OK, here we go!

 Snowman built by 7:30am

 Its a heavy snow.

 On her 3rd time out today, Laura made her own snowman. Jim stopped by to put the finishing touches.

Laura is back out again for the 4th time today. Hope the excitement doesn't wear off on the first day!

Ice Skating lessons

All summer long, Laura bugged us about learning to ice skate. Since Jim and I aren't exactly gifted ice skaters, we signed her up for one set of lessons this fall. She fell in love. It didn't matter how many times she fell down, she popped right back up and kept going. And trust me, she fell down a lot! I was really proud of her for being so tough.

The first of many Participation ribbons that I'm sure she's bound to earn in this life!

Lutz Railroad

As the weather threatens to get colder, I had better get caught up on my posts about this summer. At some point, we visited the Lutz Railroad. It is an outdoor miniature railroad in Eagan that my mom told me about. I'm not sure how she found it? Anyway, its in a man's backyard and is free to visit once a month. The kids love it!

Halloween 2010

Now that I've got the San Diego stuff out of the way, here's the rest of the Halloween pictures. I took Laura trick-or-treating around one block. I thought she would explode with happiness. And she still loves handing out the candy.

We went to a local kid's consignment shop and they emailed us a picture. I like mine better, but it was nice of them! They also painted their faces and gave us 10% off! 

This one is still my favorite!

San Diego 2010 - Day 8 pictures

Heading home, while Jim takes his test. 

Ready to go home, Laura?

Its the stuffed carrot!

A tube of different colored glow bracelets on the airplane after dark are awesome, although I have since realized that they are liquid and I didn't put them in my little baggie. Ooops. I'm also glad they didn't break and ooze glowy liquid all over the airplane. Also notice Adam in his own seat. Yipee!

San Diego 2010 - Day 7 pictures

A few priorities for the last full day in SD: More beach time, have fun, don't try to cram so much in.

 We started with a short hike not too far from the hotel. It was perfect.

 While Adam napped, Laura and I went to Bates Nut Farm, which was a big disappointment to me. But Laura had a great time with this baby goat in the petting zoo. And it gave the boys a chance to relax.

 I let Laura use the camera on the way back from the nut farm. She messed with the settings, I guess, because she got some interesting shots.

 Then to the beach, one more time.

 After a while, Adam finally got into the sand. 

Then he let Jim take him out in the waves and loved it. That's them, standing out in the water. 

San Diego 2010 - Day 6 pictures

A rough day, but still some smiles.

 Laura at Seal Beach

 The Birch Aquarium was a hit.

 Laura made friends with a sea anemone in the touchable tide pools. 

(I just spell checked that word and learned how to pronounce it. How embarrassing. I thought it was anenome.)

 I made friends with this huge sea slug...

...and her eggs (the yellow stringy things) that she had just laid.

 We all played in this cool water table, especially the adults (as you can imagine).

Aaaahhh!

 Poor, sleepy, snotty boy.

Shut the shower door and let him go. I wish we had discovered how fun this was on the day 1!