Dinosaur Drew

This year I figured Drew was old enough to weigh in on the decision of what his Halloween costume would be. He sort of decided last year but this year I knew he would have strong opinions. I found a few pictures of costumes I thought he would like and showed them to Drew on my computer. His options: a train engineer, Mickey Mouse, and a dinosaur. He first selected a train engineer and then I discovered the store was out of them. He took that pretty well and said he would like to be Mickey then. So we ordered a kids size 4-6 Mickey costume and anxiously awaited its arrival. Now, I know our kid is pretty tall, but this costume was at least 4 inches too short for poor Drew. So that went back to the store. Then I happened to be shopping for myself and saw costumes in the Children's Place, including this absolutely adorable dinosaur costume. When I got back from Tucson that day Drew ran out to the garage and asked me "Did you buy me a costume?" Good thing I had! Poor kid hadn't had much Halloween luck so far. As I took it out of the bag in the trunk Drew's face lit up! He tried it on immediately and really wasn't very inclined to take it off, though we did manage to get him out of it before dinner that evening.

I assured him there would be plenty of opportunities to wear his costume and as the pictures below will show, this was very true.

Here's Dinosaur Drew before school on the 30th

Drew trying to be ferocious

Every dinosaur needs a backpack

Drew and Miss Lupe at school

The kids got to trick or treat by walking through the school to go to all the different classrooms and had a party in their class that day.

Then the night of the 30th, my moms' group had a Halloween party. Here's Drew at the photo area a couple of the moms set up.

Drew with some of his buddies--we got them to stop chasing each other long enough to semi-pose for a picture

Then on Halloween we met a group of friends in one of their neighborhoods.

Here's Drew ringing the doorbell at the first house for Trick or Treating

Drew, patiently waiting for his friends to return with their candy, poses with Daddy

We borrowed this house's front yard for a photo op

Drew and his best friend Nemo head up to another door for some treats

After we reminded him at the first couple of houses that he needed to say "thank you" to the people who gave him treats, Drew ran back from every subsequent house screaming "Mommy I said thank you!" I eventually had to take a picture of this...

Drew sorting his loot

Drew is pretty happy with the results of his evening of trick or treating

A couple of weeks ago, a friend of ours was considering borrowing one of Drew's old Halloween costumes (the monkey), so I sent her a picture of Drew in it and I realized just how little he was when he wore it. So I thought that, because this blog has only been around for the last year and a half or so, in addition to this year's pictures I'd post pictures of Drew on Halloween through the years.

1st Halloween, 2 months old. A tiger.

14 months old, Monkey

2 yrs old, Elmo

3 yrs old, Firefighter

I am not a Halloween person, but even I get into it when viewed through Drew's very excited eyes.

Vegas Visit

I've been out of the blogging loop lately. A few big things to catch up on. First, a couple weeks ago we went for a quick trip to Las Vegas. Drew and I flew on Thursday and Bill joined us on Friday. As soon as Bill and I found out U2 was playing in Vegas on a Friday night, we were in! We hadn't seen them since 2001 and that concert still stands as the best I've ever seen. It worked out that some girlfriends of mine from Sierra Vista were going for a girls' trip the same weekend and my parents graciously agreed to take care of Drew while I hung out with my friends. The grandparents, Drew and Bill had a great weekend and Bill was able to help my dad get his new office furniture set up.

Bill and I enjoyed a delicious dinner at P.F. Chang's before the concert and then sat in traffic for a LONG time on the way to the stadium. The concert was supposed to start at 7, but as we were walking into the stadium at 7:30 we heard the Black Eyed Peas (the opening act) come on with the first song. We ended up being glad we didn't miss any of their songs because they put on a really good show.

Here's a picture of the stage--it was huge and the lighting and other special effects were really incredible! Unfortunately the photos of all that amazing stuff didn't turn out the best.


Here's Bono on the big screen. I had to take pictures of the big screen because we were in the second to last row of the stadium. We may not have been able to see the band that well, but we could hear them just fine. And I've said it before and I'll say it again. I could listen to Bono sing all day every day.


Here's a short video of Bono and The Edge singing the end of "Stuck in a Moment You Can't Get Out Of." My favorite duet of theirs.

And, for any other U2 fanatics, a longer video of the whole song "One." My favorite song ever.


Saturday night I went to the "O" Cirque de Soleil show with my girlfriends. O is a water themed show and it was just fantastic. Synchronized swimmers, acrobatics, just amazement everywhere your eyes turn. This is us outside the Bellagio after the show.


Sunday afternoon we borrowed my parents' friends' golf cart and took a short drive over to the club house pond to visit the ducks.

Here's Drew and Dad throwing bread to the ducks.


Drew & Dad again

Mommy & Drew in the golf cart

Drew pretending to drive on Dad's lap

Drew and Grandma in the backyard

Drew and Grandpa at the dinner table

We're looking forward to our return visit in December. Halloween pics coming soon!

The Pumpkin Patch in Arizona's version of Fall

Despite the emotional weight of yesterday, we had been planning to return to the pumpkin patch we visited last year at http://www.appleannies.com/. I had a feeling that's exactly what my Aunt Marie would have told me to do. And so, off we went. The weather forecast for the day was in the high 80s and it was a beautiful Arizona day that felt like it belonged in June more so than October. But we weren't complaining.

At first, Drew didn't seem as excited about the corn kernel tubs as he had been last year. But then Daddy helped him remember how much fun they could be and then he realized the fun that could be had.



The hay stacks weren't quite as tall this year but Drew had fun jumping from one level to the other anyway.

And then we headed out on the tractor ride to the pumpkin patch. If it isn't obvious from my blowing hair in this picture, we definitely had some wind accompanying our 85 degree weather. The breeze didn't bother us, but the blowing dust was a little much. Wait, I said I wasn't going to complain about the weather, didn't I?

My boys head out in search of our pumpkins.

We've found one! This was Drew's pumpkin. He was very excited when we told him we could get three pumpkins--a mommy pumpkin, a daddy pumpkin, and a Drew pumpkin.

Here's Drew showing off his perfect little pumpkin

Daddy & Drew amidst the pumpkins

Family shot in the pumpkins

They tell you not to let the kids carry the clippers but Drew likes to help Daddy with EVERYTHING and we like to live dangerously sometimes. (I'm kidding Mom--Bill was right next to him, just out of the camera's view).

Drew & Dad with our family of pumpkins

Drew & Mommy with our pumpkin trio--one for Drew to color/decorate, one to carve, and one to cook with! Anyone have any good fresh pumpkin recipes?

Not a cloud in the sky--I'm going to have to be dragged away from Arizona kicking and screaming when it's time for our next move.

Drew in the sunflowers

Drew in between the rows of sunflowers

Drew refused to sit on any of the pumpkins in the display at the produce section so he instead took this leaning over on his knees stance in all of these pictures--crazy kid.

Bill got some fresh peppers and tomatoes and made 1SG Ziebarth's homemade salsa last night to enjoy during football today. Yum, can't wait!

We headed over to the apple orchard for lunch but the line was far too long to wait in, so we just bought a few goodies in the country store and took one last picture. Then we had lunch at McDonald's a little way down the road!

More pumpkin pictures will come when we carve and bake the pumpkin seeds!

Remembering...

We love you and miss you Aunt Marie...always.

7/12/38--10/17/02

Even More Fall Fun!

Just a few pictures.

Drew checking out the alpacas at the Patagonia Fall Festival



Drew and his friend Sam on a couple of rides at the Festival

We celebrated Canadian Thanksgiving this past Sunday because my best friend here is Canadian and let's face it, growing up 5 miles from the border, I might as well be! Kim bought mini pumpkins for the kids to decorate and Drew thought that was great. He was very focused on his work but I did manage to get him to smile for one picture while he worked and show off his finished product.

A few recent pictures

Been pretty busy here lately and Bill and Drew had a couple of sick days, which hasn't left much time for blogging. I thought I would at least post a couple of recent pictures. The first two are from sports camp the last two weekends, and the other two are from this morning at the park.











You'll notice Drew is in long sleeves and jeans in the park pictures. It's finally starting to feel a little like fall around here. Temperatures are still very nice in the 70s and even low 80s some days, but the cooler weather is on its way. This is the first year I've really decorated our house in autumn decor. I so love the smell of the pumpkin and apple candles. It's making me very anxious for Thanksgiving and Christmas!