San Diego Wild Animal Park

We spent a fantastic weekend in San Diego at the Wild Animal Park...we drove down on Friday and stayed over night and the kids had a blast. I've decided that hotels are extra fun as a destination. Usually they serve the purpose as a quick over night on a long road trip, but I realized that to go and stay as a final destination is fun...


The Wild Animal Park was fantastic--much better than the zoo we decided. It was so kid friendly, and with Halloween, there were so many things set up all over the park for the kids to do dealing with creepy crawling critters. Other things we did...rode the carousal a few times...

Visited the petting zoo...

By far my favorite activity of the entire weekend...there was a guy handing out dead worms for people to eat (think Amazing Race)...the whole activity was utterly disgusting to me, but Kate, being our ambitious eater, ate several. She declared them "good" and kept saying they tasted like Cheetos. So, so gross. Even Charlie ate a few. Kate's big quest on our way out of the park was to the find the worm guy again, but to no avail. Lauren, being the "ewwww, what is that red thing on my plate???" girl that she is, stayed as far away as possible...


The only family picture we got...not the greatest, but it's all we got! It's pretty clear by my expression and Andy's closed eyes that the camera holder didn't count to 3--oh well.

"Journey to Africa" safari tour...so cool...

There was an activity set up for the kids to hoola-hoop...totally random, but I think we spent an hour there!~




Looking for bugs...seriously the activities and staff were fantastic--totally set up for families and kids...

Tanaka Farms

I pulled Lauren from school one day and took the kids to Tanaka Farms--I've always wanted to do that with the kids, and this was the year! We went with some of my most favorite people--Becky and her kids-- and had a great time...we rode in a wagon, picked fresh vegetables, visited the petting zoo and picked pumpkins. Yes, Kate has on the same striped fleece coat...






The BEST day is quickly forgotten when the following happens...it's easy to forget how fun a day has been, when it ends like this...



Charlie cried for the last 30 minutes of our visit, and I ended up hauling him out in my arms, back breaking, dragging the poor girls behind me while they're desperately trying to grab a pumpkin from the patch--I did temporally put him down and grab my camera and take a picture while he screamed at my feet...

Kate's birthday...continued

After a fun birthday party, we continued the party on Sunday with presents and dinner...we don't eat at our new dining table very often yet, but for Kate--we kill the fattest calf. Here's the coat again...



Lauren loves to make big banner signs for birthday party, and Kate's birthday was no exception...

We had cake and ice cream later that same night after I got back from choir practice...


Her actual birthday was on Monday and Andy was out of town, but we still continued the celebration...Kate enjoying her "4" chocolate chip pancake.

We took treats to preschool with her friends...

Kate's 4th Birthday Party

Kate turned 4 on October 4th and we had a great celebratory weekend...she had a birthday party in the backyard, complete with friends, presents, cake, games, dancing and a jumper...

As is true for most kids, Kate is in a constant "stage" when it comes to her clothing. During the weeks surrounding her birthday, Kate insisted on wearing this fleece coat all.the.time. Regardless of the temperature Kate wore this coat. The day of her party was about 90 degrees, yet she insisted on the coat...her cheeks are toasty in all these pictures because she is sweating the whole time--silly girl.









Some fun facts about Kate--she's my most naturally affectionate child--she will always snuggle or give a good hard squeeze around the neck. She needs that physical affection, and will ask to be held, even if she's crying and mad at me for getting mad at her. Her favorite TV show right now is Gullah Gullah Island, which is an old show in re-runs on Nick Jr.--that's all she watches. She is very ambitious when it comes to trying food--she will be our sushi eater. She will try almost anything. If I'm in the kitchen cooking, she'll always ask what I'm making and ask for a bite of whatever I'm chopping. That doesn't mean she'll eat whatever I put in front of her, but at least she'll try it and then either declare her disgust or love for it. She loves to dance, and can't not move her body when she hears music. She can often be found in front of our full-length bedroom mirror dancing. But she can barely carry a tune--I'm hoping she learns how to hear a note and sing it! She's definitely a tender-hearted, sensitive little girl, yet full of spit-fire and spunk. Most common nicknames are Kato-Potato and Kater-Tot.