Trick or Treating

Sydney wasn't a fan of her Witch costume...in fact, if you heard screaming around 7:30 am Pacific around the United States, it was her. So, after some quick thinking and praying that her White Sox Cheerleader outfit still fit. WA-LA! We have a costume!

Sydney and her buddies, Madeline & Remington who conveniently live directly across the street!

We prefer when the little ones hand out the candy (they give more)!!

Jack-O-Lanterns

Tonight we took on the task of carving our pumpkins. It was fun to have Sydney involved this year, versus using her *IN* my pumpkin like I did last year. Hopefully the pumpkins make it to Halloween out here in the desert!

Working hard on her creation!

Testing out the lights for the pumpkins "Is this thing on?!?!"

My Creations!!!

Pumpkin Patch

Another beautiful day in Arizona and a perfect time to hit the farm to pet the animals and pick your pumpkins for Halloween. This is a little family tradition and I can't wait until Sydney is old enough to go through their maze and understand everything they have there. Grammy and Papa made the day complete for Sydney. I think my mom just liked when Syd flicked her strawberry banana smoothie straw out of the container and got me right across the face. mmmhmmmm Still not laughing! :)

It's almost hard to believe how much she's grown.....until you do a comparison shot from a year ago!!

The petting farm, she had a blast!

She's claiming her pumpkins

Beautiful Disaster

Chris and I finally snuck away together for the first time since Sydney was born. We had the opportunity to stay at the Ritz Carlton in Bachelor Gulch, CO. It's tucked away on a mountainside between Beaver Creek and Arrowhead, Colorado in the Rocky Mountains. By far one of the most amazing places we've ever stayed.

The catch is that the hotel is at a whopping altitude of 10,000 feet. I think everyone goes into a place like this thinking it won't affect them...at least I did! I wasn't sure if it was my allergies, Chris' cold that he brought home with him from Chicago prior to our Hawaii vacation or if it was altitude sickness. I suppose it could have been all three! Thankfully it would come and go and mostly just affected my sleep. Nonetheless, I would go back there in a heartbeat!

Not only were the views breathtaking from every window, our suite was insane. We had a large balcony overlooking the ski slopes and a cozy fireplace that remained lit the entire trip.

As odd as it sounds, one of our favorite places of the hotel was INSIDE. They had this Grotto that seemed to always be deserted. Waterfall shooting out of one of the walls. Cucumber and lemon water. Cold washcloths with slices of cucumbers on them to relax you while swimming in the indoor hot tub. Seriously.....I died and went to heaven!

Although we missed Sydney and spent most of our time talking about her, it was amazing just to have time with just the two of us.....even if that meant me playing piano in the great room with a bunch of other people and singing Journey songs after a few drinks. FYI, they make stiff drinks too! :)

Finally Back Home!!

What an amazing two weeks!!! Sydney absolutely LOVED Hawaii and it was by far our favorite trip to the islands ever because she was there with us. I'll post a few pics from our trip here and the rest on our family website.

The girl has a LOVE of bagels smothered in cream cheese.

Sydney and the Monk Seal. It's so strange, the Monk Seals beach themselves on the shore of our hotel every Wed like clockwork.

Sydney hates sand. End of Story.

We lost count of how many times she went on the slide each day. The girl was obsessed. The faster she went, the better!

The toy that she refuses to share (still)!

Sydney LOVED the balcony of our room (kinda hard not to). She got over her fear of heights real fast!

Beautiful waterfalls. Sydney had so much fun on this boat tour. She was dancing to the music the whole way.

Breathtaking sunsets from our balcony

Ok, I think I know where she gets her angry look from. Mystery solved.

The wild chickens and roosters were everywhere. Sydney got the biggest kick out of them all.

Best vacation ever!!!