San Diego Zoo with Beck (and Eli-not pictured)

The week before last we meet my friend, Nancy, with her 2 boys, Beck and Eli at the zoo.  Anne and Beck are about the same age and play so nicely together.  We all had a great time.  Owen was very happy to be set free this trip and had a blast running with the older kids.  Anne loves to read maps and likes to give us directions on which way to go.

Julian, CA

A couple of weeks ago we drove about an hour up into the mountains to an apple festival in Julian, CA with some friends.  The colors were no where near as beautiful as fall in the midwest, but we did see some browns and yellows.  The apple festival left much to be desired, especially compared to what we're used to, but it was a beautiful drive up there.  We had a great visit with our friends and the kids enjoyed playing in the corn box.  Can't say I've seen one of those before.

Mommy's helpers

Anne loves to help me with whatever I'm doing which is awesome.  Most nights she asks me if she can help me make dinner.  She likes to get out the big stool and be right in on the action with me. 

Anne's main chore at home right now is helping to unload the dishwasher.  Owen even helped out this week too.  Anne's also really good at shoe organization when it's time to tidy up before daddy comes home from work.

Owen is a funny boy

Owen is all boy, loves to play with balls, trains, cars and wrestle on the floor.

Update on Anne

Anne loves to play with my phone whenever she gets the chance.  Here is one of her 12 self-portraits.

 I have a china tea set from when I was a kid.  Can't say I remember playing with it.  I think my mom forgot to get it out for us when we were old enough not to break it.  Anne's been having a daily tea party during quiet time. Apparently it is quite necessary for each guest to have their own seat.

My friend, Jen came to visit us this past week.  We had a great time.  If you look carefully, you can see the panda bear walking along the branch at the San Diego Zoo.

 Jen and I at Coronado Beach

 Mommy and Owen at La Jolla Shores Beach

 A tired Annie after the zoo and her swimming lesson.

All in a row

This was the scene during quiet time the other day.  Apparently order is necessary when dealing with large groups. 

Brothers and Sisters

When Owen wakes up from his naps, Anne loves to go and jump in his crib with him.  Not the most gradual way to wake up for Owen, but most of the time he doesn't seem to mind. They laugh and giggle a lot together.

Beware the giant baby!

I stole this title from my sister after I sent this picture to her.  I can't believe he can fit in this doll stroller.  I doubt it's going to last much longer if he keeps sitting in it!

Another trip to the San Diego Zoo

On Tuesday we met our friends, Liz and Kelly at the San Diego Zoo.  It's such a great place to visit.  I have a feeling we are going to be there often. It so big, I get a good workout just walking around there and pushing the stroller up some gigantic canyon hills.

Here's Anne bobbing up from one of the holes in the ice shelf.

This was the scene on the way home.  Left me with a bit of a conundrum on who to carry up first and who would continue their nap once we got inside.

Sunday Morning, after pics

We met a lot of new people at church on Sunday.  Consequently, we did not have the careful eye on the kids that we usually do.  With Owen running around every which way and Anne playing with the other kids outside, it gets a little crazy.  We were getting ready to leave and realized Anne was not quite where we thought she was.  Jeff went to go looking for her and found her laying on the ground, blood on her face, with a bunch of boys standing around her looking shocked and not knowing what to do.  Jeff said when he showed up the  boys looked pretty nervous and said, "we didn't do it."  Well, we think Anne was chasing after the big boys and likely tripped and fell, landing on her nose!  Isn't 3 too young for boy chasing?

Sunday Morning, Before pic

Owen will now look at the camera and say "cheese."

A Trip to Moonlight Beach

Last weekend we went to Ecinitas, CA to Moonlight Beach.  It was a gorgeous day and the water was quite refreshing.  Jeff and I took turns going out to jump the big waves for a while, it was really fun.  Owen was fearless and loved running in the waves.

Owen and food

Owen has had an explosion in his eating habits lately which I'm very happy about.  I happened to try offering him some broccoli the other nice, on a fork and he ate it.  The next night he cleaned his plate and ate green beans, too!  I was very impressed.    I always give him vegetables, but he seems to pick out the carbs and sometimes a little meat from whatever I have put before him.  Yesterday he ate avocado for the first time.  Anne has always been a big fan, but Owen has refused it for quite a while.  Tonight he chowed down on his sweet corn like a big boy!

Welcome to San Diego

 We have a huge patio outside out apartment which is perfect for the kids to play on.  I've really enjoyed staying home with the kids.  Definitely starting to feel like we need to get some more activities going.  We're thinking about signing Anne up for swimming lessons.  There's a lady that comes to our apartment complex to teach them so it's very convenient.

San Diego Zoo

Our first weekend here we didn't waste any time.  We've already got our membership to the San Diego Zoo as I'm sure we'll be going back quite often.  They also have a safari park which is out closer to our place where they get the animals acclimated before bringing them down to the city.  We've heard it's better to go there when the weather gets a bit cooler though.  It's a little further inland and can be quite hot this time of year.

 They have a gondola across the park which was really fun.  It's also great because it takes you right back to the entrance if you've wandered all the way to the back of the park.

 We had really great timing by the gorillas as they were just getting fed when we showed up.  The dominant male was pretty funny, just sitting there while food was getting thrown at him and would only eat whatever landed directly into his hands.  He was so massively huge, Anne was not much of a fan.

Tuscon, AZ

Jeff was really excited to take the kids to the University of Arizona.  They had fun running across the lawn and playing in the fountain.  We had a really nice dinner there, too.