Halloween Fun!!

What a fantastic Halloween! The kids were anxious to dress up, be with friends, and get a little (or a lot!) of candy along the way.
Zoe pulled together a cowgirl costume, and I'm not quite sure what Cooper is, but he loved it.

 Zoe had a few of her good friends from school over...

and Cooper's good friends and many of our neighbors.

 We ended up having about 40 people over, in and out for chili/cornbread, hot dogs, drinks and lots of snacks. This annual event keeps growing!

 These guys were anxious to hit the streets.

 They took off on their own for a bit, but a few of us parents caught up with them after a while. They decided that our neighborhood wasn't enough, so we headed to another one to add to the loot.

They started with their candy sorting outside...

 then decided it was too crazy, so they all came in to sort and swap.

 It was nice to have Halloween on a Friday, so we weren't too anxious about having to get up early for work/school. We also made it inside before the rain hit!
Happy Halloween!! Let the holiday season officially begin!

Carving time...

We're trying to squeeze in every last thing before Halloween. I don't think we've ever waited until the night before to carve pumpkins! Zoe went to dance a little late, and Joe got home from work a little early so we could make it happen. :)

 It's so nice that the kids are old enough now to do all their own cutting, designing and carving!

One more thing to check off the list!

Spirit Days...

GOHS has endless spirit days! The kids love to participate, and it makes for some fun days at school.
They've had quite a few dress up days, although we only managed to get pictures of a few of them (and most I have to take off of Zoe's phone or Instagram!)

Pink Day for Breast Cancer Awareness...

 Preppy Day...

 Twin Day (or in this case, the Great Eight)

 and Zoe's favorite...Pajama Day!

Love this school's spirit!

Pumpkin Patch

Thankfully, my kids will still indulge me with the yearly photos at the pumpkin patch. I don't know how many more years I can get them to do this, but I will take what I can get!

 They both have grown quite a bit this year.

 Glad we could get at least one family photo.

 Joe had to get in on the pumpkin action too...

We even went through the corn maze, although it's a small one that only takes a few minutes.

Coop was over the photos at this point, but I was happy we made it to Peltzer before Halloween!

Performances

As Fall is in full swing, and Zoe's Nutcracker is approaching in December, Dunamix is being asked to perform at quite a few community events over the next couple of months. Zoe was able to perform in two dances at a large harvest festival over the weekend.
For the first time, she performed her Dew Drop number, as the the lead in the Flower Waltz. It was fun to see her in this role.

 and they performed Bible Story, which they've countless times over the last couple of years.

These girls have so much fun together, whether they're dancing or not!

Back on the court...

Cooper attended a basketball clinic tonight to help build his skills back up before the season officially starts. It was his first time on a regular court since he broke his wrist, so he was a little nervous.
He jumped right in though, and had a great time.

 They did a lot of warm-ups and skill drills.

 and ended with a scrimmage.

He said he felt a little out of shape, but can't wait to get playing again!

Corn Maze!

The sunrise was beautiful this morning...

 and it was a great day for the Big Horse Pumpkin Patch and Corn Maze.

 It was a bit warmer than we had anticipated, but it the sky was gorgeous, and we were ready for the big maze.

 We stopped at each of the 10 stations and answered different trivia questions. They were supposed to help guide us in the right direction, but I'm not really sure they worked!

 We took turns leading between stations...

 We made it through in under an hour.

Although the temperature doesn't feel it, Halloween is under a week away! Time to get ready.

Finally done!

After 9 long weeks, Cooper was finally given the "all clear" from the orthopedist today!
From this...

 to this...

 to this...

 to this...

and finally free!!

 Now it's time to get back on the basketball court, football and lacrosse fields, and try to get those muscles and ligaments in full swing. It's been a long road, and he is cautious, but ready to be "normal" again!

40 in Napa!

My longtime friends and I have been planning our 40th birthday celebration for quite a while now! It took a lot of discussion and planning, trying to adjust wants/needs/time/money/expectations, etc. We finally picked a date and place, and enjoyed a long weekend in Napa, Ca.
After late flights, and a quick sleepover at Nori's, we drove to vineyards on Friday morning.

We spent a beautiful day wine tasting and started at Sebastiani in Sonoma. Since Kim used to work in the wine business, she had quite a few connections! Her friend graciously set us up in a private tasting room for a wine and chocolate pairing. Seriously, that's my kind of wine tasting!

(Me, Shloe, Christy, Nori, Kim)

 

 

We had a great selection of wines, and chocolate ranging from milk, mocha, to dark.

 

 We stopped at the Oxbow Public Market in Napa to pick up an array of gourmet cheeses and loaf of bread, salad and fruit. This place was an adorable indoor market with lots of cafes to choose from.

We took our snacks with us and headed to William Hill Winery in Napa.

 We enjoyed our lunch at a shaded table outdoors.

 Our cheese selections were incredible. What a fun, relaxing way to spend some time.

Our next stop was Mumm Napa. This vineyard was gorgeous. Here they offered delicious sparkling wines. 

 We didn't have a lot of time to spend here since we had an appointment for our next stop, so we quickly drank our glasses and got on our way. (Not before snapping a few more pics though!)

Our final winery was Sterling. We were able to take the tram up to their facilities, which provided beautiful views of the valley before getting our first tasting.

We toured through this winery...

 and stopped at several locations for beautiful views and a new tasting.

 We enjoyed dinner at the Market in St. Helena before checking into The Westin Napa for the rest of our weekend.

We had a mellow, relaxing day on Saturday. We walked to the Farmers Market in Napa, and ended up back at Oxbow Market for breakfast.  We decided to drive back to St. Helena to do a little shopping. It is such a cute little town, with fun shops to walk in and out of.

We stopped at Oakville Grocery to enjoy a nice lunch outside, along with some refreshing spiked lemonades.

We made an unplanned stop at Cake Bread Winery on our way back to the hotel. More delicious wines and fun. :)

When we got back to the hotel, we had a nice plate of chocolate covered strawberries waiting for us from my parents! So thoughtful...

We got changed, and headed to Celadon in downtown Napa for an awesome dinner. The food was great, and it was a nice way to end our last night together.

I had a delicious onion-crusted chicken dish, with kale and potatoes. It was amazing!

We'd heard about a yummy chocolate shop in town so we ended the night there. We could pick from a large variety of chocolate truffles and have them mixed into gelato. What a treat!

We left Napa Sunday morning, and headed back to Nori's. We stopped at the Black Bear Diner on the way back for a GIANT breakfast. Wish I'd gotten a picture of the biscuits! We spent a little time with Nori's girls before saying our goodbyes and heading for the airport.

We hit some traffic, but it was fun to be able to see some of the air show from Fleet week in San Francisco. Thanks for driving Shloe!

I am so thankful to still have these ladies in my life. We have been friends for well over 25 years. We have seen each other grow from little girls to adults, and been a part of so many of the ups and downs that we've all been through.  I cherish each of them for different reasons, and I love that even through all of our differences, we can still laugh, cry and reminisce as we continue to make new memories!