Bay Area Discovery Museum

It's been a while.  I know, I know.  These past two weeks have been BUSY to say the least.  I was beginning to feel as though I'd been swallowed by a whale but I am slowly seeing the light at the end of the tunnel.  

This past weekend, the Jacksons decided to take a spontaneous trip.  A weekend get-away.  A mini vacation, if you will.  We decided to head to...

San Francisco!

How could you not love this city?!?

Don't get me wrong, I could never live there {crowds, traffic, crowds, transportation, crowds, cost, did I mention the crowds?}, but is it ever a fun place to visit.

We decided to take Noah to the Bay Area Discovery Museum...it got amazing recommendations from Cuz Hunter.  Let me tell you, it is quite possibly the BEST place for little tikes in all of California!  It was truly designed so that kiddos can run, climb, splash, throw, dig, cut, paint, build, learn, and play on everything.

Our first stop was the wave workshop.  Bubs loved to splash in the wave pools,

  learn about wind,

 

watch himself on TV,

 

 and admire his super cute reflection in the mirror.

 

While there, he fell in love with a whale and was quite sad to say "good-bye" to his new friend.

 

 We quickly headed to Look Out Cove and got to explore the wreckage from a pirate ship,

search for burried treasure,

and dig for fossils.

Next stop was the Festival Plaza where Mr. Man found a nifty tire with bars and washers.  When you slide the stack of washers to the top of the bar, they slowly twist and spin in circles as they make their way down.

Bubs just LOVED this.

He spent quite a bit of time sliding the washers up, watching them spin down, sliding them back up, and watching them spin down again.

 We made our way over to the Tot Spot and Bubs found the water, frogs, and fish.  What is it with this guy and water.  He just loves to splash and play.

 

He also found a turtle to climb on.  So much fun!

  Once inside the Tot Spot, there were branches to find,

 

 bridges to build,

 ducks to find, 

 

owls to love,

and structures to climb. 

They also had the most amazing water tunnels to crawl under

and ponds {water beds} to jump on.

We had SO. MUCH. FUN!  Bubs had SO. MUCH. FUN! We tried to take a cute photo on our way out but Mr. Man would have none of it...he was so tired.  I don't even think Daddy had backed out of the parking spot before Noah was asleep in the car. 

All in all it was a wonderful weekend!  We visited Pier 39, had yummy clam chowder, watched the sea lions, and admired the beautiful city.  Such a nice way to take a break, relax, and regroup.

I hope y'all have a wonderful Halloween filled with plenty of treats and only a few tricks.

Pumpkin Patch Field Trip

Noah's amazing toddler group went on a field trip this week to the pumpkin patch.  Nana and Bubs had so much fun!

Bubs got to decorate a cute little pumpkin.

Who knew that feathers were a must when decorating gourds?!?

Mr. Man and his friends wandered through the hay bail maze {much more manageable than a corn maze} and tried to pick up every single pumpkin in sight. 

Bubs had so much fun and walked away with the funniest, bumpiest, greenest pumpkin you've ever seen.

Thanks Nana for taking my Little Man!

Fun Furlough Day

Monday was a furlough day for all teachers and staff in my school district.  Noah and I took advantage of the day off and went...you guessed it...to the zoo.  Our first stop was the Nosey statue...one of Bubs' favorites. 

He then insisted on visiting the petting zoo.  He was so excited to see the sheep

and the goats.

 

He fell in love with this cute goat who had climbed on the rocks and decided he needed to join him.

 

I stopped Mr. Man right before he made it to the top.  Fortunately,  I was able to convince him that taking a picture {at the bottom of the log} was just like being at the top.

We spent quite a bit of time with the adorable animals.

Bubs just wanted to hang out with the goats.

Hey Mr. Goat...what's hangin'?

We're just chattin' it up.

We left the petting zoo and went to tease the seals with Noah's goldfish crackers.

I attempted to take a picture of the two of us.

Well...I guess that is as good as it gets.

 

Once again, we spent quite a bit of time with the fish in the reptile house.

 We ended our lovely morning with a quick farewell to the lions.

Bubs says, "ROAR!"

It truly was a Fun Furlough Day!

Harvest Hollow Pumpkin Patch

It's that time of year again!  The air is starting to cool {just slightly}, the leaves are starting to turn {well...maybe not quite this early in sunny CA}, and the pumpkin patches are open. 

If you remember, last year Bubs was not very enthusiastic about pumpkins.  In fact, he was too cool for pumpkins.

This year we decided to check out a new patch, Harvest Hollow Ranch.  It was a bit of a drive {45 minutes to be exact} but well worth it.  There were pumpkins everywhere...as far as the eye could see. 

 

Bubs actually fell asleep in the car on the way over so he was a bit groggy when we arrived.   Groggy Bubs = Timid Bubs.  Charlie = Comfort.

Once he woke up warmed up a bit, Mr. Man was all about the pumpkin.  He absolutely LOVES them now.  He pointed out each and every single one.

 He tried to roll them, pick them up, and carry them around.

 He ventured out into the patch with a cute little white pumpkin.

He loves that gorgeous gourd.

Yep...really loves pumpkins!

After looking at each and every single pumpkin {and boy were there a lot of pumpkins} we headed over to the corn maze.  The owners claim it takes over an hour to find your way through the ten acre maze.  We opted to take a few pictures instead.   

Notice Bubs has a gourd, not corn, with him.

He loved walking through the outside rows.

 He was quite the fearless explorer.

We ended up leaving with a large orange pumpkin, a medium size marina di chioggia {funky, grey, and bumpy}, a small white pumpkin, and Bubs' favorite little, white gooligan pumpkin.

All in all, it was a very successful trip to a pumpkin patch!  I just lurve fall!