Happy Halloween

I hope everyone had a happy Halloween like we did. It was a very busy dad for Max. It started at school with a Halloween parade, trick-or-treating and then a party at the end of the day. I was able to attend the party where the kids did a project, decorated a cookie, played bingo and a ring toss game.







After the party Max took a nap since the day was going to be very busy. Andy brought Max to my office at 3:00 for more trick-or-treating and carnival games. My office is so much fun this time of year. Everyone goes all out on decorations and it's pretty crazy. My department did a Willy Wonka theme and it turned out great! We even tied for first place with the Firm's Halloween decorating contest.






We did dress up again as a family this year and we were Power Rangers, courtesy of Max. He picked out the theme and I made it happen.


We ended Halloween with some trick-or-treating with friends in their neighborhood because their "hood" knows how to celebrate Halloween. Plus, Max loves to trick-or-treat with his friends. He was looking forward to this night all week.




And somehow we have entered into November. It's now full speed ahead to Christmas...oh, and, Thanksgiving!

Football, Soccer, Pumpkins and Crab

On Friday night we went to the high school football game again, but this time we went to see Amanda cheer since Hamilton was playing her high school. For those that don't know, Amanda is Max's sitter. She's a high school senior who gets out at noon and comes to our house every day from 1:30 - 5:00 to watch Max while we work. Max absolutely adores Amanda and was super excited to go watch her cheer.


On Saturday morning Max played hard at his soccer game. He gave it his all and passed the ball to one of his teammates who was then able to score a goal. He was super excited about that.

Sunday afternoon we painted a couple pumpkins to get us into the Halloween mood.

Max was hungry for seafood so we went to Jimmy T's Holy Crab for dinner. We shared king crab legs and shrimp. It was very good and Max absolutely loved the place and he loved cracking the crab.





On Sunday Max decided he wanted to swim, so he jumped in the chilly pool. I can't believe he did. He thought the water was a bit cold, but he still wanted to go swimming.


After the Packer game we carved the two large pumpkins we bought at the farm. Max helped carve this year.

Field Trip to the Farm

Yesterday Max's class took a field trip to a farm and Andy and I went with. Last year when Max's class had this field trip we opted out since we were in Wisconsin and took Max to a real pumpkin patch. Here in Phoenix you get a fun farm with a makeshift pumpkin patch. It was a lot of fun though. This farm had a lot of activities for the kids and Max had a blast.
















Max caught up with Oliver from his class and they both had a great time playing with the giant tunnel tubes.




At the end of the field trip we did pick out some pumpkins, from the makeshift pumpkin patch, to take home so that we could paint and carve them this weekend.




Max with most of his class and his teacher at the farm.

Quick Weekend Getaway

This past weekend I went to Minneapolis to celebrate my best friend's 40th birthday. It was just me that went while Max and Andy had their boys weekend together.

I have never really spent time in Minneapolis before so Kelli did an excellent job of showing me around. Friday night we went out in downtown Minneapolis and had a lot of laughter and reminiscing of old times over dinner and plenty of drinks.



Saturday was quite the chilly day as I believe it was 37 degrees with a brisk wind that blew right through your jacket. But, as everyone there would say "at least the sun is out."

Since I have not spent time in Minneapolis Kelli decided that we would hit up a couple tourist spots. The sculpture park/garden is a popular tourist spot to take photos and it provided a nice scenic view of downtown.





The stone bridge was pretty cool and absolutely beautiful...but super cold. I couldn't stand out there longer than 5 minutes. Notice the rainbow in the pics.




Kelli also took me to the best gluten free restaurant. It was the best food ever! I was so happy to go into a restaurant and not have to worry about what I was going to order.

Saturday night was the big party for Kelli. She had well over 60 people there to celebrate her special day. I am not surprised that many people came because Kelli is truly a one-of-a-kind friend. She is caring, sweet and would do anything for you. I am so glad I got to meet so many of her friends and family. Everybody was also super nice.






Sunday we had brunch with Kelli's family, but then we needed to relax at the house because a) it was cold outside and I was over being cold and b) we were super tired from our weekend of going out and being young again.

While I was away, Andy and Max had a good "boys weekend" together. Max played hard at his soccer game. No goal, but he says he tried really hard and that's all that matters. They did a lot of bike rides around the neighborhood because Max is currently obsessed with riding his bike outside. On Saturday they also went bowling together.




It was such a nice weekend in Minneapolis catching up with a long time friend of mine who I rarely get to see, but when we do see each other it's like time has never passed. It was so nice that I might just make it an annual trip to visit Kelli in Minneapolis. Even though I had an awesome time it was even more awesome to come home to Andy and Max.

Weekend Update

It rained ALL DAY on Saturday...and it was a nice change of pace. Unfortunately it cancelled Max's soccer game, but it was so nice to have a full day of rain. FYI...I never would have said that 10 years ago...or even 5 years ago. So, on Saturday morning I took Max to the mall with me. I needed to get a birthday present for a friend and he had a gift card to the Disney store that he's had since his birthday. Once he picked out his toy from the Disney store he was excited to pay for the toy all by himself with his gift card. He even swiped the card by himself and that was probably the highlight of his day.

Following the shopping, Max wanted to do the bungee jump thing in the mall. Hey, it was raining and we had nothing better to do. Max had a blast on this thing.

Saturday night called for a babysitter while Andy and I headed to the Jimmy Buffet concert with our friends.




Of course you have to put your hands up for "fins to the left, fins to the right."




On Sunday night, we had my cousins over for dinner. My cousin Kaitlynn and her family are in town for the week visiting Stephanie so of course they came down to Chandler for a visit. It was great to have them over. There were a lot of laughs and it was super adorable seeing Max interact with Josie who is about 14 months old. He was so sweet and gentle with her that is just warmed my heart.