California Academy of Science

Daycare was closed today so Andrew and I decided to take advantage of our day off and go play! We met Brewer and Michelle in San Francisco at the CA Academy of Science. I've been wanting to go for a long time and on the third Wednesday of every month, entrance is free. What perfect timing we had!! (Normal ticket prices are $30/person so we saved a lot of money!)

We had a great time exploring the rain forests, aquarium and penguins. Watching Andrew explore and learn makes the trip so much more fun. He was so excited to see all of the animals and would not stop telling me what each one was. I think his favorite was the penguins because they kept zooming by him in the water!

Hanging out in the Rain Forest.

I love the reflection of the boys in the glass.

Look at how excited Brewer is too see the turtle!

P.S. - Our very important lesson today that we learned: According to the touch pool attendant, Star Fish are not supposed to be called that anymore. They are supposed to be called Sea Stars.

Fall Leaves

Andrew's First Slumber Party

Andrew had his first slumber party last night. Grevin loves "Andu's House" so much, he asked if he could stay all night long!! (Really Jen and Zip are out of town and didn't want to leave him home alone!)

Grevin, Jen and Zip came over for dinner and then the boys played in the leaves outside. Jen attempted to put Grey to bed before they left but he wanted to stay up and play with Andrew instead. By 8pm, both boys were asleep and I didn't hear from them again until the next morning. Andrew had so much fun with Grey here and I can't wait until they are older and can have a real sleeping bag slumber party!!

Yeah for Fall!

Zippy reading bedtime stories before they left for their flight.

It's not a true slumber party unless you stay up past your bedtime!!

Mmmm, pancakes the next morning.

Yeah! We're all still alive and happy!!

Pumpkin Patch 2010

We went to the Pumpkin Patch this morning to find the perfect pumpkin for Halloween. Andrew was so excited to run around, pet the animals, climb the haystacks, find his way through the corn maze and ride in the wheelbarrow. Andrew and Brian searched through the entire patch and finally found the perfect pumpkin to bring home.

Scott, Trevor, Michelle, Lee and Darlene joined us on the adventure. We can't wait until next year when we can let both cousins loose in the field running around!

Gma and Gpa visit!

My mom and dad were in town for a long weekend and we had so much fun visiting and playing. We went to Mary's, the indoor race car track, the boys golfed, and we met up with the rest of the Duste family at Bob and Sharon's for dinner. Mom was also nice enough to watch Andrew for a couple of hours so I could go to a baby shower! Thanks Mom!!

Gma snuggling with Andrew

My dad bought a flight simulator and the boys played for a couple of hours on Friday night. The crashes were the best part and now Andrew thinks all planes crash! We're working on gentle landings again.

Hanging out at Bob and Sharon's house

Bob and Sharon have a pizza oven in their kitchen so we each made our own pizzas for dinner that night. Mary's better watch out, Sharon makes AMAZING pizza sauce from scratch!

This was the best smile I could get.

Grandpa Duste and Andrew

Once again, the flight simulator came out and the pilots were practicing.

The Next Top Chef!

I had a wild idea tonight and decided to let Andrew "help" me with dinner. It started off great and then about 1/2 way into it, I was questioning my sanity. But, Andrew had a good time and we all know that is what really matters!

I was making lasagna (I know, not the most child friendly dinner) and let Andrew turn the cheese shredder on and off. He really liked this task a lot.

Andrew proudly showing off his cheeses.

**Please note there are no more pictures of the assembly process because this was the point in which I lost my mind! It involved letting a 2-year-old help put wet noodles in a pan with tomato sauce. What really happened was a 2-year-old running around the house with noodles!**


Helping mommy unload the dishwasher.
(Once I regained control of the noodle situation)

Checking on dinner cooking.

I told Andrew it was time to clean-up and he got the feather duster! I guess that is what you use to clean up lasagna mess!!

Looking back, it was a lot of fun but I think next time we'll go for something a little less messy and less involved.

Harvest Fair 2010

Fall is in the air! On Sunday we went to the Sonoma County Harvest Fair. We all had a great time going on rides, seeing the animals and looking at the different tractors and farm displays that were out.

Andrew making his way through the maze.

That's a BIG pumpkin!

Andrew loved "talking" to all of the animals!

Andrew wanted to bring one of these home!