Fall Highlight

Aunt Lyndsey came from Washington to visit for Jilly's birthday, and the kids were excited to have her here. Evelyn asked her a few times when the rest of the family was going to show up. Sadly, they couldn't. :)

The weather warmed up just in time for her visit, we spent the first afternoon she was here at the beach and it was GORGEOUS. Probably the best beach day out of the year for us. Few flies, the tide was out, little smog, there wasn't a lot of seaweed on the beach, and it was warm. Just fabulous.

Nice 5 o'clock shadow there, boy. Eating and sand, I just don't get it. 

They spent most of the time, as usual, digging in the sand. I was excited we got to see the tide pools this time around, the tide was so low. We saw a few of those large, red pacific starfish, which we have never been able to see other times we've checked out the tide pools at our favorite beach.

We visited the Great Park the next day, trying to get a ride on the hot air balloon, but they'd already reached their quota for the day, so we couldn't go. Lame.

We played at the playground there, which is supposed to be an educational experience about the native animals of Orange County. Hence, the bats in this cave. 

These last two caught my interest because Lyndsey caught all three kids in the same stance, quite by accident I think.

Lyndsey, in her graciousness, watched the kids Friday night, and Ben and I got a 15 hour date. Here's the morning ritual of PBS Kids, chocolate milk, and dry cereal.

We went to Balboa Pier to eat chile cheese fries at Ruby's, on a much cooler and windier beach day. Jilly didn't come with us on this trip, she's super scared of the size of the waves at Balboa.

Dinner entertainment provided by Gordon. Black beans and rice rubbed all over his head, showering the dining room carpet. Hate that carpet. He was trying to laugh and smile, but had to keep rubbing the beans out of his eyes.

We visited Cenntennial Farms in Costa Mesa, it's like an old-time farm, lots of different animals, and large gardens where you would have grown all your own food. It was fun, except for Evelyn's repeats of, "Mom, this place smells!" That's what the above facial expression is for.

Piglets, about 6 weeks old. There's supposed to be a brand-new batch of piglets when my parents come to visit, so we'll have to come back to see them.

I thought the coolest part of the Farm were the large vegetable gardens. We just acquired a community garden plot, so this little trip gave me a good gauge for what I can put in our garden for the "winter" here.

Thanks for visiting Lyndsey, we loved it!