Snow Hunting!

While the dad's went on their annual Pumpkin Hunt adventure, we went up to Tahoe on a Snow Hunt! It is nice to be able to take the boys (and Zoe!) up to the mountains and just have mommy and me time. It will be even nicer when we can go to Tahoe and have just mommy time!!  But until then,we have so much fun running through the forest, playing in snow, having cocktails (mommies, not kids), visiting the fire station and relaxing.

I think the best part of the trip was taking the kids up to the Ritz.  They got to run around on the mountain and there were two older kids who entertained the boys by making snowballs and playing with them.  They also had a Smores roast so we decided to stay and pretend we were guests of the hotel.  As one could expect from the Ritz, they had five different flavors or marshmallows, four different kinds of chocolate and they put the entire thing together for you.  It was a blast and I know where I will be at 4pm each day next time we are in Tahoe.

Grey and Andrew found their first pile of new snow!

Playing on the ski slopes.  They were happy there weren't any skiers.  I was sad that there wasn't more snow!

Let's hope there is more snow than this in two weeks when we are back!

Wait?  Who is watching the kids?!

Andrew looks at me and says "Look at my snowball."  It's a rock dude.  Put it down!

Nothing but 5 star treatment for the kids!  Perhaps getting them used to the service at the Ritz is a bad idea.

No room on the couch, no problem.  Andrew found his own seat.

Field Trip - Kindergarten fun!

The first thing I learned about field trips is that they don't call them field trips anymore! They are now called field "study."  Seriously, you think changing the word from trips to study is going to make it any different.  It's a day away from school no matter what you call it!

Andrew's kindergarten class went to Mrs. Peterson's farm.  For a lot of the kids, this was their first time on a bus and they were so excited!  Only one kid freaked out because he didn't have a seat belt to put on.  We had 10 parent chaperones and 20 kids so we were pretty well evenly numbered.  When I first agreed to go, I was a little nervous about trying to keep track of 5-8 kids but I just had Andrew and Ben.  Easy!

At the farm the kids learned about bees, fed animals and got to pick out a pumpkin.  Mrs. Peterson sure does love her bees.  The kids learned all about how bees make honey, the life cycle of a bee and how bees "get married."   The pumpkin patch was perfect.  She grows only small pumpkins so the kids could pick any one they want and we didn't have any kids arguing over getting a bigger pumpkin.

The highlight of the trip was during breakfast, Andrew was excited for me to meet Isabella.  When I asked him why, he said: "Because she loves me and I love her."  Oh wow!  Little does this girl know that there is no way she is taking my little man from me.  I'm not ready to give him up yet!!

Mrs. Dabbs kindergarten class

The little blonde in Isabella.

Trick-or-Treat 2013

Trick-or-Treat! Halloween get more and more fun every year.  Andrew is a HUGE Star Wars fan right now so he wanted to be Luke Skywalker for Halloween.  I think he makes a handsome little Luke Skywalker!

We had fun trick-or-treating with our neighbors.  I tried to convince the adults that we just needed to do our court and the next court over but we ended up going up the two blocks as well.  Now Andrew knows trick-or-treating is more than just going around the court! 

The best part was that at one house, Andrew got a pumpkin instead of candy.  The house is rented to college students and the girls had a big platter of candy with a pumpkin in the middle.  Andrew said he wanted the pumpkin so they gave it to him.  Leave it to my kid to pass on the candy and go for the vegetable!  :)  Andrew was so protective of his candy when we got home but hasn't asked for it since.  I'm giving it two more days and then it will all disappear. 

Andrew and Natalie

Showing off his pumpkin!

Pumpkin Carving Party

Carving pumpkins is so much more fun when you do it with friends! 

I was so brave letting everyone carve their pumpkins in the dining room!

Zoe, Ripley, Natalie, Grey and Andrew with their pumpkins.

Fall Festival Fun

Our weekend started out with a fun morning at Andrew's Fall Festival.  We walked over to the school to play games, meet other families and have fun!  Andrew loved that everyone was calling him Luke Skywalker.  In fact, he would prefer that we call him that all the time now.  He is currently in the process of growing his hair out like his favorite Star Wars character.  Let's just be glad his favorite character isn't Chewbacca or one of the Ewoks!!  I'm not exactly sure what Luke Skywalker hair is but Andrew has a very clear picture in his mind so we'll go with that!

The highlight of the day was Andrew winning the ring toss.  For all of the other games, the kids won a piece of candy or some little trinket.  Not the ring toss!  They used soda bottles as the target and if you made it, you got to take the bottle of soda home.  So, we now have a full bottle of Grape soda in our fridge!  Seriously, who thought that was a good idea?!  I'm hoping Andrew forgets about it and I can make it disappear.  :)  If he ever asks you if Grape Soda goes stale, the correct answer is YES!

See that ring...it's going to land right on that bottle of Grape Soda.

There is the ring on the ground and the bottle of grape soda is just waiting to come home with us.  Lucky us!

Ben (Andrew's friend at school), his brother Lex and Andrew

Pumpkin Patch - 2013

We had so much fun at McClelland's Dairy last year we went again this year! It is a nice family run farm that they open to the public each October. It is nice to walk around, see the animals and enjoy the farm. Since we went on the "cow tour" last year, I didn't feel the need to fork out another $50 so Andrew could milk a cow. Once in your life is enough, right?! We had fun running through the corn maze, burying Andrew in the seed box and finding the perfect pumpkin.

Last year we got a "ghosty" pumpkin and planted the seeds in our garden this spring. This year, we have plenty of our own ghosty pumpkins. So this year the plan was to find another cool pumpkin that we could take some seeds from and plant next year. It was a great day and it was fun to spend it with all of the Wing's.

Andrew loved the hay maze.   He kept popping up so we would know where he was!

Here I am!

Andrew - where did your body go?!

The goal was to find a cool pumpkin so we could plant the seeds next year and grow one of our own.

On the way out, we found a cool caterpillar. 

Pier 39 - Family Fun Day

We had one of those rare weekends when we had nothing to do. Nothing was planned, we had no where to be and no one was coming over. We took the opportunity to go on a trip to San Francisco's Pier 39! It was an absolutely gorgeous day - 80 degrees, sun shinning and no wind. We had fun walking around the pier, going to the aquarium and hanging out. We will have to do it again soon.    It was nice to have a family day.  :)