From the last few weeks



Just catching up on some photos from last month til now... * Zach was getting into the Halloween mood by creating a robot costume from items out of the recycle bin. Don't ever accuse him of not being creative! * We had a wonderful visit with Abby in October. It was just for the weekend, but it was a great opportunity to catch up. * The boys were extremely excited about the birthday balloons. * Zach is quite the expert at cutting out paper lately. * His class dressed up as scarecrows for the school's fallfest celebration. * Zach is loving legos. * Our first family pumpkin carving went really well. Bigger pumpkins next year... * During Lisa's visit she took us to the boys first movie, Wreck-it Ralph. We were a little surprised at how well they sat there. Zach could barely take his eyes off the screen :) There was also lots of painting going on while Lisa was here, and also some great eating-out and lots of relaxing down time.

 

 

Zach reads Berenstains' Bears in the Night

Trick or Treat!

Singing to Gabe

 

The Vegas photos

And this is what we did...

arrived in Las Vegas at 9 am on Friday--let the party begin!
caught up with Sharon over lunch at Gordon Biersch and dinner at P. F. Chang's
walked around the Bellagio
woke up and got ready for the wedding without kids under foot
went to Emily and Matt's hotel room and took a few pictures of them
found out that people could watch the wedding live online, so we let Barb and the kids know
some people rode in their limo and we drove to the chapel, which was very pretty
the ceremony was short and sweet (about 10 minutes), and Zach and Gabe saw the whole thing :) Barb texted that they were saying hi to us on the computer screen--too cute!
no outside photography allowed at the chapel; Emily and Matt had a little photo shoot after the ceremony
we did our group shot in front of the Bellagio
people left to change clothes; Frank and I walked around the Mirage taking photos (I don't know that we'd ever spent much time there), spent some $ playing a Ghostbusters slot machine
dined at BB King's Blues Club, enjoyed the food, beer, music, conversation during breaks in the music, and a little dancing
Sunday brunch at the Wynn buffet; the food was so good that I guess it distracted me from taking any photos
we hung out with Brian and Sharon until dinner
ate at the Grotto in the Golden Nugget, met up with others to experience Fremont street, spent a little more $ playing Texas Tea (one of my favorites) and Godzilla slots; the visual and sound effects on the games have really changed since we were last there!
we had breakfast at our Summerlin McDonald's/Starbucks and Frank got his favorite McSkillet burrito (a regional item!); my cashier at Starbucks was a girl I remembered from her working both there and at Jo-Ann Fabrics for a bit, how funny is that?
we hadn't been down to the south end of the strip yet, so we walked and photographed and reminisced...
we caught our flight home.
We can't wait to go back.

The monthly update

More Vegas photos coming soon...hopefully sooner than a month from now :)

We're home. We traveled to St. Louis, Las Vegas, and back again, and we had a blast. But September seemed way too busy. We are looking forward to a quiet October (ha ha), with a birthday, an anniversary, a couple of houseguests, Halloween, and our fence install starting, if we're lucky. Zach still loves school, and Gabe is getting used to the quieter days and occasional trips to Target. Work is going well for Frank, and I'm taking advantage of a little more free time during the day. Things are good.

First day of school

We made it through the first week. Zach has loved going to school so far, even though he's pretty exhausted by the time he gets home. He's been jumping out of bed so excited to get dressed and leave with Daddy. Gabe wasn't so happy on the first morning, yelling/crying "I want to go to school!" He had a lot of questions the first couple of days about when he'll get to go...poor guy. But he and I are adjusting to our new routine of a quieter house, no one to fight for control of the TV, and needing someone (Mommy) to play with. Here's a glimpse of the first morning: