Happy Halloween

We got to hang out with some wonderful friends last night. We had wine, witches brew, cookies, dip (and all of those WONDERFUL things that AREN'T on our diet - needless to say, yesterday was our splurge day.)

We pooled our candy, the children beat each other up with pretend power tools, and fun was had by all!


Here's Carer learning the fine rituals of "Trick or Treat"




All the kiddos that were in the Bulldogs back at DM! We're all Draggins now!




Clay is after me!




Lucy, Masyn and the boys. Did you notice Lucy is a sushi roll? How cute is that!?




Clay posing



Woody and Buzz Lightyear




Clay and Elysianne. They were both born at the 121 about 20 days apart. I actually got to meet her a day after she was born when I was up there for NST monitoring.




"Hey Baby, give me a call sometime."

Boys will be Boys

They're already at it.

Fossil Rim

There's a place in Glen Rose Texas called Fossil Rim that allows you to drive through a wild life reserve to see and feed animals. Mostly it's a bunch of antelope/deer type animals, but there are zebras, giraffes, cheetahs, rhinos, emus and ostriches too.

Cory and I drove the kids down there one afternoon and both of the boys had a great time. Carter loved the fact that he didn't have to be strapped in while we were driving in the car, and Clay laughed his face off at some emus.

A long time ago, when we would go to this place for field trips, they would give you HUGE plastic cups of feed (as many per car as you wanted) and you were allowed to feed all of the animals by hand.

Looks like nowadays, the rules have changed some and you only get one bag of feed, and you're supposed to drop the food on the ground by your car. We started out following all the rules, but some of them were just so darn convincing.....












But I don't care how much these guys try and convince me. I am NOT feeding these things by hand!








But I sure wasn't about to pass THIS up!





The Zebras were AGGRESSIVE! Good thing that when we stopped for lunch halfway through, the cook told us stories about how the Zebras have bitten side view mirrors off of cars, and would do the same to your hands!

Colorado Part II

Pardon the Kazillion pictures. But, I've never been to Colorado Springs. I had to take a ton!

Here we are at the summit of Pike's Peak.



What a beautiful veiw!









Here we are on the Cogg Railway



Clay is intrigued by the camera



The city of Minnehaha on the way up Pike's Peak.







The cadets marching in



The "whole gang" at the AF vs. San Diego game.







Roll Call during the memorial service on the Terazzo






When you're a "4th degree" (or freshman as normal people say) you are required to run anytime you're on the Terazzo. And not only must you run, but you must run along these marble lines. If it is wet or slippery, you must walk at attention on these things.

Here is Carter and Adam practicing for 16 years down the road.



Here is Mike, Cory, Jim and Scott next to their plaque.



Here's the fam




Here we are by the capel. It's so gorgeous!





Here is Cory and Andres (Cory's roomate) in front of their room they shared.




Here is the ramp that used to say "Bring Me Men". Since that's not all PC anymore - they changed it to this.

Kids are Named the Darndest Things

As I was enjoying nap time today, I saw an article in my Parenting Magazine (one of the kajillion that were sitting in my mailbox) about baby names.

One of my best friends is pregnant and likes somewhat 'off the beaten path' names, so I thought I'd look and see if I saw anything she might like.

And Oh-Em-Gee!
The names...., dear Lordy, the names.
They are CRAZY..

Do you like colors?

How about the names Rust, Navy, Indigo or Teal?

No? Maybe you're into cooking.

How does Juniper, Clove, Anise, Cayenne, Basil, Thyme, Mace, or Sorrel sound?

No, no no. Those aren't right. You must be into Literature!

Imogen, Romeo, Zadie, or Salinger


I have no more words.

Colorado Part I

In September we left Chicago for Colorado Springs. Cory's parents went with us to babysit and we had a great time. We arrived 4 days early so we could do some sightseeing. I haven't ever been to the Springs or seen the ACADEMY. I feel like that word has to be in all caps or something. It's like A BIG DEAL and people there are quite serious about the whole thing.

These are mostly pictures of the 'touristy' things we did before the reunion actually started.


Oh also - try to ignore the dates on the pictures. It's driving me crazy because not only are they wrong, but I hate the fact that they're there altogether.


Here we are visiting the Cave Dwellings in Manitou Springs





I made Cory go horseback riding through Garden of the Gods. I know I know, It must have been AWFUL!


Clay says, "Go Air Force!"



I say, "Drink 4 Margaritas at once!"




Here's us all bundled up at the Royal Gorge.



It was like 10 degrees outside....




Snow on the mountains. It snowed all day on Monday. In case you didn't know. That would be the 20th of September!




Here are some pictures of the Garden of the Gods.








Here is Carter in the van we rented. We fit 6 suitcases, 6 carryons, a stroller and 6 people (2 of them in LARGE car seats.) all in a Toyota Sienna.
How? VERY STRATEGICALLY.

A Day in Downtown

Here is one of the days we went to downtown Chicago. We started off at the Shedd Aquarium then walked to the Sears Tower (yes, I know - that's a really long walk. But it was beautiful outside, I have a phil and ted and I'm from Osan gosh dernit!) and relaxed for a bit on the lawn across the street from the tower. It was a beautiful day!