Halloween: Pumpkin Patch and Fairy Tale Town

We went to Bishop's Pumpkin Farm on Saturday! We have been going to this place seriously since I was a little girl. It has changed so much since then however. When I was little they only had a few slides and a hay ride to the pumpkins. Now there is so much to do there. But it still holds a place in my heart as the place to go get pumpkins. We have started a new tradition where we take pictures of our children on top of the giant pumpkins that they grow there. Here's Iliana in her pumpkin clothes.

Iliana's playing with grandma's pumpkin earrings. They are so cute together.

Oliver and Sam love to play together. Mostly they love to argue over whose item is whose. (The "mine!" game) But when they sat on pumpkins together, it was just too cute to pass up. By the end of the day we had ridden the train, petted some goats, watched them make cider, bought said cider, bought fudge, picked out pumpkins, went for a hay ride, went down the slide a million times, and fell asleep.

Later that night, Nolan and I took the kids to Fairy Tale Town to their safe Halloween event. Earlier, I had asked Oliver what costume he wanted for Halloween. He had said, "candy." So here's his costume, a Trick or Treat bag. He has a pocket in the front for his candy. Everyone loved his costume! Once he realized he could put candy in his pocket he was more than willing to wear his costume.

This is the castle. I forgot to mention that the theme was Harry Potter! Which is the only reason why we went. Look at the spooky dementors surrounding the castle!

This is Oliver in the room of Requirement.

These horse are always at Fairy Tale Town. He was disappointed that they didn't move.

Iliana was asleep for most of the time. She finally woke up! Here she is in her costume. Our theme this year is the 50's. Grandma Debbie made her little skirt. The event included trick or treating and everyone handing out candy was dressed like hogwarts students. It wasn't all that spectacular, but it was fun to do together as a family, and it wasn't too crowded for the first hour and we found parking really close. We did make it to Divination class and Nolan read my tea leaves. He only predicted bad things in my future. Boo! Oliver just wanted to pour out water out of the tea pot. Potions class always had too long of a line to go to it. So for the most part we really just went around and got candy and let Oliver play.

Some Funny stories

Oliver climbed into the high chair the other day. I kept asking him if he wanted me to take him out and he said no, so I kept washing the dishes. Eventually it was quiet over where he was so I looked at him and there he was asleep.

Iliana thought it was hillarious for me to put glasses on her.

Oliver is learning his ABC's. This is the best video we've gotten of him. Unfortunately it shows him pushing his sister over so she will stop playing with the toy.

Nolan and I have decided that our children are survivors. Today gave me more proof of that. While I was in my room getting dressed, my children were up to their usual mischief. When I came out, the fridge door was open and Iliana was sitting on the floor with a tupperware container of leftovers, the lid off and she was happily eating. Unfortunately I did not get a picture.

The other day, Nolan was singing to Oliver as he was changing his diaper. Oliver told him, "daddy, no singing." We had a really good laugh about that one.

San Francisco Zoo and Beach trip

We went to the San Francisco zoo for Oliver's 2nd birthday. I know this was back in May, but I promised myself I would get around to writing about it. Oliver loves animals so we decided that his gift would be to go to the San Francisco zoo since they have a lot more animals than our zoo here. And you can't go to San Francisco without going to the beach! We invited my family to come with us and so we had a very large group with us. The first animals we saw were giraffes and the kids loved it! One of the best parts of the day was when Oliver walked by the gift shop, saw the stuffed animals, grabbed one, then walked out and said "thank you!" Dad got to see 2 American Bald Eagles and that just about made his day. They also had a train for the kids to ride and they loved it! Oliver just about jumped out of Mom's arms in order to get on. As we went through the tunnel bubbles came out. One of the really cool animals was the rhino. We got to see him play with a ball, and it showed what a really powerful animal a rhino is.

After the zoo we went to the beach. It was so cold! Whoever decided that California had warm sunny beaches was clearly wrong. But as least we got our feet wet, which for me is a requirement if you ever visit a beach. Oliver did like the ocean, but Iliana stayed in the car with Nolan.

Iliana: 1 year old

Iliana is now 1 year old. Here's her stats from her doctor appointment:

Weight: 22lb 11.3 oz. (73.89%)

Height: 2' 6.5" (87.43%)

Head circumference: 18.27" (83.44%)

She can say:

bottle

dog

mom

duck

bye

She's walking more than crawling now, but still falls a lot. She loves bath time, and won't sit still for anything except to eat. She loves to be held, but only if the person holding her is standing up. She is great at throwing tantrums, and climbing on everything.