Hiking With Dad

The weekend before Dad went back to work, we took a trip out to the woods. This is one of my favorite parks in the area.

Our fearless leader

Make sure you check out this creek, Mom

We've spotted a banana slug

Admiring all our treasures we collected on the trail

Searching for more treasures

(Fear not grandparents, those berries are not dangerous)

Pumpkin Pickin' Part 1

I'm going to cheat and have this post in October, even though it's almost the end of November. We've been busy! Austin's had school, Mom's got the diabetus, Daddy started a new job... I think we're entitled to cheat a bit. And I want to try to catch up as much as possible before baby girl gets here in January, because I know I won't have much blogging time!

You might recognize this pumpkin patch as the one we went to last year. It's like the Disneyland of pumpkin patches, with two trains, a petting zoo, hayride and a field of pumpkins. Such a treat every year!

Checking out the squash

Trying to taste the flint corn

Posing tragically with a tiny pumpkin

"Zee time, she flies away like this straw through my feengers"

The official pumpkin inspection team

Mom thinks this picture is hilarious

Picking out the wheelbarrow was nearly as much fun as picking a pumpkin

Mini Mini-Golfer

I hear this is how Tiger Woods started...

We weren't really so interested in getting the ball in the hole. It was much more exciting to get it back out.

We couldn't leave without hitting the arcade. Austin won over 100 tickets all by himself! And that is how we got our new plane.

This one. Right here.

Beach Boy

How to spend Labor Day weekend...

First, murder Daddy.

Then, eat some delicious sand. Make sure you have a runny nose, so you wind up with a sandstache.

Just kidding about the murdering Daddy part! Unfortunately not about the sand eating...

Sand is so fun to mush your hands in

And put in other people's shoes

It makes a lovely gift

You can let it run through your fingers while someone tries to eat your head

Or while ignoring the ocean

Eventually, you should probably check out the ocean too

Especially those bubbles the waves leave on the sand...

But be careful! The ocean always comes back...

Actually, it was a ton easier to be at the beach with Austin when he ran from the waves. Once he got over that, we would up picking him up out of the surf. And we left with a pile of seashells and a salty, sandy little man.

Austin Meets Thomas and Friend

I don't know if you can really understand Austin's love for a certain train. His favorite toy is a battery powered Thomas, which is an incredibly long-suffering and durable little sucker (at least, so far...). His favorite show is Thomas and Friends. His favorite outfit? This one:

stylin' and profilin'

So as you can imagine, we could not miss an opportunity to see Thomas in person. And ride around in a real train. So Mom and Dad bought some tickets online and were off to Roaring Camp Railroad in Felton, up in the redwoods of the Santa Cruz mountains. It was blissfully cool and everyone had an awesome time.

Our ticket included a free temporary tattoo. That awesome hat was extra.

Hey, is that Thomas?

Wait a minute, I didn't sign off on this...

I didn't know it hurt to get temporary tattoos

Finishing up

Whoa...

Finally, it was time to ride! Thomas pulled a 10 car train and we were in car 10. It was actually pretty swanky, with plush red seats and little chandeliers! Not that the boy noticed...

Prepare to be boarded...

Still admiring our ink

And that was awesome.

But we still hadn't seen Thomas!

THERE HE IS!!!

OMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMG

I don't remember how we got him to turn toward the camera. Magic may have been involved...

But wait, there's more! This is actually the train that took people back and forth to the parking lot. It's over a hundred years old and we totally dug it. Every time it pulled into the camp Austin wanted to go see it... this is Sonora.

When the driver pumped the steam, we could actually see rain coming from the cloud!

I'd say we had a pretty great time.