what we've been up to- {mostly} harvest edition

a visit to mommy's happy place...  Roger's Gardens

Pumpkin City

tapping into her inner farmer. She loved driving!

solving the world's problems

family shot {directly into the sun}

bobbing for apples before breakfast

proud of her catch

She started dance class. That's her in the black leotard.

shopping for some important things

Avery: "Mommy, do you want to take a picture with the cat?" Mommy: "Yes, I'd love to."

 

Halloween party group shot

Family iphone shot (By the way, Daddy is a broom)

Irvine Park Pumpkin Patch

Even though the weather hasn't really lived up to the season, we've been in full harvest mode this month! We hope you've had a fun October, too!

big things are happening around here....

Someone's got a big girl bed.

She loves her new spot to sleep!  

angels.

 Avery went to her first Angels game a couple of weeks ago.

She fit right in by-

                                                  

clapping and cheering when everyone else did,

                                                  

watching the big screen,

drinking,

                                                   

                                                   

snacking,

enjoying treats,

and chatting with friends!

                                                             

                                                                      Go Angels!

rewind.

Even though it has been a month since we set out for our annual trip up to the Sierra Nevada Mountains, it was important to me that this memory for our family was shared.

As always, camping at Huntington Lake was fun and relaxing family time.

enjoying the campfire

pre-breakfast game of catch

water heaven for Stanley (and Roxy)

working as a team to find the ball

a visit to the general store

she loved this log

Someone found a "pet rock." I have no idea where she learned about pet rocks.

No hand holding for her. She wanted to do it all by herself.

Rock climbing all by herself.

She made it to the top.

Roasting marshmallows with Daddy, feeling the heat on her face.

Oatmeal at the breakfast table that Avery and Daddy found and rolled to our campsite. 

These ducks kept coming back to visit- not sure why with two big Labs staring them down.

We can't wait for next year!

things that make you go hmmmm.....

Strolling through Total Wine, Avery says, "Mommy, can I hug my friends?"

Mommy (half paying attention as I'm shopping) answers, "That would be a nice thing to do, Avery. Hugs make us feel happy."

I looked down to find this-

Hmmmmmm........

in full swing.

As of two weeks ago, we officially have a preschooler (sigh). What's even more cool is she is attending the preschool mommy attended as a child!  After all the preschools that we checked out, it was this one that gave us an instant warm and fuzzy feeling.  The same director is there and she impressively remembered my family.

We love that her teacher came and visited our house this summer

and that the first day was just a "getting acquainted," 30 minute day with a couple of other students.

 We shopped for new shoes, a new dress and a new tote bag.  She was all set to go for her real First Day!

Our little preschooler did a phenomenal job of being brave on her first day.  When she realized that mommy and daddy were not coming in the classroom and staying with her, she got a little teary.  The teachers reported that her crying lasted under five minutes until she was redirected into circle time! Our brave little girl.

We even got to take "Jack," the parakeet home for the weekend.  He got lots of attention... from everybody!

 Attention from the 80lb yellow lab not captured as we couldn't swing taking a photo and protecting "Jack.

In a nutshell, she is loving preschool and we are loving hearing all about it!!

one last maui post.

Tide pooling

Family photo at Gannon's

Mama's Fish House- someone's was a little tired of taking photos. She thought she'd spice things up.  I like it!

loving her Pog and tropical umbrellas

Mommy/Daddy shot. We don't get too many of these anymore.

snorkeling with Mimi in the pool

Ok, this photo hits home for me.  Avery was terrified of the whale at the bottom of the pool.  I totally get it.  So was I as a little one.  Here, my mom and Avers are having a discussion that the whale is just pretend.  It doesn't move. Someone just drew it like you draw pictures, and on and on.  Still, she would only like to swim "in the sun, not the shade." She correlated the whale with the shade.  Poor baby.  Every now and then, she'd drift a little too close for comfort and when she realized it, complete panic would overtake her.  She thrashed around trying to swim faster towards the sun. 

Every day, one of us would talk about how the whale was pretend, taking a different angle, hoping she'd buy it.  

A clearer view. She still didn't buy it.  Maybe next year....

These were called "party hats with fire."  Totally makes sense.

Every year, my siblings and I would take a picture by this "Maui Hill sign."  It was so fun to see how we changed and grew year after year. We thought we'd start this tradition in our family.

Three generations with Dennis, the GM of Maui Hill. He's been there as long as we've been going (32 years).  Every year, he'd have a pack of Nerds candy waiting for us in our condo.  This year, Avery got her first pack of nerds.  It's such a special tradition!!

We will miss you, Maui- until next year.......