October's End = Holidays are Here!

I have to hurry up and finish my posts on October so I can officially recognize that we are into holiday season!

I know it's not even Thanksgiving yet, but Brian gave in to setting up for Christmas already so our house is my own little holiday haven right now. Those pictures will be coming soon.

Back in October, though, we took our 2nd (potentially annual) trip to the Pumpkin Patch. It takes a little while to get there but it's always worth it. We actually finished the corn maze this year! Something to celebrate!Another blessed October event... Brian hit the big 3-1! Birthdays are always the best excuse to eat whatever we want and we took full advantage with a big pancake breakfast, Qdoba lunch (his work friends and I surprised him downtown with a cheesy party - complete with streamers, kazoos and balloons that said Brian) and chicken pot pie for dinner. Yum Yum.

Maybe we should start celebrating half birthdays...

Happy Birthday Baby.

BOUNCY CASTLES

How long has it been since you've been in a bouncy castle?
Most likely, the answer is "too long." For my work Halloween party, they set up this huge pirate themed bouncy castle/slide on the basketball court and let a few of us test it out before the kids got here. I'm not kidding when I say I wish I had one in my backyard at all times. Ok, first I guess I would have to wish for a backyard... but you get what I'm saying.

This is Robyn, for those of you who have heard me talk about her. I got to take off my shoes at work (I hate shoes,) get a little exercise in the middle of the day and LAUGHED.
A lot.
Best work day ever.

HALLOWEEN!!!

Who doesn't love dressing up? This year Brian and I went as Johnny Cash & June Carter. Or better yet, Joaquin Phoenix & Reese Witherspoon.
Here are a couple videos with our best impersonations. I would also really like to say that this was Brian's idea to do the singing - he came home one day with Johnny Cash on his ipod and print outs of the lyrics. Just love him.

Brian was a huge hit at the single's ward party we went to. (Don't judge us.) He had multiple requests. This one was a fan favorite though - please excuse the awful camera work! This was meant to be a trial run but it's the only version I have.

Krista & Derek came to play with us dressed as the lovely Marilyn Monroe & smokin James Dean (pun intended). I realized this is my 4th year of Halloweens dressing up with Miss Krista Davis (Funk). Here they are...

2009

2008
Papa Smurf, Smurfette, "The Depression," Juno & Paulie Bleaker2007
She-Ra & Wonder Woman2006
Esmeralda, Pocahontas, Pirate Wench

WHERE DID SCABHEAD GO?

Typically on my way home from work, I slip into autopilot and either chat my way home (thanks Kate, E, Mom & Dad) or I sing my little heart out to make the drive pass by as quickly as possible. A couple times lately I've tried to get off the phone, turn off the radio, and see where my thoughts take me.

Random Thought #1: Where did Scabhead go?

Scabhead is a homeless man that used to walk the streets surrounding our apartment. He's bald on top with some hair around the sides and affectionately named for the ginormous scab on his head/forehead that never seemed to heal and was always in some state of bleeding. It looked kind of like this... but it's much bigger and he's not a baby.

I guess if you saw him on a dark night or in the back alley (both of which have happened to me) he's actually pretty scary, the perfect Halloween accessory. Even still, Brian and I were constantly on the look out and swapping happy texts about Scabhead sightings. As my random thoughts turn to him, I can't help but wonder where he's been. Did the scab finally heal and we just don't recognize him anymore? Did he move to New York to visit the Naked Cowboy? Or has he just found another block to explore? So this blog's for you, Scabhead, wherever you are, thanking you for the happiness and hoping you're well.

Go Air Force Beat the Cowboys!

In the past, Ali and I have divided blog responsibilities. I take the pictures and she writes the blogs (shhh….please don't tell her I got off easy). For this post though, I wanted to write a quick little something about the weekend I spent in Colorado.

For my dad's 60th birthday this year (it is now public information pops) all the boys pitched in and surprised him with season tickets to the Air Force Academy football games. When I was younger, my dad always had season tickets to these games and they provided so many great memories (I remember less of the football games but more of the pre-game flyovers, parachute jumpers and the post-game aluminum can collecting). This past weekend I flew back to Colorado and relived some of my childhood memories and went to an Air Force Academy football game with my dad. We even brought and sat on the same denim blanket we sat on 15 years ago. Air Force beat Wyoming 10-0 in a defensive battle. The flyovers and parachute jumpers were just as awesome as I remember. It was just like the old days, but this time I spared my dad from hauling home a giant garbage bag full of aluminum cans. I'm a proponent of recycling, but the stadium doesn't allow cans anymore. Thanks dad for all the memories and for such a fun weekend.

Mr. Incredible

Brian tackled the MS 150 mile Bay-to-Bay Bike Ride this weekend which to me makes him Mr. Incredible. Biking from Irvine to Carlsbad and then a loop inland for a total 100 miles the first day and then the remaining 50 miles from Carlsbad down to Mission Bay on day 2. It was amazing how many people were involved in the event and how many of them have someone very close to them who is or was suffering from MS.

It is also amazing that Brian is still walking.

Did I mention we woke up at 4:30am to get to the starting line in time. While I decided to attend, other girlfriends and wives of the riders decided they could support their men just as well from home. I'm just saying.
My involvement was limited to one heck of a massage, picture taking, and thanks to Brian's good suggestion, I volunteered and got to hand out snacks to all the bikers at the halfway point.Rest Stop #5 at Mile 52
Halfway there and still all smiles.Day one ended with a pile of mystery meat & a diet DP. And some BBQ sauce riiiight there. Despite my best efforts, Brian was too fast and I didn't even get to see him come across the finish line on day 2. I was frantically parking and running over there when he actually crossed so on our way out, he ducked under the rope and re-finished for me. What you see below are FAKE finish pictures taken over an hour after the race. You'd never know the difference right?
For all of those people who were disappointed that this post wasn't a picture of Brian in a Mr Incredible outfit... this one's for you.

Remember When I Was Blonde?

Odd Man Out

Went to Yosemite for a weekend of camping and strangely the fact that we didn't have a child under 1 made us the odd couple out. The other 4 brave couples, Warners, Warners(x2), Williams, and Caffees, brought along their 6 month old, 1 yr old, 10 month old and 3 month old.

There were play pens, pack-n-plays, porta cribs, baby crates, baby backpacks, baby bjorns, baby food, bottles, bumbos, and bobbys, along with a number of other things that don't seem like real words.

The babies were champs though and made it through the cold nights with far less of a struggle than I did.Maybe I needed one of these things. Next time.The ViewsCan you tell that Brian's the photographer of this family? We actually had a whole crew of photographers and fancy schmancy cameras. Quite impressive. Do you see the number of cameras in this shot alone?? Mike has 3, Brian 1.When he wasn't busy being a photographer, Brian was busy being tough. Really roughing it. So much so that on an adventure to bring back firewood, he got in a fight with a tree and came back with these scratches. The CrewThe CaravanThe Babies

Harrison Williams (10 months)

Madeline Caffee (3 months)

Zoey Warner (6 months)Izzie Warner (1 yr old)

Men of Iron

Anyone who knows my brothers, knows they're awesome. On top of being smart, funny, and athletic, they also have killer 6-packs.

Earlier this summer, while I was busy not blogging, my brothers did a half-ironman together.

It was the perfect excuse for a family reunion (for the kids anyway) and so Linds, the Sean-ster, Kate and I met in Boise to watch them torture themselves. The race consisted of a 1.2 mile swim, 56 miles of biking and a 13.1 mile run.

70.3 miles of fun.

The trip out to Boise was what Collin asked for for Christmas 2 years ago, and last year's present request was making this video.. so here you go brother. A very well documented journey of our road trip to Boise and the race. It's about 15 minutes long... so get comfy... or just skip through.

EUROPE HIGHLIGHTS

If you want the stories and highlights (the stuff that can't be told through pictures,) read below. If you want the pictures, you can go to this link and get the 200+ set. Just feel grateful we edited down the original 951 pictures we took to this more manageable set. picasaweb.google.com/alisaerin/EuropePics

SAN FRANCISCO?

• After sprinting a mile through the airport, we missed our connection on the way out of the states and against our wishes spent the day in downtown San Fran

LONDON

• Hotels went from Fantastic to Abysmal, in that order, as we hopped one stop to the next. Each one a notch lower than the next.
• Drizzled on us our first night in London and it felt so appropriate that I couldn’t be sad. Had an amazing rainbow just behind the Tower Bridge following the rain.
• Naps, advil and diet cokes got us through the days
• Front row tickets to see Les Miserables. They were practically spitting on us and I loved it. Almost cried about 47 times.
• Bought some Antique Dickens Book from Covent Garden Market. They looked really cool, so we bought them and now they sit on our shelf.

PARIS

• After ordering our train tickets in French, I embarrass myself by saying “Gracias.”
• Home sweet home – had a strange “coming home/homesickness” feeling the whole time we were there.
• Crepes, baguette, more crepes, french fries, more baguette
• Packed all our stuff for the 2 week vacation in one REI backpacking backpack and a smaller, school backpack. Had to do laundry in the sink twice during the trip, ring everything out and hang it all over the hotels.
• Walked about 12 miles in the am one day to get around Versailles and out to Marie Antoinette’s Hamlet which was the first of many irritably hot days
• Ran into a high school friend in the Louvre. He hasn’t been back to Paris since he graduated either. So completely random.
• Witnessed a 45-minute full on make out session in the Tuilleries Garden. May have gone on longer but the gag reflex wouldn’t let us take anymore. Also we had a train to catch.
  
• Took the night train out of Paris with 4 strangers in our room. B & I had the top of the 6 bunks and slept in a pool of our own sweat. It was lovely.
• Train Connection MIRACLE – night train got in late and we had a connecting train. Jumped out while the train was still moving, sprinted with ALL of our gear from the last car of the train and jumped ON to the next train as it was pulling away from the station. It was amazing.

CINQUE TERRE

• Gorgeous views and a fun hike
• I bought the world’s largest map of Italy so I could follow along as we rode the trains. I think Brian was a bit embarrassed.

VENICE

• Some sweetheart gives us his waterbus passes for free (about $24/ticket), in our excitement, we get on the wrong waterbus and take an hour detour past cruise ships and warehouse looking buildings to get to the main square.
  
• Heat wave starts and the number of stories I tell from here on out that involve me being a sweaty mess goes up to 100%
• Ran from A/C store to A/C store and ended up buying some sweet Venetian Masks. This picture is beyond embarrassing, but the mask is pretty sweet.
• Stopped by an internet café to learn that Kris Allen is our American Idol.
• Took the train to Florence and we were in the only car on the train with no A/C. Enter sweating Ali along with lots of sweaty, smelly Europeans. Brian had a crazy cat lady come sit next to him and let her cat walk around on our table. I couldn’t stop laughing. We are not cat people.

FLORENCE

• Arrived in Florence late, after the long travel day with no A/C and crazy cat lady to realize we’ve misbooked our hotel and there’s “no room in the inn.”
• Brian unleashes one of the best quotes of the trip, “Seeing the world is hard work.” Amen. Then again when you have views like this - it's hard to complain.
• Desperate for Mexican, (Brian, not me) we found a burrito type kebab place and ate there for 3 of our 4 meals in Florence.
• Rented Honda Scooters and cruised into Tuscany to see the vineyards. One of the best things we did the whole 2 weeks. Scorched our arms and gave us awkward tan lines for the rest of the trip. So worth it.
• Got totally lost on the scooters trying to get back, ended up on the freeway with no clue what we were doing. Brian rode up to my side to scream, “GO FASTER!!!” as cars were whizzing past us.
• Didn’t die. So count it as a success.
• Got royally screwed over by some Gelato place and spent over $20 on a few scoops of the worst tasting Gelato in all of Italy

ROME

• Most ghetto hotel in the whole world. Our room was a storage closet turned hotel room, no windows and reeked of smoke. Couldn’t lift my arms in the shower without hitting the doors and the water would vary without being touched between scalding my skin off and ice water. The room did have A/C though.
• Brian cranked the A/C down to below freezing and we tried to sleep with a sheet. Somehow in his sleepiness, he couldn’t figure out how to warm it up or turn it off and assumed it was broken as my teeth chattered away. After not being able to sleep all night and requesting he try again with the remote, he loving said, “Do you want to sleep in your coat?” Dear Husbands of the world, no one WANTS to sleep in their coat. The answer to that question will always be no.
• So sick of extreme temperatures and not wanting to sweat in my jeans another day, I wore Brian’s camo shorts and looked like a boy but was so worth it.
• Lara Fisher (one of my BFFs) and her sister Shannon went to Rome on vacation 6 years ago. Shannon met Leo, a Vatican City researcher and Rome tour guide, and she basically never looked back. Thank goodness they were willing to meet up with us!!! They know absolutely everything there is to know about Rome and stayed with us an entire day showing us around. Talk about GOOD PEOPLE - we love these guys.
• Watched the Manchester vs Barcelona game and had drunken Barcelona fans singing all the team songs the entire next day.
• Ran into someone from work. In Rome. 3 times in one day.
• Took 951 pictures and carried the tripod almost everywhere we went. Brian did an awesome job and got some fantastic shots.