Halloween

What?  Halloween has come and gone but I haven't uploaded the pics yet.  Oops.  What can I say I'm getting worse at blogging as life is getting busier.  The good news is that the girls had a great Halloween and each got a costume of their choosing.  Sawyer was Dorothy from Wizard of Oz, complete with red ruby slippers and pigtail braids, Isla was a cowgirl with a horse on a stick that gallops and nays, and Margot - well she didn't seem into dressing up at all and just wanted the candy but we managed to get her in a princess dress for the few houses she trick or treated at.  She couldn't even pose without eating candy.

I went in to Isla's class to help with her party where we made spider headbands, had snacks, and played games.  It was lots of fun and allows me to feel like I'm not a totally delinquent parent now that Mark does a lot of the school stuff.  After that, Mark picked us up and we all headed out for some Mexican, including Isla's best friend Jane.  They had a good time wearing costumes to the restaurant and seeing some adults dressed up as well.

We quick dropped Mark and Margot off and then headed over to Sawyer's school for their Halloween parade.  We saw Sawyer and all the kids in school which was fun - there were some creative costumes.  My favorite may have been the mariachi band.  It was a beautiful day, and sadly would have been the perfect Halloween night because the next day, the actual day was rainy and a bit cold. We went out fairly early meeting up with Jane again, and while Margot lasted about 6-8 houses, Isla lasted two streets, only for her and Jane to decide when they got to her house that they were happy with the candy they got and just wanted to play.  Enter Sawyer and I then heading out ourselves around the hood.  We hit up all her friends houses and she once again filled that bag to the brim.

We made our way back to the Wilsons where Mark and Margot and had gone over with Isla and had a fun night hanging out.  It was a really fun Halloween filled with too much candy.

Sawyer and Isla getting ready to go.

 Dorothy with her dog

 A look at the freckles she was so proud of

 And a full outfit shot

And of course a month out, our candy has been gone for some time.  While we've been busy the last month, the kids have enjoyed a slightly warmer fall - getting out to the park a bunch, for some bike rides, and walks to town.

Some More Fall / October Activities

So the last couple of weeks have been filled with some fun things.  We celebrated Mark's birthday - the big 3-7.  The girls wanted to make cupcakes for him, so that's what we did...

They even picked out the color frosting and helped to put the dye drops, frosted, and decorated with sprinkles.  The girls had been off of school for a 4 day weekend so I'm sure there were other ways he'd rather celebrate, and I had to teach on his birthday evening, so we actually celebrated a little on Monday night - with lasagna and cupcakes, and then Tuesday with a special made pizza lunch.

Here he is after singing...

Beyond that, we also went to a fun event for Sawyer's Indian Princess group.  A lot of the boy and girl groups from around the neighboring towns were invited to a local horse farm for a bit of a barn dance, pumpkin hunt, etc.  It was a family event so we all went and everyone had a great time.  They spent some time playing games, dancing, snacking...and the highlight was they got to ride horses...

It was raining so they were inside, but it was still the highlight...

 Margot was probably most excited about it, and probably the smallest person there that went on.

All three kids said this was a highlight.  Maybe they'll take horseback riding lessons one day, though you have to be 8 yrs old before you can do it so we have some time.

There were a bunch of animals here as well, and they had a giant bowl of carrots that you could throw in to feed them.  This was probably hit #2 - Margot and Isla ran back to the man with the bowl probably 4-5 times before he ran out and loved throwing them in to the peacocks, goats, etc.

 Sawyer was equally in on the action...

 Unfortunately after we went to go home we had a quick stop before we were going to head out to lunch.  We never made it because about 30 seconds after Margot told us she was starving she started projectile vomiting in the car.  Needless to say we did a quick turn to home, got our girl cleaned up and hung out at home.

Despite that, we've had some lasting warm days which have taken us outside.  We decorated for Halloween, carved pumpkins, toasted pumpkin seeds, and got our costumes all in order.  The girls are really ready for a fun-filled Halloween, both at school and want some serious candy - they've mapped out some houses they definitely want to hit.

And finally, a few pics of my girl Isla who wins best child for the month of October!  Sawyer seems to be struggling with her pre-teen years...rolling her eyes, being sarcastic and rude to us...oh - she's not pre-teen yet you say?  Somebody should tell her then, because she plays the part really well.  As for Margot, she's still ridiculously cute and lovable, but we're on the tail-end of potty training and it's been a process.  I don't have the verve for it that I did with the first kids.  The girl was all about just peeing in her pull up which was driving us crazy...though we're just about done with that now.

A Trip to the Apple Orchard

Despite quite a busy September and October we managed to do our annual trip to the apple orchard - our favorite is about 45 minutes west of our house in the farmlands.  We managed to get a beautiful day - a slight chill in the morning but the sun was shining and you didn't need hats or gloves.  Here's Isla ready to go...

We made it there early in the morning and had the place much to ourselves, with just a few other families there too.  That meant the girls had the run of the place, and were able to visit the animals, play on the tractor, and the hay bales pretty easily.  Margot was pretty obsessed with this old tractor, and thankfully didn't have to share much.

 Sawyer managed to get her off for a few minutes.  I'm pretty sure that Margot was off to the side crying at this point to get back on, but Sawyer also wanted her picture taken.

 Even more fun though was checking out the animals.  There aren't a ton but we saw pigs, rabbits, donkeys, goats, and this is where the girls were checking out the hens, rooster, and one big ole turkey that I suspect will be Thanksgiving dinner.

Not too long after that though we got to the main event - apple picking.  We hopped on the hay bales and away we went out to the orchard.  Margot was keeping the people next to us entertained - they were a bit surprised how friendly and talkative she was.

And just because she's so darn cute - here's Isla hanging on the ride.

Sawyer is our master picker.  She was not happy with Mark that he initially only bought one bag for apples, so I folded and got her a bag all for herself.  What can I say - it's not like she asked for a huge bag of candy, it's apples.

She loves to eat her way through the orchard.  Unfortunately we probably went a week or two later than peak so we didn't get the best selection we know they typically have, but we still managed to have a good time, get a snack, and bring two bags home.

A favorite picture of mine is Margot reaching up into the trees...She did better if Mark lifted her up.

Margot was also a champion eater.  The problem with her was she would eat a 1/4 of an apple and then throw it on the ground and say "ewww, i need a new one."

Haha - still munching.  She didn't pick much, she really just walked around and ate.

 Daddy and his girls (minus Sawyer, who was picking on her own)

We then went to check out the pumpkin patch.  Isla had been learning in school that pumpkins turn blue once they're overripe and wanted to try and find one.  We found a few, and I caught another great pic of our girl.

Daddy tried to put this girl to work to get her to stop eating the apples, but these bags proved a little too heavy.

Unfortunately, the raspberries were picked out so we missed out on that this year, but we did play around some more, got some apple donuts and blackberry jam, and went out for a quick lunch.

Sawyer was bringing apples to school every day for a while and I made a kick ass pie for Mark and I.  All in all, it is one of our favorite things to do every fall, so I'm glad we were able to fit it in.

A Big Birthday Weekend

It was a big weekend at our house.  Our girl turned 7 on Friday...and we celebrated all weekend it seems.  Let me break down all the things that were for our girl:

• She crawled into bed with me on Friday morning and I teased her about being born in the middle of the night, and wanting to see the sunrise.  
• She then came downstairs to find a new bike. 
• Mark and Margot went into Sawyer's class on Friday and read a book to her class during snack time. 
• Sawyer's friend came over on Friday afternoon, 
• She opened presents from Grandma and Grandpa Harris and we spent an hour or two working on 3D puzzles
• We went out to Five Guys for cheeseburgers (Sawyer picked it) and then went out for ice cream so she could get rainbow sherbert for dessert

On Saturday though we were officially celebrating - we had planned a bowling party for 10 of her friends to join her.  Here's our girl in one of the few pictures I snapped.  It's amazing how distracted you can be with so many girls jumping around.

We had gotten glow necklaces and glow glasses which kept everyone entertained while they weren't bowling, and sometimes distracted them while they were bowling.  The time went really fast - bowling, pizza, cake, and presents.  Here's a picture of the cake...bought, not made...Sawyer asked me to make cupcakes but then was happy when she saw this as an option.

A quick picture from while we were singing happy birthday.  She seemed a bit overwhelmed and just wanted to blow out those candles...

After an afternoon with friends we tucked in to play with presents on Saturday night.  Especially because we had to get up for the Fun Run on Sunday.  Sawyer's school does a Fun Run every year - a 1 mile and 5k race.  I signed Sawyer, Isla, and Mark up for the 1mile...and Mark followed it up with a 5k.  Funny story - I asked Sawyer and Isla if they wanted me to run with them but they chose Mark because he is faster.  HA - so rude!  At any rate, we made our way to school and the kids lined up.  Here's our girls about 20 feet into the race - all smiles.

 Honestly, Isla just beamed from ear to ear.  She was so excited about the race.

 And one of Mark bringing up the rear.

 I totally missed Sawyer coming back in - but she finished in 9:49...she's speedy.  Isla and Mark finished in 12:33, and our girl finished with just as big a smile as she took off with.

 Here she is about to make the final turn to the finish line.  Pretty good form I think.

 And two pictures of the crew after the race.  Margot was a champion cheerer but was more than happy to pose.

And last one showing off the medals.  Isla took hers off only when she was going to bed. Girl is interested in more runs.

Napa

So I'm just going to combine all my Napa pictures into one.  For two days straight Mark kept asking when we were moving to Napa...so it's safe to say that we loved it there.  We went to seven wineries and learned so much about wine making...including that we like the good stuff!  I'll let the pictures do most of the talking - the vistas were one of our favorite parts.

On Saturday we made the best decision and had a driver to take us around.  No drunk driving or worrying about directions for us.  Dave was the man and gave us such great info about Napa, wineries, and wine.  I had picked out seven wineries and I ended up changing six of them because I thought his advice was so good...and it was.  Some winery pics...

What I loved so much was the smaller places all walked us through their vines, let us taste grapes off the vine, showed us their caves, wine making facilities, etc.  It was so great.  At one place we also were treated to a lovely garden area where a french musician was playing an old school music box and singing french tunes...took me right to a French cafe.  After two wineries we found ourselves on this hill...Pride Mountain.  We grabbed a picnic lunch and dined here before our next tasting....not bad.

Our last stop of the day was by far our favorite.  Set at the top of a mountain it again just had a great view to sit out and hang.  We had an Argentinian guy give us a tour and we hung out with him for about an hour and talked.

A quick shot in front of the vines before we hit the cave.

We were so stuffed after all that tasting that we cancelled our dinner reservation that night and just ate our leftover bread, cheese, and sausage in bed that night.  Perfect.

We had a lighter schedule planned for Sunday which included a big lunch at in-n-out pre-tasting. Here we are in Carneros - this particular winery was our least favorite.  It was the largest we went to and it turns out that we preferred the small wineries because they had the best stories and the tastings were most fun

Same place in Carneros...

We didn't hit up this winery - just did a walk through of the grounds because they were interesting...the sculptures...

The fountains...

And the winery built into the mountain...

We headed across the street to another winery in Carneros.  Loved the super modern tasting room and the wine.

Beautiful scenery, and this one had a big reservoir...the reservoirs were common to store up water, but this was the biggest we saw

We ended the day at our favorite winery of the trip - Porter.  They were off the beaten path but we had an amazing tour, started with some wine and strawberries picked from their garden and enjoyed the hilly scenery.

Up close...

And far away...

This was the best tasting location too - we were in the cave in a perfect little room.  Each wine was paired with a cheese or a chocolate and we loved everything...each one kept getting better.

After this we headed back to San Fran to meet up for dinner in Burlingame with friends.  Was the perfect end to an amazing vacation....