Our October in Photos

October was a full month! Between Tim’s work travel, Halloween festivities, kid’s field trips and a nice weekend trip for Tim & I to Seattle, we fit a lot in.

The giant pumpkin at Stanley Lane in Napa

I like the picture because to me it shows what good friends my oldest two are. They get along great and really enjoy each other’s company.

Tim got the bracelets the kdis are wearing (above) from some friends when he traveled to Kansas City to watch the U.s. play Jamaica in the World Cup qualifier.

Aubrey has taken to my art space — as soon as she sees something new I’ve painted, she’s ready to jump in and make something herself. I’ve got extra 8×10 canvas boards that she’s allowed to use and she now has her own set of paintbrushes. She’s really enjoying learning to paint with “real artist tools” including some of my old acrylics and a few of my new ones I let her use.

I’ve been finding time to paint – I like to do about one painting a week, and I go back and forth between trying out new skills and techniques and just painting for fun. The above was practicing some new skills – blending and clouds in particular.

Rylan got into the Harry Potter Series this month. He actually read 6 of the Harry Potter books all in one month. It started when his friend Ryder started in on the books, and Rylan decided he wanted to catch up. We’d had the books in his closet for a year, and he’d started the first one before but showed little interest. That all changed! He was reading so much – no joke – Tim and I had to put limitations on when and how long he was allowed to read some days. Given there was also a read-a-thon going on at his school, he was very intent on reading as much as 2-3 hours per day! He read a 600 page book in 4 days, we couldn’t keep up with getting the next book in the series until finally, at the end of the month, he slowed down. Thankfully. We just found out he won the prize at his school for reading the more minutes than anyone else in grades 2/3.

The regular soccer season came to an end this month! Hoorah! The kids both enjoyed their seasons, Rylan’s team went on to play in the league end tournament in November.

Aubrey here is receiving her “trophy” (a ball signed by all members of the team) from her coach.

Aubrey’s coach wrote on her ball, “Aubrey the soccer natural” — Aubrey even scored two goals for her team this season!

With Tim travelling a lot this month, and the kids in soccer practices and games frequently, Sierra and I found lots of time on the playground together.

Love this picture of Aubrey painting Sierra’s toenails! Aubrey is now allowed to paint nails, as long as she uses some of her own nail polish. Sierra is allowed to use clear nail polish on her own nails.

I love that the kids are able to find entertainment wherever we go! Waiting to get Rylan’s hair cut, the kids found all these “berries” to collect.

Another new discovery for this month – we’ve been walking to preschool! Sierra and realized that with an extra 10 minutes between the kids dropoff, the drive to preschool and the start to preschool, we didn’t have enough time to stop and do anything, but we could park a few blocks away from preschool (which happens to be at Sonoma Plaza) and then walk to school. It’s a beautiful walk, we even pass some gorgeous Clydesdale horses, and gives us some time to connect and breathe in the day.

This horse was so interested in Sierra when we pulled up one day, she leaned her entire (large) head over the fence and I couldn’t help move us away quickly! These horses are huge! One morning they were out pulling an old-fashioned carriage. What a fun way to start our days!

In October the kids got to take swim lessons. The previous summer, Aubrey had learned to swim pretty well while on vacation, but we didn’t give her an opportunity to practice through the fall/winter and she seemed to need to relearn how to swim the next summer. So I wanted to make sure Sierra had an opportunity to practice swimming and build upon her newfound skill she learned in Costa Rica. The kids also rarely ask to do afterschool activities over and over – but all of them had been asking when they’d get to take swim lessons. As of mid-November, Aubrey is in level 3 and Rylan has graduated to stroke school. We continued lessons a few weeks into November, and we will take a break through the winter.

Aubrey and Sierra have been taking gymnastics every Tuesday since the school year started. Aubrey is in Mighty Mights and Sierra is in her first class, the Dragonflies. Aubrey just completed for the first time the climb 25′ up to ring the bell on this rope climb.

Rylan and Aubrey each went on two field trips in October. Here is Aubrey at her first trip to Tolay Festival – a yearly Pumpkin Patch field trip that all of Cluster 1 kids at Sonoma Charter School (grades K-3) take each year. (Side note: one of the things I love about our community at the school – the parent who drove Aubrey to the field trip sent me this picture during the day while they were there!)

Tim and I took a very fun trip at the beginning of October. We went to Seattle for the weekend – something Tim has been saying we should do for a couple of years – and went to a concert while there as well. We are lucky enough to have my parents nearby and willing to take all 3 kids for the weekend, and lots of extra miles from Tim’s frequent travelling to make the flights free for us.

I just loved the Michael Franti and Spearhead concert. Michael Franti is an amazing performer – especially at an intimate venue like the Moore Theatre in Seattle. His music is so loving and giving, its really refreshing and enlightening.

Since my mom is from Washington, we have a lot of family up there and were fortunate enough to get a visit in with some family while there too. Among other things, we stopped by a bar called Pike Place which is one of the most unique bars I’ve ever been too. It is underground, and felt more like a large living room. And the people of Seattle – well, there’s quite a different style going on there.

For example, while we were eating sushi, we saw this interesting pair walking along the sidewalk with a cardboard car around their waists!

We had amazing sushi while there – a wonderful treat especially for me – since we haven’t really found a favorite sushi place since we moved to Northern California.

Oddly, the sushi place was packed even at 5pm, and we decided it was because it was such an amazing weather day it had brought everyone out. Apparently we got one of the few sunny fall weekends in a while.

We loved all the stores and seaside shops around downtown. We also enjoyed visiting Pike Place Market and the Space Needle during our trip.

Halloween fun! We had great weather for trick-or-treating, went with our neighbors and friends around nearby streets, as we’ve done each year since we moved here. The kids also each got to go to their schools for Halloween Carnivals.