Halloween

We really enjoy Halloween every year. It's by far our favorite holiday to decorate for/participate in. I hope the girls grow to love it as much as Reed and I do. This year, we took both the girls trick-or-treating while Nana stayed home to hand out candy for us. Emily had a great first experience trick-or-treating. We just did a small block then brought her back home and put her to bed. She loved looking around at all the kids in their costumes. Allyson is now a pro at trick-or-treating. By the middle of our round in the neighborhood, she was running up to each house at top speed (she made a couple of face plants in the process) and knocking on the door with her bucket. She even used her sword on a scary skeleton decoration at one house. Her enthusiasm made Reed and I laugh out loud on several occasions. We came home, met with her friend Andon next door for a little while (watching them feed each other Nerds was hilarious!), then we came home. Ally even got to sit and watch Scared Shrekless with us and Nana before going to bed.

Ladybug Emily and Pirate Ally
Cute little Lady

Friendly pirate

Mommy and Emily

Mommy and Ally

Ally knocking at the door

Ally walking up to a scary house

Princesses

Ally is crazy obsessed with princesses. She loves to dress up in her princess dresses, watch her Disney princess movies, read princess stories, and make up stories about princesses. So when I heard that Disney Princesses on Ice was coming to town, I snatched up tickets in the front row for Ally, me and Reed. Needless to say, she had a great time eating her popcorn (she wouldn't let go of it!) and watching all her favorite characters come to life on the ice. Here are just two pictures of the prettiest princess I saw there:

Ally passed out int he backseat after the show
Mommy and Ally after the show

Autumn Fun

We've been enjoying the cooler weather for the last month or so. During the week, we come home from work, feed Emily her dinner outside, and Ally runs around and plays to burn off some of her extra energy. On the weekends, we've been getting outside to decorate for Halloween (pictures to come later this month), and we even took the girls to the pumpkin patch two weekends ago. Here are some pictures of our outside adventures:

Ally doing her (very dangerous) jumping game.
Funny Face

Just sitting around

The Sisters

Mommy and Ally

Daddy and Ally

Ally hiding (from monsters) in the bushes.

Emily munching on Mother Nature.

Giddy Up!

Ally falling on the jump pillow

Ally jumping on the jump pillow.

Emily's favorite phrase: "Uh-Oh". Caught her on the "Oh".

Emily playing in the sand.

Ally getting her face painted at the pumpkin patch.

Almost finished....

Ta-Da!

Sipping her lemonade and taking a rest on her pumpkin.

Emily's first pumpkin patch!

Emily and her friend Cyrus. "See, look at that."

"I didn't say you could touch it."

Step Step Step....

Emily's been walking for the past week or so, but she's gotten really good over the last 2 days.

Almost Walking...

A couple of cute pictures first...

Sleeping Hard.
Ally dressed up as Little Red Riding Hood at School this morning.

So Emily has been standing on her on for about a month now. She will cruise when she has a wall or table (or person) to move laterally on. Well the other day she was standing and too our surprise she took two very shaky steps towards us. She did it again a couple of days later. I don't think they are officially walking steps as she looked like she was controlling a fall rather than walking, but she's getting close. Here is a video of here pushing her lion down the hall.

Ally's Trip to the Dentist

Allyson went to the dentist for the first time yesterday. She was very excited about going, and knew exactly what to expect thanks to her Dora the Explorer story book. Allyson loved playing the video game in the waiting room before it was her turn to get her teeth cleaned. She was fine getting onto her chair, but was nervous of the light being too bright. So she got to put on some really cool purple (of course) sunglasses to protect her eyes. Dental Assistant Lauren was great with Ally, and told her she has very pretty princess teeth.

After Ally got her teeth brushed and flossed, she was allowed to go pick out an item from the treasure chest. Nothing really struck her fancy, so Lauren went and got her a fairy princess bear (dressed in purple, of course) and Ally loved it! She has named her bear Sissy (she names everything Sissy). Ally ended up finding something else she wanted; a dress-up deputy sheriff badge. She wore it proudly all the way to school!

Then Ally got to meet her new dentist: Dr. Baker. Dr. Baker counted her teeth and gave her a flouride treatment. Ally got her goody bag full of toothpaste, toothbrush (purple...again), mouthwash, floss, and a sugar free lollipop. All in all, a great first trip to the dentist!

Cool sunglasses and getting her teeth brush.
Testing out the chair

Lots of Pics

So, I've been meaning to post some recent pictures of the girls. They are growing up way too fast! Reed and I enjoy every second with them. They truly are the most wonderful children we ever could have hoped for! Makes us want more! Someday... Here's an update on what the girls enjoy doing:

Allyson's favorite things:

Playing princess

Going to the doctor

Riding her bike

Having picnics with "lots of food"

Showing Emily how to play with her toys

Playing with Daddy's new Droid X

Whining (this is NOT Mommy and Daddy's favorite)

Emily's favorite things:

Laughing at Ally when she cries

Pulling up on anything that stands still

Pulling Ally's hair

Putting everything in her mouth (edible or otherwise)

Squealing at the cats and chasing them around the house

Cruising the furniture

Enjoy the pictures! More posts to come soon!

Emily's carrot face looking at Daddy

Emily stuffing her mouth full of kiwi. Other things she's loving: carrots, fresh mango, bananas

Ally on Grannina's and PeePaw's sailboat

Ally and Daddy doing art after dinner

Emily helping Mommy pack up clothes for Cousin Olivia

Nana and Emily playing

Emily playing after coming back from the pool

Girls playing under the coffee table

Emily giving Ally a little kiss

Allyson's Christmas Letter to Santa

So we were trying to explain where Daddy was going for two weeks and we mentioned that it was close to the North Pole where Santa lives. Ally got excited that Dad was going to be visiting Santa. So we played along and had here write a Christmas List to Santa so Dad could give it to him. I carried it up the Thule with me and found this secluded area in a river bed...

I selected that nice flat topped piece of Gneiss in the center of this picture to place the list.
So I placed it on the rock and decided that I would build a small shelter for it just in case it survives the winter I can go an check on it next year. I think the river water level will likely wash it away, but it'd be cool if it didn't.
So Ally drew a reindeer (Bottom Left) and asked for a Prince (Top Right Drawing that looks like an A) and Cinderella (Middle Right Drawing that looks like a bunch of lines). She also wrote something below above her name but she wouldn't tell us what it was.
Here I placed a large flat rock on top of the letter and place several others around it. I'll let you know if it is there next year.

Once in a Lifetime....my second trip....

Got back from my second trip to Thule, Greenland. The trip was wet or cold, not and cold. When it was raining, the temperature was bearable in the upper 40's. When the clouds cleared off it dropped into the mid 30's with a cutting wind. Anyway. I'm glad to be back and will not need to go back until next spring...

Here is are a couple of links if you want to know about Thule:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thule_Air_Base

http://www.athropolis.com/map2.htm

This is a plateau that dominates the area. It's name is Dundas and is the landmark that you reference everything to. One trip I am going to climb it, but not this time. Apparently there is a stone golf course on top.
Another Picture of Dundas showing its "table top."
This view is from a cliff that overlooks the ice bay where three glaciers meet Baffin Bay. Apparently this is the only place in the world where three separate glaciers meet. I'm not really sure how that's possible.
The icebergs are fairly light in the late summer. I hear they are much heavier as the ice is breaking up in the ice bay. Will look forward to seeing that next year.
One of the many glacial creeks formed form melt water from the ice cap. the whitish blue stuff under the rocks on that cliff is the actual Polar Ice Cap. As the ice moves down the valley it shovels stones up like a plow.

This is one of the Arctic Foxes that we saw everywhere. You are warned not to approach them as most have rabies, but that does not stop them from coming up to you. This one hung around the work site and watched us. They turn this ugly brown for the summer, but their fur will change to white by the time winter sets in.

There are also Arctic Hares everywhere. This is a lone one. There were literally hundreds of these hares scatter all over the tundra. I'll have to get a better camera with a good optical zoom my next trip.