Alice in Wonderland Halloween Party

This is the second year we were lucky enough to be able to go to my Aunt Janet and Uncle Terry's elaborate Halloween party. This year the theme was Alice in Wonderland!

We actually had a lot of fun figuring out our costumes this year. It was so simple and came together at the last minute easily!

Benny was the White Rabbit and I was Alice.

Playing cards with paint brushes and roses lined the entryway.

Everywhere you looked there were elaborate, creative, well thought out details in every corner!

From floating teapots, to 'drink me' labels on wine bottles, and a croquet area set up outside!


The Mad Hatters were hard at work in the kitchen - Jambalaya was on the menu!


I loved the Shaggy and Velma costumes.





Eric being a sad rabbit.


There were so many Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dums! I thought they all coordinated, but it turns out it's just a popular costume.

Eric tried to help out where he could - but they were on top of it!

As usual, dinner was so good I had to have two full plates. The Mad Hatters deserved a rest after that.


We wished we could have stayed longer but it was getting late and we had a long drive ahead!

We had such a good time and were SO impressed. The Pollards go above and beyond for their parties - we're so thankful we got to be a part of it!

Haunted Trails of Balboa and SeaWorld Spooktacular

I hope everyone had a happy Halloween!

Earlier in the month we tried to go to the Haunted Trail of Balboa Park along with one of Eric's friends from work. We had to wait in line for about 30 minutes but it was a beautiful night. As soon as we got to the front of the line (literally - next in line), there was a torrential downpour of rain, thunder, and all the power went out. In the 16 months that we've lived here, we have never seen more than a morning mist - no one could believe it!

They closed the trail and we ran back to the car, soaked head to toe. We got back to the house, all changed into dry clothes, and played Monopoly instead.

Thankfully they gave us free tickets to come back, so we went back a couple weeks later.


It was a fun experience, definitely not for little kids. It's amazing how much of a production they put on. The trail was a full mile going in and out of different horror scenes. Mostly the classics, but a couple newer ones like Stranger Things.


We also went to SeaWorld one afternoon for their Halloween Spooktacular.




We saw the sea lion show, where they also added a spin-off of Stranger Things, 'Weirder Things'.



And last weekend we got to go up to Los Angeles for my Aunt Janet's Halloween party, which I'll have to dedicate a whole post to next! Happy November everyone!

Day Date with Sienna

Recently I got the chance to spend the day with Sienna while her parents were taking Sydney in to have surgery on her eyes. Her school is so close to their house that they walk to and from every day. So I walked over to her school to pick her up. The driver pick-up lines looked horrible! This was much easier.

On the way back to the house we stopped at a playground for a while.

She soon found a friend to play with.


We had a picnic in the park while she finished her school lunch.

After an hour or two we made our way back to the house where we gave Paxton some love, and spent the rest of the afternoon coloring and playing barbies.


Alison, Shary, and Sydney got back after a long day for the poor girl. Afterwards was pretty rough, but she's made a full recovery and her eyes no longer cross when she takes her glasses off.

It was so nice getting a chance to help out and spend some one-on-one time with Sienna!

Miramar Air Show

Eric and I recently went to the Miramar Air show. We pass by the air fields all the time when we're driving to or from his sister's house. We always have fun pointing out when we see Osprey or any other various military aircraft as it's so prominent in our area. We were excited to hear there was going to be an air show!

It was a hot day and the walk from the parking lot to the air field was at least a mile and a half each way. But it was well worth it when we arrived!

Opa, what did you fly?

Below are the Osprey we often see in our area. Their helicopter rotors can rotate mid-flight to be facing up like they are in the picture, or facing forward.

We saw the U.S. Army Golden Knights, which was really cool. I didn't get any pictures because we were still walking the mile and half to get to the field. One of the jets went up so high and then went silent, as if everything was turned off. It just started tumbling and toppling over itself in every direction free-falling. I was actually a little terrified for a minute that this wasn't part of the show, until he turned the engine back on and corrected course. It was incredible to watch though!

We also saw the F-35B Lightening, various others, and then of course the Blue Angels.






The next day we were driving up to Alison's house. The show was running three days in a row, and we happened to see the Blue Angels again, flying right over us even closer than when we were at the actual field. It was a pretty incredible thing to see on the highway. A lot of people just randomly pulled over to sit on top of their cars and watch. It was a great show!

An Abrupt Goodbye

It's no secret that Eric's car has had some issues in recent years. Before we moved to California we casually listed it to sell in Virginia. We thought it was the smartest thing to do, but we loved his Tahoe so much I think we were both a little relieved when it didn't get a whole lot of interest, and we knew we would be holding on to it a while longer.

It's now been well over a year since it safely (albeit not very reliably) got us all the way from Virginia to California during our cross-country road trip. Since then it has had some more issues, and we've put more money into it trying to make it last a little longer.
Recently though we've been realizing that some of the issues that are coming up we just don't have the ability to fix right now and are too costly for us to take it in. Once again, we casually listed it for sale. I think I was the one this time secretly hoping it wouldn't sell.

We didn't get much interest for a while, and since we weren't in a rush to get rid of it we weren't entertaining low-ball offers. So when Eric said that someone was going to be coming to take a look one day, I didn't think much of it. Little did we know he showed up with cash in hand ready to pay full asking price.

We officially signed it over to it's new owner from Yuma, Arizona! He was telling us all about how he can't wait to get it out on the sand dunes.


We were definitely sad to see it go, but the new owners have been texting Eric pictures and it helps knowing how much they're enjoying it! The guy that bought it is a mechanic so we know it's in good hands and will hopefully have many more years for them.

We are starting to look for another car, but until then we are doing just fine with one!