Super September

I'm way behind on the blog which is frustrating, because I can't seem to catch up. This post is going to be a biggie with all of our September activities and such.

September is a wonderful month, probably my favorite of the whole year because I absolutely love fall and September is when you feel those first crisp mornings and you know it's on it's way. We also celebrated our 8th anniversary this month, I can't believe it's been so long.

Lily finally started preschool. She loves it so much. This month our backyard garden exploded. We have zucchini's, tomatoes, peppers, basil, carrots and beans taking over.

They're delicious and I love it.

I found a fuzzy caterpillar (we call it a wooly worm) in the road one day and brought it home, we played with it for awhile and set it free in our trees. We regularly have bug hunts, the kids have no fear at all, Lily even plays with slugs.

Jare-bear wrapped up his season of sailing.

We went for an evening of fishing with our friends at Salem pond. It was beautiful to be there at sunset and even though no fish were caught (one got away) we had a good time. Lily's been curious about going fishing for years and this was her first time.

We went to the state fair. Lily got to go on some rides including the bumper cars.

The kids went on a pony ride. Lily has been totally obsessed with horses, burro's, ponies, okapi's, zebra's and other hoofed animals.

And now on to our trip to California. We drove to Newport Beach and stayed with our favorite Californians, the Papa's! Our camera's battery died and I forgot the charger, so we ended up only getting a few phone pictures.

We went to the beach, where the kids dug a giant hole in the sand. It was really cool.

It was nice and relaxing.

We went to the San Diego zoo.

I thought this was super cool.

After the zoo we stayed in a hotel in San Diego which was fun and went surprising well, sleep wise. We then went to Sea World the next day. We love Sea World and had a great time.

Bad news though, after we got back to our car after a very long weekend, the car had been broken into and all of our overnight bags taken. We lost some stuff, Jared's glasses, clothes, camcorder and phone chargers, our makeup and bathroom stuff, nothing compared to the brand new laptop the Papa's lost. But tragically, the kids favorite stuffed animals and blankies got taken. Jack's blankies we've replaced and he carries them around and shows them to everyone that comes over because he's so glad to have them back. Mama and Baby Elephant he still asks for every day, all day, I'm waiting for IKEA to restock. Worst of all was Lily's burro family. When I told her that they were stolen, it was one of the most heartbreaking moments of my life. She was devastated and inconsolable. Luckily she didn't cry for 4 nights like she did the first time we lost Baby Burro at the store. She's better now, we got yet another Baby Burro on ebay and we've found some other new animals that she loves.

So after a rough night and a very long weekend, we cancelled our planned trip to Disneyland and had another beach day. After the beach we went to Rainforest Cafe, a loud, jungle themed restaurant that the kids loved. We sat right next to a giant animatronic Mama and Baby Elephant that were loud and fun. Somehow miraculously Jack fell asleep in his high chair. This is crazy because Jack doesn't sleep anywhere except his own bed and even then, it's a struggle. He's never slept anywhere, not even his carseat, and he fell asleep in this fun, exciting restaurant with a french fry in his mouth. I just look at as proof of how much fun we had all week.