Halloween Zoo Trip

The Saturday before Halloween we took Alden to the Woodland Park Zoo up in Seattle.  They were doing things for Halloween like putting pumpkins in animals cages and they had booths where Alden could Trick-or-Treat.  The other fun thing was that Alden got to wear his costume all day.  Alden had a blast seeing all the animals and running around in his costume (which I finished sewing the tail and ears onto, while we were driving to the zoo that morning).  Here are some pictures from our little excursion.

This was Alden at the very beginning of the day and it is the only time all day that he had his hood on.

Alden wanted to be up as close as possible to watch all the animals.

Daddy had a lot of fun looking for the smaller animals with Alden.

These were some of the most entertaining animals to watch because they were so active.

These otters were moving all over their enclosure.

Alden started pointing at all the animals when he saw them and he would try to say what they were, but if the animal resembled anything close to a dog that was what he called it.

We did eventually teach him that this is a bear and he will now identify and say the word bear.

We had a lot of fun getting in the Halloween spirit here and trying to teach Alden how to Trick-or-Treat.  However, Alden was usually to scared to say anything to the people giving out treats so we only tried a few times.  It was a really fun day for all of us and ended up not being too cold which is always nice up here.

Getting to Washington

We drove to Washington over two days stopping for the night in Oregon.  Alden fared pretty well on the drive but we definitely had to stop fairly often so that he could get out and run around.  Other than running around at rest stops he slept for most of the drive.  He was such a little trooper but we were all very grateful when we made it to Washington. 

 Alden thought everything at the rest stops was interesting.

Alden had to get Daddy's help to climb up this little hill so he could get a closer look at the bug shown below.

 On the second day of driving he started out sleeping.

This stop was really windy and cold and then Alden wanted to play with water...it didn't seem like a good combination.

After that stop it was back to sleep for most of the rest of the drive.

BYU Homecoming Parade

The day after Drew got back we went to the BYU Homecoming Parade with Drew's family so that I could watch Katrina perform in the parade.  Alden had fun hanging out with his cousin, Brendon one last time before we left, and he started adjusting back to having Daddy around.

Katrina performed with her ballroom team in the parade and she did really well.  It is fun to see her learning new dance styles and improving at them so quickly!  I love watching her perform and I am glad that I got to be there for the parade.  I did get a video of Katrina preforming in the parade but it isn't very great because they were constantly moving.  Magann and I ran about a 1/2 mile of the parade course to see Katrina's team finally perform again.  Otherwise they were just walking and running the parade route.  So here is the video but you can probably skip the first 20 seconds and to help you find Katrina she is the row second to the end and third back from the camera.

Here are the pictures from the rest of the parade.

Alden did not like the sun in his eyes so he moved soon after this.

The boys enjoyed watching everything together.

Alden danced when he first heard the sound of the marching band but then he was mesmerized by the color guard.  Here is a video.

 Daddy-son time for both brothers and cousins.

Drew and his sisters.  They had fun being back together for a day!

It was hard for Drew to say good-bye to his family again after only being with them for one day but he was glad for the time he got! 

We are so happy to be back together again!

The Day Drew Came Home

Drew was supposed to fly in on a Thursday but his flight was delayed for over 24 hours so he was a day late getting home but at least he made it safely.  After I picked Drew up at the airport we went straight to his parent's house to celebrate his homecoming.  It was great being together as a family again and having time to visit before we moved out of the state. (And a big thank you to Magann for most of these photos!)

My sister-in-laws, Magann and Lani arranged to have the cousins create a welcome home sign for Drew.  Here are all the boys coloring the sign.  It was nice having them do this to welcome Drew home, especially since it was a surprise to me too.

My sister-in-law Magann also made these signs the day before when she was watching Alden so that he could hold them when Daddy came home.  Alden was more interested in running around than holding the signs but he brought the signs over to Daddy later and we kept them!

Alden going up to Daddy when we first got home.

While we had all of Drew's family there we took some family photos which are shown here.  They came out really well considering how many squirming toddlers we had!

 Drew and all his siblings back together for a day!

Later on all the boys went out to play in the backyard and Drew had fun chasing Alden around again.

It was also really nice that Katrina could come and be there to celebrate Drew's homecoming too.

Everyone is so glad to have Drew home and it was so nice to see such an outpouring of love from family while we were in Utah.