October just might be my favorite time of year! This year was the best ever! Here's a few fun pictures of Porter with his cute friend Theo!
Ben Southam, Porter, Theo Brinkerhoff
We have officially bought some cabin property! It's near Spring City and there is an old caboose on it. It has beautiful views of the valley and it's so pretty there! We've bought two small bunk houses to go on the property, here's one of them being delivered to our house. It was such a tight fit, I was biting my fingernails watching it!
Lila and Bear
Porter at the Museum of Natural Curiosity
So cute!
Shooting BB guns at Grandma Patsy's
Porter's field trip to Wheeler Farm! We love Miss Debbie!
Lots of soccer games
Cute Ben came to play and brought Porter a Happy Meal! These two crack me up.
We're always so sad when Isaak and Lila have to go to school
We have new neighbors! The Westover's moved into the Willits old house. All of their kids are practically the same ages as our kids. This sweet girl is Evie and she was adopted just a week after this picture was taken. She's super sweet!
I took Porter to the Gardens at Thanksgiving Point a couple days before they closed it for the season. One on one times with this boy are so fun!
More of Porter and Evie
Halloween dinner at Grandma Jo's!
I love the cute Haunted House the kids always put together at the end of this annual dinner. I really wanted to catch it on video, but it was way too dark.
Porter and Theo!
Lots of soccer!
Here's our 2nd tiny home. I am so excited to get the property all ready for next year!
In the middle of painting.
A few favorites in October...
But the BIG event in October was our DISNEY CRUISE!!! We had been planning and dreaming about this cruise for the last year. The week of Halloween was when it finally happened! But first we had to get our magnets for our Disney door ready to take on the cruise....
And Isaak had to have his last game of the season. This one definitely goes down in the books!! We did not win one game this season. All the teams we were up against had been together for a long time and we had a lot of catching up to do. We finally started scoring points about mid season, but it was still only a couple each game. The last game of the season, the last five minutes of the game, Isaak scored his first ever point! I may have cried, then been emotional the rest of the night. I may have hugged him a little too much and told him how happy and proud of him I was, and the grin that cute boy had after he scored and his victory fist pump are something I'll always remember. His team mates were so happy for him and everyone congratulated him on his great performance! Such a happy night, and down to 36 hrs before we left on our cruise!
Woot woot! It's finally time!
On the airplane!
We flew to Atlanta, had a short layover, then it was on to Orlando!
Then an hour drive to Port Canaveral. We stayed in a hotel that night, then we drove to our ship!
Going on to the boat! (Sunday afternoon)
Checking out the kids play areas
View from the back of the boat
Dinner that night. They had 3 different restaurants on board and we rotated through them each day. We were on our cruise 6 nights, so we got to go to each one twice. They were each so fun!
Mickey bars!
The legend of the Halloween tree
Photos with Captain Mickey
Our room was AMAZING! We had our own balcony, and the bunk bed came down each night. So clean, such a good use of space, BEAUTIFUL!
The first morning (Monday)everyone slept in except to me and Porter. We went and got some breakfast together and then went mini golfing!
That day was spent on the boat. The kids went to the clubs for a little while, we swam and went on the aquaduck (the slide that goes around the entire ship), and did all the fun things the boat had to offer! That night we got fancy for Formal Night.
On Tuesday morning we got off the ship in Cozumel, Mexico!
So many fun things to see, so many fun shops!
We ended up renting a jeep and driving along the coast around the island. We stopped at this beautiful beach side restaurant.
We walked alongside some old Mayan Ruins
Visited the cute church in a village
and explored a Cenote. Shaun was brave enough to swim in it, but the sight of thousands of bats along with their feces in the water were enough to deter the rest of us!
After our adventures in Cozumel, we got back on the boat for Pirate night. We all dressed up and had dinner, then had a Pirate party on top deck, followed by fireworks . So fun, so beautiful!
On Wednesday morning we got off the boat in Costa Maya, Mexico! We had a tour planned for that day, so we got on some buses and visited Dizibanche and Kohunlich. AMAZING!!
On the bus..
Hard working red ants
Dizibanche. We were able to climb the ruins. When they were discovered by an explorer , they were covered with earth and looked like part of the jungle.
Steep steps!
I could NOT see this snake even though Shaun was trying to point it out to me. He camouflaged too well!
Kohunlich Mayan Ruins. I was so fun being in the jungle! It was BEAUTIFUL and we even saw a monkey with her baby.
It was so neat to be able to see the central part of town along with more residential areas. These ruins were amazing.
The ground was almost as exciting as the ruins!
Getting back on the boat after our adventures.
Dinner that night. Dinners were SO FANCY! Seafood, 4 courses, fancy pretty servings. I LOVED IT ALL!
Thursday (Halloween) was another sea day. I spent some one on one time with Lila and swam, rode the aquaduck, then did a ship wide scavenger hunt with Isaak. Some the pictures on the walls were animated and sent you on a quest to solve a crime. So fun!
Porter loved his Mac and Cheese! He requested it for dinner almost every night, and had to have is with his lunch buffet, too!
Halloween night!
Spooky dessert for dinner
Then trick or treating!
After dinner each night they had a Broadway style show. Aladdin, Frozen, Welcome show, but on Halloween, we watched The Nightmare Before Christmas in 3d. It was a sing along and at the end Jack and Sally came out for photos. Super cute.
On Friday we landed in Castaway Cay! It's Disney's private island in the Bahamas. So beautiful!
We spent a good part of the day looking for seashells and playing in the ocean. We also rode the water slides, and had a delicious BBQ buffet.
This cute fish was not afraid of us! He swam right next to us all day and loved being petted.
Dancing with Goofy
Yummy buffet
Cute lizard
That night was our last night on the cruise. We finished at my favorite restaurant Animators Palate. They had us draw cartoons and brought them to life on the screens on the wall. So fun!
I was so sad this was our last night! Porter wanted Shaun to take him minigolfing one last time,
And Isaak and Lila had to have one last helping of their yummy self serve ice cream on top deck
Our view Saturday morning before we had to leave our room.
Breakfast was a somber affair....
After we left our ship, we had several hours before we had to be to the airport. Shaun surprised us and took us to go see alligators on an airboat!! I love that he does fun spontaneous things! Perfect activity!
Best October ever! Now bring on the Holidays!
