Grandma GG's Annual Ghoul-fest 2012

Yesterday the girls were so excited to be going to their third Ghoul-fest at their Grandma GG's house.

Grandma GG is my Grandma, and my Mom's mom.  And she looks fabulous and when she became a great grandma, she said she was too young to be called Great Grandma, so we shortened it to GG, and it's looking like it's stickin'.  :)

 Both the girls wanted to be pink mermaids this year, but yesterday Claire decided on a whim that she wanted to dress as a "flower princess".  And if you know Crazy Claire, then you know not to ask questions, you just roll with it.

 Everyone on my Grandma's block goes all out with their Halloween decor.  Most people set up cute decorative tables in their driveways to pass out candy, and lots of the residents even dress up themselves.  

 We arrived at Grandma's, said our hellos, and then, well, first things first and we made our way straight to the chips and guacamole in the kitchen.

 Guacamole doesn't really last long with this group.  ;)

 And after getting our guacamole fix, a few of us walked the girls down to the community clubhouse to spend their tickets from Grandma for the Carnival.

 As always Claire was a little timid, but Hannah jumped right in.  They did the tp toss, golf putting...

 make your own pixie sticks, and visited the goats in the petting zoo...

and then we ran into Luigi (their cousin Noah).

 These kids looked so darn cute.  

 Next up was the balloon guys...

 And then we made our way back to Grandma GG's house to eat dinner before it was time to trick or treat.

 And of course, the girls had to dive right into those pixie sticks that they just made too.

 Doesn't look like they liked them at all huh?

 Ha!

 These girls sure do love their cousin Chad.  

 One of the houses along the way passed out little cups of apple juice to the trick or treaters.  The girls really got a kick out of that.  

You wouldn't believe the amount of kids that come through just this one street!
It is fun to sit out front and watch everyone go by.
I didn't even get a picture of us or the girls with their Grandma GG.
She always throws together a fantastic meal for a large group and always makes hosting look so easy.  
She made her famous macaroni and cheese for the kids (but really us big kids love it too!) and she picked up delicious deli subs for everybody too.  
I brought a broccoli salad, and between all that and the guacamole, I was stuffed!
Thanks for having us Grandma!!!!
We already can't wait til next year!
Halloween was never a favorite holiday of mine growing up.
But, now that I get to watch my girls enjoying the experience, and create new fun traditions with my family (like Grandma GG's ghoul-fest!), I think Halloween is moving up the holiday ladder in my book.
Especially because it is before the rush and madness that comes along with Christmas and the whole month of December.
Yes, in fact, I think I now like Halloween.
(Just not any scary stuff!)
Grandma- next year I say we make the adults dress up too!

I'm off to watch a couple shows with Mr. H on the couch.
It's been one of those Mondays.
Peace out.

Paddleboarding, Kayakin', and Stone Brewery

Yo.
What's up with you?
Since it's 92 here today, and I am wearing shorts and a tank top, I figure it's a good time to get back in summer spirits and try to finish up posting about our summer vacation in San Diego with Mr. Hass' family.

 Man, I kinda wish I was doing that right now.
Summer vacays sure are nice.
I can't believe we are officially 1/3 of the way through the school year already.  
Crazy!
Anyway, so on day 4... or was it 5? of vacay... whatever day it was, mid week one day we rented a couple of paddleboards and a kayak to play around in the bay with.

 Dusty & Karen above and Tania and Nick below.

 Claire sat in the kayak for about 2.5 seconds before she started screaming and said she did not want to do it.  I don't know why the poor girl was so afraid of the kayak, but she was much happier on the shore playing in the sand.

We all really enjoyed the paddle boards! 
After a while we started getting creative on them and trying to get two adults on one board, and then we were trying to do yoga on them.  From what I hear I guess it made for a pretty good show in the bay.  ;)

 First we had to figure out how to balance with two to a board.  That was pretty tricky.
So most often we ended up like this...

 and like this...

 But then Karen and I tried it together, and we had it down...

 Until this happened...

I could have played on those things all day!
Hannah really had fun on the paddle board too.

 And Uncle Dusty enjoyed it too.

 We had a fun day playing in the bay and we enjoyed another fun sunset walk on the beach that night.  

I took those last two shots with my phone.   

On Thursday of our fun vacation, we had plans to head into Escondido to Stone Brewery for lunch and a tour for Mr. Hass' birthday.

Mr. H was SO excited for this day.
You know how I call Nordstrom my happy place?
Well, Mr. H says that Stone is his happy place.

Not a bad spot for lunch huh?

The grounds at Stone are just beautiful.  You can eat inside too, but if it's nice out we will always prefer to sit outside and enjoy the beauty surrounding the restaurant.  

Even if you do not like beer, the food is amazing, the scenery is so pretty, there are lots of little trails, fish ponds, waterfalls, and perfect spots for pictures!

And if you do like beer,
and not just any beer, but really really good craft beer, 
then you will love the selections to choose from!
I enjoyed an IPA, which is one of the beers they are known for.
IPA's are very hoppy, and Stone loves hops so they add a lot of it to their beers.

Cheers!
For lunch I had salmon which was amazing.

and we all snacked on this delicious hummus made with greek olives.

And Mr. Hass had what I got the last time we were there, it was a creamy mushroom and leek pasta that was out of this world!!!

The girls ordered mac n cheese, but then they got antsy and found a coupla of boys with iphones to keep them entertained.

Ha.
Look how early they are seeking out boys at restaurants.
Uh Oh.

For dessert Mr. H had a real beer float with one of their sweet beers.  Sounds strange at first, but it was really really good.

After lunch we took the tour inside the brewery and found out all about how their beers are made.  

That was a fun day.

And now I'm craving that pasta and an IPA.

I'm off to go find a snack.

One more post from our vacay coming soon.