go to bed. Happy Halloween!

MGM

We spent the day at Disney-MGM Studios. The Tower of Terror was the attraction we've all been excited about. Dan took the kids on his own since it's apparently not advisable for an expectant mother to free-fall 5 stories in an elevator. When I met back up with them, Gavin said that he liked it. He's since redacted his statement, saying that he actually didn't like it. I don't think he's decided yet.

Here are some of the other things we did today: we saw a great broadway-type Beauty and the Beast show (Tristan said it was the worst part of the day); we saw all the Disney celebrities in a big parade (you should have seen Gavin's face when the evil queen from Snow White approached him); Jolie got to dance with the performers in the High School Musical 2 show (again, Tristan says it was one of his least favorite parts of the day although I was watching him during the show and he was clearly mesmerized. I even caught him mouthing some of the words to the songs); we got a behind the scenes look at the making of The Lion the Witch and the Wordrobe (one of our favorite books and very favorite movies); and we saw a cool car stunt and special effects show (the fire and explosions were cool but an especially big hit with the boys... of all ages).

Tomorrow we're taking a break from all things Disney. Marriott has some Halloween activities planned and we hope to familiarize ourselves with the resort where we've mostly just been sleeping.

**Sorry for the sideways photos. Dan doesn't have Photoshop on his laptop so I can't edit them right now**

The Happiest Place

We've spent the past two days at the happiest place on Earth. It's been fun and taken a lot out of us. We've covered most of the Magic Kingdom these past two days. Here are the highlights so far:

Tristan's favorites: space mountain and splash mountain (basically anything fast and thrilling).
Jolie's favorites: The ever-popular tea cups (if I remember correctly, her favorite at Disneyland when she was 2 as well) and splash mountain.
Gavin: the monorail, the tram from the parking lot, Aladin's carpet or whatever ride he was on immediately before you asked him.

Gavin has been very adventurous. I was a little concerned about taking him in the Haunted Mansion today, given that he's very succeptable to scarry things. He's up during the night with either a night terror or nightmare about 3 or 4 times a week. He insisted that he wanted to do it though. We'll see what he dreams about tonight. Jolie is definitely on the road to recovery from her pathological fear of amusement park rides. She still doesn't want to go on roller coasters but she'll try most everything else. She even asked if we could go back to space mountain because Tristan has been talking it up so much.

We knew it would rain while we were here and like good Disney guests, we brought our rain ponchos. Yesterday it was very hot and humid and it drizzled for a few minutes here and there. Today was a torrential downpour. Other than the fact that we all looked like drowned rats, the rain didn't slow us down. Dan and I are watching the local news right now and it looks like we'll be having more of the same due to a tropical storm named Noel. Better go air out the ponchos...

A Monkey, A Gypsy and Darth Vader Himself!

Here are some photos from last night's big Halloween carnival hosted by Tristan's school. We were happy to have a chance to dress up in our costumes since we'll be in Orlando for Halloween. I'm already getting flack about not being able to go Trick or Treating. We'll probably take their costumes along on the trip and see what's going on. Dan and I are trying to figure out how spending thousands of dollars and partying for seven days at the happiest place on Earth could still not be enough. Well, at least for one very demanding little person. Anyone want to venture a guess of who that is???

Birthday Get-Away

Dan and I spent Friday night and Saturday in Logan. The weather didn't cooperate but it was fun nonetheless. Dan booked us a beautiful room in a bed & breakfast which was very relaxing. We took our bikes but didn't end up riding them because of the gray, drizzly weather. I got just a few shots of the beautiful fall color when the sun decided to peek through for a few minutes. We took our time coming home and found a little restaurant that a friend recommended. Dan was very sweet to arrange everything, it was a nice birthday gift and a memorable get-away.

I Love Autumn!

Isn't autumn the BEST season? Gavin and I returned from our morning walk a little while ago and the whole time we were out I was thinking about what a beautiful day it is. I hope this season lasts a very long, long time. The trees in the valley are changing, the air is crisp and there's a bit of a breeze but you can still feel the warmth of the sun on your face. A perfect fall day.

The kids and I also decorated the house for fall over the weekend. I'm not one who gets excited about decorating for every holiday and season but this is one that I pull the boxes out for. I like the fact that you can leave fall decorations out from the beginning of October until after Thanksgiving when it's time to deck the halls for Christmas. It seems worth the time and effort to have them up for a while.

I think Dan and I are going to Logan this weekend to celebrate my birthday. We did that a few years ago and it was so much fun. We took our bikes and rode around town, stopping in book stores and other shops, had dinner at the infamous "Bluebird" and stayed in a bed and breakfast. Logan is beautiful in the fall and just a little ahead of us. Since the leaves haven't quite started falling here, I'm hoping to experience one of my favorite sounds of fall: the sound of crackling leaves under foot (or tire).