Halloween

The kids had a really fun Halloween....well what kid doesn't like getting a ton of candy! Austin went as Jack Sparrow, Kylie was Princess Genevieve (Barbie and the 12 Dancing Princesses) and Colton was Austin's sidekick - a baby pirate.

Austin had a special Halloween parade at his school and loved seeing all of the funny costumes some of the big kids wore.

Austin loved being able to bring home Terry Bear from his classroom at school.

Austin drew a model of a pirate ship that he wanted to build. Then he made a pirate ship to look just like his model. He was pretty proud to make a pirate ship just like Great Grandpa Frank!

A fun night with our neighbors. The girls watched a 3-D Barbie Princess movie and the boys camped out in the playroom and watched a "non-girl" movie.

Fun Times with Jo Jo and Pops!

We had a fun weekend with Jo Jo and Pops, especially playing miniature golf!

Kylie's First Day of Preschool

Kylie's first day of preschool at Shining Light! She couldn't wait to go to the same school that big brother Austin used to attend.

Austin's first day of kindergarten

I can't believe that Austin is now in Kindergarten. He was so excited for his first day of "real school". I was the only one that seemed to be a little nervous.

There are only five boys in Austin's class and 15 girls! Luckily Austin already knew two of the boys since they were both on his soccer team. Here is a picture of Austin with one of his friends from his kindergarten class.

The teacher had all the kids sit down at the table and draw. Austin couldn't wait to draw a picture of a pirate on a pirate ship! Here is Austin's first kindergarten picture.

With my heart in my throat I said goodbye to Austin. He said goodbye with a huge smile on his face and then blew me a kiss goodbye. When I picked him up from school he said he had the best day ever.

Vacation in Grand Cayman

We had a jammed packed final two weeks of summer. We went to Grand Cayman with all three kids and had an amazing week there. All of Ryan's traveling paid off and we were able to stay at the beautiful Ritz Carlton in Grand Cayman using some of our "Marriott Points". The island is gorgeous, safe and there is a ton of things to do there with the kids. Austin is very into Pirates of the Carribbean right now. Lucky for us, Grand Cayman is all about pirates so Austin was in absolute heaven! We rented a

car for three days which was an adventure in itself since you drive on the left side of the road.

We went to the beach the first day. Colton loved the sand at first.....until he dropped his pacifier in the sand, quickly put it back into his mouth with sand all over it. Then he put his hands covered with sand in his mouth, started to cry because sand probably doesn't taste that great and put his sandy hands up to his eyes. Yeah - the trip to the beach ended pretty quickly for Colton. But at least we got a cute picture of him before the chaos!

We then decided to head over to the pool which was much more enjoyable with a one year old. Mommy and baby were both happy campers.

Next, we went to "real" pirate caves. Austin apparently found the keys to the real treasure chest. Kylie freaked out as soon as she saw a skull and ran out of the cave and Ryan lost about five pounds holding Colton in the baby carrier on his chest since the humidity inside the caves was incredibly high. But Austin spent over an hour there convinced he was going to find the real pirate treasure which would then make us a "pirate family".

Later on our trip we went to the Turtle Farm. They had an area where you could pick up and hold the baby turtles which all of the kids loved. Even Kylie held one of the turtles! At the turtle farm, they have a huge lagoon stocked with over 4,000 fish and obviously lots of sea turtles. Ryan took Austin snorkeling (you couldn't pay me enough money to be in the water with all of those fish surrounding me!) and the two of them had a great time.

Ryan and I found a great babysitter and we were able to go out at night for lots of date nights!!!!

Later on the trip we went on the black pearl where there were real pirates and they made Austin and Kylie scrub the decks, fire the cannon balls and even tied up one of the dads. Austin was in absolute heaven there!!!! He even walked the plank with Ryan and jumped into the ocean.

Even Colton had a blast on the black pearl!








After a day out at sea, we went to lunch at Jimmy Buffet's Margaritaville. To Austin and Kylie's surprise, they had a huge waterslide in the middle of the restaurant. Do you think the kids liked this restaurant?

Here is Ryan, aka the multitasker. That takes talent to work on your computer, listen to your ipod all while getting a one year old to stay asleep in your arms. I was so impressed, I couldn't resist taking a picture of it.

Austin takes this whole pirate thing very seriously. He decided one day that he had to hide his secret treasure box in his pants so the pirates wouldn't be able to steal it from him. I'm going to have to hold onto this picture for a long time!

Update on the Hatfield's

I got the idea of starting a blog from a friend of mine (thanks Amy T.). Considering that I am horrible with computers, we will see if I can actually pull this off. I'm going to use this to keep everyone updated on what is going on with the Hatfield's.
This summer has been wonderful and we have had a lot going on. To start things off, Kylie got her ears pierced at the county fair! I know what you are all thinking....but the person who did it has 30 years experience and did a great job. Kylie was great, she didn't cry or anything. She was so excited and had a huge smile after she saw her earrings for the first time in the mirror. She loves that she has earrings just like her best friend Helena.

We also went to the little leage A's baseball game where all the kids in baseball little league got to walk on the baseball field and watch the A's team warm up for the game. Austin is really into baseball and loved every minute of it. Little Colton even joined us at the game!

We went to the Monterey Aquarium with the Londre Family and the kids all had a ton of fun there. Kylie was even brave enough to pick up a starfish. I don't think she realized it was alive. I think she thought it was a pretty seashell. Kylie liked the exhibit where you stand underneath a glass structure and the waves from the ocean go over the glass. Austin liked the penguins.

We then had our big two week trip down to Southern California and Arizona. First we went to Jenn's family for the big 4th of July party. We also celebrated Colton's first birthday with my nephew Garrett (they are only 3 days apart!) Let's just say that Colton has some definite "Reese genes" in him and he loves his sweets!

The kids loved the 4th of July. Jenn's friend Trisha, Mike and their two daughters Francesca (Austin's future wife and best friend since they were 6 months old) and Sophia came to the 4th of July parade and party and we all had a great time. Austin and Kylie's highlight of the day was throwing water balloons at Papa!

We then went to Disneyland with Papa and Grandma Debbi. Austin loved the new Pirates of the Carribbean ride and pirate show. He now thinks that he is Jack Sparrow and constantly annoys Kylie by trying to get her with his pirate sword. Kylie loved the princesses and told me that she doesn't want to be a dentist when she grows up anymore, she wants to be a princess.

After Disneyland, we drove down to Arizona to visit Jo-Jo and Pops (Kylie now calls him Popsy's). The kids loved going swimming in their water fountain which they apparently think is a swimming pool and looking at baseball cards with Popsy. Austin thinks Popsy is so cool because he has "a million baseball cards and music cd's in his office".

After Arizona, we drove back to Papa and Grandma Debbi's house and went sailing over to Catalina Island for the annual Catalina Rendevous. Austin became quite the sailor and Kylie surprisingly agreed to go in the water with Daddy.

We had an amazing two weeks filled with so many wonderful memories!