Halloween

Halloween was a little different for us this year. This by no means is a bad thing... Mary and I made our daughters costumes and they turned out FABULOUS! I had the cutest little black kitty in the world!

The BAD part:

I am very sad to say that we did not get to carve pumpkins and only had one impromptu visit to a local pumpkin patch as a family, on our way home from coffee one morning. SO I did not have my camera and only got a few pictures on my cell phone. We will have plenty pre-Halloweens to come in the future years. So I am am fine, fellow picture crazy moms will understand my frustration.

The Great Part:

On Halloween we boarded a plane early in the morning to head to Sacramento for my girlfriend Katie's wedding the next day. We went to her wedding welcome BBQ. I went with did a quick rehearsal of the wedding, while my fabulous mom and Rob took Olivia back to the hotel for her afternoon nap. After the rehearsal I headed back to our hotel to get Olivia ready for trick or treating. Katie lives in a GREAT neighborhood for trick or treating everyone goes all out on the decorations. It was great. Olivia was not shy at all and loved when the people would let her pick out her own candy. She was having a blast running around with Ava from house to house (mommy, daddy and grandma right behind her). Toward the end she was running so fast that she fell and hurt her leg and wouldn't walk on it for almost two days...(later post) It was a great night and it was awesome to spend it with Katie and her family and friends in Elk Grove. Unfortunately I did not have my camera with me for this either but I will post pictures as soon as I can get Rob to give me his memory card. LOL!

Pumpkin Festival

We decided one night last minute that we did not feel like staying home and it worked out that my brother, the famous "cunkle" and my mom were free to join us in some fun. It was a nice relaxing evening with my family.

The worlds greatest DADDY and Olivia's "blinking Flutterfly"I was worried that Olivia would HATE it but much to my surprise it was a HUGE hit!Olivia has been on a carousel once before but her reaction this time was priceless, she was laughing and yelling so loud I think the carnie gave us a few extra rounds...

I love her face in this one

I know it is blury but we had fun in the house of mirrors trying to find our way around, we only bonked our heads a few times.At the top of the slide at the mirror house, I was scared to go down (fear of heights)...LOL!

Hot Chocolate to end a perfect evening!

Spooky Sugar Cookies

I decided that since Olivia LOVES play dough that she was ready for her first sugar cookie experience so my mom and I decided to tackle Spooky Sugars. (side note... Olivia wanted her hair left "Alone" she kept saying no mommy its cute, so that is why it looks craxy in all the pictures! LOL)

Natural Baker??

Olivia really enjoyed "push"-ing the cutters into the dough more then anything.

She had a ton of fun with Grandma and I as she would press then shake the cutter, a true baking natural. I wonder where she gets that from? However after we had "push"ed all the cookies Olivia was tired and went down for her afternoon nap leaving my mom and I with the daunting but fun task of decorating.

Thankfully Rob got home from golf just in time to help with the process.

Don't ask I think they were cookie decorating delusional!

Olivia woke up just in time to eat our finished masterpieces!

After all was said and done we had SO many cookies we decided to send them to work with grandma, Rob and Papa Rocco. (They all work in the same office so they all got the credit, lol)I am looking forward to adding sugar cookies to our baking list for Christmas cookies, we will just be enlisting all my cousins kids to help with the decorating.

Gilcrease Orchard

What a fun day! My cousin Christine invited us to go during the week to the Gilcrease orchard to pick apples and pumpkins. I LOVE this kind of thing and wish Vegas had more places like this. Olivia is just obsessed with Apples as it is so this was a real treat. At first we were having a really hard time finding an apple tree that actually had apples.

After a little exploration we found a few that had a TON! Olivia and all the kids LOVED picking them off of the trees.

After we had enough apples to bake our pies we headed to the pumpkin picking area. It was a VERY strange sight to see these pumpkin growing on vines in the desert and they weren't exactly the best pumpkins but we found one that "looked" ok. (it was rotten when we tried to carve it so next year I will be sure to buy one from the normal pumpkin stands).

My Cousin Christine and her two of her kids with their pumpkins.

She finally found the one she could carry.

Olivia loved running around trying to pick up all the pumpkins it was absolutely adorable!

La County Fair!

So this year my mom came up with the great idea to take my grandpa to the pacific ocean since he always talks about never seeing it. (he is from Buffalo, NY). So once someone mentions trip, I am on it, booking everything before anyone has time to change their mind. So off we went to Pomona Ca and Laguna beach for a 4 day weekend.

Our first stop was two days at the LA County Fair. Which was a ton of fun, shopping, petting animals, horse racing (Olivia's Favorite part) and the food...OH THE FOOD.

My grandfather was ECSTATIC about riding this with my brother, Olivia enjoyed pointing up in the sky screaming "cunkle and Gapa"

I can not even put words to this, it captures the moment!

Olivia was not so sure about the petting zoo, it was intense animals everywhere she only lasted about 60 seconds.
My Crazy brother decided to bungee Jump, Olivia was not happy about this at all...
She was exhausted after spending two days being a real trooper in her stroller, even napping in it!

Then we headed to the coast for some beach action, some ocean side dinning (my fav) and of course more shopping. It also happened to land on my birthday weekend...Bonus... I spent my b-day shopping at the beach... So much fun.

Three generations of love!

Birthday lunch in Laguna GORGEOUS DAY!

Olivia was such a good girl the whole weekend, she took all of her naps in her stroller since we were so busy and barely even cried it was fabulous. (side note, Rob stayed home to build me a closet under our stairs with his friend, so I was on my own with Olivia, of course my family was a HUGE help as always)

Off to Party in San Fran...ALONE!

So for the first time since Olivia was born I went away without her. It was a short trip to San Francisco to surprise one of my very best friends Katie at her Bachlorette party. Mary and I left on Saturday afternoon. We surprised Katie by going through an adjoining room in her hotel while she was getting ready. It was one of those priceless moments.View from our room!

We then went out to eat at this different restaurant Infusion and partied the night away. We were all BY FAR THE HOTTEST girls in the club and had a blast!

The next day we walked around San Fran, shopped till we dropped, ate lots of yummy food and Mary and I headed home that evening. (side note: Mary and I used public transportation the whole time, what a weird experience...)

I was surprised how nice it was to be away from responsibility, I could have stayed one more night, shhh don't tell. When I got home Sunday night Olivia was passed out and had a great time with daddy, and grandma. For those mommies who have not had a break, DO IT!!! Trust me it is so worth it, make you appreciate your kids so much, even if you think you already do!

GPA

Ok so after the BBQ at my moms we noticed that my grandpa was missing. He did not say anything to any of us about leaving, so we figured he just took a walk (something he does daily about 5-10 miles total). Anyway so we all went home and thought nothing of it. Now he lives with my mom also in Rhodes Ranch, so at about 10 pm when he still had not returned my mother called me, unfortunately my phone was off. Any way my mother was up all night looking for him, she finally called the police at 6 am and they told her it had not been 24 hours so she should call the hospitals. Which she did, frantically. At about 7 am I turned my phone on and I had a feeling something was wrong. My mother called and told me grandpa was in the hospital she was running out the door. I threw clothes on and went with her.

Side note… my mother called San Matin (hospital Gpa was at) they connected her to a nurse. The nurse told her, “Yes Don is here but we are getting ready for shift change so you have to call back.” My mother let the New Yorker in her out…Telling the nurse that he had been missing since the night before and she demanded they tell her his state. The woman was so rude, I hope the complaint we filed cause her to loose her job. My poor mother sometimes I think people need to be more compassionate especially in the health field.

When we arrived, he was sedated, they gave us the run around telling us he was passed out in the Vons parking lot and an ambulance brought him in. (This of course not the truth I’ll get to that.) His wallet was missing and his cloths were torn so my mother and I both thought he had been mugged…

After a ton of phone calls to various places, Police, AMR (ambulance service) and going to the ER I got the real story…I have to warn you I am sick over this…

So Sunday night at approx 5:30 my grandfather headed to Vons on foot as he does at least once a day to get pastries. Half way there, a woman pulled over and asked him his name, he refused to give it to her and told her he was fine… She took it upon herself to call the police to report a man lost???(He was not lost it is approx .35 miles from his front door to Vons, NOWAY to get lost. She then followed him into Vons and proceeded to question him some more…He told her he was fine and did not need her help. She called the police again saying he was disorientated and not responsive…Within minutes 7 cops arrive at Vons, corner my grandfather at the meat counter ad surround him in a circle, question him for 20 minutes. (During which 9 Vons employees go up to various police officers and tell them Gpa is a regular and he is fine, which they ignore) He asks if he can go home, they tell him he has to go to the hospital…At which point he tries to leave… SEVEN police take to the ground and sedate him…He is rushed by ambulance to the hospital and questioned again (even though he is sedated) they decide he is disorientated and admit him. (NO DUH HE IS DISORIENTATED HE HAS BEEN GIVEN A SEDATIVE). They do not attempt to contact family at all, even though in his wallet he has a card that says “INCASE OF EMERGENCY” please contact Mary Thompson (my mom) with her phone number.

(Result of 7 police men these marks are all over his body)

He is then kept in the hospital for 48 hours because of the sedative.

My grandfather is a healthy 84 years old. Takes no meds, walks 5-10 miles a day and is very active. On Sunday September 6, 2009, his rights were violated. He is now scared to leave the house alone, refuses to walk, and is not comfortable grocery shopping. I am so sad that some woman could do this to him. He stopped driving about 2 months ago on his own because he decided his reflexes were not the same, and now he has stopped walking. Worst of all if he ever does get lost and actually needs help he most definitely will not go to a police man for help.

Labor Day BBQ

So my mom decided to have my cousins over with their kids for Labor Day as a "Close the Pool Splash". She heated the pool and the kids swam all day. We had great food and company, my kind of holiday. Olivia is always at my moms back window BEGGING to go in the "Poo" well she got her wish she was in the pool with Rob for at least 2 hours total that day.

Olivia's new thing is "high fives" she loves giving them to her daddy. I finally caught it in action.