Happy Haunting!

So, the original plan was to trick or treat with Avery's best friend, Cheyenne, as Milk and an Oreo. I made the Milk costume for Avery, but Cheyenne REFUSED to wear the Oreo. I have to admit, it turned out a bit stiff and bulky. Even Avery wasn't entirely pleased posing in it...

 We ditched the Oreo and went as Milk and Cowgirl.

She actually loved the costume. I reveled in the humorous irony that Avery is actually allergic to milk in real life. :)

Dad helped her get the goods... (from a busty Snow White, apparently)

Such a great Daddy!

Pretty proud of her sweet stash!

The Un-Happiest Place on Earth

Matt's work kindly provided us a 3 day / 2 night stay at Disneyland as a post-deployment retreat. We spent the mornings in sessions learning about family reintegration. Then, the afternoons were free to explore the parks. I think we greatly overestimated Avery's ability to handle mass sensory overload...

* Blog editor wishes to point out that 3/5 of these smiles were carousel-induced. Teacups weren't bad, unless we spun too fast. Avery would have had more fun riding the Seaport Village carousel 200 times, than going to Disneyland. 

Upon returning home, Matt flopped on the couch, exhausted, and said, "I'm more glad to be home after this weekend than after my entire deployment." And I agreed. It was one for the books, but I'm glad we could laugh in the moment, knowing what great times we'll have re-telling these tales!

Julian Apple Days

This weekend we drove the curvy swervy roads up to Julian to enjoy their annual Apple Festival. I remembered going to this event several times as a kid and was talking it up to Matt the entire drive. Well, as an adult, to describe the "fair" as po-dunk would be kind. I guess some things really ARE cooler when you're little. Oh well... at least it got us out of the house for the day.

Expert archery lesson from dad

REAL PONIES!!!

This was the highlight of Avery's day...

...before she refused to wear her shoes, refused to listen to anything we said, refused to eat her dinner and was generally in a sassy mood. After this one bite, she even refused the apple pie. Now that's just un-American!