Halloween 2011

Halloween came quickly after we got back from Hawaii. We had just enough time to fit in the traditional visit to the pumpkin patch. We've gone every year since Luke was born.

This was the first year that Luke understood the whole jack-o-lantern thing. He was even excited to help with the dirty work of hallowing out the pumpkin.

But he left the carving up to Daddy.

The costume thing really stressed me out, but as it turned out, I needn't have worried. Luke got sick the Thursday before Halloween and missed all the school activities. And when it came time to go trick or treating, he didn't want to go. Going up to strange people's houses and having to say "Trick or Treat" did not appeal to Luke's personality.

But I had tried to find a costume anyway. He kept saying that he wanted to be a pumpkin, and one afternoon we drove around trying to find a pumpkin costume with no luck. It was too late to order anything on the internet. So I fell back on the easy black cat costume.

The day before Halloween we tried out the costume and Luke really got into pretending to be a cat and playing with Roosevelt's toys.

In fact, they kind of fought over the cat toys.

It wasn't the best Halloween on record because Luke had been sick, but the pumpkin carving was fun and I hope we managed to make some good memories for him anyway.

Hawaii-- October 2011

Shortly after Luke came back from St. Louis, we went on a family vacation to Hawaii, The Big Island. The picture below was taken just before we went on a submarine ride. I love this picture because it encapsulates just how Luke was on the trip-- moody and anti-social.

But we still had a great time. How can you not have a great time in Hawaii? The island spirit just gets into your soul and even as we were leaving we were planning and scheming to go back again.

We went to attend a wedding, and we were lucky enough to stay at a beautiful resort, The Fairmont Orchid. We spent most of our time in the pool with the bride and groom and their families.

Luke loves to swim and got really brave at the end, trying to swim without a life vest. He doesn't even mind when he goes under and takes in water.

But most of the time he spent in the same life vest,
just in case he needed to jump in the water again.

Lounging by the pool with Dad on our last day.

The resort also had a beautiful swimming bay, but we didn't spend any time in the ocean. Luke didn't like the salt water and didn't seem to have any interest in going in.

The wedding was gorgeous, the kind of setting you would see in a movie.
Here is Luke waiting for the ceremony to start.

Walking on the beach at night with Dad.

Checking out the souvenir program we got on our submarine ride.

Any time you go to Hawaii is a special time, and we can't wait to go back.
Although Luke was a challenge, now that it's over we have lots of family memories to carry us through until the next time.