Buzz Lightyeart Trick or Treats!

Bradley quickly got the idea of trick or treating and soon was asking to go to every house we passed. So much for only going to two or three houses. It turns out when you are cute they give you more candy too. Because we certainly came back with way more candy than houses we visited.

 

Bradley was Buzz Lightyear with a vest that blinked green and red with LEDs.

Portland was a cow. A Chick-Fil-A cow, specifically.

 Ohh my sweet cow, grazing in the grass. 

I think the practice at Disney's Halloween party this year really helped Brad grasp the true meaning of Halloween. Because as soon as we got home he dumped out his candy and began chowing down. He was fully aware of the wonderful treats he was collecting at every house and very eager to begin the feast.

 I'm allowed to spoil him a little, right? Who ever said candy was bad for kids. Never mind those dentists, they are just money grubbing tooth advocates. Their opinion doesn't count on Halloween.

Brad's First Camping Trip!

October is my fave month in Georgia. The leaves change and the weather cools down. After my last few experiences of camping while pregnant in Georgia in the summer, I have learned that it is not enjoyable. But this year, THIS YEAR, we decided it would be fun to let Bradley experience "camping in georgia." I simply refused to do it during the summer, and there wasn't much time to anyways.

Brian and I grew up camping in Oregon, so rain really doesn't scare us. We didn't really think much of the high percent chance of rain for the North Georgia Mountains. We kept on planning and packing.

This is what it looked like 10 minutes from our destination...

15 minutes later it started to pour.

So we spent the next 45 minutes in the car in our camping spot! Bradley thought this was a most excellent way to start a camping trip. Portland was less than excited about both the rain and the toddler crawling all over her.

Our heroic Daddy started setting up camp during one of the breaks. Georgia rain is nothing like Oregon rain. It poured HARD for 15 minutes. Took a break. Rained at a harder level for another 10 minutes, took a break again. And then lightened up for a little longer and continued in this light rain and break pattern for an hour or two.

Portland was unhappy, but Bradley thought wandering around the campsite was very fun.

Bradley did have a small freakout moment in the tent after dinner. He thought dad was lost in outerdarkness because he wasn't inside the tent. But eventually Daddy came in the tent and was able to settle Bradley down and we all had a nice snuggle. I was 20% on thinking we might have to bail out and drive home in the middle of the night. But he ended up snuggling with Dad all night long and woke up a happy camer! 

Camping breakfasts are always the best. Pancakes, scraballed eggs and sausage! Happy tummies.

Before we broke camp we hiked all 604 steps up and then 604 back down Amicalola Falls. Last time I tried this hike I was slightly pregnant and it was near 90 degrees outside. I did not make it back up the falls. In fact on this trip I insisted we start at the bottom instead of the top.

My happy hikers were all thrilled to see the waterfall!

Then we had to hike back down down down down.

THEN (and the real reason for coming to Amicalola) We went to Burt's Pumpkin Patch! Which is just down the road! Last year it was so much fun (minus an offroading excursion) we had to go again!

Awe. Kisses for the Dads.

Dad let our little helper pick out some gords. He was very excited to put his own pumpkins into the wheelbarrow.

Best camping trip ever.

Home to Oregon

I love going home to Oregon. This trip was extra special because my super cool sister was able to fly out and visit too (I was able to visit with my super cool brother earlier this summer). Grandma and Grandpa Daniels were in grandkid heaven! And Heidi and I got some much needed goofy sister time.

We loaded up my grandma's car and drove 4 adults and 2 babies to the coast for a few nights of fun. It was the best because my dad was able to take off his "Bishop Daniels" hat and put on his "Grandpa Daniels" hat and goof off with the grandbabies. Plus our beach house was actually on the beach! During high tide the waves would splash the bottom of the stairs.

The first stop of course was the Tillamook Cheese factory. For you non-northwesterners, this is where the most tasty cheese in the US is made. Look for it next time you are in the grocery store. It is WORTH it!

Then we played on the beach in the 70 degree weather! Yea we were super lucky.

Then we went to the outlets. Brad is expressing his feelings about being in the Gap for longer than 15 minutes.

Then we came home and played for a few more days.

I was also able to visit Bradley's newest cousin or second cousin w/e.. Alex!
Brian's family is very close, so yes, on my trip to see my family in oregon I spent time with Brian's aunt and her daughter in law Alina! Alina and Alex are so sweet together! Alina has this beautiful accent (romanian? right?) and I love how she says "bubay" for baby.

It is always such a blast to go back to Oregon, but this was defiantly a special trip I will never forget.

Not So Scary Halloween Party

I don't even know where to begin. The Not so Scary Halloween Party is easily the coolest night at Disney I've ever had. The average day at the Magic Kingdom during September-October isn't much different than any other summer day. Just a few extra fun decorations. But if you beg your mother-in-law to include the special after-hours Halloween party in you vacation, you are in for a real treat.

Needless to say, you dress up. And everyone in our family was such a good sport and dressed up with us.

In our party we had Woody, Jessie, Buzz Lightyear, Alice and the Mad Hatter (Scott, brian's brother and Meredith, his wife), and a couple of clowns (Tim and Lou)! One of the clowns in particular looked a little goofy.

There are lots of neat activities going on all over the park. There is trick-or-treating at the rides, special character meets all over, all the Haunted Mansion cast members looked and ACTED like zombies, funky music and lighting all over the park, a special fireworks show and there were even dance parties with some characters- we made an appearance at the Woody's Roundup Dance Party in the Saloon in Adventure Land. 

You should not attend this party if you don't like Disney stuff or Halloween. 

My fave special event was the Boo to You Parade and the special Evil Characters Show.

Special characters only come out for this parade, and all the normal characters are in costume!! Best parade ever. Yes even better than the Christmas parade. That's how cool it is!

 Do you know who these two are???? Not from a movie, but any Disney goer should know!

 The Evil Character's Show! All the characters come down to meet you after wards, and it ends with Curella Deville stealing the stage for a solo.

 The dance party! The real Woody and Jessie came and danced with us!

This is completely narcissistic, but the best part was how much attention we got because of our awesome costumes and adorable son. No less than 4 strangers asked to take our photo- front and back. hahaha

 During the whole night strangers and cast members would shout, "oh hey it is Woody and Jessie!" I found this extremely funny. Even parade dancers would exclaim "Hi WOODY! HI JESSIE." All the parade free roaming characters walked up to us to shake Bradley's hand or pat his and we got extra candy at the end of the parade. Because we were awesome.

The ultimate compliment was at the end of the night in line for the bus, I finally tucked my red yarn wig behind my ears to reveal my brown hair and I heard a little gasp. On the bus I sat next to a grandma who told me her granddaughter told her she knew I wasn't the real Jessie because she could see my brown hair. How cute. That and girl the yelled "Hey Howdy Hey!" as I walked by were pretty darn adorable.

I'll post details on how I put together our costumes in a few days on my crafty blog: 

Jubilationstudios.blogspot.com

 

Hotel and other fun Activities - Disney World

We were in Disney for nearly a week, sooo we had to fill Bradley's time with more than just rides. So we did all "the other stuff" there is that kids can do! And we had a ton of fun too!! Here are a few pics.

 

We didn't log too much hotel time. But we did get to spend one day playing at the pool and watching all the animal in our backyard.