Thanksgiving Trip

We had a wonderful trip to Redding to visit with cousins over Thanksgiving weekend. Good food, good company, fun adventures. It was a lovely little get away for a couple nights.

We went for a night walk to see the crazy house that runs lights to music and even happened to catch the man coming home so he gave the kids candy canes. Sorry for the creepy eyes and blurry, just tried to snap a quick shot and it wasn't so good

We went to the Sundial Bridge and then headed into Turtle Bay. We saw some cool exhibits, animals, played a great playground and got to feed the parrots.

View of the Sundial above and then a view off the bridge below

Cousins Sally and Rich and Gavin joined my 3 kiddos

Monterey Trip

We had an aquarium membership that needed to be used twice in a calendar year so we headed back to Monterey at the beginning of the week off for Thanksgiving. We made it to the amazing aquarium and then drove by Carmel and saw views of Pebble Beach Golf Course from the beach. It was a great quick trip!

Golf course on the bluff

Looking at the Ocean

Dipping our feet in the sand on our walk (keep in mind this is late Nov), it was so nice!

A kid pic

Battling the shadows.

Enjoying the aquarium

Sitting under the crashing wave!

Happy Halloween!

We had a fun Halloween. We were able to carve some pumpkins after school and then take the kids trick or treating. We have a wonderful neighborhood and love where we are. The kids had a great time and got TONS of candy (I am very thankful for candy buy back programs that get it out of my house before I eat it all). A fun night was had by all and everyone was healthy enough to make it to school the next morning!

 

Kate wanted the ghost, Lucy designed the cat. Jaydon wanted to play with the neighbor.

The haul!

Kate's Birthday

We had a wonderful, and busy day celebrating Kate. It was soccer game day (and we had an early game) so we started early with a new Kate tradition of getting pumpkin pie for breakfast (partly because I need an excuse to buy my first Costco pumpkin pie of the season). Then we headed out to soccer games for L and J and found our way back home for a somewhat lazy afternoon before going out to dinner (Spaghetti Factory - Kate's choice). The only downside was when we got to the restaurant we had to make a detour to urgent care to get Jaydon's finger looked at from a soccer injury earlier that day. He wound up with a small fracture in his right index finger.

Now about Kate! She is so full of personality. She has these facial expressions that are hilarious, her voice and inflection are super cute and she is good at making people laugh. We often get questions on if it is hard to discipline her because she comes off as angelic but also somewhat devious in her ability to give you a look that may let her get out of anything. She is loving being in T-K this year and going to school every afternoon (11-2:35) at the same school as big brother and sister. She loves to volunteer answers and can definitely be a bit of a bossy pants. She is still doing gymnastics and looks forward to doing dance this spring and starting some other sports in the fall (though managing all three of their schedules will be a challenge). Kate loves coloring and doing art projects, she also enjoys playing with horses and dolls. She gives some of the best healing kisses for boo-boos and is still a snuggler. She brings a lot of energy and joy into our lives.

 Happy with her dinner at the spaghetti factory!

And...Jaydon's swollen finger. Probably should be its own post but oh well.

September Stuff

Kate not feeling great snuggled up on the chair

The second graders at Lucy's school put on a grandparent performance. It was perfect because Nana Diane was able to be in town and come.

A piece of art I saw in the vet's office that I enjoyed!

The kids getting a little crazy with the neighbor's costume bin

Soccer season, Lucy and her friend Mia and then my crew with Gpa.

 Soccer season is here. I am coaching Lucy's team and Jaydon is having a great time with some friends on his team.

We got to go to WA for a quick trip and have a fun time hanging out with a lot of people from our old neighborhood

The amazing Asia Citro, author, blogger, publisher, non-profit organizer, event planner. We were really lucky that the time we were in WA coincided with her first Seattle Public Children's Book Festival so I got to help out a little and see her!