Maxwell 2016 pre-school picture

Max's signature smeyes (smile+eyes) look

10th Anniversary Cayucos Trip

We had so much fun in the small town of Cayucos for four nights to celebrate our 10 year anniversary.  We also visited San Luis Obispo and Morro Bay while we were there.  The rest of the album is here

Halloween with friends

Penny as Rey from Star Wars and Max as Pikachu from Pokemon

Pumpkin Patch Field Trip

Max enjoyed his field trip with preschool to the pumpkin patch

Hay ride through the corn field with the whole class

Exploring the corn maze

The corn pit is always the favorite

Max pulled our pumpkins in the wagon

2nd Grade Picture

Green Toys photos

Max was referred to Green Toys by our friend for a photo shoot to show off toys for their next catalogue.  We went on an adventure to a house in Mill Valley to play with some toys while they snapped some shots.  By the end, it took some bribes (with goldfish) and some "simon says" games to get him to do what they wanted, but it turned about to be a fun and different experience for us.  We also got some toys and pics out of it.

Camping - Guerneville 2016

We camped for the first time in 5 years for two nights in Guerneville.  The kids had so much fun climbing around trees stumps and playing in the river.  They even made a friend with another kid staying at a nearby campsite.  This was our last hurrah before school starts.  Penny starts 2nd grade on Monday and Max starts at a new preschool  in two weeks.

Softball 2016

A bit late to post, but Penny's softball pics turned out nicely.

Veggie Princess video

I watched the movie, The Kids Menu which is about the state of American kid's eating habits and healthier eating for kids.  In an effort to make eating veggies more fun and engaging for Penny, we suggested that she get involved with cooking veggies and make a cooking video (actually she might think that she is on her way to being Youtube star).
Here it is:

Disneyland 2016

We decided that it was time to bite the bullet and take the kids to Disneyland!  We booked it for mid-week in May, thinking that we could beat the summer crowds.  We decided to go all out and stay at one of the Disneyland hotels for the added convenience of being able to pop back to the room for a mid-day break.  Staying at the hotel on-site also gives you an extra "magic hour" access before the park opens to the public.  We did a bit of research with friends to get some useful tips on how to make the most of this experience since we don't expect to go again for many years.  It was a huge success and the kids had the time of their lives.  It made it worthwhile to see the awe and wonder in their eyes.  I was also amazed at some of the things I saw (thinking, how did they do that?)

Day 1: California Adventure

CARS!

Princess lunch

Dinner with the Caos

Cousins

Cars Land at night

Waiting for World of Color

Day 2: Disneyland

Jedi Training show

It's a Small World

On Its a Small World ride

Paint the Night show

Critter breakfast

"Blackberries" Softball!

Penny started playing softball this season!  Her team named themselves the Blackberries because they were assigned black jerseys.  It was a huge commitment for us to join.  First of all, you have to sign-up and pay before they release your team's schedule of practice and game times and location. Secondly, practice is mid-week and games are sometimes mid-week.  This means that in order to make it on time, I have to rush home to pick-up the kids and get there and entertain Max during the games.  Luckily practices were on Thursdays (work-from-home day) and most of the games were on Saturdays.  But, she loved being a part of a team and she is loving the game, too.