All about the "D": October 2010

Saturday, October 30, 2010

Fall Festivities

On Thursday we visited Bates Nut Farm with our MOPS group. We had fun picking out pumpkins, feeding corn to the animals, taking a tractor ride and exploring our way through the straw maze. :)

Here are the sisters & kids posing for a photo. It was fun to spend this day with them & so many friends!

Sammy led us through the straw maze. I asked him which way we should go and he would reply "left!" then proceed to go to either the right or the left. :) So proud of him! Here he is in one of the many dead ends. :)

This is the pumpkin that Sammy chose at the pumpkin patch. We told him to give the pumpkin some eyes, a nose and a mouth, and this was his excellent attempt! He also decided to give his pumpkin some choo choo train tracks, as you can see in the video below!

This morning we visited the Quail Botanical Gardens for a kids fall festival. Sammy did a few crafts, which included painting his own baby pumpkin. Once we succeeded in getting him to wear the "smock," he was quite the serious painter and covered that pumpkin with globs and globs of every color of paint!

Happy Halloween everybody!

Monday, October 25, 2010

Julian Camping Trip

We just returned from a fun, chilly weekend of camping in Julian! We were so blessed to have the whole family together. It is such a special treat when all of us take the time from our busy lives to break away to the quiet, peaceful mountains and enjoy God's awesome creation. There were so many times when I stopped to look around at our family having fun together and thanked God for those special moments!

Saturday morning we headed out to Raven Hill Orchards to pick some of our very own Julian apples. We've now got about 6 pounds of Golden Delicious, Jonathan & Empire apples! Yum!

Sammy loved picking the apples and putting them in his bag.

Here he is enjoying one of his apples! It was so fun to watch him walk around chomping on apples all weekend. :)

Grandaddy holding his 2 youngest grandboys, Sam & Indi by the campfire. What a special moment!

It was really chilly in the morning (in the mid-40's...!)! We needed scarves, mittens, hats, jackets, and of course a fire to keep us warm!

Kissing cousins! All the grandkids loved taking rides behind the bike in this little cart.

Who needs toys when you've got rope & the great outdoors? The cousins had great fun keeping each other entertained all weekend. :)

All the girls took a break from the campgrounds to have afternoon tea in downtown Julian. This was an adorable little tea house, serving delicious tea, scones and hot pumpkin soup!

We ended our weekend with a fun stop at the pumpkin patch.

And everyone picked out their very own pumpkins. Sam had lots of fun pushing the wagon with Andrew.

It was a full weekend of fun, dirt, minimal sleep, & cherished memories! Next was to head home for some much needed showers and naps. :) Can't wait for next year!

Tuesday, October 19, 2010

I'm a big boy now!

This face could only mean one thing! He's a big boy!

Sammy went poop on his potty today! Hooray for Sammy!

We're sparing you all the photo of the evidence... :)

Hopefully this won't be a one time thing and he'll continue doing it! Time will tell!

Monday, October 11, 2010

Happy Birthday Laylie!

Saturday was our niece Laylie's first birthday! It was the most adorable picnic-themed party, with little Laylie dressed as a sweet little Laylie-bug! :) We had a fun time celebrating with so many family and friends. Here are some pictures of the big day!

Laylie with her beautiful Mommy, Mindy!

And here's my brother Jason with his precious 1-year old daughter!

The birthday girl with two of her Aunties

Everyone had so much fun in the bounce house! (Thankfully Sammy got a lot of practice the week before!)

There were also fun activities at the party like a water balloon toss! Sammy's face is priceless here as he caught the water balloon! :)

Laylie thoroughly enjoyed her cupcake! So delicious!

Laylie with her Mamoe & Grandad :)

Here is Sammy with his little frosting mustache. Sammy really loved the cupcakes too!

I just love this picture of my Dad with little Kaian, our cousin Courtney & Evandro's precious little boy! So adorable!

Happy Birthday Laylie! We love you!

Fun Times

Last week we visited Balboa Park on Free Tuesday and enjoyed the Reuben H. Fleet Science center, as well as the Model Railroad Museum. Sammy had soooo much fun at both places, but especially loved seeing all the choo-choo's. When it was time to go, he REALLY didn't want to leave! We might just have to go back next month for another free visit! :)

Last week we also joined up with some friends and visited "Pump it Up" in San Marcos for the first time. This place was full of inflatable bounce houses, a giant slide & obstacle course for the kids to run around and play in. Sammy's favorite thing was the obstacle course - he did it about a dozen times (which means I did too, since he couldn't do it by himself)! Fun times!