Halloween 2011

Pumpkin Carving with neighbors and friends.  I did all the hard work of scooping out the guts, while Adam made the faces.  I wasn't feeling very creative this year : (

Owen and Tyler

Owen's preschool Halloween party!

The girls at Owen's preschool LOVE Emily!  They see her and scream, "Baby!" and play with her as if she was a live doll.  It's pretty funny!  Emily isn't so sure of it, but she doesn't seem to mind the attention.  She is just as interested in the older girls as they are in her : )

Owen's creepy painted spider.

Our farmer and his little cow taking a break from the farm.

All our carved spooky pumpkins

Tom, wearing his daughters Halloween costumes when they decided to take it off!  Who says real men don't wear tutus? ; )

Boo at the Zoo.  Owen and Keira.

This year seemed to be the longest Halloween season ever.  It was a lot of fun and Owen got to dress up a lot, which was fun for him.  On Halloween night we went out with friends and neighbors and took the kids trick or treating in our neighborhood.  We were the only ones out there, so people we're dumping their candy on us.  Emily didn't quite know what candy was, but she was happy to be a part of it all and followed all the older kids up to the door to get whatever it was that people wanted to give her!  I think she ended up with more candy than Owen!  She was a trooper and carried her bucket the whole time! This year was great, I am sure next year will be even more fun! 

Photography Class

As you know, photography is a hobby/ passion of mine that I can't get enough of.  My friend and fellow blogging Mommy, Marina, told me about an online photography class that she was planning to take through Willette Design.  I signed up for this three week course and learned a lot about Photoshop and using my camera to it's (almost) full potential. 
The first week was about getting the family portrait. We got all dressed up in a nice color scheme for fall and headed to the Douglas Preserve with my tripod, wireless remote for the shutter and camera. It was utter chaos. The remote wouldn't work if it wasn't close enough to the camera, we kept finding ourselves cut out of the frame, the kids were running around like crazy and Adam kept sighing and rolling his eyes. Not exactly what I had envisioned before we left the house. To make matters worse, it was HOT out and we were dressed for an east coast crisp fall day. Oh how I miss the change of seasons in NY! So, this is what we got despite it all.

Here's where it starts to go haywire....

This one just cracks me up every time. I have no idea what happened here!

Apple Pickn'

Fall is my all time favorite season.  Sure I love all the seasons, but fall has something special in the air that I get excited about.  Growing up, I used to go to Apple Hill with my Mom as soon as the air turned crisp.  We would drive up there for the day and check out all the cool crafts, eat apple pie, drink apple cider and enjoy all that it had to offer.  Without a doubt, we would head home with two large boxes of sweet and crisp apples every time.  My Mom would then make apple pies, apple sauce, apple pancakes, and just eat them plain until we were sick of apples.  Such a great memory for me. 

Since Apple Hill is sadly over 10 hours away from Santa Barbara, it was not an option to go this year.  So, we went to Seeing Spots Farm in Santa Ynez instead.  The best part about this farm is the animals!  They are known for their miniature donkeys, which are ADORABLE.  They are like big dogs that lean into you and love to be pet.  Besides the donkeys there were turkeys, chickens, a tortoise, and a friendly goat named Buddy who is quite the menace and always hungry, but he is well loved.There is even a zonkey (part zebra and part donkey). 

This little cutie is only 9 days old!  She wasn't even named yet.  She was so soft and loved all the cuddles she got from the kids.  What a treat to get to meet her. Emily was about the same size as this donkey : )

 The kids even got to ride a donkey named Max. 

 After all the animal fun, it was time to do what we came there for....pick apples!  It was no Apple Hill I'll tell ya.  They had very few trees and it was the end of the season with slim pickings.  The kids had fun anyway and enjoyed the apples they could find. 

 Not satisfied with my apple mission, we stopped at Apple Lane Farm in Solvang to pick apples from a huge orchard.  Again, it was the end of the season and there wasn't a ton to choose from, but it was the experience.  Owen liked spotting them and putting them ALL in his bag : ).  We had a fun afternoon.

 After naps in the car on our way  home, it was time to dig out Halloween costumes for the next day!

Adam dressed up for work that night as Speedy Gonzales : )

Lane Farms Pumpkin Patch

Every year, since Owen was a baby, we go to Lane Farms for their awesome pumpkin patch in October.   I LOVE pumpkin patches.  I have a lot of fun memories of going to them as a kid.  In Vacaville, where I grew up, we would go to the Nut Tree's pumpkin patch every October.  There was a scarecrow contest that tons of people particiapted it every year.  People got really creative and it was fun to see which one's won.  I would scour the patch for what seemed like hours, to find the most perfect pumpkin to carve when I got home.  We usually finished our day with the Nut Tree's famous pumkin ice cream, which was the BEST pumkin ice cream on the planet! 

Now it's our turn to create fun fall memories for our kids, and Lane Farms is a great place to start.  I am hoping we can make it to one or two more patches before Halloween!  I love Avila Farms as well!

 Here is the best (well, funniest at least) picture I could get of Nana and the kids.  Owen was trying to crush Emily, and she was complaining about it and Nana looked like she was about to kiss the scarecrow...It was not a day for siting and posing for pictures.  I hardly got any good ones of Owen since he is so fast now and was all over the place running around.   But Emily is still a little slower, so I could get some cute shots of her : )

 Here's an oldie of us 2 years ago at the farm.

Owen at 2 years old at Lane Farms

Adam is quite the juggler with baby pumpkins!

Team Work. Owen pulls, Emily pushes : )

 Here's Owen at 2 yrs. driving the tractor.

Owen and his co pilot driving the tractor.

Emily got to pet the sweet donkey : )