The 3 days of Halloween

Happy Halloween!

Alex and Zachary had the opportunity to celebrate Halloween Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday this week. (We got our money's worth on costumes this year!)
The 1st day of Halloween was Wednesday at playgroup. I overcame my fear of getting dirty and dressed the boys up to play in the park. Most of our friends were dressed up too. Without prior consultation among Moms, we had 2 Peter Pans and 2 Turtles! Here they are getting ready for lunch.

Seamus, Zach, Dominic, Katy, Alex

The 2nd day was the Child Development Center parade around Coast Guard Island. Phil escorted the boys along the parade route, and I took his place at the office handing out treats. They made some friends along the way, which involved a co-worker carrying Zachary while Alex hi-jacked her daughter's push cart. (At least it was people we know, and they were happy to help Phil out!) Eventually Alex ended up riding in a side by side stroller with a different co-worker's daughter. Such adventures! Zachary was coveting Alex's snacks just after this picture.

And finally, the 3rd day of Halloween was actually Halloween! The shopping center down the street hosts a store to store trick or treat, which is much easier than going door to door. We did a little candy collecting and a lot of running around, up and down the stairs at the dock. There were some great costumes. One little girl was a peacock. (I have got to find that website for next year, right now, I don't remember it.) And Alex's favorite was a boy with suspenders holding up a car frame around his waist. So the boy was the driver and the car was around him...can you see it? Anyway, Alex wanted to push him because he looked like a car. Crazy kid!

All the Halloween celebration made the boys tired, so they had to take a break.

Hope your Halloween was fun too!

Almost big

Zachary has seemed discontent with laying on the ottoman or floor lately. He is happiest when we hold him in a sitting position. Unfortunately, he isn't strong enough to sit by himself yet. So, I decided to try the activity center. He looks so little in it, but he did enjoy it. Just wait until I put all of the little toys back in the holes!

Underwater Adventure

Can we have fish? Not tapping, just petting.

We took the boys to The City (Zachary's first trip in) to visit the Aquarium. With our Zoo membership, we get a 50% discount, so the four of us went for the cost of one adult! What a deal! Zachary loved the aquarium. He was completely mesmerized by all the fish, and that was before we even got to the underwater tunnels. Zachary's eyes never left the fish tanks. Since he was in the snuggly (no strollers to distract Alex today!) it was difficult to get photos of him and fish at the same time. You'll have to take our word for it that there are fish all around. Alex enjoyed it too, but he would have liked to run around more than was possible. He kept tapping on the glass (there weren't any signs saying not to, but we tried to stop him) and fortunately, there were some touch tanks at the end. Alex was able to pet a bat ray, and a starfish. We walked along Fisherman's Wharf a bit, but everyone was getting pretty tired by then, so we decided to call it a day.

Not the best picture, but it'll suffice.

Zach O'Lantern

Who's the cutest pumpkin?!

We took the boys to a pumpkin patch today. It wasn't exactly what we were expecting, not really a pumpkin field full of pumpkins and vines, but there were a lot of pumpkins in a field of sorts. There was a little "train" that drove around, some animals, a little hay tunnel (more than a path, less than a maze), and of course pumpkins galore. I would love to say it was a nice, crisp fall day, and that the air was full of the scent of Halloween, but sadly, it was in the mid 80's and all I smelled was very very dry hay. Even so, it was a fun time and Alex enjoyed trying to pick up the giant pumpkins.

If at first you don't succeed, try something different!

We might even try to carve them....stay tuned.
Going to school to find Mommy a thesaurus! What? You think I used the word PUMPKIN too much?

Brothers

Nothing especially exciting to report, but the boys played together so nicely today. Here are couple of pictures to prove it!

Are you ready to ROCK?!

We took the boys to their first concert ~ The Sippy Cups. It was held at a kids club (we just found out about) in Emeryville, so there were kid size chairs, a play house, and toys and books. It looks like a fun place to play, especially in winter. Alex enjoyed the concert, but he also enjoyed pushing a little chair around and wandering about. Alex just has too much energy to sit still (even though dancing was encouraged). He did dance and clap to a couple of the songs. Zachary definitely enjoyed it. His eyes were so big and wide and he was looking all around, checking it all out.
Sippy Paul even signed our CD!

Hey, Sailor

It's Fleet Week! So many sailors, so little time. (hee hee). And yet, Phil is the only sailor we have seen lately, and I'm not so sure he counts so much as a sailor anymore. Oh well. We did get to see the Blue Angels though. Instead of going into the city and being trapped over there all day, we decided to check out the view of the airshow from our new favorite park (see below). Obviously the "showbox" is near Fisherman's Wharf, and that is the best view, especially for the tricks, but the Blue Angels have to go somewhere to regroup and it turned out to be over our heads! The flyovers were really cool. Alex was able to track the planes, but wasn't overly enthralled by them. Maybe in a couple more years. And even with a big event going on just across the water, the park was relatively quiet.

P.S. The guy from Oakland who took our family pic called Phil "Bro". It was classic!

Adventure

On one of his many recent business trips (probably all of them, actually) Phil noticed a park from his airplane window. Buried among the shipping docks was a vast green space he wanted to visit. So, we took two very tired little boys to the park. The tired part wasn't really part of the plan, it just worked out that way. It was a Sunday afternoon, and we pretty much had the place to ourselves! You gotta like that kind of park. Not to mention the view.
Alex is still in his "I must push this thing with wheels" phase, so we had to trick him into just running around in the grass/paths. But he got plenty of pushing time in too. I think we have a new favorite park. But we might leave the strollers home next time.