More Pumpkin Carving and Admiration

Pumpkin Carving

Julia was very curious to see what was going on.

Alex worked hard to get all of the seeds out.

Grandpa got in on the carving too

More seeds

She was not excited about putting her hands in the pumpkin at first, but once she got started, she was all for it!

The finished products.  Alex's creation, Grandpa's creation and Julia's happy pumpkin

Baseball!

Having a fun visit with Grandpa Al and Grandma Cindy this week.  These are some pics of Alex and Grandpa playing baseball this afternoon.  As you can see, they had fun and got some good exercise ;-)

Orchard Pumpkin Patch

Last weekend we all went to Orchard Nursery to see their pumpkin patch and Fall plants.  They had tons of pumpkins of all kinds, as well as live music, some farm animals and of course, their usual fabulous selection of plants.  We found some pumpkins to buy, bought some lantana and peas and Julia found a "playhouse" which she would like as well.  Never mind that it was actually a chicken coop!  It was just her size.

Joy

So much enjoyment derived from a few strings of Halloween mini lights...gotta love it!  Every night she wants to go outside before bedtime to check out the lights.  She goes over to the closet to get her shoes and yours as well.  Last night when we went outside, Alex proclaimed, "the air is filled with the smell of candy!"  Wow, I hope that Halloween will live up to the hype.  I guess even if it doesn't, they are certainly enjoying it.

Cuties

Thank you!

How can one not love tulips?  Especially when they are in a bright orange color like this?  These were some of my flowers from David, Alex & Julia, for my birthday.  Thanks for all of the birthday wishes and special treats, everyone!

This Week's Favorite Drawings

 Two dinosaurs fighting

 A giraffe (my favorite)

 A cute little girl who wanted her picture taken too!

An astronaut walking on the moon.  The circles on the bottom are craters on the moon and the small circles above are planets.  (Ties for my favorite of the week.)

Yard Work Helpers

Fall Day

Drawings from Today

 Apple Tree

Moraga's Cows

Oakland Zoo

 The zoo tour guide showing us where we were going on the train.

 Mimi and the tour guide

 On the carousel.  In this pic, Julia was upset because she wanted the camera, which she had been carrying like a purse.

 Having fun on the tiger.

 Checking out the flamingos and pretending to be one.

 Julia loved the goats this time.

She and the goat were about the same height.

I took the kiddos to the zoo this morning, hoping to escape from some of our heat over here.  It is cooler today, but still a little bit warmer than I would like my Fall to be!   We hit up most of the animals in the zoo, as well as the train and carousel.  It was Julia's first time on the carousel, which ended up being less than successful.  I put her on the animal next to Alex and strapped her in.  Once the carousel started to move and her animal started to go up and down, she freaked out.  I took her off and then thought just got up on the animal with her, only to be chastised by the keeper of the carousel, who told me that there is only one person allowed per animal.  Really?  I cannot go on with her? (Weird rule, in my opinion, but not worth arguing, so we just stood for the rest of the ride.)  She did, however, love the goats in the contact yard.  She walked right up to the goat and started petting it.  Alex was a good tour guide as always and helped to show Julia all of the things to see at the zoo.