Pumpkin Farm

We made our annual pumpkin farm visit last weekend. It was a lot of fun--both boys got to enjoy it thoroughly this year. We met Mike, Alisha, and Thomas out there, and my parents rode over with us in the spacious minivan. Everyone had ample leg room and cup holders.


Corn pit

The official pumpking measuring stick was moved inside near the activity area this year--it was harder to get the boys to stand there and make any sort of sustained and pleasant eye contact. Lots of exciting things nearby.





Ryan liked going in and out of this little tunnel area


Rubber ducky racing--they got to pump the water to move the ducks back and forth


Ryan gathered all the ducks he could find and lined them up before sending them back over


What's cooler than tractors, cows, and trains? A cow-tractor-train!








Me and baby


A piece of corn from the pit got lodged behind Trev's ear--I think it stayed there a good half hour or more until they got on the bouncy pad


Bounce pad




Mom getting some air

Bouncy Video:



Looking for pumpkins--Ryan had a bit of a hard time because he was looking for one with a happy face on it. Reading Halloween books gives children too high of expectations...




Heading back with our pumpkins




Pumpkin heads


Petting zoo--goats!


Goofy boys--Ryan is quacking loudly for this picture

September went by pretty fast. The month seemed to fill up with school (for Trev and myself), soccer, and general playing around.

Trev started his first organized sport--soccer. He's playing for the Phantoms and they've had three games now. It's pretty fun to watch the kids run around in mobs, work hard to turn the ball the right direction, stay on the side of the field they're supposed to be on, and try really hard not to tackle the ball. And then there's my own child who is also throwing in superhero moves and poses and trying to be the extra goalie. He seems to like it (win or loose) and usually has a heroic tale by the end of the game. Last week he scored his first goal too--very exciting. However, he's not convinced of the point of practicing and thinks that the games are a little too long sometimes.









Ryan is enjoying his days of solitude when Trev is at Kindergarten. He goes straight for Trev's room for undisrupted tag and lego time. But the day is still peppered with "where's Trevor?" "I want my Trevor".



Trev has homework on most weekdays. I guess they're getting them into the habit early. He likes the pages where you have to circle and find things but seems to find all the name writing a bit excessive.



Ryan is generally goofy--he likes to have his picture taken "cheez!"

Thousand Giants Trip

My parents came to visit for an extended weekend. It was their first time visiting in August and they seemed to make it through without melting. We spent one of the days up at the Trail of a Hundred Giants (giant sequoias) and Kernville.


Eating Lunch--smiling real quick so their mom will let them eat their lunch in peace again




Pretending to make a campfire... smokey the bear probably would not be too pleased


Aren't they cute


John, Trev and Ryan way up there








Trev using his Airbender/ninja moves on the walk back


These are not rocks. They are pirate ships.



Before leaving the boys were pretending to go night-night... I think Trev could have fallen asleep up there if left undisturbed

California Adventure

With Trevor's start as a Kindergartner quickly approaching, we decided to take a little weekend trip while we still have extra time. We went down to try out California Adventure Park and did some Downtown Disney and the beach too.

After getting to the hotel we went straight to the pool. It was pretty ideal for kiddos--had a zero entry and a little splash pad. Ryan enjoyed playing daddy shark and Trevor found out that he not only can put his head in the water, but but can swim a little bit too. So the rest of the weekend was peppered with phrases like "when can we go to the pool again?" "Why can't we go to the pool now?" "You said we could go to the pool again sometime" "There are other people in the pool" "I think the pool is still open". The first night we could see the fireworks from the window but the main thing Trevor commented on was "how come there are still people in the pool?" "How come we can't go to the pool". I told him that those kids were probably from Alaska and did not know that it was now too cold to play in the pool.

We went to Downtown Disney the first evening to check out the lego store and have ice cream.
























There was a large Darth Vader lego statue that made Darth Vader noises. I was trying to take a picture of Ryan next to it--you can sort of see that he is starting to kick Vader and was saying "Bad guy!". So we moved on...




Woody!




Ice cream happiness



Trevor was very generous in giving Ryan bites of his cone when Ry had finished his cup. Then they did a dance/walk out of the area. Because it seems if there is a crowd and live music that they are compelled to dance.


We had to sit on one of the "toodles benches" on the way back to the hotel

We went to the park the next day after explaining to Trevor that it's the only day we can go, so that meant no pool after breakfast... or after nap. The park said it opened at 10, but it was sneaky and opened at 9:30. So it paid off to show up a little early.



There weren't too many characters hanging around, but luckily one of the ones we did see was Minnie. Ryan was pretty excited. And Pluto is one of Trevor's favorites so it was a good match.




Ryan got picked to be "Prince of the Carousel"

The talking with Crush show was pretty fun--Trev got to have a bit of a conversation with him:



I can't remember what this part was called--something with the Wilderness Club from Up. It had the rope bridges that went on forever and Ryan had to go across every single one... If you squint you can see John and Trevor through the ropes down below.




Waiting for the World of Color

As promised the boys got to go in the pool the next morning after breakfast.








Someone had to sip coffee and watch our belongings on the deck chair...

We went to Seal Beach after packing up. It's part of our try different beaches thing. This one was kind of different because it wasn't as long and had a more dramatic drop off.


Trevor holding up his fish that he 'caught'. He then gave it to a seagull.


Trev covered himself in mud--this is his superhero pose