A Fun Family Trip to the Beach

Here is a video of our little family trekking it to the beach to enjoy the scenery and the weather at the beach.

Painted Pony Farm

This was another super busy week, but not to busy to squeeze in a little fun.  On Monday we joined several friends for a fun time at the Painted Pony Farm in Santa Paula.  This time of year they have apple picking in their little orchard along with their adorable petting zoo.  Jack quickly became an expert apple picker, and Lauren became an apple eater!  I gave an apple to her for entertainment value and little did I know she would use those two little teeth to munch on it.  She managed to nibble little morsels off that apple for about half an hour.  She is such a great eater.  We also got to sit in the shade and hold some baby farm animals.  Jack got to hold a three week old chick and I held a three week old bunny.  Both kids were mesmerized by those adorable little animals.  Finally, we went into the farm enclosure where Jack got to check out the ponies, see the chickens and feed the goats.  The highlight was the enormous pig!  On our last visit he was asleep in the mud, but this time he was up snorting and begging for apples.  Such a fun day.  I am ready to move to a farm :-)

Farmer Jack riding the tractor

We didn't tell Jack this is where bacon comes from!

Hungry goats

YUM! MUNCH! CRUNCH!

Chicken coop

Ahhh, Family Time!

Love this shot!

 What a relaxing weekend!  Here is one of my new favorite photos of Rob, Jack and Lauren.  They were cuddling in Jack's bed and reading a new story on the iPad.  This was how our entire weekend felt!  Rob installed a new reverse osmosis water filter in our kitchen sink and had a bit of work to do, but we spent quite a while just hanging out on the couch, in bed and around the table.  In light of the 10th memorial of 9-11 it seemed best that we just spend two days appreciating each other. The highlight tonight for Jack was when we sorted through a huge bag of clothes from cousin Collin and Jack got to wear his new Buzz Lightyear pajamas to bed tonight.  Doesn't get much better than that!

To infinity and beyond!

Batman & Robin's

Jack was such a good boy yesterday we decided to take him for a treat.  His request?  He wanted to go to "Batman & Robin's" 31 Flavors for ice cream!  His favorite new flavor?  Green :-)  In this case, mint with chocolate chip.  Yum!

Labor Day Block Party

Bryn Mawr Street

Today was the 20th Annual Bryn Mawr Street Block Party!  We had a gorgeous day to spend together.  Our neighbors are all so wonderful and we thoroughly enjoyed the day.  Good food, great company, fabulous conversation.  Jack loved the GIANT jolly jumper, and he spent at least 3 hours climbing, sliding and jumping around in it. I can hardly believe that he won't take a nap after all of that! Lauren loved people watching and especially bonding with our friend Sasha who was in town for the weekend.  Jack helped me bake chocolate chip cookies and it was lucky we had one fresh out of the oven because there was not a crumb left on the plate by the time I got back to the dessert table!  Great afternoon to cap off a lovely weekend at home.

Lunch is served

Social Butterfly in her element

Big rock climber in action

Sliding down the other side

First taste of Jamba Juice...she loved it!

 

 <><>

<>

Great cuddles with Sasha

 

Gotcha Little Buddy!



Cutie

She is just so cute, I thought I'd better share a photo to brighten up any gloomy days out there.  Sixteen pounds of sunshine headed your way!

School Days

Happy first day of school!  Jack was so excited to go back to preschool today.  He could hardly wait to meet his teachers, see his classroom, play with old friends and meet new ones.  This year he will even get to have lunch at school on Thursdays, like a big boy.  He picked out his own outfit this morning (Duck's jersey despite the 80 degree temps) and waited patiently until it was time to leave.  He reported back that he got to color, cut with scissors and play with play dough today.  They even had "knives" to cut the playdough (wooden spatulas).  He played on the upper playground and explored all the new equipment.  This year also marks the first time he will have another "Jack" in his class.  Apparently the other mom is a jack "ass" as she has refused to allow her son to be refered to as Jack Q.  So our Jack will be Jack F.  Or Rob suggested SuperJack!  My husband can come up with a solution for everything! :-)