We typically enjoy Thanksgiving in New Orleans every other year. This was our year. We flew in for a long weekend with the family and what a time to visit. The city was in a party mood and the kids got to spend lots of time with their cousins. Of course its New Orleans so we enjoyed sitting out in the yard in the new swing.
It didn't take too long for the kids to warm up to their cousins. We enjoyed several outings including a visit to the Aquarium of the Americas. Riley loves aquariums and this was a great one. All the kids got to feed the rays although Riley and Cameron were really into the ray taking the fish so they mostly just dropped the sardines in the water.
The Saints are having a great year so of course there was lots of football to talk about, learn about, watch, listen to, play,..... did I mention talk about, learn about, hear about, etc etc etc. Cameron did enjoy playing the game with her cousin. She was better than I expected. He older cousin Sean who just turned 21 was there and he made sure the kids knew what to do and played fair.
Did we mention we watched a lot of football too? Aunt Heather made Cameron a Saints dress and she wore it all over town. There were lots of comments and cheers for her dress, she loved it.
We also made it out to the French Quarter for a day. We started at Cafe Du Monde where we met up with our Aunt Yvette, Uncle Troy, and cousin Sean as they were headed out of town. We walked around Jackson square enjoying the shops and St Louis cathedral. We saw the Archibishop and then we enjoyed lunch at Muriels (the best lunch I've had in a long time). We then took a French Quarter tour in one of the horse drawn buggies. Although I've lived there my entire life (prior to CA) this was the first time I'd taken a formal tour. It was cool.
Harvest Mouse is Cameron's new class. The teachers have been introducing games. They started playing lots of different games including sports. Cameron is a pretty good soccer player, even in her dress. They learned about rules, taking turns, following directions, and the various different equipment for games (pieces, dice, spinners, etc). Once they learned the concept of games, the kids started creating their own games. Cameron's game has a princess...... oh and a castle.
Game design has not taken the place of the more traditional activities in the class. Cameron still makes sure the babies are well cared for and they continue to decorate the new room with their art work. The class did start an unusual garden. They are growing mushrooms. Another students family shared with the class the tradition of growing their own mushrooms. The entire classroom planted several boxes and over the next few weeks will water and monitor the mushrooms. The plan at the end is to have a mushroom celebrations where we will harvest them and serve them at a party. Its going to be great!
Today Daddy took Cameron and Riley south to visit Grandma Cindy. She is a volunteer docent at Pt Lobos and the kids got a treat when Grandma Cindy gave them a tour. She let them climb on the whale bones, get into the blubber pots, and talked about all the displays.
They then enjoyed a long hike all around thee park (well Cameron hiked and Daddy carried Riley). Grandma Cindy pointed out all the flowers and the kids saw lots of birds, a sea lion, and Cameron found a great view. You can see the pictures here.
"What is Cameron going to be for Halloween?" is a very common question these days. I'm not sure why there was any doubt, she wore princess dresses the entire week before. On this day it seemed like she was holding court while in Music class. I really wanted to dress Riley and Cameron in a theme like I tried last year, but that ended up being a bust, since Cameron refused to be Lil' Bo-Peep and Riley was a lonely little lamb. I figured that was unlikely again this year as I couldn't really find a costume that seemed to be a good match without making Riley a lame prince charming.... :-)
During the last week as Mommy struggled to think about what Riley would be, we went out and explored more Pumpkin patches. Riley really enjoyed picking out his pumpkins although he was pretty adamant that he needed an assortment instead of just one. Tim and Turtle helped him narrow it down to one small, one big, and one in-between.
As the day approached and I was no closer to choosing a costume, Turtle decided he would help. He put together a Dopey costume for Riley. He made the hat, modified a t-shirt with buttons and a belt, and made elf shoe covers for his shoes. Riley was soooooo adorable I could hardly stand it. On the big night each time they went to the door together the neighbors would all say "OMG that is sooo cute!!" Turtle was so awesome!!!
Hannah joined the kids on the trick-or-treat outing and Riley was kind enough to always select Snickers (mommy's favorite) whenever he was allowed to choose. This year our street was closed off because of the crowds that come to see the Tims and our decorations. We had lots of new decorations which included a remote control ghoul that Riley loved firing off and scaring the people on the street. This year we got more than 1000 trick-or-treaters (we bought about ~5000 pieces of candy and we handed out limit of 2/visitor with a few exceptions for people we know). It was crazy.
As usual PJ got to clean up. He finished all the pumpkins that were not destroyed by the late-night trick-or-treaters. This is his favorite part.
Cameron has a best friend at school. Nadia knows all the Disney princesses and their stories and she tell Cameron all about the ones Cameron has yet to see. Her favorite is Aurora and Cameron loves to hear about Aurora because Mommy won't let her see the movie. Given this common interest we thought it would be a good idea to take the girls to see Disney's Princesses on Ice.
Jeff decided he was going on a hike and that Riley would probably enjoy going along. This would be the first Father/Son hiking trip. They headed up to Skyline and hiked around Horseshoe lake.
The nature center was closed but Riley tried to get in anyway. Once he determined that there was no way in he continued to explore around the center. The binoculars were interesting, even without looking through them.
The lake was probably his favorite part. He stood on the pier and looked over the edge. Then he sat down for awhile and just looked around. He saw his reflection in the water and that was funny. He really enjoyed it and had a great nap on the way home.
Most people know Mommy loves Pumpkin season. She loves it in soup, pies, roasted, and just about any other way you want to prepare it. Even more fun is enjoying the various pumpkin patches around the bay area. One of our new favorites is Uesugi Farms in Morgan Hill. Lets make it a new family tradition..... We enjoyed the day with Hannah and her family, as well as Tim and Turtle.
Uesugi has lots to do. There is a pumpkin mountain, a train, a hayride, corn maze, music, petting zoo, and a huge pumpkin patch. We enjoyed it all. Cameron's favorite part is always the pony ride. This year she rode the pony all by herself and we just stood back and took her photos.
Riley also tried the pony ride. He wasn't sure about this experience at all but he played along well enough. He wouldn't let go of mommy and literally jumped off the pony when it was over. He preferred exploring the pumpkin fields and climbing the pumpkins. He also liked the corn maze because around each corner was a discovery board where he learned about how the bees helped the corn, etc. 
We ate, we danced, we rode all the rides, and it was a great day. Riley wasn't sure about what he should do with his pumpkin, but he started with a little nibble. You can see all our photos here.
We go out and do a lot of fun things, but we have lots and lots of fun at home too. When we bought a new basket to store the many toys that migrate downstairs Riley and Cameron figured out that it could be used for more than just toys. They both jumped into the basket and asked Daddy to carry them around. There was lots of giggling. When Daddy put the basket down the kids turned it over and made it a house.
Everyone knows that Cameron is a princess. For being such a good girl she got all the Disney princess dolls. She sometimes picks a doll then goes into her closet to find the matching dress. We are doing lots and lots of costume changes these days and she will tell you when she doesn't have a matching costume (we just smile and so oh?). Riley doesn't even blink anymore when she comes down in one of her gowns, he thinks its normal.
Riley likes to watch Cameron play with her dolls, and sometimes he'll try to join her, but usually he is doing his own thing. He is fascinated with the office and will hang out while Daddy is working (or playing). He likes that Mommy's computer is usually free because that means he gets his own chair (and computer). We're pretty sure he is a geek.
After breakfast Daddy decided to give Mommy the day off and along with Tim and Turtle took the kids to Gilroy Gardens. It was a pretty warm day, which is typically for Gilroy. This park is perfect for young kids and horticulturists. The day started with a stop at the mini carousel. Its a nice stop off the entry way and you can wind through the gardens and waterfalls as you get further into the park.
There are lots of rides and games for younger kids including the cars on the track. Riley was really excited to get an opportunity to drive. Tim and Turtle rode with Cameron and let her drive as well. To see how well Riley did, check out the video.
While Cameron stays away from the water features at amusement parks, Riley is too young to know why that might be a good idea. Jeff decided to stand under the bucket and Riley was blissfully unaware of what was coming. Check out all the photos to see an incredible shot.
Along with the rides, water features, playgrounds, the kids visited the petting zoo and went shopping for crazy hats. Nobody got a hat, but this one looked really good on Riley.
Riley is definitely no longer in the baby room. While he is familiar with clay, they now get tools to work with. Riley is now taking his sticks, making holes, and then putting the clay balls into the holes. His teachers report that many of the other kids look at what Riley is doing and try to mimic him.
He is also now working on puzzles. On this day he pulled the pieces out then proceeded to try and get them back into their space. When that didn't quite work he went to get a bottle to try and use that to get the pieces back in. The teacher reported that when brute force didn't work he went back to moving the pieces back into the slots. He's getting there.
Snowy Plovers are also working with new writing instruments. The kids are very interested in the pens used by the parents for signing in. They are now working with these instruments to observe how the marks look using these utensils. Riley has mastered the pen. (We have some items at home to prove it).
In Snowy Plover they also got rid of the sippy cups. Riley is doing well mastering his cup and has asked that we let him use big cups at home. I'm not ready for that yet, but school is a great place to start this anyway.
Mommy got a new car. Now she needed someplace to go. Cookie and Mikey invited the group to Half Moon Bay to enjoy the sunshine while it still lasts. Even though we spent a lot of time on the beach while traveling, PJ hadn't and of course he needed to get out in the sun for at least a day.
Cameron really enjoys the new car because it has rear-seat entertainment. We make her where the earphones which she calls her "telephones." PJ has lots of room in the back and his own sunroof.
Cameron, Riley, and Mikey spent lots of time digging, collecting, and rolling around the sand. Mikey even went swimming but it was way too cold for Cameron and Riley. It was not too cold for PJ so he spent almost all the time in the water with Lexi (Elisabeth's boxer) on shore chasing him back and forth (she was not that interested in the water either).
After lots of play there was snacks. PJ stayed very close to Riley because Riley kept putting his hands in the sand and therefore losing his cheese puffs. PJ would then jump at the chance to dig them up and enjoy his cheesy (sandy) treat.
It would be nice to live only a few blocks from the beach like Elisabeth, but we are lucky she shares her home and beach access with us.