Happy Halloween!

Bryce hangs out while Stu carves our Jack-o-lantern.


Drew was excited to "help" with the carving. Note that he only had a plastic spoon!


Stu works hard on the pumpkin.


Bryce (Red Power Ranger) & Drew (Frog) had a fun Halloween party with some friends earlier this week.


Drew at the party.


Bryce & Drew hit the road.


Jim & Stu took Bryce fishing in the Jemez Mountains last week. They stopped off for some photos along the way.


Jim helps Bryce try to reel in the "Big One!"


Bryce poses by the Jemez River.


We helped Grandpa Jim celebrate his birthday on the 20th.

Just playing with our new camera. How cute is this model???

So, no actual Halloween pics yet, but I wanted to catch up on a few others before the big night tonight! Bryce is VERY excited! We're headed to his preschool Halloween party this afternoon, and then our neighborhood is getting all geared up for Trick or Treating tonight. We're planning to block off traffic on our loop & just let the kids have at it! We'll post an update on that later this weekend.

This morning we got the festivities started by carving our Jack-o-Lantern and baking pumpkin muffins. The boys can't wait to put their costumes on later, and even Drew knows that this evening = CANDY!!! It's much harder to conceal that fact from the second child! I'm sure we'll have lots of fun.

Earlier this week we attended a Pre-Halloween party with some of Bryce's old playgroup buddies. It's hard to believe that they're all turning 5 now! We had a great time. Last week, Stu & Jim took Bryce on his first-ever fishing trip in the Jemez (hem-ez) Mountains. They had a blast! They explored some tunnels, red cliffs, the river, and a fish hatchery. They had a few nibbles but weren't lucky enough to catch anything. Bryce loved the experience, though, and seems enthusiastic to try it again sometime soon!

We hope everyone has a fun, safe, SPOOKTACULAR Halloween! BOO! :)

Fun on the Farm!

Bryce all loaded up for a ride on the "Cow Train."


Bryce & Drew checking out Bunnytown.


Bryce loved feeding the sheep & goats.


Drew's turn to feed the animals.


Drew pets a goat. Is it just me, or does the goat look kind of annoyed???


Bryce had a blast on the pedal-cart track!


Drew & Stu on the "Bouncing Pillow." He loved bouncing with all of the big kids (Daddy included!)


Here's a shot of the "Bouncing Pillow." It was huge!


The boys on the Haystack Pyramid. Drew had reached his limit at this point & thought the photo session should be over!


He recovered after we promised him chicken nuggets on the way home!

Yesterday we took the boys to Moriarty, NM, to visit a pumpkin patch. We've been with Bryce before, but it was Drew's first visit. We had an unusually stormy day, but we decided to brave the weather anyway. It was very windy at the farm, but not too cold. The boys had a blast! We were having so much fun at the main area that we didn't even make it out to the pumpkin patch to choose pumpkins. The boys were much more interested in petting & feeding animals, riding pedal-carts, jumping on a HUGE pillow bouncer, sliding on burlap sacks, and playing in a sandbox filled with dried corn kernels. Good, old-fashioned fun on the farm! Just because we don't live in Montana doesn't mean that we can't get the boys back to their roots! It was a great way to spend a Saturday in October, even if it meant that Stu missed seeing the Texas/Oklahoma game! What a trooper! :)

Special Shapes Glowdeo

The Wells Fargo balloons got the event started...corporate sponsors.


I'm telling you, you can literally walk right through the balloon area as they're inflating! Bryce demonstrates my point. (Yes, he's holding pink bunny ears. They're a freebie from the giant Energizer Bunny balloon.)


The scarecrow & the angel are fillin' up!


The thing on its back with the red nose is a giant bumblebee balloon. It has a twin, and sometimes they take off "holding hands" (thanks to giant velcro). All together now...ahhh!


Bryce got his wish(es)...a light saber and a photo with a Storm Trooper!


Stu loves this picture...the future Jedi in action!


My favorite, Airabelle, in all of her glowing glory. Yes, she actually can fly, but only if the weather conditions are darn near perfect. In other words, not very often.



Balloons galore aglow.


Grandma felt sorry for Drew (Mommy didn't buy him a light saber), so she took care of the problem. He looked pretty cute, until he started hitting strangers with it.

Yes, that's right, it's called a Special Shapes Glowdeo. Special shapes because they highlight all of the balloons that are not your typical teardrop shape. Some of them are downright strange, but most of them are pretty neat. My personal favorite has always been Airabelle, the Creamland Dairy Flying Cow. I also love the Jack-o-Lantern. Bryce is partial to the Darth Vader Balloon, and there was also a new Haunted House ballon that he liked this year. The event is called a Glowdeo because the balloons inflate but stay tethered on the ground. Then, as it gets dark, they fire their torches and the inside of the balloon "glows". It's an amazing sight. The coolest part is that you're not restricted to bleachers as a spectator, you're right out there in the middle of the field with the balloons. You can touch them, and some pilots even ask for your help as they get set up & inflate. Balloon Fiesta is truly one of the coolest things I've ever seen, and I never get sick of it! Definitely one of the highlights of living in Albuquerque!

Playing at the park...

Since we moved in last summer, we've been watching the park in our neighborhood go in. Today it's finally open! We headed up the street to check it out, and had a great time playing with lots of other kids & parents with the same idea! It's a great little park with lots of play equipment, picnic tables (SHADED!) and even large shade structures over the play area!!! Halleluah! Us northern folks & our kids don't fare so well in NM at the park in the summertime without shade!


Bryce enjoying the cool climbing structure.


Drew had to try it out, too!


We had a great time in the beautiful October sunshine.

Balloon Fiesta!

A balloon flying over our neighborhood. All of these shots were taken from our backyard!


The Wells Fargo Stagecoach balloon. It's HUGE!!!


Another beautiful balloon landing near our house.


A few balloons starting to take off early this morning.

This is really just a preview post. The Balloon Fiesta is in full swing here in ABQ, and we've been pleasantly surprised by the number of balloons we've been able to see from our new house. Our previous house was pretty much in a direct sight line of the Balloon Park, so we figured we'd be giving some of that up by moving. However, favorable winds several days this week have pushed the balloons our way, and last Saturday & Tuesday we were thrilled to see many flying over us and landing in our neighborhood! Stu walked Drew over to one that was landing on Saturday morning for a closer look & he loved it! He doesn't remember last year's Fiesta, so this is all new to him. We're planning to head over to the Ballon Glow this evening, so we'll definitely post pictures of that this weekend. We had to go out and buy a new camera yesterday...ours died a slow death over the past few weeks, and it's just totally out of the question to attend Ballon Fiesta without a working camera!!! I think you might even get kicked out for that! So, as we learn our way around this new one, hopefully we'll have some fun shots to share. Bryce is especially excited to get his picture taken with the Darth Vader balloon. They usually have some Storm Troopers in full costume "guarding" the area!

I hope everyone is having a great week...check back soon for more coverage of Balloon Fiesta 2008!