Pumpkins and Apples

At Gopher Glen Apple Orchard up near Morro Bay.  Ashlie and Nathan's family got to come with us before they started back for Utah.  The Crump family was also with us that day; we had a fun time with our extended family.

We enjoyed the apple tasting getting to try some of each of these apples they had available before choosing which kind we wanted to buy.  Fresh apples are yummy!

After the apple orchard, we headed to the pumpkin patch.

There were lots of animals to be pet and fed.

Including, donkeys, goats, sheep, and emus.  The beaks of the emus were intimidating as they ran toward you to get the lettuce leaves, but the kids seemed to enjoy feeding them.

There was a hay maze.  Ethan got nervous while inside and was very glad when we found the exit.

It was a hard decision to pick out a pumpkin.  So many to choose from.

Fun with the Allison's

The Allison family got to come to California for a fall vacation.  We were excited that we got to spend some time with them. Here is a VERY brief account of some of the trip...

We had a day with them at Disneyland and California Adventure.  We were excited to try out Cars Land, which was a lot of fun, but crowded!

It was a warm day, so Splash Mountain was a relief to cool off a bit.

Matterhorn has new Bobsleds, which changes the height from 35" to 42" since they are now individual seats.  

We then drove up to Morro Bay to spend a couple days up there.  It was GREAT beach weather and we spent a lot of time playing in the ocean.

The kids loved burying themselves.

While up in San Marino, (we were playing at the beach with all the kids while Ashlie and Nathan were at Hearst Castle) James went over to check out a mobile veterinary clinic.  He found out they were doing research on otters.  He was able to take Brielle in with him to watch a surgery.  Brielle was excited she got to touch an otter.

General Conference-Perspective of a 5-year-old

Endeavour on the Streets

After getting to see the shuttle fly over, we were excited to be able to see it closer to get a better perspective of the size.  We'll be able to see it closer at the California Science Museum where it is now displayed, but seeing it on the streets was another once-in-a-lifetime opportunity we didn't want to miss.

F is for Fire

 At the beginning of the week we talked about fire saftey, checked our fire alarms, and practiced what to do in case of a fire.

The kids used a pushpin to punch holes in the F.  We then hung it up in the window so the light could come throuh the holes.

The kids created their own firefighter lunch.  They wanted a hot dog to be the fireman, the cheese to be a hose and the ketchup for the fire.  The celery is the grass that is on fire.

We collected some sticks and made fire using tissue paper.

I loved this, because Ethan came up with it on his own.  I had the beads out and told Ethan he could play with them while I made breakfast.  He then showed me he had made a letter F.  He kept working on it after we got back from dropping of Brielle at school.  He made the lowercase F and then started on the E.  He even did patterns, all without any guidance.

We got to go visit the firestation afterschool so the bigger kids and friends could join us.

Books

My kids have loved all of the alphabet books by Audrey Wood.  We've gotten them a few times and they get excited about it each time they see any of them.

Mt. Baldy

We were able to take the ski lift up to a restaurant on Mt. Baldy (the highest peak in the San Gabriel Mountains) called Top of the Notch.  The kids LOVED the chance to ride chairs.


We had a fun group we met up with.  Starting with back left (Brad, Yogi, Margaret, Vov, James, Meagan, Kurt, Charlene, Katie, Tom) and Front left (Ethan, Megan, Brielle, John)
Family, Friends, Cousins and Cousin's Cousin...try to create the family tree from that! :)

This is the view from the restaurant.  It was all you can eat breakfast buffet, which was pretty good and had a fantastic overlook.

After breakfast we took off to hike in the mountains.  There were all different ages and abilities so everyone did what they could.  These 2 started complaining after the first 100 yards, but once we started telling stories and playing word games they decided to keep going.

Once they found out Charlene had pomegranates to share, they suddenly became excellent hikers. (These kids love pomegranates!)  The hike to get to the peak is 6.4 miles round trip with about 2300 feet of elevation gain.  It is not an easy hike, but is gorgeous.

The is Devil's Backbone.  We hiked along that ridge.  I kept a firm hold on Ethan to make sure he didn't fall down the side of the mountain.

And then this is the hill we had to hike after the backbone.

We loved the views and had a great time.  Our family had to turn around before the peak to hurry down the mountain to get to a baptism, so we ended up going a total of 4 miles. The rest of this group made it all the way to the top.

(we barely made it to the church for the baptism without having time to go home and shower.  I had extra clothes in the car for the kids, but James and I went dressed as we were.  We were a lovely sight.)

E is for Elephant

From our Elephant Week 

Did you grow up with the idea that Elephants love peanuts?  Where does that come from, Dumbo?  Elephants don't actually eat peanuts, but the kids love them! This is a fun document that talks about the myths and facts of elephants.  

We did this science experiement making 'elephant toothpaste'.  After letting it foam up, the kids then were able to practice writing in the foam on the tray.

Because both Elise and Ethan start with the letter E, they are very good at writing the capital letter 'E' and pointing it out.  We worked with the lowercase 'e' a little bit more. 

Ethan insisted that since 'E is for egg' he should be in charge of cracking the eggs all week long.

We were able to make it out to the zoo to visit the elephants.  Ethan was so excited about them he ran off on his own to follow them around the exhibit.  Luckily I found him quickly and made him hold my hand the rest of the visit.

Books