Happy Halloween!

A Lovely Visitor

More catch-up! Right after my birthday, my friend Christine came to visit as part of our lovely celebration. 

It was so exciting to introduce her Evan. 

And he was pretty excited by his new friend :). 

He loved having company in the back of the care while we drove around. 

And, this swim class remains the only one that Evan has loved. 

I'm pretty sure he was just trying to show off :).

It's so fun to have these great pictures! This is right after Evan practiced what to do if he falls off of the step into the pool.

You can see how red his little face is, but no tears!

Getting ready to go under again....

He makes the funniest faces after going under water.

And floating again!

Practicing our kicking....

This was a more advanced class than we usually take, so Evan got to practice "crawling" out of the pool. 

Our last big activity was using our "muscles" to help practice floating.

That night, Evan got the lovely treat of a very special bedtime story.

It was so, so nice having her come to visit! 

California Adventures: Final Santa Cruz Weekend

Okay, it's been a while, but I finally have a few minutes to try to get caught up a little! So, let's rewind to mid July, shall we? (And can you believe how little and cute our little boy was?)

My parents left Santa Cruz Friday morning, leaving our little family to enjoy the weekend solo. Ed, unfortunately, had to work, but Evan and I decided to fit in a beach trip. It was a little complicated walking there with Evan and all our stuff, but we made it work. 

Once we got there, I set up his play mat and then tied his blanket over it to create a shade structure. It worked pretty well and gave him a happy place to hang out, even though it limited his beach view, just a little. 

That didn't stop me from enjoying it, though! It was a perfect day at the beach.

There was a sweet group of moms and their baby/toddler boys sitting nearby, and it made me excited to think about what Evan will be like when he gets older - they were so cute!

Evan had just started getting excited about seeing himself in the mirror, so he had fun "playing" with the baby in the mirror.

The waves were pretty big, and one of the little boys in the group in front of me was very concerned and kept begging his mom to move back their stuff. Luckily, we all stayed dry :).

We didn't stay too long, since I wasn't positive about my shade structure holding off all the sun rays. Plus, I had a pretty sleepy baby on my hands, who was only too ready to nap as soon as we got home. 

That evening, we had some more lovely outdoor time. Oh how I wish those cutesy warm clothes!

We soaked in sitting outside in the cool air, with a glass of wine and my journal, where I wrote about my trip for Evan. 

Evan loved all the outdoor time!

And of course, some time with Daddy is always fun.

Heavenly.

Saturday morning, we walked down to Pleasure Point to get some breakfast (and give Evan his nap).

We got delicious breakfast burritos from a place right by the water, and then sat to watch the waves and the surfers.

There happened to be a classic car show that drove by, which was a nice treat.

Lots of surfers were out also enjoying the day.

Evan woke up just as we were about to leave.

...giving us a smile for the camera

And then cozying in for the walk home.

And we got ready to head to our next location!

Pumpkin Patch Fun!

Last year, Ed and I came to this pumpkin patch. Ed has no memories of it at all and I can't blame him. We stayed about 5 minutes and decided that this was an event best saved for when we had kids. 

So, with Evan in tow, we headed back to see what we had missed. 

Verdict? Lots of fun!

Of course, we had to take advantage of all of the fun fall photo shoot options with our cute Charlie Brown.

But, of favorite part was probably the Hay Ride. We got a beautiful look at the property, and it let us cool down from the hot day (how is it still mid 90s when it's almost November?).

I actually don't recall ever going on a hayride before, but was glad we had nice benches to sit on, rather than actual hay :). 

Despite the heat, it really was such a gorgeous day. 

Finally, we rounded the last corner of the farm. 

Evan seemed pretty happy with his first hayride!

And, before we left, we of course had to get in some pumpkin pictures. 

We are excited for this to be the first of many family holiday activities together this year.

 Everything really is better with a baby :).