Fall Ball

Baseball, baseball, and more baseball. As if Spring ball did not absorb our lives, Nick wanted to play fall ball. So far, his team, the Pirates, are undefeated. They play the No. 2 team (who had a weaker schedule) this Sunday. After that, they have one more team to play. If they win on Sunday they are the champs. Nick's hopes are so high because he wants his first competitive trophy. This team is the best he has been on. The kids play a solid game and work together so perfectly. I not only credit the boys but the coach. His coaching, practices, and fundamental training of the game is the best we've seen. He is all about helping the boys learn all positions and play as a team more than being worried about winning. I guess that is a winning strategy because they are undefeated. I think it also helps that he works for the Los Angeles Angels (of Anaheim) franchise. Here are some pics (which I just love) that I took at the last game. 

Waiting for the pitcher to get ready.

Getting his lead off

Off to third base.

Nick made some awesome plays in the outfield to get 2 runners out.

Do you think he sees me? And I was using my zoom lens.

Concentration

I can't believe he is almost as tall as me at 8.

The Love of Reading

I love the sight of my kids sitting and reading. Each one of them has the passion for reading. They all have extensive libraries of their own and are constantly flipping through books. I have always read a book a night to each one of them and now Nick is taking turns with the nightly ritual of reading to his sisters. Of course with Cassie's reading abilities, she is also reading to Lily their princess books after school.

Field Trip

The Pumpkin Patch                                                


After being dragged along countless times to her brother and sister's field-trips, Lily finally  got to go on her own. Lily's first field trip was to the pumpkin patch.  She got to ride all around the farm in a wagon with her classmates, pet some animals, pick vegetables and then pick her very own pumpkin. Of course since it was her day, she had to make sure to see everything. I think we were the last ones in her class to leave, which left me in a mad dash, loaded down with mud to pick up her siblings from school.

Lily loved the babies.

This pic is for Cassie who loves sheeps.

Now this is a big radish.

Followed by a tiny carrot. Carrots did not do
 well this season at the farm.

This one is too small.

Let's take a look at this one.

This one is just right!

Time to dress up the pumpkin.

With girls, everything gets bedazzled, even
pumpkins.

Apple Picking/Pumpkin Patch

Well, we really wanted to get into the fall mood by spending the weekend in Julian and then Temecula for some apple picking and pumpkin patch activities. The only problem was that the temperature was in the high 90's. Julian was not so bad because it's in the mountains at a higher elevation. While in Julian, we enjoyed a day of apple picking then strolled through the old western town and ended our day with a delicious apple pie. Julian is famous for their apple season, apple orchards, and bakeries galore. The whole town smells like warm apple pie. That night, we stayed in San Marcos and headed to Temecula the next day, which is wine country. We went to a pumpkin patch nestled among grape orchards and wineries. It is always beautiful there, but the heat was a little much, so we went into town and the kids headed to the kid's museum for some fun and cooling off. Just once I would like to experience a nice brisk fall day while picking pumpkins. I know people complain about cold weather, but being a native Californian, I would welcome the seasonal changes even if just once. Here are some pics from the weekend. Enjoy the one of Cassie turning purple from the heat. That was enough to get out of Dodge. For Lily's benefit we will get to another local pumpkin patch later in the month and at night. Hopefully, that will keep the heat down.

Apparently they wanted some pie.

I love the look of this old barn

Lily is a master at mazes. She always finds the way out no matter how large the maze.

Nick expired from the heat and poor purple Cassie with the popsicle mouth trying to stay cool.

Mom wanted to cool down by going to the air conditioned tasting rooms. Of course that didn't happen.

Look Ma, no hands!

Halloween

A Little Dress Rehearsal 


A few weeks till Halloween and the kids are excited. Yesterday, the girls were playing quietly in their room when I heard "Mom, come here". Through the door I went to lay my eyes upon Her Royal Highness, Princess Lily. I'm sure her sister had something to do with the positioning and props. Little Lily sat there, not daring to move as she said "take a picture". Apparently she knows mom takes a lot of pictures and wanted this moment captured.

In a house of girls, you have to get use to lots of pink and everything princess.

Random Post

Silly Bands, Pencil Toppers and Erasers


So this is what the kids are collecting and trading at school. This post is for my mother-in-law who wanted to know what the Pencil toppers were, since she hears so much about them from her grandson. I know most of the schools no longer allow these in school, but our school still does. Joy! (sarcasm). Nick and Cassie bring their silly bands and pencil toppers out after school and the viewing and sometimes trading begin. I'm not sure I am liking the fashion of the silly bands being worn up the arm. Luckily neither do Nick or Cassie. They maybe wear two at a time. Nick's Patriotic silly bands are in great demand since they came from NY as a gift. This is the life of grade schoolers.

Pencil Toppers. These of course have holes in the bottom so you can put them on the end of a pencil.

These are the silly bands (rubber bands made into shapes)

Food Erasers. They actually come apart in pieces and fit back together like a puzzle.

There you have it. The little things that make my kids happy.

This Little Piggy -The kids love this!

A 4-day getaway

For those who have never experienced a desert sunset you need to put that on your bucket list. Having spent a lot of time in Arizona in my past, I recently got the chance to go back for a little getaway. I truly forgot how colorful and beautiful the Arizona sky is at sunset.

The family and I went to Tuscon to cheer on my husband's college team, the Iowa Hawkeyes, who were playing the Arizona Wildcats. We also used this as an excuse for a little getaway. Thousands of Hawkeye fans converged onto Tucson, like a desert take over. We stayed at the Marriott Star Pass Resort. This resort is nestled into the hills of Tucson, surrounded by a golf course. The resort was beautiful and the service, food, and drinks were wonderful. The kids had a great time spending countless hours floating in their lazy river pool. The water slide was an added bonus, also an added bonus was that they got out of school for 2 days. We did bring their homework with them. Amazing how fast they can get it done when a pool is waiting for them.

For days we were surrounded by black and gold (as my friend refers as "the bumblebees"). After days of being with fellow Hawkeye fans from around the country, the big game day came. The Hawkeyes were ready. They have a great coach, a good team and are anticipated to have a great season. They started the season off winning their first 2 games, but unfortunately the desert heat or a Wildcat curse was too much and they were defeated 34-27.

Even with the loss we had a great time, and then it was time to go home. Back to reality. Back to packing school lunches, taxiing kids to school and various activities. Back to homework, laundry, cleaning, etc. I think we need to try to get a few more of these getaways in.

This was the backside of the the resort. Even prettier at night.

One of the many nooks located around the back terrace. We had dinner here twice. So nice at night with the fire-pits and chimneys lit. They also had great live music. While sitting on one of the multi-layered terraces you could look out to the upper and lower pools, lazy river pool and the golf course surround by the hillside. so relaxing, peaceful and beautiful.

Little Lily taking flight at the bloop bloop fountain trying to do a ring toss on the water with her ring. 

Other nooks tucked away all around
the terrace.

                This is one of the  fire pits on the terrace where
        you can make 'smores at night.

Here are our littlest Hawkeye cheerleaders.

This is where we spent the majority of our time. You just hop on a tube and the current takes you around a big loop. The added feature was that you could get drinks and food delivered to you right on the tubes. Of course with all the fans from both teams in town there were plenty of glasses and bottles around the loop to be picked up.

Love these moments, when they don't know you're watching. You wonder what they are thinking.

This is the front of the resort as you are driving up the hill. 

Here are the boys ready for the showdown.