The Best Park...EVER!

Have you ever been to Oak Meadow Park in Los Gatos?!

AMAZING!

It's a little far for us, but totally worth it for a little excursion to wear out the kids.

Sure, it has your run-of-the-mill-playground with swings and slides...

But it also has a train, a fire truck, and an old airplane for climbing.

Yes, a real airplane! (Not pictured. Sorry.)

As we sat and ate lunch we thought of the possibilities for this park.

It would be perfect for bringing the grandparents and cousins!

There is so much open space for a family baseball game, picnicing, birthday parties... 

And the best part about this park for my family...

IT HAS A TRAIN!!!

The Billy Jones Wildcat Railroad. 

We are always up for a train ride!

And surprisingly...we only rode it once. 

 

And then there's the carousel!

This is the 3rd time I have visited this carousel and it's always a little nostalgic...

The first time I rode it was when Dominic was about 18 months old.

*Sigh*

 

Emmy was on board right away! 

But my little Coco...

Finally got on!!

My little buddy has such a fearful heart but today he overcame his fear of carousels.

He loved it!

And rode it a few times!

(Clearly he is not as thrilled as he was on the train.) 

Jeff caught a picture of the kiddos and I relaxing on the grass. 

This park even has a creek that runs through it.

There were a few kids playing in the water but

I was a little hesitant...there were tons on geese around this area.

Hmm...maybe not as clean as I would like for my kiddos to be running around in it.

But we did walk the trail between the railroad tracks and the creek.

I love me a father/daughter picture! 

And lastly, a snow cone was necessary before the trip home!

 

Though we brought a picnic lunch, this park offers a full selection of snacks and lunch items, including barbequed yumminess!

 

I would say we definitely succeeded in "wearing out the kids"...and Momma!

Even I fell asleep on the way home.

 

Loved this park so much.

And we WILL be back.

With friends.

Or family.

 

I don't ever want Summer to end!

 

Giving Back

This Christmas season at work we decided to participate in a volunteer project together.

We all have so much to be thankful for and there are so many in need, especially with the economy being the way it is.

So after many phone calls and a lot of internet research, I decided that we would give some of our time at Shelter Inc.

Shelter Inc is an organization that provides emergency assistance to the homeless of Contra Costa County. They provide emergency and short term housing. They provide all the immediate needs of the homeless as well as classes and training to help people get back on their feet and become independent again. During the Christmas season they provide "Christmas" for over 700 people, due to thousands of gifts and hundreds of hours donated.

I am ashamed to say that this was the first time I have ever volunteered anywhere besided my children's schools. And I cannot express how rewarding it was!

Upon arrival we found the hallways lined with presents, both wrapped and unwrapped.

They also had stockings put together for all ages.

Almost everything was labeled by age and gender.

They also had what seemed like a huge walk-in closet, full of miscellaneous toys, clothes, books, etc...

 

When we got all settled in and after we were shown around, we were given a piece of paper with the description of a family on it, mostly single-parent families. The description included names, ages, sizes, a short history as to how the family became homeless, and a wish list.

We were then to go "shopping" through the hallways and closets to find 6-7 presents for each member of the family based on their description. If the gifts were unwrapped, we wrapped them, labeled them, and bagged up the whole family's gifts for delivery.

One family member I shopped for was a 4-year-old little girl.

It was both a heart-wrenching and a heart-warming experience all at once.

I could just imagine the look of excitement on her face when she opened up the unexpected gifts.

All the while, I just kept thanking the Lord that my own children don't have to worry where their next meal will be coming from and if it will be coming at all; praying for these homeless children and teenagers that the Lord guide them in the right direction and give them a better chance at life; thanking Him for guiding me to this place to make a difference.

There were presents EVERYWHERE! It was absolutely amazing!

I left here so excited and energized that over the next few days I talked to several people about the experience. One of which owns horse stables and provides riding lessons. She gave me her business card and asked me to pass it along to the organization, donating two free riding lessons!

Then Dominic said he was interested in volunteering as well.

One of the first days of vacation, I dropped him and three of his friends off for several hours to volunteer their time as well.

If I can teach anything to my children, I hope that it is to be thankful for what they have and who they have in their lives. Life can change so quickly. Many of these homeless people recently had homes and jobs...and now have very little physical belongings.

This was such a perfect experience the holiday season, one of which I plan to repeat for years to come. And yes, as my other children get older, they too will be joining in!

Bye Bye Butterflies

If you read this post you probably were disgusted by the pictures of our chrysallides, all wrapped up tight and transforming into butterflies.

Last week our butterflies "hatched!"

It was so cool!

First there was one.

Then 2.

Then 5!

We filled the bottom of their "habitat" with fresh flowers from our yard and then made a sugar water mixture

to spray on the flowers.

At first we didn't think they looked very exciting...

and then we saw the tops of their wings in the sunlight!

We were able to watch how they eat and actually see how they look up close.

Their faces are in reality pretty ugly!

After a couple of days it was time to let them go...

Bye Bye Butterflies!

This was such a cool activity to do with the kids.

We all loved checking on them at their different stages and experiencing God's amazing creations.

And the best part...next year we can order more larvae and re-use our equipment to do it all over again!

This makes an awesome and inexpensive birthday present also.

Pumpkin Patch 2011

  Last weekend we headed out to The Clayton Valley Pumpkin Farm, like we do almost every year.

Here's a little flashback of Dominic one of the 1st years we went...

(Later if you look closely, you'll see this same bat...only it has been re-painted.)

As usual this place did not disappoint.

Buckets and buckets of gourds.

(I LOVE the colors of Fall.)

Big plastic swimming pools full of dry Navy Beans to play in.

Tunnels and tubes in the hay bales for balls to roll through.

Some "Mommy and Daddy Time" while the kids played.

Of course...a train ride!

And a Train Picture.

The annual growth chart...

The thing I honestly love most about the pumpkin patch is the pumpkin pictures.

The colors are so vibrant. However the kids barely ever cooperate:)

I LOVE this one of the kids...zoom in if you can't see Emma Kate's face...the pumpkin was slipping out of her lap. Oh, and see the bat behind them?! Unlike Dominic, the bat hasn't changed that much.

Good bye Pumpkin Patch...until next year!

Live Butterfly Garden

For Connor's birthday he received a Butterfly Garden.

This is the coolest thing ever to do with the kids!

It took us a while but we finally ordered and received the live larvae in the mail.

They came in the same container as pictured below, but they were just little dots that weren't even moving. In fact Connor thought they sent us dead larvae:)

It only took a couple of days before they were distinguishable caterpillars, growing and moving around.

(All that brown stuff at the bottom is their food.)

This is day 10: 

All but one have moved to the top of the container. And one has already formed it's crysallis. (It's so cool. We can see the wings forming inside!)

We've been watching the last one move all around the container today, "bugging" the others while it tries to find the right spot to settle.

Soon we can move them to their "Garden," where we'll watch them hatch into butterflies!

(Hopefully before it's too cold outside to let them go!)

The coolest part is that we can reorder larvae next year and do it all over again!

Apples, Apples, Apples!!

For as long as I can remember, I have wanted to go Apple-Picking.

Today was the day!

We got up at 5:30am, skipped out on church...shhh...don't tell anyone!...and headed up to Apple Hill in Placer County.

I did my research this past week...mapped out the different orchards, found out who had "You Pick," lunch, etc... I also read that it can be very busy on the weekends, so we got an early start.

First Stop:

Sun Mountain Farm

This place was AWESOME! No gitz, no glamour...just a small stand, friendly owners, and lots of great apples ripe for the pickin'. In fact when we drove up at 9:30, they looked closed. But we continued on, pleasantly surprised that they were open...just quiet...being as it was still early.

We picked Cameo's, Fujis's, and lots of Granny Smith's...so I can perfect my pie-making techniques!

Something about the apple orchards makes for such great pictures!

I've mentioned before that it is so difficult for us, with such a variety of ages in our family, to find things to do together that everyone enjoys...this is one of them! I think we started a new family tradition this year!

Emma Kate couldn't wait to taste test.

She wanted Mommy to see how delicious they were.

Connor loved searching for the perfect apples.

Daddy being silly.

It didn't take very long to fill up our bag...over 10lbs...less that $10!

Next Stop:

Rainbow Orchard...Famous for their Apple Cider donuts!

This place smelled amazing!

They had so many different apples, pies, cider, jellies, jams...

  

The best part was this little gem...!

There was lots of room outside for the kids to run around and enjoy the beautiful day.

Dominic could have sat all day and enjoyed the donuts!

Stop Number 3:

Larsen Apple Barn

They had an old historical musem as well.

So many great photo ops!

Here we enjoyed some apple pie.

We may or may not have purchased one for home as well:)

We also got some fresh apple cider and pears.

Connor is at this wonderful age in which he loves to help. Please Lord, don't let this stage ever go away!

Last stop of our Apple Hill Adventure:

Apple Ridge Farms

This place had everything.

Small-ish pumpkin patch...

No Emmy, we're not quite ready for pumpkins...that's another trip;)

We had so much fun with the kids...

They even had...

which of course the kids had to feed...!

One of my favorite pictures...

Just when Dad had had his fill of all things "Apple," we decided to grab a little lunch while we were here.

(This is his fake smile that really says, "Honey, I am starving and we have a lot more to do today!")

Connor is thanking God for food...and water!

We left Apple Hill with bellies full of Apple Donuts, Apple Pie, and a little lunch.

A car full of Apples, Apple Pie, Apple Cider, Apple Butter, a few extra Apple donuts, tired children, oh... and some very dirty feet!

And a camera full of fun priceless pictures of the family I am so grateful for.

As we got in the car, I prayed for 2 things:

That Dominic would drive us safely through the windy roads and get us to our next destination.

That our other children would get enough rest in the car before heading to my aunt's house in Rancho Cordova for dinner!

Yup! This was only half of our day.

A little crazy. We are.

But I am seriously tired...so that part of the day will have to wait till later...