Natural Bridges

We went down to the Natural Bridges state park in Santa Cruz this weekend, hoping to see some butteflies. It was too late to see the butterflies, they'd already migrated on. Next year, we have to try and make it down in November!

Lucky for us, we were there for a tidepool tour! The ranger showed us a safer way down to the tidepools and we had fun jumping over them and looking at the aneomes and starfish and whatever else there was!

It was really neat and I'm sure we'll be back!

Orange Smiles

Jump!

Do you see it?

Tidepools

Quick Christmas Recap

We are back and getting back into the grove. Okay, we've been back more than a week, but still not a week back at work yet.

Here is a brief rundown of how the trip to Indiana went.

Presets! Yeah! We love presents!


Picture takers everywhere!


All those cameras can make a boy tired!


Look at this nice family sans boys.

Oh wait, one of the nappers has decided to make an appearance!

Note, sorry to Auntie C for the picture with the eyes closed... even with all those cameras, I didn't have too many to choose from!

Of course there was a wedding and all sorts of other fun stuff that may have pictures on the other camera. :D Baby steps...

Hair Cut

LT got his first real all over cut a couple weeks ago, courtesy of Daddy's salon.




Adn then we went to Auntie M's college gradtion. Congrats!
And now we're off to the great-Grandmas!

Merry Christmas from Rudolph LT!

Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas ...

We got the tree up and decoreated Thanksgiving weekend...

Then LT was a tree!

This gingerbread house dwarfed ours!

And all the lights are up now, too.


It's an area tradition that everyone (okay, maybe half?) gets a yard tree and decorates it with large multi colored lights with a yellow or white on top. Our street tree coordinator collected $15/tree back in late October or early Novemeber and then the first weekend in December this large tree appeared on the lawn!

Thanksgiving

LT gets a baby ...

BROTHER! He's just going to be so excited. He was already convinced it was a boy baby. It's his baby, he tells us. I asked if he was going to help change diapers and he said, "Yes, but I can't reach the table!"

Gingerbread House!

LT really wanted to make a gingerbread house last weekend, so I did what any mom would do: go to allrecipes.com and search for 5 star gingerbread and frosting recipes. Then a trip to Sur La Table for essential cutters and decorating gun.

Beginning!


Decorating!

And the best part, eating!


It turns out that this is a good use of Halloween candy. The rest has been hidden in my closet and has been forgotten for the past week, so it's probably about time to toss it. Once the parents raid their favorites, of course.

Christmas List

LT made up his Christmas Wish List. He insists it is not a Christmas List, just a Play List, since really he would like these toys at any time for any reason. It was tough, though, trying to fit every single toy in the ad on to his paper.



Note: it's hard to get a real smile and not a silly "cheese" grin.

Halloween Fun

Ugh. Our computer is not working very well, but finally here are the Halloween night pictures.

A confident Trick-or-Treater, flashlight in hand.


The Candy Train.


I think he got a few more candies than cousin JT. LT has never met a candy he didn't like. Except, maybe the gummy eyeball. He didn't try that one. We will be doling out 2 candies a day for the rest of the year, it looks like.

Pumpkins!

BLTSr. did a great job carving our pumpkins up! LT and I were in charge of gutting the pumpkins, although LT refused get his hand icky, and then roasting the seeds. I'm just so impressed with the way the pumpkins turned out!



LT had his first earthquake tonight. It was very scary. We were laying down to go to sleep when everything started shaking. I grabbed him and we went in a doorway. BLTSr. was at an ultimate game. We went outside afterwards to make sure the pumpkins were still standing (not catching anything on fire) and there were some other neighbors outside, too. I didn't have my glasses on, so I couldn't really tell what they were doing other than asking if everyone was okay. Being a bit nerdy, I immediately went online to check out the US Geological Survey and saw it was a 5.6. That's the biggest since I've lived in the area ... 7+ years. We were fine and everything seemed fine, so after calling Daddy to tell him we were fine (LT told him that it went "boom boom"), LT went back to sleep.

Speaking of LT, he has been a very helpful raker. Here he is in action!





** In case you are wondering why the posts are few and far between these days, it's because I keep falling asleep at the same time as LT every night. That doesn't leave much time for anything outside the essentials. :D

Mr. Conductor

I think this is probably LT's favorite birthday present. He likes everything, though!

It has tickets, a whistle, a wrench, a stop watch, even a walkie talkie!

Run, Run, As Fast as You Can!

Moonica!


The King & Queen of Halloween!


Is that Gingerbread hat giving an extra inch?


With the winner of the pumpkin weigh off! 1300+lbs.


Even Gingerbread Men have to go potty sometimes.

Drummer Boy

Uh oh

Guess the Costume

Can you guess what this Halloween costume is? Prize for the first correct guess! Except for Auntie C because I told her what it was...



Still missing a few finishing details and the all important hood!

Happy Birthday!

Happy birthday to LT!

I took LT to the mall to get his picture taken in honor of the momentous 3rd birthday. He also picked out a new outfit for Kitty (Kitty is now a firefighter) and we had his favorite dinner of crepes. Turkey Pesto for the main meal followed by Strawberry, Banana & Chocolate for dessert. Then we came home and he finished opening presents. He is currently pulling the circus train cars behind an actual Thomas the Train car and has already played 2 different games just tonight. He couldn't be more excited!

His party on Saturday was a lot of fun, if a little crazy. It ended up raining and raining here, so we had it inside. 10 kids is a lot for inside, but they seemed to all have a really good time.

Bubblicious

LT & Mommy had lots of fun at the Kidz Zeum yesterday. We even took the train downtown for extra fun. It was hardly crowded at all, so LT got to take lots of turns at everything. His favorites were the bubbles and the waterworks area. He got soaked even though he was wearing a smock. He was having so much fun he didn't want to leave the water are to go to the bathroom, so he was running around in circles at one point. Finally he realized he had to go Right Then.

What does that shirt say?

Grape Farm

We had a nice Labor Day weekend in Santa Barbara. We went to some grape farms (also known as "wineries" to those readers over 21). We went to the Santa Barbara zoo, we went to the Natural History musuem, we went to the beach ... busy, busy! LT had a great time with Auntie B and Uncle V. They were great fun!



In case you are wondering, he did not have to go to the bathroom when I took this picture. He just likes to "hold it," so I try and remind him that we only hold it when we have to go to the bathroom. He got a little mixed up the first time we told him to "hold it" and has been "holding it" ever since.

Video 101

Lesson 1. Do not turn the camera vertical while taking a movie clip. Oh well! It's still cute.

Tummy

Beach Excitement

We went to Natural Bridges State Beach on Saturday as a change of pace from our usual beach. This is right next to the park where the monarch butterflies migrate through in the winter. It is a really beautiful beach. Natural bridge seems a bit of an overstatement since it doesn't actually go anywhere. Natural bridge to nowhere?





But let's be honest, this was the big attraction on Saturday. The dead sea lion:

We weren't the only ones taking pictures.

We followed up the beach with a trip to the boardwalk. A nice family gave us the rest of their ride tickets as they were leaving, so LT was able to enjoy two rides. The last time we were there a couple gave LT all their prize tickets from the arcade. We just keep running into nice people!

He's a very serious boat driver here: