Fun on the Farm

Yesterday morning, we decided that it was time to head to the farm and a choose some pumpkins. In my quest to find a "real" pumpkin Patch in Northern California where you take the hayride into the field to pick your pumpkin, we headed about and hour away to try out a new farm that was recommended to us. Although there was no hayride and the pumpkins were already picked, we still had a great time on the farm.
The first thing we did was made Daddy happy by going to the pumpkin blasters....

As you can see, these were some serious pumpkin shooters

Ian was excited to try

Daddy gets ready to blast a pumpkin

Emma's turn

There was a place where you could "mine" for treasure

Emma enjoyed the jumping pillow

Ian enjoyed the pony ride

Ian and his horse

Then we went on a train ride

Emma with the pumpkins
One of the most fun parts of the day was the Corn Maze

Ian and Daddy on top of the bridge

Good friends

An attempt at a family pic
Even though it did not fit my vision for a pumpkin patch, we had a great day on the farm.

Fleet Week 2011

Every few months, we brave going into San Francisco to enjoy a little city life and remind ourselves why we live in the suburbs :) Last weekend was fleet week in the city and since we have a 2 year old that is infatuated with any form of transportation, we decided to incorporate trains, boat, and planes into one big adventure.
We started off the day by heading to the train station to take the "choo choo" into the city.


Waiting for the train. This was also the subway station, so Ian was pointing to the other "train" and trying to get us to go on it

Still waiting...

Ian spots the train!

Once we got into the city we took the trolley to the waterfront and after a nice lunch, found a spot to see some boats and airplanes.

This is one of the first planes we saw.

Followed by this awesome Canadian group of flyers

Their planes were white on one side and red on the other

They made some awesome formations

Emma wanted her picture with one of the airplanes

Ian having fun at the show
The airshow ended with the Blue Angels

Flying behind one of the ships; Alcatraz is on the right

They were truly and awesome sight
We ended the day with a subway trip back to our car with two tired, happy kids enjoying all their favorite forms of transportation.

Read to Me, Emma

Emma is really enjoying Kindergarten, and even though she can not read yet, she still likes to share stories with Ian.


"Reading" before nap

Emma is a great story teller!

Picking on the Farm

Even though it is not feeling like fall much here yet, we decided to jump into some fun fall activities to kick start the season. Some friends invited us to go apple picking yesterday and we were excited to join them.

It took about an hour to get to the farm and we were really surprised at how uncommercial it felt compared to many of the pumpkin places here. The farm had has several pick your own fruits through out the season and we were excited to also be able to pick some yummy strawberries, too.


Ian was really excited to find this old tractor to play on

Can we say 2 year old boy heaven??!



There was also a hay tunnel to play in

Ian was a little wary, but made it through


On to strawberry picking...

Ian walking through the fields

Emma looks for the ripe ones

Ian finds one

Into the bucket

Emma was really good at finding ripe strawberries

Ian was really good at eating them

Follow the leader

Now Ian is the leader

Onto the main event, some apple picking....

There were some beautiful apples to choose from

Taste testing

Ian needed to taste also

Another taste

Emma points out some good ones

Showing off her pick

Ian, still eating

Oh wait, he actually put on in the bag!

A great activity for a fun fall day!

Ireland

The beginning of September was a really busy time for us. School started for the kids and Dan had a work trip to Ireland. Dan's parents were willing to watch the kids for the week, so I tagged along for a little sightseeing and relaxation. We spent the first part of the week in the western part of the country and then Dan worked from Wednesday-Friday in Dublin, so I did a little exploring on my own with a walking history tour through the city, the hop on hop off bus, and some shopping, of course. Ireland was a really beautiful country to visit even with the pretty constant rainy weather. Here is a slide show of some of the sights.

Ian's first day of school!

In order for me to be able to volunteer and be involved at Emma's school and because most of Ian's friends are older than him, we decided to enroll him into a 2 day a week preschool in the area. Tuesday was his first day of school, and after going for two day, he seems to be really enjoying it!
Here are a few pictures on his first day


Ian did not want to pose by himself, but he posed with Daddy

Ready to conquor school!

Heading out with our new backpack. (Thank You, Nana!)

He was really excited

Walking into school

They have some of his favorite things!
We can't wait to see how Ian learns and grows this year!