Halloween 2005

The girls love Halloween and this year was a blast. They raked in the candy and had a great time.

Here's the girls with Katie's friend Kara.


The girls discovered our stash of old Halloween costumes. Here they are trying on one of daddy's old masks.

October in Ashland

Small town life can move kind of slow, but we make the most of it.

Katie has a project to document here community. So, we went out and got some nice photographs of Ashland.

Here's the girls standing in front of the safe in the Huntington Bank building. (This safe was feature in the movie, "The Shawshank Redemption.")


This stream runs just off the main street downtown and the girls like to visit it on occassions.


Here's the girls posing in an alley just of the main drag.


Katie participatied in soccer this fall, but her injured toe held her back some. Still, she had a good time. Here she is holding her trophy just after the final game.

Katie Turns 9/Josh Turns 8

Both the Spears and Copen clans converged upon a Chucky Cheese's on the west site of Columbus to celebrate both Katie and Josh's birthdays.

Here's the birthday girl.


And here's the birthday boy.


And here's Katie enjoying her cake.


There is much fun to be had at Chucky Cheese's. Here's Papa George teaching Emma the fine points of Skee Ball.


Here's all the girls dancing:

Toronto with the Nielsens

At the gracious invition of our friends of the Nielsens, we traveled to Toronto.

On the way up, it was our good fortune to visit Niagara falls. Several of our party took a trip on the Maid in the Mist.

Here's a sampling of our intrepid adventurers


Lars looked especially snazzy in his rain gear.

Here's a lovely rainbow in the mist of the Falls.


In Toronto, we stayed at the swanky Four Seasons.


The kids availed themselves of the plentiful amenities of the hotel...especially the pool.


Here's the Spears Family modeling the Four Season's luxurious bathrobes.


Getting 9 people out to breakfast was no small feat, but it was achieved at this little bistro just down the street from the hotel.


Lars barely survived the trip in our 12 passenger van.

Kingwood Gardens

In early September, Aunt Kim and Paula came up for a visit and we decided to make a trip to Mansfield. While we were there we decided to explore the Kingswood Gardens and it was a very pleasant surprise.

Here's Aunt Paula and Emma.


Both Katie and Emma enjoyed all the "pretty" flowers.

Evacuation

As I stated in the last post, we were evacuated from the beach when hurricane Ophelia came ashore and we had to head inland. But our spirits were not dampened.

I learned how to play Euchre with the men. (At least, I tried to learn. I felt sorry for my partner)



The kids made themselves at home in the hotel playing games, drawing and, basically, just having fun in each other's company.


The move inland did put us closer to quality dining. Here's our evening out at the Japanese Steakhouse at Barefoot Landing in North Myrtle Beach.

Going to the Beach

As is the tradition, we made our annual trip to Holden Beach, North Carolina. The first two days were good, but hurricane Ophelia made land fall and we had to evacuate for 2 and half days. Before it hit, we still got in some beach time.

Here's Emma having fun in the sun.


Before we left the beach, we shot an epic motion picture..."The Ghost Pirates of Holden Beach."

Here are some production stills:



Here are Uncles Brad and Blair in their starring roles as Pirates.