Hoppin' Harmonies, Hula, and Halloween

We loved visiting the Museum of Making Music in October (kids were free to a bunch of museums in October)

 

Some of Louis Armstrong's old horns--loved seeing those!

 

We loved having Grandma Donna join us for our second visit, although we didn't get any pictures of her while we were there.

We did manage to catch one when we visited the Wild Animal Park together!

 

Addy decided on a Halloween-themed birthday party this year, so we saved it for October

 

Her friends look lovely . . .

 

But they come with a side of wild!

 

And because she loves me, Addy agreed to spend the last hours of the party giving our Harry Potter movies some love

 

Another "kids get in free" at the USS Midway museum, where we got to explore a real WWII aircraft carrier

 

Very cool aircraft

 

And we even got up close and personal with some blast-from-the-past pilots

 

As cool as it was, it was hard to imagine being at sea for months on end even on a man-made island like this

 

We were lucky to have Aaron's brother Nate with us that afternoon, even if he was a bit camera-shy--it was great to see him for the second time in my life!

 

Emerson has been working on his Tahitian fire-dancing skills--love these classes!

 

And Sera has learned some pretty cool hula moves

 

My birthday visit to LEGOLAND with Aaron and my (not-so) littles

They were so surprised when the "dentist visit" we took them out of school for turned out to involve more shark-teeth than people-teeth!

 

We had such a fun day!

 

Everything was awesome!

 

My favorite was the elaborate Lego cityscapes in Miniland

 

There was a crazy hair day leading up to Halloween for these two--they took it pretty seriously

 

And then . . . Halloween! We enjoyed a visit to the Sea World Spooktacular

 

But my favorite pictures were the ones we managed to catch in a nearby neighborhood that goes all out for the holiday--and matched our costumes perfectly! Welcome to Pirate's Way!

I nicked these awesome costumes for 75% off after Halloween last year, and was thrilled to have a chance to use them

This pirate ship captain and mermaid were my favorites

 

But there were even costumes for Aaron and I--how often does that happen?

  

And we actually carved pumpkins this year--although they rotted rather more quickly than usual given the warm San Diego weather--at least they lasted through Halloween!