Our trip "Down South"

Last week, we had a great time with Nana, G-pa, Uncle David, Aunt Kathy, and Cousin Erin in Southern California. We drove down and everyone else flew in to get together and to celebrate my parent's 40th anniversary. We met my parents in Universal City and spent our first day at Universal Studios.

Meeting Jaws

In the water

Some of the characters really liked Ian

and he really liked them

We got to pose with all the characters

Emma really liked Fieval the mouse
Overall, Universal Studios was alright. It is not a really kid friendly park, but the studio tour is great and Emma had fun meeting the characters.
The next day , we headed down to San Diego to meet up with the rest of the family. On Sunday, we all headed to Sea World.

The place was decked out for Halloween

Emma got to feed the dolphins

and she loved the rides in the Sesame Street kids area

Ian was ready to watch Shamu

It was a pretty impressive show

This was really impressive... the trainer was launched by Shamu and they both flew through the air

That night, we took my parents out to this great restaurant in Coronado
The next day, we headed to Legoland. Emma had a blast riding all the rides


Mommy and Daddy had to help out on this one

Volvo Driving School

Emma will not be getting her license any time soon

Ian got to ride his first ride, too

He liked it!
Our last day together was spent at the Wild Animal Park

Emma actually asked for her picture with this elephant

They had a great carousel

Ian got to ride, too. We think he had fun....

Or he was just fascinated with the shiny gold pole

We also rode on this...

to get an aerial view of the park

It was a great view, but a bumpy ride
The last thing we did was go on Safari

Emma with the antelopes
It is always great to get together with family and San Diego was a great place to visit with everyone!

"I think he likes it"

Ian is on the road to being a food loving little boy (and eating us out of house and home)! Today he got to move past rice cereal and try something that actually has taste. We started him on pears... and as you can see from the pictures, we thinks he likes it!

First bite

Ooooo!!!!

What! There isn't anymore???? (3 minutes after starting!)

I am not happy about this!!!!

Okay, I guess I will take the milk

Pumpkin Patch 2009

Today we took advantage of a beautiful fall day and headed to the pumpkin patch. I am still in search of a hayride riding, pick-up your-own pumpkin, pumpkin patch in Northern California, so we headed East to try out a new farm. The website promised pick your own pumpkins from the field as well as a corn maze and other fall activities, so I had hope.

The pumpkins were in a field, but they were not on the vine and there was no hayride. We had a great time anyway and I will continue to search for the perfect Pumpkin Patch!

Emma had a great time pulling the wagon

Our "pumpkin" is 3 feet tall!

Emma left the wagon when she saw the great hay maze they had

She was pretty good at finding her way in and out

Ian went in the maze tunnel, too!

Meanwhile, Daddy and Ian found some more fun

Well...Daddy thought the "corn box" was fun

Luckily, Emma liked the corn as much as Daddy did

Emma played with it,

Measured it,

and got buried in it!

Time to find some pumpkins!

We posed with the store pumpkins and then headed out to the field

Ian was not to sure about this, either...I think he was still traumatized by his corn experience

So he decided to have a snack while Emma rode this...

The Cow train!

We finally found a pumpkin...

or two...

Even an Ian sized pumpkin

One more photo op

and a pony ride and then we headed home...
We passed on the corn maze this year....maybe next year we will be ready to "get lost"

Daddy/Daughter Weekend #2

Building on our last adventure and following the same guiding principle (stay out of the house), Emma and I decided to venture across the country for a quick weekend trip to see the Hokies play the University of Miami and visit some old friends. Sara and Ian decided to sit out this adventure, having had enough of flying on their last trip.
Sara and Ian dropped us off at San Francisco airport (before heading off to shop and party) and we were on our way for 7000 miles in 3 days. Thankfully, we had her carseat and her videos in the iPod to make the flight go by quickly. Also, the secret to making the cross country trip: keep her fed and have a secret stash of treats:

The trip also gave Emma the opportunity to catch up with an old friend who was a very gracious host to us, sharing her room, toys, and; making a football weekend complete, playing princess dress-up with Emma.

Enjoying the game, as it turned out, involved 4 hours of standing in the rain. Having seen me watching plenty of games on TV, it was unclear to Emma how getting wet improved the experience:

Fortunately, the game offered a lot to cheer about.....

...specifically, pretzels, popcorn, BBQ, chocolate chip cookies, ....

...and great seatmates, who are the only reason we made it through the whole game.

In the end, Tech won, Emma enjoyed the game, and probably now associates live football with 12 hours of flying, rain, playing dress-up, and endless junk food. She's a true fan!
Finally, the sign of a truly successful trip: Emma slept for the majority of both of the cross-country legs of the flight, even drawing compliments from neighboring passengers (Thank you carseat and treats!)

Now it's time to work on Ian.