Buzz, Cinderella, and Flo

Greetings friends and family,

We are safe at home after an uneventful 13 hour drive from Sacramento to Phoenix. The word tired doesn't even begin to describe how Kendra and I feel after being awake until 4:00 AM this morning. Even so, we are all relieved to get back into daily life in AZ.

Let me start by saying, "Yes, I know how ridiculous I looked". It turned out to be an extraordinary Halloween night for the twins though.


Easton and Layla had their costumes months ago and often asked about the Buzz Lightyear and Cinderlla outfit hanging in their closet. Kendra had her costume already decided by general consensus because after Neill and Jenny told her how much she reminded them of Flo, I told her she MUST be that for Halloween. My costume was picked out the day before Halloween.

Kendra and I were shopping in the costume store (just the 2 of us) and we came across a lone adult-size Buzz Lightyear costume. As soon as I saw it, I thought of how much Easton would love both of us dressing up the same. Personally I didn't want to dress up at all because it's just goofy for adults to do that. Watching Easton point out how we have the same belt, same big-boy underwear, and same color of eyes led me to swallow my pride and jump in with both feet.

I talked Kendra into dressing up as Flo, the Progressive Insurance commercial spokesperson. She looked fabulous and spot-on in so many ways. One lady even asked her if she was THE Flo from the commercials.


We hung out with Kendra's good friend, Megan, and her family most of the night. I was glad to see Megan dressed up in the cat costume because Kendra felt more comfortable, which made the whole night more fun.

There were literally dozens of Buzz Lightyear costumes at the Harvest Festival Halloween party, but I was the biggest Buzz Lightyear! I knew it would be popular because of the recent Toy Story 3 movie, but had no idea there would be such a large number of Buzz wannabe costumes there.

Easton and I were in character the entire evening. He would say, "How are you, Buzz Lightyear?" and I would respond, "I'm great, Buzz Lightyear. How are you?"


We also talked Oma and Opa into dressing up as well. Their 50's motif was perfect.


Easton would have been happier if Opa dressed as Evil Emperor Zurg. We would have had someone to fight together! Maybe next year? Hmmm... Mr. and Mrs. Potato Head would be a whole new level of awesome.

The harvest festival was first class and the trunk-or-treat was hundreds of cars long. One guy had a sweet Oompa Loompa costume and the twins had no idea how cool he was since they haven't seen Wizard of Oz. They accepted his candy none the less.


There were about 10 different inflatable bounce houses and slides and such. The only toddler friendly ones were the open bounce areas. We took full advantage of it as an opportunity for them to expend some energy and have ton of fun in the process. Layla's Cinderella outfit wasn't ideal for this activity, but as always she managed just fine.


Easton's astronaut suit gave him an extra few inches of vertical leap. Although he was mostly interested in just rolling around and slap stick humor.


We left the Harvest Festival because it turned chaotic. We went to Megan's local neighborhood and did the door-to-door thing just for the experience. One house had two huge bowls of candy on the front steps and I never saw that before. Easton politely took a couple of pieces so his trick-or-treat etiquette is already well established even after his first coherent Halloween.


We stopped by to see Neill and Jenny and Tracy's family because her costume was their idea in the first place. They all had many good laughs at the sight of the 4 Webbs and I consider that to be one of the biggest successes of the night.


As we walked down the street I took the opportunity to pose as "Spanish Buzz" with my Desert Flower. In Toy Story 3 he says, "¡Mi florecilla del desierto! (My desert flower!) Yo nunca habia visto la verdadera belleza hasta esta noche. (I have never seen true beauty until tonight.)"


One particular house had a spooky soundtrack playing in the entry way and creepy jack-o-lanterns. As the twins and Isabella turned to walk away from that house you can see they are mildly scared. Nobody cried, they were just kind of freaked out by the weirdness.


I haven't had many opportunities to take a self-portrait in the same way we did before having kids. When we were at the park I found a few spare minutes to take one though as the twins ran around on their own.


Feels like it has taken forever for them to be even slightly self-sufficient and not require 100% of our attention. We weren't side-lined for long though. They wanted to do things like try out a new kind of swing... a tire!


They both climb on virtually anything and everything. The big concrete lizard was destined to be conquered from the moment we arrived at the park.


The 4 Webbs drove up to Kendra's grandparents house for a pleasant visit. Grandma had lots of goodies for the twins to enjoy. I was surprised by how well behaved Layla was. We hung out for over an hour and she was very polite and easy going almost the whole time.

While we were admiring Grandma's fresh cut roses from her garden she noticed a spider on one of the flowers.


Normally Kendra would have been climbing the curtains and screaming like crazy at the thought of a spider running loose. However, I give her credit for staying calm and letting Grandma use the situation as a chance to show the twins how NOT to be scared.


Grandma narrated as the little black spider jumped (no kidding) from flower to flower. After a minute she calmly led the spider onto a piece of paper and then she wadded it up and wondered over to the trash. How about that for playing it cool? I was very impressed.

Their backyard has a lovely sounding water fountain. Very relaxing... other than my voice continually telling Easton and Layla not to splash in the water. They behaved well, but I could tell it took every ounce of Easton's will power not to stick his fingers in the stream of water pouring down. I took the opportunity to get a picture of Easton and Layla with Grandma and Grandpa, but the sun was a little too bright for the twins to flash their normal smile at the camera. Kendra and I both were glad it worked out to spend a little time with them during our trip.


Oma and Opa had a lot on their plate with work and helping with the funeral and emotionally dealing with everything. However, they still made an extra effort to focus on Easton and Layla so that made the entire trip worthwhile.


And the best part is... Oma and Opa are coming to visit us for a long Thanksgiving week! Now it is time to start preparing for their visit. As soon as we unpack our suitcases and get the house back in order.

See you soon!