Punkins

 It's that time of year again for carving punkins.








Not so sure about the slimy stuff this year....

Feeling braver.






Giddy-up!

 Checking out my buddy Gavin's costume.







Don't be confused by how ambitious of a haul it looks like they are hoping for...these wagons are for them to ride in when they get tired of walking.

Major loot inspection going on here.

Apple Pickin'

We also went apple picking in Tehachapi with the cousins. Yum, homemade peach applesauce!







This looks strangely like trick or treating, but in reverse. We picked more than we had planned on getting in about 2 min and 30 seconds, so we had to slow them down with some photo ops.

 The apple was This Big!












Getting a ride from cousin Anneliese.

Boys and dads and trains, enough said.

The Aquarium

 My cousin and her family were here to visit on their big CA vacation recently (which may explain how long it's been since a blog post). We went with them and Nana to the Aquarium of the Pacific and it was so much fun. I wasn't sure for a while if we were going to get past the first tank when you walk in (that's it on the left) since the boys were so enthralled, but we managed to see a few other things too.


This discussion of the fishes between Bryce and Killian looks mighty serious.



His favorite fish, at least until another one swam by that is.

Touch tanks! Warning: these are not designed for 2 year old boys, who want to take a huge handful of anything they can reach or get in the water and splash about. I think the docent was unimpressed, but no sea urchins were harmed in the process, so they survived us.

Feeding the lorikeets with Nana. He wasn't sure about these guys at first (as seen in the serious pondering face in the second picture)

But eventually he came around and wanted to feed them too.




One of the birds took an intense liking to mommy's shoelace and we almost had to call in the experts for lorikeet removal, but Nana was able to distract him with nectar just in time to save mommy's foot. This bird was literally at my foot for maybe 5 minutes. Also good to note, that trying to shake them off is not encouraged.

 The "sark" touch tank.









Bryce's feet in the "sark" touch tank. Good thing Nana was there to grab him.

Biker

Today it was nice outside after dinner for the first time in many months, so the boys went out to do some trike practice. This is the first time Bryce has tried to do the pedals on his own instead of walking on tip toe. He was pretty proud, especially when the neighbor boy rode over to join him and said he was his best friend (they've seen each other maybe 3-4 times).

Apparently no one told my son that listening to his mp3 player in the car is illegal. Guess he'll have to pull himself over. Just to clarify, he doesn't actually want to listen to anything, just wear the headphones like daddy.



This is an old one (and not an especially flattering shot of mommy), but it was cute that he wanted to put all his stickers on baby sister.

Lately Happening

at our house:


Making some doughnuts!

Yum! Cinnamon sugar face.



Water gun fight. These always happen at very close range and usually right after we fill the gun for him. Those water guns may be the best 97 cents I've spent recently.

 Got his hat on and ready for adventure...

Watching Kahuna lick out the tuna can. This must have been very interesting since they were both down there for about 15 minutes.

Fort Halverson

Fort Halverson is finally finished! After a whole lot of work by daddy and a little help from Bryce the swings and monkey bars went up today.





If you look closely, that is a dirt mustache. I remember my brother getting dirty but I think I was a little unprepared for the amazing places dirt can get into on a little boy.

 There she is, swings and all. Now to re-route the grass.







He was trying to do a thumbs up in this picture, but it turned out looking like he was pulling a rabbit out of a magic hat.

Summer's Gone

Hi daddy!

Making sand castles.