Singing!

Friday was the Christmas program at Olin's school.  The kids have been practicing for weeks and it showed.  I am impressed that the teachers are able to get three year olds to sing together.  They were so cute!

 Here is a video of one song, the others are too big for me to load onto the blog.  He did great!

"S-A-N-T-A"

After the singing program, the kids all got to sit on Santa's lap.  This was the third, and probably last, time he saw Santa within a week!  I am pretty sure the he will get the headlamp and the wallet he asked Santa for...

This is the list on his classroom door of what everyone wants from Santa.  My son is very practical.

More Christmassy Fun

We have been busy with Christmas fun this week.  On Tuesday we went for a train ride with Santa on BNSF Railroad.  They host an event for military members.  It was an hour and a half train ride from Richmond on refurbished old passenger cars - we all had a great time, and we got to see Santa again.

The ASPEN Christmas party was last night.  Tom and I enjoyed the adult party, and Olin had a blast at the kid's party next door.

Later this afternoon is Olin's school Christmas show.  We can't wait to see him sing with all of this classmates.

The pictures from the photographer at the kids' party last weekend also came in.  He looks adorable, of course...

Santa Claus!

Yesterday we went to the Children's Party on Coast Guard Island.  O was so excited to see Santa.  He was just pulling up in his horse drawn carriage when we arrived, and O went running to him, very excited to tell him his wishes!

He sat nice on his lap and told Santa his two wishes (for a head lamp and a wallet) which Santa assured him he would deliver as long as O is a good boy.

They also had stuffed animals for all of the kids to chose from (he chose Rudolph) and several bounce houses, ornament making tables, card tables and snacks.

Making a snowman ornament with Dad.

Whee!

It was a fun afternoon, and a good kickoff to the season!

Still Here

We have been doing some fun things here in California, and of course, we had a great Thanksgiving.  

We had both the dinner I made:

And the dinner Olin made:

Both were delicious.

Olin also had his first-ever bowling experience.   It was a hit!

After Thanksgiving we also got out for a nice outing at a local park in the Oakland Hills.

Happy Halloween!!

We had a very fun Halloween today! This we definitely the most fun Halloween yet. O has been talking about it and building up to it for a few weeks, and the day finally arrived today. 

 He was very excited for his parade and party at school this afternoon.  The dragon costume fit perfect and was AMAZING!  Grandma did a wonderful job on it (of course).  Everyone, and I mean everyone, he saw today commented that it was the best costume they saw all day.  He was proud!

Heading out for the parade.

O with Miss Jennie

O was captivated by his own shadow in the costume.  He like how it was bigger than him, like he was growing.

After we got home, we headed out trick or treating for his first time.  We hit some neighbor's houses and some businesses near the house.  He had so much fun!  We all did.  I was skeptical that he might still be too young, but I was 100% wrong, and I am so glad that we went out.

Heading out.

Long trip up the steps

Along the way, he would stop every once in a while to "count" his candy.  Every time, he counted... one, two, three, four, five!  

Checking out the stash.

He got pretty tired near the end, but still was having a blast.  We heard "one more house" at least five times.

When we got back home, he set right to sorting the candy to check out his haul.  After piece by piece sorting, he ended up with about 20 pieces of candy he "likes" and one "yucky thing" (a lollipop).  Not surprisingly, chocolate is his favorite.  He even got to eat a Reese's cup tonight.

Fun, fun, fun Halloween!

I was remiss in the original Halloween posting - Nan is here!  She arrived Wed afternoon, and had a blast with O yesterday too!

Weekend Jaunt

We had a nice, easy going weekend at home this past weekend. On Sunday, we drove over to Golden Gate Park in the city to spend a few hours at the California Academy of Sciences again and have a picnic in the park.  We had a great day - O enjoyed showing Tom all of the things that he and I saw last time we went, when Tom was on a trip.

I could spend all day looking at the exhibits and small creatures, but unfortunately, one member of our family does not have the attention span for that yet.

We made this new friend.

 The aquarium there is nice.  They have a tunnel so that the fish swim all around you.  Here are the boys checking out some fishes.

O's favorite part is seeing divers in the tanks.  This was actually a feeding demonstration, and the diver had a microphone in his mask so he was telling us all about the tank and the fish.  It was pretty cool!

Nan comes tomorrow!  We are excited!

Big Sur

We went camping in Big Sur over Columbus Day weekend.  It was my first trip down there, and it was well worth the trip!  We will definitely be back.

We spent one night in Monterey on the way down, and then took our time stopping at the beach and doing a little hike on the way to the campground.  As you can see it was pretty chilly at the beach!

The hike down.

Running on the beach.

Gorgeous Big Sur coastline

Our campsite had direct access to the Big Sur River.  O really enjoyed walking down to the river, and exploring the rocky river bed.

Creating a rock sculpture

The finished "O"

We also stopped at a pumpkin patch in Carmel Valley on our way to Big Sur.  O chose the pumpkin, and then we made a Jack-O-Lantern at the campsite.

Spooky!

O loved the carved pumpkin.

We spent Monday hiking to a waterfall in the park.  The hike was about 2 miles round trip, unfortunately, the first mile was all uphill and O got pretty tired.

Tired and ready for a snack and rest.

The destination.

O was much happier after we got to the waterfall, he had a snack and some rest.  The way back to the trailhead was much more pleasant (ie downhill).

After the hike, we drove a little further down the coast to another State park for a picnic.

The view from our picnic spot.

On our way back home on Tuesday, we stopped back at the beach again.  It was much, much warmer than the first stop.  O loved splashing in the water.

Looking at surfers.

It was a great trip.  The first night was a little chilly, but we were all bundled up and we made it through!  Hopefully we will get at least one more camping weekend in before it gets too cold for the little man,
.