Arizona State Fair

We went to the state fair a few weeks ago. We don't do much there since it's a wallet drain, but it's always fun to go. We went too late to see all the animals, so that was too bad because the kids always like the animals. We got to smell them - that's almost as fun, right?

The kids are big enough to ride just about everything by themselves now. It's a lot of fun to watch them! Robbie was a little nervous at first, but quickly caught on...

Exhibit A. Before:

Exhibit B. After:

On the bus ride over from the state capitol:

Erin finishing her ride on the zip line:

On the "crazy coaster":

The lay-down-and-fly-like-superman ride:

On the tugboat:

We finished off the night with some funnel cake and another bus ride back to our car. See you next year, state fair!

Halloween 2010

Happy Halloween!

This year, Erin was a hippie and Robbie was Superman. At the last minute, I got a costume and dressed up as a hippie, too. Rob was the grim reaper, but his makeup was off by the time we took a picture. These might be the coolest pants I've ever worn.

We went to our ward's Trunk-or-Treat, which is always fun. This year, Rob's parents and his sister Brigette & her family came, too! Erin had a lot of fun hanging out with her cousins. Of course we all decorated our cars and got to visit a little amidst the Halloween madness!

Dan, Sandy, and Rett in Rett's truck:

Rob with our car:

Steven with his car - Brigette snuck away before I could snap the picture!

For reasons unknown, our kids only went around trunk-or-treating through all the cars once. Whatever got into them, we were glad to have that much less candy coming home with us!

On Halloween, we went out for Round 2 while Rob stayed home to pass out candy. He always does a good job decorating the front door for the trick-or-treaters. Of course, it looks better than this in the dark, when the black light makes everything glow and the strobes are going.

The kids had a good time, and there were only a couple of "scary" houses that made them nervous. Erin made me proud at one house. There was a "Deaf Christian Center" van parked in the driveway, so I told Erin that the people at the house might not hear her. I told her to say trick or treat anyway, and if she could tell they were deaf, she should sign "thank you" to them afterward. So she did! She learned the sign in church a while back, and just that morning our music leader in Primary was teaching a song about all the different ways to say thank you. Yay for church! Anyway, when she signed "thank you", the guy got all excited and signed it back to her & gave her a thumbs-up. It made me happy.

At home, the kids admired all their candy and put a pretty good dent in it.

The end! Let's move on to November.