Howdy...!

...and Happy Halloween!

Pumpkin Patch

Saturday Maggie, Chad and I went to the pumpkin patch with our friends. The same friends, I should add, that we've gone with to the patch the last two years. (see here and here!) There was lots of chasing and wrangling the kids this time but still lots of fun. Below are some photos our friend Matt took for us:

Paper Jack-O-Lanterns

On Friday Maggie and I had our mom's group friends over for a little craft time. The children created collage pumpkins on paper and surprisingly really enjoyed themselves. Sometimes with toddlers crafts can be a little hit-or-miss when it comes to interest and enjoyment, but I chose well with this one, fortunately, and the children liked it. After the craft we headed to the backyard for the activity that is ALWAYS a hit: running wild and playing.

Bunnies

Recently a member of our mom's group organized a time for the kids to visit with a litter of two week old bunnies. Super cute and super tiny. Maggie didn't have much interest in holding one, but she did enjoy petting them. Tiny bunnies are cute.

Dry Lake and Friends

Chad, Maggie and I spent last weekend with our friends at the cabin. We mostly caught up with each other because they live in the Bay Area and don't see them as often as we'd like, but we also squeezed in quite a bit of eating, dart throwing, block stacking (with Mags) and hiking. Before our friends arrived Chad, Mags and I took a drive to the lake. It is being drained, the first time since 1920, to repair the dam and currently looks pretty sparse. They won't let anyone on the lake bed and, as you can see from Maggie's reaction about being held and not allowed to run wild, she wasn't happy about that.

Lodi

Last week my mom, Maggie and I went to Lodi to visit my grandma (GG), aunts, uncles and cousins. It was a quick overnight trip but we managed to pack a lot in and have a great time. We ate, visited, played a card game (Maggie enjoyed helping us), hit up IKEA and watched our cousin and her high school team win their water polo game. Yeah! Of course I found a sign near the high school pool that I HAD to take a photo of. You've got to love the schools in California...ha!

Montana de Oro

Before heading home from the Central Coast Chad and I went to Montana de Oro in Los Osos for the morning. Notice my second brave stop in a porta potty. Ew! Anyway, the trails were a rad way to end our trip and a great way to celebrate our anniversary.

Up the Coast

For one of the days during our anniversary trip we decided to drive up the coast and see where we ended up. We both had done this many times in the past, but it had been awhile since we made the time to visit the smaller, charming coastal towns.

We started in Cayucos. The primary reason I wanted to go there was to check out the candy shop I've always known and loved. The bummer news is that it moved and, even though it's fancier and in a larger retail space, it is no longer the same candy shop I remember. Darn! After going there we decided to walk along the pier and then check out the cookie factory. We have eaten the cookies before at our friends' house, but now we know where they got them. A neat little place.

After Cayucos we drove up to Ragged Point. Wow has that stop changed in the last 10 years! What used to be a pull-over lookout point now has a hotel, wedding reception area, two restaurants and a gift shop. Still a pretty stop, though, and I'm glad we drove up to see it.

Then we drove to the small (population 18) town of Harmony. There are two shops in town, a pottery shop/art gallery and a glassblowing studio/gallery. It was also there that I used the first of TWO porta potties during that trip. Yuck. After Harmony we had lunch in Cambria at Robin's before heading back down to Morro Bay for the rest of the afternoon and evening.

Morro Bay

While we love the city of San Luis Obispo, we decided to make this trip a little different and stay in Morro Bay. The town is known for being foggy and cold nearly year round, but this weekend it wasn't meant to be. It was cool (upper 60s) but the sun replaced the typical fog during our visit. Lucky us! We ate two delicious dinners over the weekend, one at The Galley and the other at Dorn's. Highly recommend both if you find yourself in the area.  We were able to easily walk to the shops and restaurants on the Embarcadero because we chose to stay down by the water. The top left photo is the view from our hotel balcony.

Weekend Trip

Chad and I began our anniversary trip in San Luis Obispo. We had sushi for lunch at Raku and afterwards walked around downtown for the afternoon. It was neat seeing which parts of the town have remained unchanged and which have matured, been upgraded or just completely changed. I love that town. We also happened upon one of the best new places I've seen in awhile and was floored and excited to see that it was thriving in our old town: Kreuzberg CA - a book bar and coffee lounge. Rad, rad, rad. It's busy, arty, hip, youthful, spacious, vibrant, indie...ah! I loved it! And before I forget, a BIG thank you to my parents for watching Maggie for the weekend so we could celebrate our anniversary!

Happy Anniversary to Us

This weekend Chad and I celebrated our sixth wedding anniversary. We decided to head back to the place where we met and began dating 13 years ago...the beautiful Central Coast. More photos to come.

Harvest Festival

We spent the afternoon on Sunday at the Great American Harvest Festival. The proceeds from the fair went towards the Childhood Language Center, a local non-profit agency. The free event had bounce houses (Maggie's favorite), face painting (or hand and leg, as Maggie chose), music, games, booths and food. They chose the perfect day for the event because the weather was mild and sunny and totally pleasant.

Fall Planting

 

Chad, Maggie and I finished tearing out our summer garden (goodbye tomatoes) on Sunday and prepped the box for our fall/winter garden. We've mostly skipped cool weather crops in the past so this year will be interesting to see how they turn out. We planted baby romaine lettuce, carrots, broccoli and peas and Maggie really enjoyed helping us this time, especially with the big the pea seeds. It'll be fun for all of us to watch this new garden grow and we'll keep you updated on how things are turning out.

Beach Party

On Saturday we celebrated the birthday of Maggie's friend. She had a beach party and we all had a good time partying with her. Maggie enjoyed drawing with sidewalk chalk, swimming, decorating a visor, eating lunch, and most of all, playing with the other kids.