Lakehouse: Halloween in Austin

We came to Austin for a beloved Montalvo holiday: Halloween!

Halloween photo! Rene is Jack Sparrow (Pirates of the Caribbean), Honey is a 1900s rich lady (inspired by Downton Abby), Tippy is Elizabeth Bennett (Pride and Prejudice with Zombies), Bailey is a Valor Pokemon Trainer, Stephen is Marty McFly (Back to the Future), Ginger is a Mystic Pokemon Trainer, Henry is a Ninja Turtle, Melanie and Adam are Air Force pilots (Top Gun style), Tamvie is pink Batman, Sophia is Mal (Disney Descendants), Finley is Anna (Frozen), and Lukas is Foxy (Friday Night at Freddy's) 

Because we visited during the school year, we got to witness our nieces' and nephews' after school activities.

 

Lukas (8) and Sophia (11) are practicing hard at karate. 

Adam calls this "riot gear"

 

Finley (5) loves her soccer team

and Bailey (14) continues playing tuba. Now in high school, he gets to be part of the school marching band.

Bailey is the one in the center. 

We were able to travel to San Antonio for his regional competition.

Their choreography is amazing- walking, skipping, bending, leaning, twirling!

They placed in the top three of their region, and will get to continue to state competition levels!

Other fun for the week- getting good deals at a city-wide yard sale.

Melanie gave us a tour of their favorite fancy used furniture store.

 

We all picked favorite items.

 

Ginger worked hard on a craft project this trip: making Pokemon Go trainer costumes for herself and for Bailey.

  

Best friend Tamvie from across the street came along trick-or-treating! Ginger and Bailey pretend to throw pokeballs.

 

At home, there are two new dogs in the family. The Dehlers got a new puppy, a Spinoni Italiano named Goose. Then the Montalvos adopted Goose's grandmother, and got a special deal since the breeders are done with sharing her genes. Honey named her Coco. 

 

The family decorated pumpkins together.

Ginger drew a Jurassic Park dinosaur for Lukas to color

Halloween party with many fancy treats: (okay, we spent some time on Pinterest)

A wonderful time with family

Lakehouse: Montalvo Clan visits

Montalvos + Wendls Visit

By the time the Montalvo family came to visit, two weeks after the Kapalkas, Ginger had painted the sunroom yellow. (She later went back to a white ceiling though.)

Montalvo men re-intalling windows to make a second guestroom. Even Bailey pitched into help. He's just become a teenager.

We ate some apples from our tree while surveying the roof.

The first week, the Wendl/Kiehl family joined us with Honey and Rene. So we had fun with our nephews, visiting the car museum.

 

We took a big camping trip to the Olympic National Forest, renting an RV from the military base. 

 

 The boys were allowed to fish without a license, and everyone got to take a turn kayaking.

 

We made a side trip to a special location for Tippy: 

Forks has several Twilight-themed gift stores... and examples of Bella's car in the book and movie.

 

We also saw the outdoor part of the mining museum. (As far as I know, not featured in the books.)

Dehlers Visit

 

We took the Seattle Underground Tour. Seattle raised the streets in the 1890s after devasting flooding and fires, leaving behind a mostly abandoned series of streets and first floors of old businesses.

 Honey and Rene were excited to see the original Starbucks.

We rode the Space Needle elevator to the top (first time!) to dine in the slowly spinning restaurant, SkyCity. The girls ordered "The Lunar Orbitor" for dessert, an ice cream dish with dry ice smoke and sparklers!

Stephen captured the view with his phone.

We drove out to a favorite bridge and a view of Mt. Ranier for a family picnic.