Flag Football

 
Ethan decided he wanted to try playing flag football this year.  Well, to be honest he actually wanted to play tackle football and at the beginning was upset that this wasn't the right kind of football, but by the end he decided this was much better.
 
 
At the beginning he was very confused by the whole concept and after the first practice he said it was too hard.


And, he spent a lot of time playing around in the dirt and not actually focusing on the game.

It is nice (and much needed) with these young kids that they had at least 6 coaches on the field all the times to help direct the kids and break up the inevitable dog-piles.

He got better as the season went on, and had a good taste for what flag football is.

But, he always said the end, when he got to run by and give everyone five was his very favorite part of each practice or game.

 

He is just a happy boy, almost all the time.

Of course one of the most exciting parts of the whole season is getting the trophy at the end.

and, here we have the president of the fan club.

Utah-Dad's Birthday Trip

 

In October I was able to take these boys with me to Utah.

 

It was a quick trip made so we could surprise my Dad for his 60th birthday.

 

Ethan is pretty easy to travel with because he loves airplanes so much. (That was extremely helpful, because Preston was a bit fussy on his first airplane trip.)

 

After we got there, we met up with some of my siblings and kids at the pumpkin patch.  We had all of the boys grand kids together.

 

They had a great time playing together in the hay, corn, and slides.

 

Here is the group that pulled off a surprise.  My Dad is an incredible person, and it was fun to get together and celebrate how wonderful he is.

 

It is rare anymore to have all 11 kids together at one time.  Even at family reunions we are often crossing paths and never have everyone there all at once.

(thanks to my brother-in-law, Zack for the party day pictures)

Fall

Fall in California is not anything like the autumn-time in Utah or Michigan.  We don't have the brilliant colors where we live, but we do have a few trees whose leaves change and fall.

Just the right amount to make a pile to play in.

I had the kids clean up all the leaves in the backyard to earn some money while I went in to put Preston down for a nap. I told them I'd pay them each a quarter.  When they were done, Ethan admitted that Brielle had done most of the work.  I had them draw out on a paper how much work they had done.  According to the lines, they agreed that Ethan had earned 10¢ and Brielle 40¢.  But, then Ethan said he didn't think he'd done quite that much and had only earned 5¢ instead and gave Brielle an extra nickel.  

 

Trains, Trains, Trains

We went to the Pasadena Model Railroad Club Open House. 

It looked like mostly older men that have a hobby of working with their model trains and over the last 73 years the club has been in existence, they have worked together to build this track.

We stayed to watch for about 1 1/2 hours.  

Ethan loved it.  Brielle said she wished there were princesses and not just trains, trains, trains.

 

Halloween

James and Brielle joined the Warnick family to pick out our pumpkins at the Pomona pumpkin patch.

The kids chose to use stencils this year.  They were able to trace over the dots in the stencil, and then had help from Mom and Dad to do the cutting.

Ethan wanted a 'scary face', Brielle chose a cat.

Brielle got a costume making book from the library.  She chose to be a butterfly because 'it looked like the easiest one to make.'  She decorated the wings and made then antennae for herself.

  Ethan colored on his shirt to make it look like his dragon cape.  They had a great time and were very proud of their creations.

We had a lot of parties.  Ethan got to attend the party at the school where he has speech class.

At Brielle's school all the first grad classes dressed up as monsters for their parade.

We went trick-or-treating to some very kind family friends that spoil the kids year after year. 

And had a great time at the cousin's ward Halloween party.  

More Field Trips

The 'Bat Cave' at Griffeth Park is actually called the Bronson Caves, but was used for many years as the entrance to Batman's Cave.  It has been in many movies and T.V. shows.

It was a very short hike, and fun to explore.



Huntington Gardens is always a beautiful place to adventure.  The rose garden was especially nice this time of year and smelled amazing.

The kids found a table just their size to picnic.  

And then cooled off in the misters.  

 

October Field Trips

Yes, this was in October.  The weather was incredible!  

James was flying into the Orange County airport, which is only 10-15 minutes from the beach.  So, since we were going out that way...and it was a minimum day for Brielle at school, we decided to go play for a bit.

Our cousins joined us for some fun playing in the sun.

The next week we had a trip to the arboretum.  I don't often have pictures of the 3 kids together, since Preston is still wrapped in the Moby a lot while we're out, so it is nice to try to get one every once in a while.

And a random picture.  Ethan, Preston and I were out running errands.  I went to get Preston out of the car and found Ethan had decorated his brother's head.  So lovely.