Traditions

It's been a tradition now for the past 3 weeks :o) to go over to Audie's house on Fridays and swim in her pool. It's helped Mariah overcome her fear of water a lot, and the rest of us have fun at the same time!

So last Friday when we got off work, we packed the kids in the car and headed out.

Friday was also the first day that the weather around here has resembled anything even close to autumn---so I was happy! It drizzled when I left work, and as we were on our way to Audie's we got to see this:

And this:

(I took both of these photos while driving....not a good idea)

"A la piscine" (at the pool):

No arm floaties for this family....we use water noodles as our floatation devices:

~~~

Another fun tradition took place last weekend too:

Well this one was a Wood/East-Family tradition, which is now a Howard-Family one. For as long as I can remember, I used to go with my parents & Grandparents (and friends when I got older) to the Oktoberfest in La Mesa. We would eat at San Fillipo's Pizza, then walk around and peruse the craft booths. So much fun (for a food & craft lover like me). Last year, I had full-blown Strep Throat so we weren't able to go. So I've been looking forward to this year since then!

We brought along Arissa's friend, Vanesa. We gave each of the girls $5 so they could buy themselves something...they thought that was pretty awesome.

Rides weren't always part of the tradition...I don't think they had them there when I was younger (or if they did, I didn't go on them), but the girls all went on two rides each this year:

Look at the excitement on her blurry little face!

Arissa & Vanesa went on a tilt-a-whirl thingy:

Look at sweet, naive Arissa. I think she thought it was a nice slow ride...kind of like a merry-go-round:

She was pretty shocked when it got going:

But they survived...and apparently liked it cause they went on it again:

Mariah's 2nd ride was a froggy sky-drop thing:

Frankly, I can't believe she even got on it! But as you can tell, she loved it. And she, too, went on it twice:

Part of the Oktoberfest tradition is running into tons of friends and schoolmates and people you know throughout the night.

This year was no exception:

Arissa looks kind of irritated...I think she has some qualms about Health Care Reform:

We ended the night w/ the traditional Pizza Dinner:

They give the kids pizza dough to play with until the food arrives....I don't remember that being part of the tradition when I was younger, that would have been awesome! :o)

Here's Jesse contorting his neck in an effort to look skinny:

Mmmmmmm.....

One of our two yummy pizza platters of goodness:

We had a great dinner, the girls had some of our leftovers for dinner tonight, and Jesse and I have lunch covered for the next several days!

I love our Oktoberfest tradition. So much fun, and it's the official sign to me that fall is here.

M&M ended the night w/a hug: