It wouldn't be Halloween without a showing of the boys in costume heading out to trick or treat! They had a lot of fun tonight, and even Owen seemed to understand the idea of going to houses to get candy. They made it about an hour and a half, which isn't too bad considering it was pretty chilly outside! We have enough candy to last an entire year!
Not to be outdone by his big brother, Owen celebrates his 2nd birthday today! It seems unreal to me that Colin is 5 and almost unbelievable to me that Owen is 2. Owen has turned into a little boy almost overnight, talking, running, jumping and trying to do everything that Colin does. Owen adores his big brother and is always trying to do be just like him. 
Olympia just remodeled a playground near our house. Here you can see the boys enjoying some sunshine and the fun new play areas!
Colin is five years old! It's hard to believe he's 5 already. Here you can see him enjoying the fun - presents were opened in seconds, candles were extinguished quickly and cake was eaten with amazing speed. Fitting with the theme of Colin growing up way too fast. 
They seem pretty well-adjusted after three weeks. Owen still says "No!" as soon as you turn onto the road the school is on. But since this is his first experience with a group daycare setting I am pleased he's done this well.
This weekend we ventured camping with the boys for the first time. (You can see in one picture they are getting ready for the trip by testing out the chairs while snacking!) We got a very big tent and packed the car full of gear and headed to the coast. We camped at Fort Stevens, near Astoria, OR. (http://www.astoria-usa.com/fort-stevens-state-park.shtml). We met up with our friends, the Tuwalski's, who live in Portland. They have 2 small kids too and we knew the kids (and adults) would have a lot of fun. They brought their 2 dogs, which pleased Owen tremendously. Things went pretty well - except that none of the kids slept very well and I personally thought it was much colder at the coast than at home! You can see in the following posts some of the activities we did during our trip!
We finally got to visit the Pacific Ocean during our weekend trip! It was magnificent and we were all in awe of nature's beauty. The boys, of course, had a ball playing in the sand and the freezing cold water! Colin even got caught by a wave that came in much further than the others and it took him down on his knees. A good lesson about the power of the tides!
