Biker Dude

Nathaniel has finally graduated from a scoot bike to a pedal bike!

Family Photos

Before Thanksgiving dinner last week we were able to snag a few family photos. Some members of our family were more cooperative then others, as you can see from the photo evidence bellow.  We still ended up with some good shots of the crew, grandparents included!

Thanksgiving with Grandma and Grandpa!

For the past 10 days we hosted Grandma and Grandpa Husky.  They graciously left the warm Florida sun to spend time with us here in the chilly 50s and 60s of November in California.  While they were here, Grandma took Eric and the kids to Gilroy Gardens for some fun riding giant geese and fake hot air balloons.  Nathaniel had lots of bonding time with Grandpa, playing Mastermind and reading Captain Underpants.  Thanksgiving day, while Kristen and Eric were preparing the turkey, Grandma helped the kids set up all the Christmas decorations.

Nathaniel's 4th Birthday

Nathaniel successfully achieved 4 this past week.  He assured us Friday morning that he feels way bigger than he did the day before.  There were orange slices and chocolate covered raisins at his school, while he got to wear the paper crown and run a circle around the sun 4 times.  He gave specific instructions that he needed a Swedish Princess Cake like the ones we've been making Lillian, only his needed to look like fire.  His party on Sunday was a bit wet due to a light rain that passed through right before party time.  But it soon cleared off and lots of friends came out to help our big guy celebrate.

Happy Haloween!

Halloween is the kids favorite holiday, the costumes, candy, and fun, fun fun. This year Nathaniel's class dressed up as Mr Potato heads and paraded around the neighborhood. The girls wore strawberry costumes and the older kids were piggies. Later in the week Lillian dressed up as the Paper Bag Princess and paraded with her classmates, getting a special shout out from her principal for the creativity of her costume. Saturday was the big day, we headed out trick-or-treating with a big group of friends. Lillian in her Paper Bag Princess costume and Nathaniel dressed up as a dragon-knight in shining armor. The kids collected much candy and also had fun giving out candy to the older kids who stopped by after they were done trick-or-treating.

Yosemite!

We headed to Yosemite's Housekeeping Camp for this past Labor day weekend like we did last year. This time with Grammy Elaine joining us for the trip. Aside from the usual, hanging out and enjoying the views, outdoor play, wading in the river and roasting marshmallows. Kristen and Eric went on an epic hike without the kids from Glacier Point to the valley via the Panorama trail, the trial skirts the top of the rim of three gorgeous waterfalls (all with actual water!!!) and then descends to the valley floor on a long (and crowded!) series of stone steps. The views could have been better due to some smoke blowing in from forest fire burning near Kings Canyon, but it was still quite scenic. Right before we left, the kids spotted a huge buck standing in the river near the campsite a magical way to end the trip!

 

St. Louis City Museum!

While in St Louis, the four cousins visited the City Museum. The museum is a post-industrial playground. It is filled with wire tunnels and metal slides connecting airplanes and firetrucks suspended in the sky. It has a network of cement caves, beautiful mosaics, salvaged architecture, an aquarium, a circus, and a spiraling 10 story slide. See if you can spot the kids in the tunnels. Nathaniel and Eric even ventured out to the airplane suspended 5 stories in the sky, can you spot Nathaniel in his yellow shirt and orange shorts? The pictures hardly do it justice!

Husky Family!

This past week we traveled to St Louis and Springfield to visit Eric's family. Eric's brother Joe joined us with his kids Lucas and Raquel. The kids had a blast spending time with their cousins. Three were many fun days spent visiting with Eric's large extended family family, eating lots of yummy food, and playing with the vintage toys collection in the basement.

Cousins!

Last weekend, we had Kristen's cousin Bruce and his family visit with us for a couple of days while on their way to Monterrey. We took the kids out the visit the farm animals at Hidden Villa. It was feeding time for the chickens so they mobbed us as we stood near their food trays letting us pet them and pick them up and pet them. Afterwards we took the kids on a little hike into the forest where the kids collected sticks and played in the mostly dry stream bed while the adults had a chance to chat a catch up. The next day we all went to Happy Hollow park and Zoo which is always s popular destination for our kids. Caroline and Robert seemed to enjoy the mix of rides, exotic animals.

San Diego

We spent this past week in San Diego with the McGuire clan, soaking in the the sun! We hit some of the major attractions like LegoLand, the San Diego Zoo Safari Park, Balboa Park and hiking Torrey Pines. The highlight for the kids was boogie boarding at the beaches.  The water wasn't quite as warm as Hawaii, but it was warm enough. Lillian wants to learn to surf but first she wants to learn to ride a skateboard. 

2nd Grade Concert

Lillian's end of year concert was this past week. It's impressive how much the kids musical skills have progressed since Kindergarten. Lillian's in the middle row just left of center.

Ferry Boat Ride

To celebrate Eric's birthday we rode the ferry to Sausalito to visit with our old friend Austin and his wife and new baby Kanoa. The kids love the ferry ride, it's always exciting and the views from the boat are fantastic. The ride over was a breeze, but on the return a long series of snafus lead to us missing our ferry and being forced to return on a later ferry going to a different dock 2 miles from where our car was parked. This forced us to take a ride on a very crowded Muni-trolley along the waterfront to return to our car.