Muddy Buddies

On Labor day, we went with my aunt, uncle, and cousin to go pick apples. It was a little bit of a drive ( which included a stop in dreaded Tucson), but we had a lot of fun. I just wish it hadn't been so muddy. This is just some pictures to help us remember the day. I haven't been doing a great job at taking pictures lately.

I was happy they had wagons. Baylee and Payton loaded up and were ready to go.

Ryan was so nice to push (pull?) the kids around and keep them happy while we were getting ready to go. My kids just love Ryan.

Ben and the kids looking for apples.

Payton loved tasting the apples to make sure they were ones we liked. This is about where things start to get really muddy.

Baylee loved picking the apples. Her shoes were perfectly white when we went. At one point, she cleaned them off with a stick, just to get out of the wagon to follow Ryan into more mud. Payton fell a couple of times and was covered in mud. They did have a little handwashing area, but every time I got him a little cleaned up (which was hard with the way it was set up), he would just go and get more muddy.

After we paid for the apples and Ben and Doug took them all to the cars, Ben somehow talked Doug into pulling him in the wagon.

The guys ordered some food and while we were waiting, Baylee and Ryan walked around a little. I love how they put the food tables in between rows of apples!

Even though it was really muddy, we still had a great time. Thank you Melissa, Doug, and Ryan for inviting us to be your muddy buddies!

Oh, Tucson

Ben went to Start-up weekend in Tucson back in August, and the kids and I went with him. He was off in his conference all weekend, so that left me to keep the kids entertained and figure my way around (if you know me, I hate driving in unfamiliar territory). When we arrived at the hotel, it was creepy scary and all tucked back in a deserted area with some interesting looking characters hanging around and staring me down. Apparently we were in a bad part of town (although I never did find the nice part of Tucson). We stayed there for the night, and then switched to a Sheraton the next day. It felt much safer.

Saturday we got some breakfast at the only nicer looking shopping strip I found the whole time we were there. Friday night we had driven around and happened to find it for dinner. After breakfast, we headed to the zoo.

The zoo was smaller, but I loved how it was laid out, easier to push strollers through, and pretty shady. The bonus was that it was Tucson's birthday so we only had to pay for me and I think I was even half price. Baylee loved holding the map and feeling like she was the leader.

I loved seeing my kids sitting next to each other on the grass while they had brought animals out to show. It's rare that both of my kids are sitting still at one time. Ok, rare that Payton is ever sitting and watching anything besides Cars, Disney Jr, or Nick Jr.

Baylee got tired, so at one point Payton decided to let her sit in the stroller on him push. At one point Payton was sitting on her lap and I was pushing both kids. Then there was a meltdown when I made Baylee get out and walk. I am so mean.

After, we went and tried to check into our new hotel. It wasn't ready quite yet, so we hung out in the courtyard, which led to Payton running around and away. When I finally got them buckled back into the hot car and was trying to decide where we could go, I got a call saying our room was ready. Hooray! It was nap time! Of course, Payton wasn't wanting to take a nap, so we loaded up again to head to a place someone recommended to Ben. It was called the Mini Time Machine Museum, and thanks to Tucson's birthday, it was half price again. She didn't make me pay for Payton since he had fallen asleep in the car (plus he was just barely over under two is free).

The coolest part of the museum was this tree that had faces carved into it. Baylee loved that it looked like Grandmother Willow from the Pocahontas movie. They had tons of tiny little miniature displays.
It was kinda cool that they had this one under the floor. Other than that, it wasn't anything great to be taking kids too.

We took advantage of the pool and hot tub on Saturday and until we had to check out on Sunday. We ate at the hotel on Sunday, then swam. Then it was off to find more things to keep us entertained until Ben was done.

We went to The Children's Museum. Payton had once again fallen asleep in the car and missed most of it. He woke up in time to play for a little bit before Ben let us know that we could pick him up. I was relieved since I was out of ideas for keeping entertained.

Tucson, I'm sorry to say, I never care to visit you again. You are not my favorite place. Unless I ever figure out where the "nice" area is. Then I might consider it. But even then, I'm not sure. Thanks for being good to me though, and keeping me from getting seriously lost or robbed.

Baylee's In Kindergarten!

I can't believe how fast time has gone! Baylee started Kindergarten at the beginning of August. We had the pleasure of registering her twice. She was all set to got to school in Pleasanton, which didn't start until the very end of August. When we decided to move back to Arizona, we had to rush back because school started a couple weeks later. We barely found a place to rent (we have renters in our house) and got her registered for school in time. My parents were nice enough to let us stay at their house for almost two weeks before we could move into our rental.

My parents had this bike waiting for Baylee (they buy each grandkid a bike on their 5th bday). She loves it and rides it to school almost everyday. It's nice that the school is just down the street from the place we are in right now.

Payton with Baylee before we left for her first day of school! I don't think he realized what was going on.

When we got to the school, they still didn't have Baylee assigned to a class. They quickly put her in a class, and we are so happy she got such a great teacher. Baylee got a little worried for a few minutes, but she adjusted really well.

We went to dinner with The Vans to celebrate school starting. Trey didn't start until Wednesday, but we could still celebrate! I loved how all four kids were crowding around Ben.

We of course had to get frozen yogurt after. I loved seeing Trey and Baylee together again.

Baylee is loving school. It is still a little weird having her gone until almost 4 everyday, but I'm glad she is having fun. Payton was a little cranky for the first few weeks when Baylee would leave for school. He misses her when she is gone. We are happy that she is making a lot of new friends and doing so well in school. We always knew she was smart, and her teacher is really impressed with her. She just has a problem with being too energetic and distracting sometimes. Apparently she hangs out with all the tough boys at recess. Sounds like my Baylee.

Goodbye CA, Hello AZ (Again)

Way back in August, we moved back to Arizona. Ben has started his company (which is just him for now), so we could live anywhere. We decided pretty quickly that we wanted to live in Arizona. The decision came just a couple of weeks before school started, so we had to hurry. We moved Thursday, registered Baylee for school on Friday, and then school started on Monday. Here's a few more adventures we had in the few months we lived in California again.

We had a few visits to Super Franks, sometimes with cousin, Abby. Its a great place for kids- there are a few different rooms that they can play in and Baylee and Payton loved it.

The kids and I had couple of visits to the Oakland zoo. On the first visit, we got really close to a giraffe. It was hanging out in the water barrier they have to keep them from getting too close to the fence.

We hit a few parks. I remember coming to this one with the cement slide when I was little (my grandparents lived in Pleasanton for a little while and actually knew Ben's parents). I was surprised that Payton loved going down it by himself when he was just around 18 months old. He's our little dare devil. In the first picture, we were so happy that Aunt Anna found Baylee a belt!!!! No more crack for Baylee!

One day we went to the Jelly Belly factory. We had to get a picture of John Wayne made out of Jelly Belly's for my dad and brother. They are both big fans.

We went to a cheese factory. Unfortunately they didn't have tours that day. But we did overpay on some cheese sandwiches and get to feed some animals. All the produce we got from fruit stands on the way back was a plus though.

We had lunch and ice cream at the famous Fenton's Creamery (Baylee remembers it from the movie Up).

We had a lot of fun exploring and shopping in San Francisco. We made a lot trips there and always had a lot of fun.

We did a lot of walking and eating in downtown Pleasanton.

Baylee took a soccer class through the city. She did a little better this time than the league she was in when she was three.

It's hard to tell from this picture, but Payton got his first black eye. He slipped off of a chair. This was just after Baylee gave herself a baseball size bump on the back of her head when she fell off a barstool.

We had a lot of fun at my nephews' baseball games. Ben also played softball, and we loved watching him play too.

Ben and I hiked the Ridge. Ok, not the whole way, but it was starting to get dark and we didn't have any flashlights. It was a beautiful view from how high we did hike though.

We went to the Alameda County Fair. We loved being able to see the horses on the racetrack when we left the house in the morning. It was fun to go to the fair and see them race and to play around a little. We tried to get Baylee to do the sheep riding competition, but in the end she got too scared.

The circus came to town and we went and watched it for free. Baylee got to go down and participate in some pre-show fun. Yes, we were wearing jeans in July. That's something that doesn't happen in Arizona.

Thank you, California, for all the fun. And thank you to Ben's parents for letting us live with them for 8 months. We miss you, but we are happy to be back on our feet and in Arizona.