Here are a few pictures from Halloween.  Kevin has been wearing his astronaut costume almost everyday for the past few weeks. He picked up a bunch of library books about astronauts and the solar system and became a little obsessed. We now get up every morning and he puts on his suit for a shuttle launch to the moon before breakfast.

Ryan wore Kevin’s hand-me-down costume from last year. Nanny made the pumpkin costume and brought it out on her visit to CA during Halloween last year.

Both kids were a big hit on the trick or treat circuit. Kevin enjoyed ringing the door bells and Ryan enjoyed messing with everyone’s pumpkins on their porch!

Kevin got a special present this year from Nanny, a pumpkin costume!  Dave’s parents are currently visiting us from Pennsylvania. They wanted to come meet their new grandson and spend some time with the family.  Nanny spent the last few weeks sewing Kevin a pumpkin costume.

We weren’t too sure he’d wear it at first, but after he got it on and looked in the mirror he changed his mind. We strolled the neighborhood and did some trick or treating. He had fun…and wanted to open every piece of candy he received, immediately

Here are a few more pumpkin boy pictures:

Of course baby Ryan had to get dressed up for Halloween as well.

I finished my 2008 triathlon season almost as quickly as it started. This was Heather’s year with her first Ironman in June.   My last race was Sentinel, the week after Pacific Grove.  I’ve done Sentinel numerous times. I really like the course and since it’s local there are always a lot of friends racing.  Of course Kevin was there to cheer with Heather and his grandparents.  It was a beautiful day in Santa Cruz and the race went really well. For the second week in a row I felt great running off the bike and I finished 4th in my age group.

After I retired my swimsuit, bike and running shoes, I headed to the east coast for a 5 day trip to the Outer Banks with my high school friends. This was our 4th trip and we hope to continue the tradition. It was really nice of Heather to take care of Kevin and let me get away for a few days. For the most part we just hung out at our huge rental house on the beach. Off season rates started the day we checked in and we really got a deal on the 8 bed/7 bath house for the week.  We did take a quick trip to see Kitty Hawk and tour the museum. I had been there with Heather years ago, but it was still fun to visit again. We also rented ocean kayaks for the week and had fun taking them out from our beach several times a day.

While I was on the east coast playing,  Heather and Kevin took a trip to the Sacramento zoo with the family. Heather said they saw a lot of animals, but for the most part Kevin was too busy playing in the dirt and picking up rocks to notice the animals. The only ones that caught his eye were the bright pink flamingos.

Just two days after returning from the Outer Banks (OBX to the locals) my parents made a trip to California to visit us..mostly just to visit their grandson!   Nanny brought lots of clothes for Kevin. Below are a few pictures of Kevin modeling his new outfits.

Kevin had a great time showing his grandparents around CA. We went to the beach one day and watched Kevin play in the sand. My Dad and I drove up to the top of Mt. Hamilton and toured the Lick Observatory.  Heather, Trilbe, Kevin and my Dad went to the Tech Museum in San Jose and Dave and his parents took a day trip to Yosemite. In between all those activities we found plenty of time to just enjoy hanging out with Kevin.  We got all 4 grandparents together several times and Kevin really enjoyed that.

Fast forward two weeks and I ran the ½ marathon in the Silicon Valley Marathon/Half Marathon. Many friends also ran and Heather’s brother ran the full marathon. Thanks to “Coach Heather,” I was able to do better this year than last. Her sound advice was to keep a consistent pace throughout the whole race.  (Heather’s editorial note: Everyone knows you are supposed to do this. This was nothing new. He has always just started out too fast and tried to hang on.) I actually ran the same pace (6:15/mile) for the first 8 miles and then the group I was running with decided to pick it up to 6 min/mile pace for 2 miles. That kind of hurt me but I hung on to finish right behind 2 of my friends. Below in the center is a picture of all of us at the finish line doing the “finish line dance.” Heather’s brother Kim set a PR for the marathon in 3:21  He looked strong at the ½ way point and still had a smile on his face. The last few miles got tough but he hung in there for a great finishing time!!

The week after the marathon was our 3^rd wedding anniversary.  We decided it would be fun to get away for a night so we booked a hotel in Calistoga, CA.  Heather’s parents were nice to offer to care for Kevin during our trip.  We had a very relaxing time, wine tasting, roaming around downtown Calistoga and St. Helena and going out to a very nice dinner at the Martini House.  The best part was being able to sleep in until 8:30.  Kevin usually makes that impossible.

Now Halloween is here. Kevin had fun making a jack-o-lantern. He also had a great trip to the pumpkin patch with his grandparents while we were in Napa.

Our family is so busy that we can only get together (ALL of us) once every 3 months. So, for the fall gathering, we met at Dean and Christina’s in Antelope for what we’ve called the “Harvest Fest.” We had fancy shmancy appetizers, really good soup and salads, and then ventured out to the neighborhood pumpkin farm. The kids had a great time – hayrides, slides, corn maze, the “Haunted Barn,” and lots of pumpkins to choose from. We were all dirty, tired, and hungry (again) by the time we got home. Christina made a dog cake that we packed away with no problem. It was a fun day with the family.