I went with the boys out to El Dorado Hills to visit my brother, Scott, and his family after our time at the beach. The cousins all get pretty hyper when together, but have lots of fun and new experiences. We visited the grounds at the Sacramento Temple one afternoon. I can't say the atmosphere that day was quite reverent, but they enjoyed seeing the temple.

We went with some friends to Avila Barn to pick out pumpkins this year. We got to play in a hay maze, go on a hayride, pick our pumpkins, and come home to decorate them. It was nice to do a "seasonal" activity that reminded me a little of Fall in the midwest, even though it was 80 degrees, sunny, and we were five minutes from the beach.



Simon dressed up as a fireman for Halloween and wanted to use his extinguisher on the candles at a friend's birthday party. We explained that it probably wouldn't be the most considerate to extinguish the candles on someone else's birthday cake, but the little girl's mom was kind enough to give him his own candle in a cupcake to extinguish. Stuart didn't care about candles, just the cupcake.

Dwayne was at a work conference in L.A. during the week of Stuart's birthday and Halloween. Here at home we had a major water leak from one of the front sprinklers, which didn't get fixed for several days. We ended up having to turn the water off for the whole house for half of the day on Halloween, so by the time we got to the Trunk-or-Treat activity at the church, I wasn't caring very much that Stuart didn't want to wear most of his spider costume.

The next day we drove down to L.A. and met Dwayne at the end of his conference. We enjoyed dinner at a restaurant in Disney Village, and the birthday boy and his brother both got fun balloon hats.
The next day we took advantage of a November-only military discount at Knotsberry Farm Amusement Park and had a grand time with the boys and virtually no lines. I didn't feel too pregnant to do some of the kiddie rides and the whole family was able to do the log ride....again and again. Towards the end of the day they didn't even make us get off because there was no one else waiting. Simon loved the airplanes, the racecars, and anything he got to ride with Daddy.





The adventures continued the next day as Dwayne drove me and the boys to LAX, where we caught a direct flight to Indianapolis. Direct was an advantage in not having to haul boys and stuff through multiple airports, but definitely tried the boys' patience in having to stay confined so long. But we made it, and Dwayne joined us in Indiana later in the trip, so the journey home was much less stressful.

Highlights of our time in Indiana were getting to know cousin Claire and seeing my sister (Claire's mom), Lisa, and traveling to Ohio for two days to meet new cousin, Brooklynn, and play in the beautiful fall weather with Doug (Dwayne's brother) and Cara's whole family.




Towards the end of our visit in Indiana, my brother, Scott, and his family joined us, so all of the cousins on my side of the family were together for a couple of days. Fun, but wild.

One advantage of being in the Air Force is that you get off on holidays such as Columbus Day, while the rest of the country is at work and school. So we planned a trip up to Dillon Beach to visit Dwayne's grandmother, watch the LDS General Conference via her satellite (we don't enjoy such amenities here at home), help with some organizing/purging projects, and enjoy time with the boys at the beach. Simon was being a helpful big brother and reading to Stuart while we watched the conference.

Dwayne and his grandma both spent lots of time sorting through and pitching old mail--Grandma gets lots of requests from organizations for donations.

There aren't really trees at the beach to indicate that it's Fall, but the ice plant painted a beautiful backdrop on a hike down to the beach.

The boys are definitely even sillier in combination than alone, so we had trouble getting a shot in which they both were making a "normal" face. Actually, what you see is quite normal.






Jeep rides are always a must when we visit Grandma, and apparently Simon was on patrol in the back with his squirt gun.

Just before we left, the boys enjoyed a messy ice cream sandwich on the deck.
We wish we could visit Grandma more often. She's very special to all of us.

One day in September I was feeling like we hadn't been out to appreciate much of the natural wilderness here and so decided to take a field trip to Oso Flaco Lake, just a short drive north of Santa Maria near Guadalupe. It's a recreation area where there are trails, which include a boardwalk and bridge that spans the whole lake and leads into protected sand dunes and eventually out to the beach. I was envisioning a leisurely walk for me and Simon and a pleasant stroller ride for Stuart, then we'd find a nice spot on the beach and enjoy a picnic. I didn't take into account the fact that I was in my first exhausting trimester of this pregnancy, nor did I know that parts of the boardwalk would be covered with sand through which I would have to drag the stroller. We enjoyed seeing some waterfowl in the lake, then wildflowers, raccoons and insects in the dunes. We still hadn't made it to the beach, but I was getting pretty tired. I started seeing signs warning hikers of previous mountain lion sitings in the location we were hiking, but felt like we had made it so far and should persist until we at least saw the ocean. I hauled the stroller backwards up a sand dune and we finally saw the water, only to realize that it was a very remote beach with no bathrooms or other services (plus the thought of marauding mountain lions). So, I convinced the boys that our picnic would be more enjoyable at a table back near the lake we had crossed and we hurried back. The picnicking spot on the bridge was indeed more pleasant than the windy dunes and the boys had fun and burned calories for at least thirty minutes running up and down the bridge's length.

During the fall semester I participated with the boys in a Mommy & Me class offered by the college here. We met weekly at a nearby church and enjoyed use of lots of toys, crafts, and activities. The boys had opportunities to practice social skills and I met nice moms and had some interesting discussions in the weekly parenting session that was offered. One week we took a field trip out to a ranch and got to see some farm animals and play on farm equipment. One of Simon's friends was moving to Colorado soon and talking about snowboarding, so they both pretended this big pile of hay bales was a snow-covered mountain and had fun pretending to snow board down it.

Our birthdays have become more fun and exciting now that the boys are so excited about them. In typical, low-maintenance fashion, Dwayne requested no more than a chocolate cake with ice cream. He got the day off from work and took the boys to a storytime at the Natural History Museum and also to play at the Children's Discovery Museum.

Our two fall seasons here have meant lots of apples from our friends, Dan & Myndi. They have two trees, a fuji and a golden delicious, from which they gave us an unlimited supply of delicious apples for eating fresh and preserving. We made a LOT of applesauce, some caramel-apple butter and attempted apple pie filling, which wasn't actually successful in a water bath canner. After two-processing attempts and turning totally mushy, it's now in freezer bags to be made into apple crisp. Simon loved helping with the process, especially using a little magnetic wand to pick up the lids out of the hot water.