Apple Hill

Yesterday Will, Kate, my mom and I took a trip up to Apple Hill. We stopped at High Hill Ranch for the afternoon. This was Kate's first time to Apple Hill and she had a lot of fun despite the cold weather. We first explored all the crafts and fishing pond. Kate tried to hop in the water a few times but thankfully she didn't get wet.There were 2 huge ducks that lived at the pond. They were not afraid of people so Kate was able to get pretty close.

After the pond, we stopped into the bake shop for some apple fritters. Kate loved eating the bites we gave her. Yum!Next we headed to the fudge shop and found a cute little park nearby.

We had a wonderful time at Apple Hill. We brought home lots of apples for eating and baking plus some yummy pie and apple juice. Hopefully this will become a yearly tradition!

Pumpkin Patch

On Sunday we went to the pumpkin patch at Impossible Acres with my mom. This was Kate's very first pumpkin patch experience. We started our trip off with a stop at the petting zoo. We actually bought a season pass so we can come back a few more times. Kate loved looking at all the animals but she was most impressed with the goats. We also were able to pet kittens, bunnies, ducklings, a pony, and sheep. Kate had a very memorable encounter with the sheep...see video below.

After the animals we headed into the patch. Kate wanted to pick up every pumpkin she saw.

She finally decided on one pumpkin. She wanted to carry it around with her, but it was a little heavy for her to carry it for too long. Kate wanted to try and push the wheelbarrow. "Why isn't this thing moving?" "I am not too sure about this!"

Family portrait

The video shows a little of Kate with the goats and the memorable sheep encounter.

Cousin Laura's Wedding

On Saturday, Kate and I headed up to Tahoe for my Cousin Laura's wedding at our family cabin. It was a beautiful setting! The temperature was perfect for the ceremony but then a thunderstorm rolled in and drenched the reception. We all made the most of it and cozied up in the cabin. Eventually the rain cleared and we were able to go back outside for some dancing.
The theme of the wedding was "Texas" since Laura's husband, Trevor, is from Texas (that is were they met). The wedding party actually wore belt buckles and boots. It was very cute! Kate enjoyed giving the horse saddle a little ride.

Kate was showing Gramma how she loves to give Eskimo kisses.

While it was raining Kate and I escaped to the little hiding room between the kid's bedrooms. There we found a very cool doll house. Kate enjoyed stacking all the toys up inside the house. Kate loves her cousin Chloe!

Chloe really wanted to read Kate a book. Daniel caught the garter!

Kate spent a lot of time roaming around outside and dancing her little heart out on the straw dance floor. She really has rhythm! Bean bag toss...she was kind of cheating. ;-)

At the end of the day with Gramma and Papa.

Best video ever of Kate dancing. It was the funniest thing to watch!

Our Little Sweet Pea

Here are several pictures of Kate from the past week. The first two are from Solvang which I forgot to include in our last post.

Kate is already in love with cell phones. She loves to press all the buttons, accidentally call people from my phone book (sorry if anyone has received weird calls from me), listen to the ring tones, and pretend to talk on the phone. It is a great "toy" to keep her entertained!

The other day I pulled out a Halloween costume we received from Hazel. I didn't dress Kate up completely in the costume since she wouldn't let me, but it still was pretty cute draped over her. Kate wasn't too sure what to make of the large unicorn on top her head.

New development! Kate can feed herself with a spoon. She loves to feed herself yogurt (video below), sweet potato puree, and mac 'n cheese. Half of it usually ends up down the front of her, but she is still doing a very good job. I am very proud of her!

Last night we had bible study over and all the kids enjoyed playing together. Here are Hazel and Kate playing with a stroller Kate just received from her Dedushka.

Kate and Abby playing with some Mega Blocks.

Another new development is that Kate now has a molar! I think the other 3 will follow soon but now she has 8 teeth!

Mr. Will's Wild Ride

This past weekend we traveled to Solvang (near Santa Barbara) for a vintage VW car show. This was a very important weekend since it was Will's first show to debut his 1952 ragtop VW beetle he has been restoring for the past 7 years. To make the weekend even more memorable, Will took home First Place in his class! This was an amazing accomplishment since he was up against very tough competition. Everyone was very impressed with the quality and accuracy of the restoration. I was SO proud of him. He truly deserved this award since he put in so many hours restoring his car, rebuilding it from the ground up, and returning it to it's original glory.


Will had the awesome experience to drive his VW from San Jose to Solvang in a caravan of 12 different old VW's. Considering he has a 25 horespower engine in a 58-year old car, this was going to be quite a trip, but his car made it flawlessly to Solvang. The drive each way took 10-11 hours, but with frequent stops for rest and to sight see. You can't be in much of a hurry when all the cars have a 25 or 36 horsepower engine!


Kate, my mom, and I drove a more direct route to Solvang and arrived in 6.5 hours Friday night. Kate was amazing in the car...she slept for only one hour, but we kept her entertained with snacks, Elmo DVD's and books.


Below are some pictures from Will's drive and the car show.


6:45 AM Friday morning, gassed up and ready to go. The black 1946, Will's 1952 and the green 1952 "splits" only have 25hp! Top speed: 102kph (Although Will pushed it to 110kph on some of the long downhill stretches of Highway 101)



One of the many rest stops

Proud owner!

We took this picture right after he won first place. We were so excited! So many people came up to Will to shake his hand and tell him that they loved his car and voted for it.

During the show, Gramma and Kate hung out in the shade to stay cool. It reached over 100 degrees! It was very hot! Our silly little girl.

Kate and Mommy. Kate refused to look directly at the camera. :-)

Here is Will's split next to a very nice 1954 "oval" at the King Frederick Inn

On the way home from Solvang, Will drove his VW back in the caravan of cars. They took Highway 1, enjoying the coastal views along the way. My mom, Kate and I took a little detour to Fresno and visited Will's dad for the night. We had a wonderful time hanging out with Dedushka and Grammalene.

Yet another stop for refreshments & a photo opportunity

What a long way to drive in such an old car

The Solvang vintage meet is only held every other year, and we are already planning on doing the drive again. This time with both of us in the car together!

Silly Girl

Pictures and Pretending

Reading with Daddy
Playing peek-a-boo in the car

Recently Kate has started to pretend play. When she is at Gramma and Papa's she will pretend at their play kitchen, drink her coffee and eat pudding. At home she is now pretending to give her baby doll a bottle. It is the cutest thing because she also makes a sucking sound when she is giving her the bottle. I have no idea how she knows how to do this since she never drank from a bottle but it is pretty amazing to see her take care of her baby.