Happy Halloween!

I'm afraid that I am the grinch of Halloween. I find it very stressful coming up with ideas for costumes that won't cost much money. I am NOT a creative/imaginative person and so this holiday of creativity causes stress. I loathe the idea of spending money just to dress up for one evening. I hate spending so much money on candy, just to give it out to other kids, whose parents in turn give me their candy, that I really didn't want to fight with my kids about in the first place!!
That being said. Once the day is done... I DO love to see how excited the kids are, and am always excited that they are always thrilled with my meager attempt at a costume and never complain they don't have the 30-50 dollar ones. They are always so cute, and at the end of the day, I am always glad we did it and enjoy Halloween.

Temps around 60 made for a beautiful Halloween night for our

cowgirl

pirate

(Ethan had a hook and an eye patch that... in true Ethan form... were lost before the evening even began)

witch

(Elise wasn't feeling well, and was cold, so she wore her winter cap under her witch hat)

and our victim of a vampire

(Samantha went with her friend (the vampire) to a party)

Most of the night this is all I saw... the backs of the kids running door to door :D

I have to admit it is very fun living in a neighbourhood where we know most of our neighbours and their kids and get to go to their friends houses and see them out trick or treating.
Checking out the haul!!
35 pieces of candy!!
In the end a very FUN, beautiful, evening!!
Hope you all had a HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!

Guest bloggage (take 3)- Coast trip

Well, it's been a few weeks since the kids and I went to the Oregon coast, so here's my recap. We left Friday and drove 4-5 hours to Newport, Oregon. We quickly found our oceanside hotel, went down to the beach, and took the picture above. As you can see from the kids' clothes, it was chilly, but thankfully no rain fell on us while we were there.

Saturday morning we went to the aquarium. It was kind of small, but it definitely had a lot of cool things.

Here's where the kids spent close to an hour. Ethan was mesmorized by the sharks, and didn't want to leave when everyone else was done. Afterward, he was telling any volunteer who would listen what the differences were between bamboo and leopard sharks!

After petting the sharks and rays, we saw the standard otters, seals, etc. and came to another touchy feely exhibit.

We really enjoyed the aquarium, but we had seen everything after about 3 hours. We went back to the little sharks one last time and headed out. There was a visitor's center next door hosted by the university, so we decided to give that a try. It was pretty cool also, especially since it was free.

More petting:

We wanted to hit the lighthouse and tide pools that day, so we cut the visitor center visit short.


We took the tour up the lighthouse, but they wouldn't let us out on the balcony. Lame! That's OK, because we then went to the beach, where we had the absolute coolest time! We quickly wished we had cut our aquarium run short, because there were A TON of animals to check out there, all for free!

Check out the littlest hermit crab evah!

This was really the highlight of our trip. There were tons of little pools that were teeming with life. We all enjoyed it a lot, and wished we had gotten there earlier. Unfortunately, the tide started coming back in, and bathroom issues had to be attended to. We went back to the hotel, and Elise wanted to take a few pictures of the beach. She had seen a kid's photo contest and she wanted to enter it.

We walked down to the beach at just the right time. Here's some pics I took:

A full but great day Saturday. It was marred only by our hotel toilet overflowing twice. Sunday morning I girded myself for the confrontation with the hotel clerk. I wanted a day off my bill, which they wouldn't give me. But they gave us a $40 voucher for lunch, which we used later that day. Squeeky wheel, meet grease...

We had heard that the pier was pretty cool, so we spent a couple of hours there before we left. Here was the coolest part:

As you can see, there were about 15 sea lions literally under our noses. They were pretty funny to watch. They were all sunning and quiet, until one of them moved. Then all of them would bark like crazy for awhile. The kids loved watching them. Samantha and Elise even named a few.

All in all, a GREAT weekend. We love Newport! We need to take Tracey over there next year when it gets warmer. Next time, we'll spend the whole day at the tide pools!

Poetry

I've been meaning to post these for some time (they are last year's work), so I have a copy of them for my blog book

Cool

Funny, friendly

They can pinch hard.

Hermit crabs

by Ethan Bryan

A Color Poem

Orange is the sunset

slowly taking the day away.

Orange are the flames in my head

when I get really angry.

And, a candle light is orange, too.

Green is the grass

so bright in the spring.

Green is an iguana

slowly moving in its cage.

And, a fresh pickle is green, too.

Blue is a forget-me-not

growing in a beautiful garden.

Blue is sad

when someone gets put-down.

And, my eyes are blue, too.

by Elise Bryan

Auto-bio Poem

Elise

Weird, smart, confusing, and kind.

Daughter of Tracey and Bradley Bryan

Lover of my family

Who feels excited, happy and unsure

Who finds happiness in reading books,

twilight, day-dreams and rides

Who needs a book nearby at all times,

friends and weekends

Who gives attention to my dog, love to my

family and respect to people

Who fears the high dive, getting in trouble,

and sad times

Who would like to see Robert Patterson,

Kristen Stuart and Hawaii

Who enjoys reading, nice weather and

playing with my Peeps

Who likes to wear the color blue, capris and

jeans

Resident on Aberdeen Drive in Bend

Bryan

I Am...

I am Elise

I wonder why the sky is blue.

I hear birds chirping in my yard.

I see people riding bikes when it's warm outside

I want to be a teacher when I grow up.

I am Elise

I imagine that the "Twilight" series is real.

I feel happy right now.

I touch my pencil and write.

I worry about the soldiers in Iraq.

I cry every time I see

"Where the Red Fern Grows."

I am Elise.

I understand that lying is very wrong.

I sometimes say things I don't mean.

I dream about "Twilight."

I try to be better every day.

I hope someday that I can

have a perfect day.

I am Elise.

Dogs, Dogs, Dogs

Short dogs,

Longer dogs,

Happy funny, friendly dogs.

Lonely, worried, sad dogs.

Those are just a few.

Shy dogs,

Bored dogs,

Black, white, furry dogs.

Fuzzy dogs, too.

Big dogs,

Small dogs,

Muddy dogs.

Don't forget cuddly dogs.

Last of all, best of all.

I like puppy dogs.

I Used To...

I used to say, "hostipal"

but now I says, "hospital."

I used to think that Halloween was a day

off school, but now I know it isn't.

I used to have a lot of fun with my big

sister, but now she ignores me

most of the time.

I used to think reading wasn't fun,

but now I love it!

I used to think that the rain just dropped

magically, but now I know

about the water cycle.

The Ultimate Monster

I am the Crazy Monster.

My hair are patches.

My ears are wooden toy cars.

I am the Crazy Monster.

My nose is a tomato.

My cheeks are two huge pieces of popcorn.

I am the Crazy Monster.

My arms are logs

My legs are beads glued together

I am the Crazy Monster.