punkim festival

that scratch on cashel's eye?  he fell out of the bed a couple of nights before.  good thing he heals like a super hero.  cashel was loved little campbell and was giving out hugs, as usual

one rainy sunday in october cashel and i headed out to one of his favorite spots, underwood family farm.  each year they have a harvest festival during the month of october, each weekend with a different theme - this weekend? tractors!

we went with cashel's bff, brenden and his family, jane (the mom), rob (the dad) and campbell (the cutie patootie baby girl).  jason was still working weekends (boooooo) so he couldn't go.

first of all, cashel was just so excited about being with brendan outside of kids klub.  after brendan woke up (we was awake, just not awake, you know - he was grumpy for a while) they/we had a blast.  it wasn't the same without jason, but it was still super fun.

they had a huge punkim patch! the second picture down in the middle and the top right is cashel and brendan's 30 minute hollering salute to the tractors as they passed by

san fantastic

doing a little catching up here. we went to san francisco over labor day this year. it was our first trip and we loved it! we flew into san jose and drove up. the flight was amazing. short, 45 minutes, but that wasn't the amazing part. the amazing part was that we were flying over the clouds and it looked like we were flying over pillows. when we were driving the clouds looked like they were hovering half way down the surrounding mountains - like the mountains were wearing a cloud hoola hoop! it was beautiful. the first place we went was an amazing science museum. cashel had a blast. we spent about half an hour after the museum picking out a great painting for cashel's room and eating yummy waffles. we stayed at the hyatt in the heart of san francisco. after cashel's nap (and mine!) we rode a trolley (san francisco treat!) to fisherman's warf where it was super chilly but we saw alcatraz - it was super creepy. we rode a bus back to the hotel. cashel loved the trolley and bus. jason went out to grab some food from a place called nan king that a friend recommended. cashel had room service - grilled cheese and mac and cheese. he barely touched it. eating away from home is not his strong suit.

the next day we drove out to a Redwood forest - Muir Woods. i have always, always, always wanted to see Redwood Trees. it was a great little park with a beautiful drive up. the forest was quite manicured - wooden planks from the info cabin into the woods. from there the path was quite clear and wide. I'm not complaining - it was great. the trees were huge and amazing. i felt like I had to whisper the whole time - out of respect for the old trees. after we had gone on about an hour walk (with cashel in the ergo sleeping for most of it) we drove down the pch for a while. cashel wasn't so jazzed about this drive - probably super boring to him but it was
b-e-a-u-t-i-f-u-l!
i do have to admit that on the way back up the pch i got a little car sick. after making our way back to civilization we ate at......wait for it....outback! yes! outback steakhouse!
it was delicious. i don't know the last time we ate at a chain restaurant like that (besides in-n-out) but it was delicious and kid friendly and empty! afterwards we had our daily nap in the hotel. for the life of me i can't remember what we did after this. i think we just walked around for a while? this night we ate at a diner right around the corner from the hotel. it was decorated 1950's and was delicious, kid friendly, not empty, but not crowded either. cashel still didn't eat much so he ended up eating a whole apple before bed. we have video of it. i'll have to post that.

on sunday we were a little lost about what to do. we had until 5pm for our flight. we ended up doing another trolley ride which cashel loved then got in the car and headed out of town. we went to see stanford university. there were horse stables and horses there so cashel was in heaven. before going to the airport we went to a children's museum that was actually pretty great in san jose.

we almost missed our flight.

lessons of this trip:
1. san francisco is awesome
2. getting cashel to eat out is tough - he gets very distracted - so have lots of yogurt and fruit in the hotel
3. early flights home are still the best

he sings now

tonight you...

said goodnight to michael jordan

gave me so many kisses someone might call the cops

funny and amazing cashel

1. he is so into books these days. he's been into books for quite a while now but wakes up wanting to read. "mama read it?" "daddy read it?" "game?" (book about basketball)

2. monday night the power went out. the next morning cashel woke earlier than normal (a little after 6am) and it was still dark. he said "lights on" and jason and i explained that the power was out. that afternoon when i picked him from daycare the first thing he said to me once we got in the car was "power on?" dang that kid is smart.

3. lately when we read books he points to pictures and says "whas that?" then he proceeds to say what it is. when i point to something and ask "what's that cashel?" the very first thing he says is "i don't know..." then "ball" (or whatever it is)...but its pretty cute - the very first thing he says is "i don know" and shrugs! love it!

4. nana has this one book that has a cow on one page then a chicken on the next, etc. cashel can tell you what animal is coming next.

5. he thinks squirrels eat pancakes

6. one silly sunday cashel decided he wanted me to put 4 shirts on him and 5 pairs of pajama pants.  he wouldn't let me take them off until after his nap when i had to change his diaper.  the pictures are below.  silly cashel.

things i've learned

1. don't put off til tomorrow what you can do today
*really - close to the end of last school year i kept saying, "oh, i'll do that during summer break (doctors appointments, cleaning out this or that cabinet, etc). it made me feel like i spend my whole summer break completing a to do list rather than getting any relaxing done. i know there's not a whole lot of relaxing to be had with a toddler, but i could've tried!

2. a mother deserves a slow drive through malibu - jason! really, i know it's the pch and all but driving slower to take in the scenery, especially for someone's first time is important

3. being a second year teacher (even for the 5th time) is so much better than being a first year teacher! i can't even explain this. it's just awesome.

i know i've learned a lot more but these were the things itching in my brain lately. i'll write more when i remember them.

just some random thoughts...

well...school has started and the leaves are falling on the ground. scratch that....do over....school has started and the weather was 113 degrees on monday, 98 Tuesday, 92 Wednesday and 92 today. what?! well...this is southern california. these, my friends, are not complaints. i love the heat. i choose heat over cold any day. granted, i don't really choose 110 degree weather but if forced to choose i choose heat. this week i've been playing polytechnic school lower school librarian. while it's been really fun reading to kindergarteners through fifth graders i would never want to be a lower school teacher! it's just way too much for me. i would rather teach the electron configuration and newton's laws that i'll be teaching to my chemistry and physics kids next week any day. any day! a couple of funny things from this week though:

kindergartner: what's your name?
me: mrs. barnes
same kindergartner: is ms. callero (the librarian i'm subbing in for) on a date?

4th grader: where are you from?
me: guess
4th graders (guess in this order): texas! england!

england? really? i take that as a compliment - i work on my british accent all the time.