Flying to Neverland

As a birthday gift for myself this year, I bought season tickets to the Broadway Shows at the Hult Center. The musicals that they had on the docket were very exciting! This season they have Finding Neverland, The Lion King, Evita, The Illusionist, and Wicked! The price for season tickets was a really good deal (at least seemed like one to me) and it had something for everyone in the family. The Illusionist is a bonus one that you can add on to the packet for a discounted cost. At first, I was not planning on doing it but I think I may have to. I think Will may enjoy that one the most.

For the first show, I took Colin as my date to Finding Neverland. We both loved it! Colin was a little surprised that Peter Pan was not in it as much but once he understood the premise, he really got into it. We bought the soundtrack to the Original Broadway show and have been listening to it ever since. Meli, who did not get to go to this one, also loves listening to the soundtrack.

I loved getting dressed up and hanging out with Colin. He was a perfect date! Next up is The Lion King!

The actors did such a fantastic job! I was really impressed with the singing and overall production. Their was also an underline sense of humor that went over Colin's head that was a nice addition for the adults without ruining the children's story.


For my fellow Oregonians - definitely worth looking into. Even a bit of a drive is worth it.


                                                     




  ~ Love, Hugs & Kisses
                                                               
         The B Family

Getting into Character

The kids and Will all rate Halloween very high on their favorite holiday list. This is a question that Meli ask us a lot. I never thought too much about this holiday but have grown to enjoy it more, especially with how much the family gets into it. She seems amazed that it does not make my top 3.

Meli has been asking about Halloween since September 1st! That is a long time to talk about the holiday. I made her wait until October 1st to put up any decorations. She was planning her costume since July. Needless to say, we were ready for the holiday to be over.

She ended up being two things: Foxy from the Five Nights at Freddy's game and then a skeleton.

This was for a Halloween party at school.

This was the weekend before. Colin went to a friend's party, so Will and I took Meli out to dinner like this.

Then this was for actual Halloween. Trick-or-treat!

Colin went with as a gargoyle. His costume could be pretty creepy. I would come home from work and he would be in the corner posed perfectly still. I would see something out of the corner of my eye. It was spooky!

Very last minute, I noticed that all of our costumes had a similar fantasy theme. I told Colin that I could be an evil sorceress that created him (gargoyle) and raised Meli (skeleton) from the dead. Then Will was a ranger (D&D) that was traveling with us on some mission. Colin really got into it! He added that Meli and him would only listen to me since I created them.

I had to cast a spell when they were going with Will to go trick-or-treating and I stayed behind to pass out candy. That was funny. Dressing up in general takes me out of my comfort zone. I have become more comfortable with it over the last few years, but getting into character really adds to that! I am proud of myself for doing it and amazed by how much are kids help us to grow.

I used my staff that has a crystal ball at the end to cast the spell. I even made a rhyme. It was so fun! I may have been too much into the character, because I scared Meli a tad when I did the spell.

It rained a little bit in the morning but was clear by the time to start trick-or-treating. Even without the rain, my hair managed to get really frizzy sitting outside waiting for the trick-or-treaters. 

                                                           ~ Love, Hugs & Kisses ~
                                                                     The B Family

We got a Puppy (again)

In July, we started the month with some wonderful visitors from Ohio. The kids were so bummed when our good friends moved to the mid-west. The kids spent a chunk of the summer with their grandma and so we thankfully got to have a sleepover.

Even if the current state of things does not have me feeling very red, white, and blue - we used the holiday to teach the kids about what patriotism means (and what it does not) and how we can act and do our part to represent our country of immigrants.

We also added to the family with an adoption of our second rescue pup, Scout. Will and I went to the pet store for fish food and came out with a puppy. Will noticed that they were having an adoption event, while were there. I warned him about going over, but he insisted. He was smitten with Scout instantly. He reminded him of Sparky the Fire Dog from his military days.

Needless to say, the kids were very surprised. They thought it was so funny how their "anti-dog" dad turned into a dog-lover. We were stuck on a few names: Pippin, Scout, and Sparky. Scout won out with Pippin a very close second. We did a family vote. I was glad to get one of the book references (Scout from To Kill a Mockingbird or Pippin from The Hobbit).

It took Charlie a little bit to get used to Scout, but I think it has been very good for him. More about the adventures of Charlie and Scout to come! At first he was not sure what to think of this hyper little creature.

It stressed him out a little. We did have to up his Prednisone dose for a few weeks. 

I think he was secretly happy for a little brother though. 

Even one that looked an awfully lot like one of his favorite toys.

Until next time...

                                                                         ~ The B Family

Hiatus Over!

Apparently, I needed a little blog break, I cannot believe that my last post was in June! I have had a few people mention missing seeing our family updates, so I thought I would be better at making time for writing. Plus, I miss it.

So, some updates starting with June...

We had some beautiful sunny, lazy days!

We painted...a lot!

I have realized that Meli is my little shadow. I tend to have way more pictures of her because she is constantly around me. Colin is often doing his own thing somewhere else. I am trying to make sure that we both have our time together.

I was able to go on my first field trip with Meli. I have already made it to a few for Colin. It was easier when I was at home. My goal now is to do at least one for each of them a year.

We bought some fish.

 Meli has the neon green/yellow (Globi) and neon purple (Glostar). Colin has the neon blue (Tsunami) and the dalmatian molly (Patches). Will and I had a silver one name Silvara (who sadly passed). Since then we have added two otocinclus to help keep it clean (amazing!) and three snails. One blue mystery, one black mystery, and a red small one with cool designs.

We had a lovely visit from this lovely lady.

I love that she is totally on board and loves to do beer flights with us. This was at Tap & Growler. Awesome food and beer selections. 

We showed her several beer spots. Ninkasi is a favorite of Will's. 

We went on a road trip to The Grotto. I had heard it was a beautiful spot and I thought that Liz would love it.

It was such a sunny and beautiful day!

Then we took Liz to the coast the next day and it was in the high 50's/low 60's. This was Liz's first time and I think it left an impression. She was pretty cold most of the time but such a trooper. I thought it was funny that Meli and I were in t-shirts, Will and Liz were bundled up (east coasters!), and Colin was a mix of the two. 

 Some very brisk water caught Will and his mom off guard. I totally did warn them.

I promise. 

We came home and roasted some marshmallows. 

We ended her visit by taking her to one of our favorite places, Rye. It specializes mixed drinks. They have their menu broken out by pre-prohibition, prohibition, and post-prohibition. I love it!

They have an amazing chocolatier (spelling). So delicious and they pair it with liquor. They do a fantastic job at the pairing. Liz had (I think) an orange cream one paired with scotch. 

More soon!



                                                             ~ Love, Hugs & Kisses ~
                                                                      The B Family