Whew!! It's Fall!!

The weather has finally cooled off and the wind here in the AV has started to blow.

What does that mean?   Fall must be just around the corner.  It is also a sign that the crazy summer is finally over and it's time for my annual blog catch-up..

So.. I'll be posting (hopefully) every day for the next week or so and then we'll be all caught up and ready for the holiday season to begin!! (Trust me folks.. it's closer than you realize)

Did I mention that I really do love fall?  Blog updates and all :-/

5 Months

My oh my how time flies.

Beka turned 5 months old yesterday.

She's a happy little thing.  She is as curious and aware of everything around her as her brother was.  So much so that she's normally too distracted to focus on eating or sleeping during the day.  She just wants to check everything out.

She still hasn't turned over from back to front, but she's terribly close and can even sit with a little bit of assistance.  Her favorite position, however, is standing  -- and she loves her jumper.

While it's hard to believe that 5 months have already passed, it's harder to imagine life without her happy smiling face :-)

Reyes Creek

We decided to take the kids camping.. yes.. camping... well sorta.

We got a great deal on a Toy Hauler / Travel Trailer earlier this year and so we decided to take it on it's maiden voyage.

 So.. if you ask Chad, we went camping. If you ask me, if you didn't stay in a tent.. it's not camping.

 But I digress.

 So.. we went (sorta) camping at this great little spot that Chad's coworker recommended called Reyes Creek. It's about an hour and a half from here and is on a creek that has actually running water.

 We got there early on a Thursday and got the best spot in the campground. It was 100% shaded and had an awesome view of the creek.

 We spent the weekend just relaxing, hanging out, playing in the creek, watching Zach collect rocks and sticks, and doing a little bit of 4-wheeling in the Jeep.

It was fun.. whether it was truly 'camping' or not.

Easter

This was the first year that Zach was really aware of anything that was happening on Easter and it was very fun. The day before, we decorated easter eggs (mom dyed them during naptime and then Zach decorated them with stickers -- he was very excited). On Easter morning Zach was very excited to find his basket that the Easter Bunny had left for him. Filled with cars and jelly beans -- his two favorite things.

Everyone then got all dressed up to go to church with their new Easter outfits

After church and naptime, we all gathered at Grandma's for the Easter Egg Hunt and Easter Dinner. Zach enjoyed the hunt and gathered quite a few eggs. Beka just hung out and looked cute, as always.

All in all, a great holiday.

Visitor!!

At the beginning of March, our friend Erin came for the weekend. Since she took all the pictures, I have none of her (figures, eh?), but she captured our adventures for us.

On Friday, we went to Apollo Park to feed the ducks



and play on the slides



We spend Saturday morning at the Almond Blossom Festival where we got to climb on a large backhoe



Ride the train and the carousel (for the first time!)




Try on cool cowboy hats



and just hang out and enjoy the beautiful warm spring day!



The rest of the weekend was just spent hanging around the house and catching up.

It was fun and we hope she doesn't wait two more years to come back!

Siblings

I think Zach is finally warming up to his sister and figuring out that she might actually be a lot of fun.

OR.. he just likes her toys.

Either way.. it's nice to see them having fun together.

Trains!!

Like seemingly all little boys, Zach is totally obsessed with trains. So.. on a trip down to Burbank last Friday to run an errand for Dad, we decided to make a little side trip to Griffith Park. There is a ' Travel Town Museum' there with REAL old steam engines and cars that they let you climb around and explore. Zach thought he was in heaven.




Then, to top it off, we took a little train ride around the park.

Perfect.