Enough tiny tree debris clogged the drain on our deck (and everyone else's) resulting in inches of water accumulating. The kids decided that looked like fun and ended up doing many laps on their scooters creating waves. Finally Daddy was a killjoy and pulled the drain filter.
Anneliese wasn't too thrilled to meet Santa. Ethan was very nice and passed along her wish list on her behalf. Santa did think that a remote control helicopter might be a bit much for her though.
Liz and the kids went to go visit Oma and Opa leaving Daddy to cram for finals alone. From the photos, it looked noticeably less sunny than it did in August.
Grandma and John visited Monterey where they showed us a new way to have fun at the beach (see below). We also went to the Monarch Grove Sanctuary in Pacific Grove as it was getting to the time of year when they are all hanging out in the trees there. It was pretty neat seeing how clumped together they were trying to stay warm.
Ethan has really gotten into playing the Monopoly Deal card game which I had heard about from a lady at church a while back. Anneliese is turning into such a fun talker. She's always asking questions and then saying "You're right" and uses lots of double plurals. Halloween was a real mission this year with the monkey and Optimus Prime trick-or-treating at not one but two Pre-Halloween shopping area sessions and a party at NPS prior to spending actual Halloween around a military housing area that my classmate invited us to. I've never in my life seen anything like it...it seemed like the set of a movie like E.T. with so many houses decorated and kids on the street and even the people handing out candy were in costume sitting on their porches.
