Brandon and Dylan are in the December issue of Inside East Sacramento again. This time they got to check out a new park for a story about small public parks. As they played, the photographer, Linda, took their pictures for the story. Brandon liked the park so much he asked me again the next day if we could go back.
The boys attended their very first skate party. Brandon watched the other kids for a while, but he still wasn't interested in trying to skate. He just wanted to go pump quarters into the games. Dylan, on the other hand, was willing to try. It was so cute watching Russ hold Deets up and push him around the rink. They made it half way around when Dylan decided he was done. I was quite impressed with my little man. He didn't take the skates off until it was time to leave. He even played games in them.
When we got home, we tried to carve pumpkins with the kids, but they got bored and wandered off. At least it was a Mommy-Daddy team effort: Daddy gutted and Mommy carved a ghost and a bat. Then during the kids nap time (all three were, thankfully, asleep), Russ & I finished decorating the front of our house: spider webs with spiders big and small and the inflated spider & Frankenstein. Russell made sure all trick-or-treaters knew they could stop at our house. Apparently, people were taking pictures of their kids in front of our house. Our boys loved all of Daddy's decorations.
We took the kids up to Apple Hill today. We wanted to pick out pumpkins from a pumpkin patch and eat some apple goodies. I managed to trip and fall on the stairs going out to the garage when we were leaving. I rolled my ankle and heard it crack and pop in three places, all while I was holding the baby. Scary! Owen was fine. Not a bump or scratch on him. I, on the other hand, iced my ankle all the way up the hill. I probably shouldn't have walked on it all day, but I did anyway for the kids.
First stop was the Kids Inc. pumpkin patch. Brandon LOVED it! He walked all the way up the hillside looking for the "perfect" pumpkin. Dylan lasted about a minute, before he was wanting Russ to carry him. When he was on the ground, he was sitting in the dirt rubbing his hands in it. After they ran around the patch picking the big pumpkins, we headed back up to the buildings and let the boys pick out one little pumpkin each. I made them sit next to one of the scarecrows, so I could take their picture. Russ was not happy with Kids Inc. The proprietor was extremely rude and bossy. Guess we won't be going back there again.
With the pumpkins out of the way, we drove to Larsens for a slice of pie and hot chocolate. I used to go there when I was a kid, so I was looking forward to the yumminess. I was a little disappointed to find several seeds and a stem in my slice. I also couldn't believe they handed us cups of hot water and instant cocoa. The boys thought the pie looked weird, so they didn't even taste it. At least they had a few sips of their cocoa. We took them across the street to the park after our snack, so they could run around and blow off some steam. The loved just running and running in all the openness. I'd say their very favorite part was the stream that ran under a bridge. They were dropping leaved in the water and watching them float away. They could have stayed all day.
We finally dragged them away, stopped at Boa Vista Orchards to pick up a box of apples and several other apples, pears, caramel apples and a pie. Such a busy, fun day for all of us. The boys were so exhausted, they slept all the way home.
We came back from our vacation yesterday. The boys had sooooooo much fun. We rented a house across the street from Rio Del Mar beach in Aptos, just south of Santa Cruz. (A word of advice: don't rent from Cheshire Rio. Horrible company. Just ask Russ.) Our friends came down for the weekend with their daughter. The kids played, and we tried to relax and hang out after the kids all went to bed in the evenings. We were a little worried that they wouldn't get much time on the beach since there was rain in the forecast. It did rain, but not enough to ruin the vacation. The boys got several days on the beach looking for sea shells, building "sand castles," and chasing waves. The chasing fun was short lived for Deets, though, when Brandon ran him over trying to run away from the waves. In the end, D ended up soaked and miserable. He refused to go near the water again after that fiasco. Not a big deal, since he had a wonderful time playing in the sand and kicking his beach ball.Saturday afternoon, Russ took Brandon and Dylan to The Boardwalk to play games and walk around. He really wanted them to do more than just play at the beach. Russ said they had so much fun playing games and picking out prizes with their tickets. Unfortunately, I missed that outing because the baby was sleeping, and I didn't want to disturb him. That was ok, I got to play with the boys at the beach when they came back.
Sunday evening we took the boys down to the wharf, mostly because we wanted to have a crab cocktail. We had our little snack, and the boys tried to see the seals barking under the wharf through the viewing holes at the far end. As dark as it was, the boys were very lucky to see the few that they did. We ended the evening with ice creams at Marini's.
Monday, after a bit of shopping, we drove into the hills to visit some friends we haven't seen for a couple of years. They have a beautiful 4 year old girl, and Brandon loved playing with her. Poor Mia was bossed around by Brandon, but luckily she didn't seem to mind. They spent the whole afternoon and evening playing. Dylan spent most of his time going up and down the stairs. He would pop in on Brandon and Mia to see what they were doing, but before long he would be back on the stairs. The look on face when he discovered that he could roll a ball down them was priceless. He looked at me like, "did you just see that?????"
Finally on Tuesday we loaded up the car and drove to the Monterey Bay Aquarium. The boys thought the huge tanks of fish were so cool. Brandon asked to see the jellyfish. I have to say the jellyfish exhibits are my favorite, too. Brandon's favorite were the transparent jellies you could only see if the light was turned on. He kept pushing the button to turn the light off, so they would disappear. He was still talking about those jellyfish today. They were fascinated by the kelp forest, the sharks and the gigantic fish. We were 
thankful that we visited midweek, because the boys were able to experience the touch pools and the kids play areas without a problem. I think Dylan's favorite part was being outside. There wasn't much to see outside, but he loved being out there. And poor Russ, he was wishing we'd unloaded the stroller, because he ended up carrying Dylan around the entire aquarium all day.
All in all, it was a busy vacation because we did so much, but it was fun experiencing it all as a family. We loved watching our kids play and explore these last few days. Can't wait for our next adventure.
Today was picture day for the boys. I had to bribe Brandon with a visit to the Disney Store (which we had already planned on anyway) to get him to sort of smile. Dylan didn't want any part of picture taking, that's why you don't see him above. He just wanted to be held by Daddy. And then there was Owen. He was our little ray of sunshine bursting with smiles and coos.
Yes, that baby of ours is a roll over pro now. A few days ago it clicked in his head how to roll and now that's all he does when he's tired of laying on his back. If he's in a good mood, he'll prop up on his elbows and forearms to look around. It's just so cute to see him checking out his surroundings from a different angle. Brandon gets right down on the floor with Owen when he sees him rolling around. I'm surprised Owen doesn't cry, because sometimes Brandon is right there in his face. He's smiling and saying encouraging things to Owen, but has no clue about personal space. It really is sweet.
Don't ask me why, but I got a bug one day to buy something messy, so I splurged on paint supplies. I guess I was bored doing the same old thing with the kids. I was tired of coloring and stickers and games and toys. The pool was nice when it wasn't scorching hot. The kids didn't care how hot it got, because they were the ones in the water. I, on the other hand, was sitting in a chair sweating through the long agonizing minutes. I tried squirt bottles filled with water. Brandon loved that. Dylan's tiny hands just couldn't get around the squirt handle, so he had to try holding the bottle with one hand and pull the squirt handle with the other. I don't think he could get much more frustrated.
So now I figure Dylan has never painted before, and he can hold a paint brush. How hard could it be for a almost 2 year old to paint? He's going to love this, and sure enough he did. Brandon is always bringing home paintings from preschool, so I knew he'd have blast painting with his brother. I set them up side by side and let their creative juices flow. You'll see Dylan's painting above. He did surprisingly well for his first time. He was having such a great time, he was dancing around while he was painting. It was pretty darn cute. Brandon was pretty methodical as he painted (see below). He mixed colors on his paper, and he had to think about where certain colors were going to go, before brush touched paper again. His finishing touches were the dots. Mommy scored big points with the boys that day.
