Celebrating Fall with Apples and Steam Trains

Saturday, September 22, 2012 was the first day of fall.  We really celebrated this year!

We started out apple picking in Watsonville,CA on Saturday morning.  This year was so much fun.  Sophia ran through the orchards with a point & shoot camera taking photos and stopping to grab an apple or two, while Isabella happily sat in the wagon for a majority of the journey chewing on a fresh picked apple.

Halfway through we stopped for a few photos and both girls embraced the concept and helped us fill our bags up. We are definitely overachievers in the filling department, resulting in 25 pounds of apples!

After the picking we had a picnic lunch and all shared a piece of apple pie ala mode, courtesy of their bake shop.  It was a great day with family and friends, and has definitely become a tradition in our family.

On Sunday, we went to a company event at Roaring Camp Railroads in Felton, CA.  We ate BBQ and rode the train into the Henry Cowell State Park to see the redwoods.  While we all enjoyed ourselves, Isabella seemed most impressed with the "choo choo".

Read more...

Celebrating Fall with Apples and Steam Trains

Saturday, September 22, 2012 was the first day of fall.  We really celebrated this year!

We started out apple picking in Watsonville,CA on Saturday morning.  This year was so much fun.  Sophia ran through the orchards with a point & shoot camera taking photos and stopping to grab an apple or two, while Isabella happily sat in the wagon for a majority of the journey chewing on a fresh picked apple.

Halfway through we stopped for a few photos and both girls embraced the concept and helped us fill our bags up. We are definitely overachievers in the filling department, resulting in 25 pounds of apples!

After the picking we had a picnic lunch and all shared a piece of apple pie ala mode, courtesy of their bake shop.  It was a great day with family and friends, and has definitely become a tradition in our family.

On Sunday, we went to a company event at Roaring Camp Railroads in Felton, CA.  We ate BBQ and rode the train into the Henry Cowell State Park to see the redwoods.  While we all enjoyed ourselves, Isabella seemed most impressed with the "choo choo".

Read more...

Trains, Trees, Tractors and Tons of Food

Last Saturday we decided to take Sophia to Roaring Camp Railroads, which is about 25 minutes from our house.  We stopped on the way out of town at a market to get some picnic items, and then started on what we expected to be a short drive.  1.5 hours later (due to major accidents on the road) we arrived to hear the train we planned on catching pull out of the station L.  So we regrouped, ate our picnic and waited for the next train, which ended up leaving 40 minutes late because the earlier train got stuck on the mountain.  At this point we were way past nap time and Sophia was unhappy with all the waiting, but quickly forgot about it when she found some new friends to play with.  

Once we boarded the train her mood changed and she was super excited, but told us she did not like the horn.  Once we started moving she was in heaven.  We had a blast riding the train through the redwoods, taking a short hike at the mid point where you can get off and then riding it back down.  At the end of the trip Sophia turned to us and said, “again?”

By the time we got to the car it was 4 pm and she had had no nap.  She decided she was too tired to cooperate and get into the car seat; one chocolate square later she was happy to oblige with our request.  (Disclaimer:  I am not above bribery of my 2 year old in certain circumstances- this was one of them.)  Once we started driving she fell fast asleep.

While driving home a friend of mine invited us to a pig roast in the Los Gatos hills.  We were more than happy to join as it sounded super fun and Cyrus was super excited about the pig.  We arrived at this huge house and BBQ area surrounded by Christmas trees.  Apparently these people bought a Christmas tree lot and then built a house on it.  The pig roast was wonderful- the company and food were amazing and Sophia even got to ride on their tractor (which she loved and wanted to do many times, just not without her dad holding her). 

All in all it was a wonderful day full of new priceless experiences. 

Read more...

Trains, Trees, Tractors and Tons of Food

Last Saturday we decided to take Sophia to Roaring Camp Railroads, which is about 25 minutes from our house.  We stopped on the way out of town at a market to get some picnic items, and then started on what we expected to be a short drive.  1.5 hours later (due to major accidents on the road) we arrived to hear the train we planned on catching pull out of the station L.  So we regrouped, ate our picnic and waited for the next train, which ended up leaving 40 minutes late because the earlier train got stuck on the mountain.  At this point we were way past nap time and Sophia was unhappy with all the waiting, but quickly forgot about it when she found some new friends to play with.  

Once we boarded the train her mood changed and she was super excited, but told us she did not like the horn.  Once we started moving she was in heaven.  We had a blast riding the train through the redwoods, taking a short hike at the mid point where you can get off and then riding it back down.  At the end of the trip Sophia turned to us and said, “again?”

By the time we got to the car it was 4 pm and she had had no nap.  She decided she was too tired to cooperate and get into the car seat; one chocolate square later she was happy to oblige with our request.  (Disclaimer:  I am not above bribery of my 2 year old in certain circumstances- this was one of them.)  Once we started driving she fell fast asleep.

While driving home a friend of mine invited us to a pig roast in the Los Gatos hills.  We were more than happy to join as it sounded super fun and Cyrus was super excited about the pig.  We arrived at this huge house and BBQ area surrounded by Christmas trees.  Apparently these people bought a Christmas tree lot and then built a house on it.  The pig roast was wonderful- the company and food were amazing and Sophia even got to ride on their tractor (which she loved and wanted to do many times, just not without her dad holding her). 

All in all it was a wonderful day full of new priceless experiences. 

Read more...