Other October Occurrences

Lake Powell
The first weekend in October we went to Lake Powell again with two of our favorite families. We had a good time despite the chilly and windy weather. We have always had perfect weather in October, but this year was not to be.

Zack is such a dare-devil. If the tubing isn't fast enough he acts like he's bored stiff!


Zack did some beginner boogie-boarding this year, he looks mad but he really enjoyed it.


Shannon, Rick and Steve jumping off a major cliff. Do you like Steve's relaxed body?


Zack gets a little higher every year!


Rick got an old school jet ski right before this trip. The first time Mindy tried it out she fell off and the thing just kept going toward shore instead of circling her. Luckily Rick was able to jump off the houseboat and swim to it right before it hit the rocks!


Here he is pulling Zack and A on a tube!


Lagoon
This year we got a season pass to Lagoon. It was really fun to have and just take off for a few hours and not feel like you have to ride every ride. We just relaxed and had fun and if the lines were too long we came back another time. We liked October a lot because they have Frightmares. All of Lagoon is decorated for Halloween and there are haunted houses you can go through. Zack loved them! It was nice to be there during the cooler weather too!

These photo ops were all over the park, but this was my favorite one.







Random
Zack's school had Red Ribbon Week where they talk about not doing drugs, etc. There was a theme every day. The first day was pajama day and he was all excited to wear his. As he was literally walking out the door he panicked and insisted on changing into clothes. I helped him change quickly and off he went. It turns out every kid in the school was wearing PJ's but him. He just gets sooo embarrassed so easily! The next day was supposed to be crazy sock/slipper day. Well, you can't find crazy socks for boys at a moments notice so I got him some camo slippers. He wore them and was the ONLY kid in slippers. He was so embarrassed that I took him his shoes and he was very grateful. Poor kid, we just can't win.
Zack wanted black striped hair for crazy hair day. I was afraid it wouldn't come out of his white hair but it did.


Just a weird picture I found on the camera when I downloaded all of the pictures. The things those boys do while I am at work!

Halloween Fun

This year Zack got to dress up three times. He wanted to be a scary skeleton and we found this inexpensive "gatekeeper" costume at a not-to-be-mentioned-mart. I had a lot less stress this year not having to come up with a creative homemade costume. The costume came with a scary skeleton mask with horns on it. Since no masks are allowed and the mask would have only fit a small baby, I decided to cut it up and made the coolest helmet ever. I mean, what kind of gatekeeper would guard a gate with out head protection, right? I stayed up late the night before the school parade trying to get the horns to stick to the plastic helmet and finally found some glue that sort of worked. I held the horns in place for over an hour to keep them stuck.

The next morning I proudly presented it to Zack, sure that he would be beyond grateful.

Nope. He hated it! Wouldn't wear it.

Apparently it is quite unbelievable for horns to be coming out of a helmet, despite my protests that gatekeepers can buy helmets with holes cut for their devilish horns.

I did manage to get one picture of him wearing it before he tore it off and ran into the church party.

Note the essential key in his hand. Steve did his face for this event and Zack liked it the best. The third day in a row of putting on his make-up, he started screaming and crying because it was burning his skin. He made me keep going and he sucked it up because he had to have the full effect for his costume. He has a bit of a rash now, what can I say, he got my sensitive skin.



At the school parade, sans helmet. I am the room mother this year for Zack's class. I was all stressed about it when they asked me to do it but it turns out the other 1st grade teacher (not Zack's teacher) doesn't like parties. I am off the hook. All I had to do was get some moms to go help in the classroom the day before for some Halloween themed learning. But no festivities other than the parade the next day. I'm not sure how to feel about this.



Zack only has 5 cousins, and 4 of them are adults. This is his 12 year old cousin K and they are surprisingly close. They were very excited to go trick-or-treating together in Auntie L's neighborhood. They got some full size candy bars, which doesn't happen in our neighborhood.



Steve's family from right to left: Auntie L, Steve, Grandma, Niece B, Niece C and B's husband S.