Halloween has come and gone so quickly, but October is such a glorious month that it bears documenting!
We went to a pumpkin patch in Petaluma this year, just to mix things up a bit. They had bouncy houses, slides, and a huge corn "sandbox" to play in. The biggest attraction, however, was their giant corn maze! We split into boys & girls teams, and the girls skunked us bigtime! (They may have cheated...) TWO HOURS later, we finally made our way to the exit, picked a pumpkin, and headed home to rest up from that adventure! Oh - and Keevah also got to ride a pony, which she LOVES, since she wants to be a horseback rider-scientist-chef when she grows up.
The giant corn box
The pony was fun, but not as cool as Keevah's weekly horseback lessons!
Mama & Keevah in the corn maze
Declan & Haines in the corn maze
Mama's dining table all decorated for Halloween
Declan made an ofrenda for Dia de los Muertos
Keevah is sleeping with bat wings...
We hosted an awesome Halloween party for a few friends. Dada helped me set up some awesome science experiments, like exploding water bottles, dry ice volcano, elephant tooth paste, and glow-in-the-dark slime. Everyone seemed to have a great time! The grown ups had a fancy halloween dinner inside while the 11 kids ran around like crazy outside...and Keevah snuck into the facepaint in the garage. Whoops!
We dressed up like the Toy Story gang this year. Gee & Grandpa even got in on the action as Mr. & Mrs. Potato Head. Poor Spirit and Chaos were collectively "slinky dog"...but Chaos was not thrilled to be the rear end!
Keevah had a costume change into Jesse since Rexy was a bit obnoxious to eat or go potty in!
Science!
Declan & Haines
Declan's Volcano
witches bark
Vampire blood cocktail
Keevah snuck into the facepaint and turned herself into the spookiest pumpkin ever.
Carving a volcano pumpkin with Dada
Keevah's bunny pumpkin
Mama arranged this super cool science experiment!
Kindergarten school photo
4th Grade school photo
Keevah doing yellow belt testing
She did it!
During our crazy fall downpour, we enjoyed races on the driveway
School is fully underway, and I'm LOVING Kindergarten. It's so fun to play with friends every day, and I really like my teacher as well. I'm getting better and better at my letters and starting to sound out words too! I'm still in Taekwondo three times a week, and I've also started Horseback riding. I successfully argued my case that I cannot be a horseback rider when I grow up if I don't get to take lessons now!
Declan is enjoying Fourth grade, though apparently finds it "too easy" - which is good and bad. He is still taking piano and fencing lessons twice a week. He also just started playing the cello! The only instrument larger than the trombone Mama used to play.
Several weeks ago, we enjoyed a quick weekend camping trip in the Anderson Vally, on the banks of the Navarro River. Spirit got to come with us, but Chaos is too chaotic to go camping. We got absolutely filthy, but had a great time driving the ATV around the vineyard, hiking in Hendy Woods, and cooking in the firepit. We also spent time picking four leaf clovers and an afternoon at the beach checking out the tidepools.
Also right at the beginning of school, we unexpectedly lost our nanny, but the good news was that Gran got to come out from Pennsylvania for a week to help out!
After about 6 weeks in school, Mama had a conference in Los Angeles. We got to go with her and hung out with Granddad and Boppy in Pasadena few a few days. Boppy and Dada took us to the Huntington Gardens, and we enjoyed seeing the new recreation of the famous "Blue Boy" painting.
When she was done with the conference, we got to go to Disneyland for a few days. There were definitely more people there than expected, but we still had a great time. My favorite rides were the Haunted Mansion and the Rise of the Resistance, and Declan loved the Matterhorn again (and Grizzly River Run). Mama and Dada enjoyed dinner at the end of the day at Napa Rose, while we both fell asleep! I convinced Dada (though it wasn't hard) to get me a Rey costume from Star Wars. I wore it both days in the park - and felt quite at home in Star Wars land! Dada even tried sacrificing me to Kylo Ren at some point!
I didn't get to go since I'm not quite tall enough, but Declan, Mama & Dada got to go on a hot air balloon ride last weekend. It was supposed to happen in July for Declan's 10th birthday, but it got cancelled since there was no wind. Anyway - they had a spectacular time - check out the pics.
Now we're getting in the Halloween Spirit. Stay tuned for pics from Halloween !
