We had a wonderful few days over Christmas. My parents are in town and the boys love having them around. Airplanes, specifically jets and space shuttles, were the winning gifts from Santa. It is so sweet to see how Zack watches Aiden play with the planes and then copy every sound and move.
We had a fantastic weekend with friends visiting from Vancouver, Canada. We spent Saturday morning in Apple Hill, enjoying the local apple pie and wine. The boys thought this was the ultimate adventure because there was something fun to climb on or play with at each stop.
We had a fabulous Thanksgiving weekend. The Rubows prepared a feast and we were thankful to be able to spend the day with good friends. We did a little bit of shopping on Black Friday, which came down to me standing in line and the boys having a blast on the rides. Aiden has started to play educational computer games, and it is amazing to see what games are out there and how well Aiden can work the mouse-pad and navigate his way around. Zack will be 16 months old on Monday and his 8th tooth finally appeared.
We had the Rubows and the Messers over for a quiet dinner on Saturday evening. It gets dark so early these days that the kids had fun playing with flashlights. When it was time for the grown-ups to eat we put a movie on - you can see who is the biggest TV watcher between those kids! Well, that bliss only lasted about 5 minutes then Zack started making trouble but it was sweet while it lasted.
The boys love Manty, our Praying mantis. We now also have crickets for Manty's dinner, and I am not sure which provides more entertainment: looking at the crickets in their box or watching Manty eat them. We also had quite a shock this week when we found out Manty is a girl and we are expecting about 40 babies in the spring! Congratulations are in order!
Finally, the day filled with bats, spiders, ghosts and candy arrived. Aiden has been asking to go trick or treating for the past month, so great was the excitement when we all got dressed in our costumes and went to the Rubows for a fun filled evening. Aiden was a spider, Zack a monkey, Dad a Top Gun figher pilot and Mommy wore a bat shirt. Nate made his famous chilly and we had a feast at the Rubow house before we headed out into the night to go and collect as much candy as a 3-year old can carry.
The Montoyas visited us this weekend and we went to Apple Hill to pick out our Halloween pumpkin and eat yummy apple pie. Aiden is really excited about Halloween this year and he could not wait to carve his Jack O' Lantern with dad. We also found a praying mantis and decided that he should stay. We bought a container with crickets for Manti and both boys love feeding time. Manti loves his crickets...I guess it is all educational...but I still cannot believe we now have a pet insect!
It is wonderful to see how Aiden and Zack are starting to play together. Zack tries his best to keep up and it is so sweet to see how he tries to copy everything Aiden does. Moments like these usually end in tears caused by either party...but that is boys! Gavin and Aiden went to a high school football game on Friday night. They both had lots of fun, although Aiden knocked his chin on cement at the game, but he was very proud of his "sports" injury.
We had a busy weekend with putting down wood flooring and painting our living room. Our friend Geoff and his little girl, Haley, came to help on Saturday morning. With all the help, we had the floor done in 4 hours and it looks fabulous. I painted the walls very light green, with a contrasting wall of a darker, earthier green. We are exhausted but very satisfied and I am totally in love with our new room.
We took the boys to Discovery Kingdom on Sunday. It was super busy and really hot but the boys loved it. The moment Zack saw the elephants, he trumpeted just like one and he spent the entire dolphin show pointing and talking up a storm. Aiden just loved the shark tank and the walrus. Aiden is also old enough now to realize there is a world of rides just waiting to be discovered.
We took the boys camping one last time before summer bids us farewell. This time we headed West and camped in the Samuel P Taylor State Park. The park has beautiful coastal redwoods, creeks and wildlife (we saw deer, raccoons & chipmunks) and we took a short hike through the forest and along a creek. On Saturday we drove to the Point Reyes Lighthouse and hiked down all 308 stairs to the very end of the point. Aiden managed to hike 130 of the stairs back up before daddy had to carry him... not bad for a 3-year old. After the lighthouse we went to Point Reyes' North Beach - it wasn't exactly beach weather, but definitely pleasant enough that we could enjoy the ocean. This was Zack's first ever walk on a beach and he seemed to like it a lot. On our way out of the Point Reyes area we stopped for lunch and ice cream at a tiny village called Inverness. Our lunch table overlooked Tomales Bay and an old shipwreck.
We had a fun filled weekend, celebrating our big boy's birthday. We played in the pool, had a great South African braai and the show stopper (even if I have to say so myself) was Aiden's birtday cake - a stegasaurus dinosaur. Aiden really went to town with the ice cream and decided that 3-year olds are allowed to eat ice cream with their hands. Well, it was his special day! 
