Streetlights turn on!

Since it has been getting dark earlier, we now have a new post-dinner routine. We have to make sure we get outside to watch the streetlights turn on. Sean gets very excited when he sees that it's dark outside since during the summer he would be in bed before dark and up after the sun came up. We have to make sure we get dinner going before it starts getting dark, otherwise Sean is suddenly done with dinner and repeats "Streetlights turn on!" over and over. He doesn't want to miss the action.

So this is where we hang out every evening....

Fleet Week

Fleet Week was two weeks ago and included lots of boats and airplanes around San Francisco. On Saturday we decided to avoid the crowds in the city and went to the Marin Headlands to watch the show.

Sometimes when we get in the car to go somewhere, Sean asks to put his shoes on once we get there. Fine, no big deal. The problem is when we get there, and Mom thinks Dad brought Sean's shoes, and vice versa, but in reality nobody brought them. Oops! Luckily we parked near a children's museum where we found some wellies for the low low price of $29.99 (and don't forget 9% sales tax). Sean loves them, and we will make sure they get lots of use until his toes are busting out of them!

We arrived early, so we spent some time tossing around a tennis ball. Somehow this kept Sean entertained for quite a while. He also kept saying "just about started!" even after the air show started. He told me he was waiting for water to start coming out of this giant rock in the bay, and for some reason it never turned on. Weird. ;)

The nice gentleman sitting next to us had two pairs of binoculars that he let us borrow for a while. I have decided to put a nice pair of binoculars on my Christmas list - we just have a little cheap pair and they simply do not compare to the good ones!

Sean enjoyed playing under a blanket and pretending to take a nap. He kept saying, "Good night, Sean!" over and over and then he would lie under the blanket for about 5 seconds (I think that's about the longest he can sit still unless he is actually tired).

We made it about halfway through the air show before Sean really did get tired, so we went home for naptime. On Sunday Sean had an early nap, so we decided to brave the crowds in the city to see the second half of the air show.

We found a horse to pet and stood by for a minute until we saw the sign that said "Pet the horse: $1." Luckily the guy was talking on his cell phone so he didn't notice us.

Due to the fog, the Blue Angels did their low show, so it was especially loud and close and AWESOME. Sean really enjoyed watching them, but he thought sometimes they were a little too loud.

Here is a giant ship in the bay. Sorry, I'm not up on my ships so I have no idea what this is.

Finally, on an unrelated note, this picture is for Vnak - I noticed the other day that Jeff was actually NOT wearing his tie dyed shirt. And besides tie dye, what else is part of our family's wardrobe? Notre Dame apparel, of course!

Veg Fest / Bluegrass Festival

We took the bikes down to Golden Gate Park a couple of weekends ago. We first hit up the San Francisco Vegetarian Festival. Jeff took some pictures of what he thought the highlights were.

Here is an overview. There were tables set up with different vendors - lots of free food samples, stickers, posters, etc. Sean plastered himself with "no fur" stickers.

No idea why they had bellydancers there, but it was entertaining.

The bellydancing music was too loud for Sean, so we headed outside to find the "children's corner." That was advertised on the flyer, so I was anxious for Sean to have something fun to do. I was thinking, maybe some arts and crafts, maybe a bounce house, lots of kids playing, etc. It turned out to be a table with a basket of broken crayons and a dirty inflatable octopus. As Sean would say, "What?!"

Also that day in the park was a huge Bluegrass Festival. There were about five stages set up with music, and it was really packed. We parked the bikes at the top of a hill that overlooked the crowd.

Lots of people. This was just one of the stages.

Having fun in the sun.

Snacktime!

More of September

Just found some more pictures from September.

One Saturday morning we drove east to Fairfield, CA for the Jelly Belly tour. Sean and I had done this previously on a weekday, but it was lots of fun so we decided to go back with Dada.

You have to wear a hat on the tour, and if you don't have your own, they give you one. They reminded me of the hats you can get at Steak and Shake.

In the factory there were lots of Jelly Belly murals. The first one done was of Ronald Reagan, who was apparently a huge Jelly Belly fan (especially licorice flavor). They have since done all kinds of celebrities and other things such as cartoon characters, etc. I liked this one the best though.

Next stop in Fairfield was the Budweiser brewery tour. We opted for the free one, which turned out to be quite minimal. (The more extensive one would probably be more interesting, but it's really hard to pay attention to someone talking to you when you are trying to prevent a 2-year-old from wandering off and getting into trouble!) I thought this room was most impressive though. The tour guide said that each aging tank holds enough beer for one person to have a 12-ounce beer every hour for 57 years or something like that. That is a lot of beer!

They also had a tasting room and gift shop. Sean enjoyed sitting on the cool chair while we enjoyed our beer samples.

"What can I get with this ticket, Mom? Just a glass of water? Are you kidding me?"

This banner was hanging over the factory. I thought it resembled my life story, which goes a little more like "Raised in Fairfield, lived around the country."

*****

Just a couple pictures from around the house....

Sean and I have been seeing the turkeys around a lot lately. I previously thought that there were 14, but the other day I counted 22! Holy cow. One day they were hopping the fence to go to the pool, and Sean ran down there (it's about 2 doors down from our place) and yelled at them to get their swimsuits on first. Hilarious.

What?!?! Rain!?!? We haven't seen here that in months, literally. Now it's a frequent occurrence but I enjoy it - it's nice to have a change in weather!

September

Wow I am way behind on the blog! Here are a few pictures from various things we did in September.

Sean and I drove to Sonoma one day to check out the mission there, as well as General Vallejo's house and barracks. Sean enjoyed watching the sprinkler outside the house, and I enjoyed watching him see how close he could get without getting completely soaked!

Looking tired and hot (yes it was hot not that long ago!).

The mission in Sonoma is the northernmost mission in California and was the last one built. We have also visited the ones in San Francisco and San Jose. The last one on our list to visit while we're here is the one in San Rafael. We tried to go there one morning but they didn't open until 11 am (some people just don't understand that stay at home moms of toddlers are up and ready to go by 8 am!). Anyway, here is Sean at the Sonoma Mission.

One weekend we went on a long bike trail, which was nice because usually we are on the city streets. We stopped for a snack, and Dada and Sean went for a little walk.

Finally, we have been reaping the rewards of our work in the garden this summer. Sean has thoroughly enjoyed picking carrots (however small and pathetic-looking) and munching on them. He now likes carrots much more than before. I've heard that growing your own food is a good way to get your kids interested in eating their fruits and veggies, and I have seen that it's true with Sean. He wasn't a big fan of carrots before but now he really likes them! Also the other day he even tried a bite of the first tomato we picked (yes I planted them a bit late). He didn't like it, but I couldn't even get him to try it before!

Well that's about it for now. We have about four weeks left here and then we will be back home in Ohio!