Castle Rock

In search of fall foliage in California, we headed up into the Santa Cruz Mountains for cooler temperatures and hopes of finding pretty leaves for fall pictures. We found only brown, but we did a little hiking up to some great rock formations called Castle Rock

Heading up for a little hike

Emma poses on the rocks

Emma liked finding "holes" to go in

Trying for a family shot...Emma was doing model poses

This was a really fun cave

Great for family shots

Trying to get a good kid shot

Ian's newest trick is screaming

Feel the love!

Daddy and Emma went exploring

Big Smiles

Emma loved climbing in the rocks

After all that hiking, we headed to Palo Alto for cupcakes at Sprinkles

Family Portrait Help!

Okay friends....I don't usually do this, but I need some help. We are having our first family pictures since Ian was born taken next week and I am working on coordinating all of our outfits which I am having a really hard time doing for some reason. We are taking outside pictures (hoping to get a little fall foliage) Below is what I have come up with...

Does it work? I was trying to find a shirt with a little more maroon than red for Ian, but have not found one. Even if you never comment ( and I know you all are out there :) please please please let me know if you think this works so I don't have to stress about it anymore. I could use any advice as far as the color as well as the style. Fashionista Friends, I am at your mercy! (I will not take offense if you tell me to scrap this idea and start over:)

Halloween 2009

When did Halloween go from a one night event to a 3 day flurry of activity? We have had a busy 3 days of parties, costumes, and trick-or-treating with lots of treats involved. Our Halloween festivities began on Thursday. Emma had a class party at preschool in the morning and then we headed off to Google for the annual Googleween Party.

Pumpkin Decorating

Ian enjoyed watching

The finished pumpkin
On Friday Morning, Emma's preschool had a Fall Festival

Emma makes a necklace

Enjoys Cookies

and partakes in the costume parade

Can you tell that she was excited?
(No pictures of Ian for this event because he was attached to me in hopes of a morning nap....it didn't happen)
That night, the church where Emma goes to preschool had a fall festival that included crafts, games, and trick-car-treating

Emma and Kaylie make jack-o-lanterns

Trick-car-treating

some of the cars were really creative

Lots of cars with treats

Emma checks up on Ian
On Saturday, we headed over to a friend's neighborhood to trick-or treat

Ian the dinosaur

Two happy girls and a sad dinosaur

Dinosaur down!

Ready to go!

Happy Dragon

There they go!

She's Pinkalicious!

The sleepy dinosaur heads home

The trick-or-treat dance

The girls created a trick-or-treat song that they danced down the street to

Getting tired

Our Buckets are full...time to head home
A great time was had by all... (To see the entire album, click on one of the pictures)

All about Ian

Ian turned six months last week and to honor his half birthday, we got him a few new toys. But first, his six month doctor visit stats. Ian is growing like a weed. He weighed in at 17.3 pounds (46th percentile) he is almost 27 inches tall (65th percentile) and his head circumference was 45cm (84th percentile) . He is wearing some 6 month clothes, but mostly 9 month clothes because he needs the length. Ian is a really happy baby. He can now roll onto his tummy (which he does very frequently) and his newest trick is sitting up....

Look Mom.....

No hands!

So proud!
On to Ian's new toys..... We love craigslist. I have been scouring the listings for a high chair for Ian and we found the perfect one for him yesterday

For only $50.00, Ian is now eating in style.... But thats not all; the sellers threw in this baby for free:

Yes, Ian now has his very own car!

Emma was showing Ian all the options the car came with (She was like his own personal car salesman)

Ian drives while Emma checks under the hood

As you can see, with think he likes it!

Emma Reads to Ian

Every night before bed, Emma and I read two books together before the lights go out. Last night, Emma wanted to make sure that Ian got his stories

Ian was not sure about this new bedtime routine

But he soon got involved in the story
It is great to see them interacting more and more. Emma can get Ian to laugh just by looking at him a certain way! She is a great big sister!

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!