Clayton Valley Pumpkin Patch

We made a 40 minute drive out to Clayton to find some pumpkins.  Grammy is with us for two+ weeks and we are soaking up her time with many outings.  The kids were excited to pick out pumpkins and loved carving them later.   This is the first year that they are both very capable of carving.

At the Pumpkin Patch in Clayton with Grammy!

Winter Mint

Here is a sneak preview of Kayla in her Winter Mint costume - she is preparing to be in the Nutcracker in December.  Kayla has been in ballet for a while now but she has never performed on a stage.  Since she repeatedly asked to be on stage, I found a ballet class that includes a performance at the end.  She is so excited for the performance in December that she can barely stand it!

What is going on?

We are not quite sure how our kids learned this trick?? but it's pretty darn cute watching them both do it at the same time.

First Day of Pre-K and Pre-Pre-K

Our two little buttons are ready for their first day of school!  Mulberry Tree Preschool has been such a blessing since we moved to Orinda.  The kids LOVE it!!

Our First 4th of July in Orinda

Our neighbor, Jami Martini, motivated us to be IN the parade.  Usually Kyle and I would just opt to watch but our very FUN neighbor was on the ball, signed us all up and shared her hot glue gun to help decorate the kids' bikes.  Kayla could not have been happier.  She got to ride in the parade with two of her best friends, Priscilla and Annalise.  Tanner was excited too and it turned out he was a great candy thrower.  We attached a basket to his bike for candy and he stopped every few feet and threw out big handfuls.  It was pretty coordinated for a little guy and so cute to see his little face intent on getting that candy to the curb!

 Strand family in full regalia!

Jami's brother Levi, Crick, Kayla, Tanner, Annalise and Maureen back.

 Kayla Sue - happy as a clam!!

 I had to keep Tanner on track because he was forgetting to ride his bike - he just wanted to throw out candy!

 Jami in the background in the red shirt throwing out loads of candy with Annalise, Kayla and Priscilla on bikes.

 Kyle and Kayla...awwww.

 Cool bike!

Tanner - determined!

Train Town

We decided we needed a change of pace for the long weekend and headed to Sonoma to one of our favorite places - Train Town. We rode the train to the little petting zoo where there is a kid size ghost town. Both kids hopped on the ferris wheel with their dad. We wrapped up with a little airplane ride for the kids and then we were off to the Square for some yummy Mexican food. It's getting so much easiser to take the kids out to lunch so the day was really nice and a great getaway!!

Oakland Zoo!

The Oakland Zoo is a cool zoo. I mean, they have Elephants! San Francisco does not have Elephants so already that means Oakland wins. Oakland is set on a hillside and it is really, very pretty. Other than that, I have no idea anything else about the Oakland Zoo because after we saw the elephants, which I majorly hyped up and tried to get my kids excited about, all the kids wanted to do was go on the rides. So, another reason Oakland beats San Francisco is that there is practically a carnival going on in the front of the zoo. We rode the choo choo train, picked up some concessions and went on the car ride. The kids were thrilled. I have a membership so we will definitely be returning but the rides are extra so I guess I'm going to have to pony up for rides each time and try my best to get in some animal time if they'll let me.