Gratitude and & Halloween in the rest of Rocktober

The new vegan cafe & ice cream shop...Ryan is refusing to open with an open mouth as he just got braces. :-(  He is not thrilled  since they hurt, they're boring/silver (we wouldn't let him get Invisalign since he'd pop them out)...but we are grateful, as orthodontia is a privilege to have. I'm sure he will appreciate them in a 1.5 years, when they come off!

I am grateful that...

• We are very fortunate to have a large family that is briefly reunited. Because Joey is here for only four days, we are gathering daily for family meals and it's been nice to see everyone. Sometimes you need a reason/excuse to see family or life takes over and you don't see each other much!
• My sweet neighbor/friend Rosie took our son to three beaches today, in search of the perfect place to freedive together...followed by Starbucks and Teshimas after! He was SO ecstatic after and said it was as fun as going with a friend his age, which is the most flattering thing a tween can really ever say about an adult! They're now beach/freediving buddies and we LOVE it.
• Riki turned 16, and we celebrated with our family tradition of throwing him a Sweet 16! It may be 'for girls,' as they say...but not according to us. Every single child gets feted the same way at 16- with a vomit-worthy pink party filled with unicorns and jewels!
• We had a Quarantine Halloween soiree for Ry and his social bubble, and they all sweetly declared it the best Halloween ever! First off, we hosted a Halloween bake off. A few weeks later, it was pumpkin carving with his classmate/BFF, and on Halloween, it was a taiko drive-through Halloween celebration, and more festivities at our casa- a candy hunt, BINGO, cupcake decorating and a candy-trading session. ;-) 

A few pics of the month:

 I will say only that the reason we did not display the finished product this year is that we let Ryan have carte blanche with this...and...oops. Our bad.

Riki's Sweet Sixteen feast...it was impressive fare!

Of COURSE he had to have a pink unicorn cake, since his older brother had a princess cake a few years ago!

We celebrated family brunch with Joey with BINGO to follow.  I was not exactly a subtle victor.

And yes, in quarantine with tp shortages, you pick that as your prize! My nieces went with matching unicorn rompers. I would have gone that direction too, but they don't make size 839 for larger people in children's clothes...

We are very thankful karate is back...distanced, safe, outdoors, but BACK, baby!!! Let's just say our little guy was a bit rusty after his 7 month hiatus...but he's now back at it on Wed/Fri, and running with Riki and I on Tue/Thu...so less veal-like than a few weeks ago.

The great Halloween bake off! The girls made purple sugar cookies, the boys made peanut butter brownies, and I made pumpkin mochi. It was a three way tie, says me.

Baking was followed by...butt balloon popping. A time honored tradition at Halloween nationwide, right?

Did we do BINGO twice in a month? Why yes we did, because that's how this family rolls. The second one was with Ryan's bubble on Halloween. This was his usual quarantine crew, and his two cousins.

The trading session in his bedroom following the hunt.

Our fully costumed crew/social bubble from taiko mostly, and one from the hanabata days of preschool.