Carvers and Trick or Treat

We have some serious carvers in the family. Ryan did his first intricate carving last year and has been waiting for his chance to show everyone up again this year. We even grew our own pumpkins this year. Max initially wanted to carve a bat or Batman but soon Shari had him talked into a funny face with ears. We thank her for that.

Mark, Shari, Ryan & Max with their creations.Ryan's WolfMark's Skull
Trick or Treating at the Uncle's house post Ward Trunk or Treat.
Here we are ready to Save the World one Loveless at a time.Luke enjoying the fruits of his labor.

Halloween Eve Eve.

Safe Superman, Rowdy Robin, Brave Batman & Crazy Catwoman
When Halloween falls on Sunday, the state of Utah finds it necessary to fill both Hallows Eve and Hallows Eve Eve chuck full of stuff, oh and every other day of that week too. Remember when you were little, and Halloween stuff was done on Halloween. And all it included was dressing up for school and then a night full of trick or treating and eating so much sugar that you were awake for an entire week straight.

Batman loves to ride the scooter at Dad's work

Now it's Halloween week. Everyday is Halloween for an entire week. Perhaps I was more annoyed by it this year because we had only been home from our trip less than 24 hours when all the weekend madness started. And by the way, this is coming from me, the woman who loves Halloween, who spray painted dead branches and arranged them in our yard to spook it all up and have a cute Halloween house!

Robin was very content to color until he saw the scooter!

But not wanting to disappoint, I had planned ahead and we had all our Superhero costumes ready for this year. Until Max lost his Batman mask. Then I had to improvise and cut and spray paint a Catwoman mask. He didn't seem to mind. Then it was off to Dad's work for

Trick or Treating.

Robin made sure he got away with a serious stash!

Somehow Luke came home with about double the candy that Max did. And somehow I am not surprised by this at all. He was really good at grabbing all he could as fast as he could. Then there were all those ladies who were giving the cute chubby little Robin much more than they ought to.

Fighting crime...no committing crime is more like it!

I suppose if you have two little boys, chances are you are going to have to do the Superhero thing at some point in time. About a month before Halloween we asked Max what he wanted to be and it was Batman. It never changed. Luke was happy to be his faithful sidekick. I went as Catwoman and Ryan, who will only oblige my insistence that he dress up for his kids by keeping it to a very bare minimum, agreed to throw on a Superman undershirt and be Clark Kent in transition.
Do you feel like your in good hands with this crime fighting family?

Rejuvinated.

one of the best experiences of our lives together. i realize it doesn't matter where you go or what you do, you just need to make time for eachother and get away. we owe JoAnn so much. she was so willing to come spend 5 days with 2 little guys who aren't used to their parents leaving them for long periods of time. we came back feeling tired but rejuvinated. i can't wait to get away with this guy again. he is so much fun and i was reminded of all the reasons we make such a perfect pair. till next time...

Day 4: UNIVERSAL STUDIOS

Our last day was spent at Universal Studios.

Good Lucy. Bad Ricky.

Right after meeting the Ricardo's we went to a Hollywood make-up show that was really good. Probably our favorite show we saw the entire trip. Very entertaining.

And a tribute to our Max...his favorite characters...

Ryan took a detour and went to the NYC library. He returned in time to see Shrek, the Mummy, Twister and eat some fish and chips.

Day 3: POOL TIME & DISNEYWORLD

On Thursday, we knew we wanted to do something at DisneyWorld.
Our hotel was very close to DisneyWorld so transportation would be free or cheap, but DisneyWorld tickets were not included in our travel package.
Option 1): Go to Epcot to the Food and Wine Festival and spend more $$ than we wanted; Option 2): lay by the pool all day long than go to Magic Kingdom for Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween from 7pm - Midnight, pay half price admission, & go Trick or Treating at DisneyWorld

After spending 2 days walking around theme parks, Option 2 seemed the obvious choice and so we spent a very enjoyable day at the pool. Ryan got in some good studying and I got some serious sun. It was so relaxing and enjoyable. Then it was time to get ready and go Trick or Treating at DisneyWorld! We felt like little kids! It was so fun!
We both new going to the Magic Kingdom without our kids would no doubt evoke parental guilt.

It did so we bought swords for the boys from the Pirates shop to ease the guilt. Here Ryan gives his best ARRGH MATEY on Pirates of the Caribbean.

Everyone was dressed up in their Halloween costumes that night. This was the best costume I saw that night. The woman inside that fortune ball is real! When I figure out how they did this, Ryan is going to win the $1000 prize at his work contest!

There was a Villains Parade and show that night. All the villains from the Disney tales were out greeting people that night. I had to keep an eye on Cinderella's step sisters. They were flirting with Ryan!

We had to ride the cars in Tomorrowland as a tribute to Max and Luke! They would have loved it and it was just their speed.

The Haunted Mansion on Halloween was a definite 'Have To'.

Day 2: Islands of Adventure

Monday: We decided to go to Islands of Adventure.
Ryan isn't so fond of rides, well he would like to be, but a weird Loveless genetic curse of motion sickness prevents him from being. So we decided to do that one first, get it out of the way so he could recover before we had to get back on a plane in 4 days. It actually turned out to be our favorite theme park and Ryan even managed to do a few rides without completely losing it!Islands of Adventure is made up of 6 "Islands" so to speak, each with a different theme.
The Concierge at our hotel told us that the first thing we needed to do was go get in line for the new Wizarding World of Harry Potter ride. Well, incidentally the ride was down in the morning so we just explored the World of Harry Potter and caught another roller coaster ride.

Let me just say this about the Wizarding World of Harry Potter. Amazing. Absolutely Incredible. And this is coming from two people who have not read the books and only caught bits and pieces of the first movie. We felt like we were there, in the movie. The school was just incredible. Every Harry Potter freak there knew what every detail was.Ryan and I were in awe and we actually tried to get the movie on demand back at the Hotel that night but they didn't have it. We are definitely going to watch them now and it made me want to read the books. Ryan did some research on the attraction and found out that the author was very heavily involved in the building of it because she wanted people to experience it just as it was written. Some of the actual movie props are used in the school and attraction. After we had visited a few of the other islands, we came back and did 'the ride' inside Hogwarts which simulates you flying with Harry Potter, dragons, all the stuff from the movies and books. It was the coolest ride I have ever been on in my life. It left Ryan unable to ride anything else for the rest of the day, but we made him feel better after by going and getting some ButterBeer (which is like a frozen cream soda, but better).

Jurassic Park Island-- after some very careful spectating, we decided that this ride wouldn't get us too wet, like some of the others in the park (which answered our question as to why people were wearing bathing suits around the place). However, just as we were seating in the second row of the boat, the two people seated directly in front of us bailed, leaving us unshielded as we came crashing down the waterfall. It was a hot day and we dried quickly, but we were wet!

Dr. Seuss Island. Rode the Cat in the Hat Ride made after the movie. Really cute. The boys would have loved this part of the park!

Toon Town Island. Didn't spend a lot of time here because we didn't bring a wetsuit! Had an awesome water ride in this part.

Marvel Superheroes Island.
This made us miss our boys who are so into superheros right now.
Ryan loved the SuperMan 3D ride!
My hulk!

Orlando Get Away

A few months ago, Ryan's work met their mid-year goals and we got a little bonus. That night I went to bed with visions of remodeling projects dancing in my head. So naturally, I called him the next day to let him know how much fun I was going to have with that bonus and what a great investment it all would be.
He replied, "Do you want new carpet or do you want to go to Florida?"

He had me at 'go'. He wanted to surprise me with the trip but told me that he feared I would use all our money playing remodel if he didn't say something. He had already called his mother and secured a babysitter and everything. I was thrilled and we quickly went to planning. Ryan had a work convention in Orlando in late October for 3 days. On the last day I would join him at the incredible Gaylord Palms resort for a night and then we would enjoy 4 more days at the Hilton Bonnet Creek resort as well as 3 day base tickets to Universal Studios and Islands of Adventure, a great package deal we found through Costco Travel. I was so excited to arrive on Saturday afternoon after 3 flight delays. Ryan had been working long hours and was excited for me to get there. When we pulled up to the Gaylord Palms resort I knew it was everything Ryan had been telling me and more. After walking through the initial entry, I was treated to a live alligator feeding, in the hotel river walk. Yes, they have alligators that live there. This place was amazing. I got to meet up with my best childhood friend who also works for Xango and was at the convention. We laugh that she lives in Lehi too but we have to go to Orlando to see each other.

Day 1: Sunday. Our first full day in Orlando. We didn't have a car and there wasn't a church for miles around, so we decided to just kind of take a chill day and not do much of anything. We went to our new resort and hung out down by the pool for the afternoon and read and relaxed. For dinner we took the free shuttle to Downtown Disney, which is just dining and shops and entertainment. We ate a really yummy dinner at Wolfgang Puck's Cafe, and then just walked around and enjoyed the atmosphere .
The Lego displays were incredible! We were already missing our kids as we oohed and awed over all the things they would love and as we saw all these families together. But we were thankful for the time we had alone too!