Saying goodbye...

It was Josh's 6th birthday party on October 16th and we could not miss a party which included a visit from the Lizard Lady! She showed us the most amazing snakes, lizards and even a 65 year old tortoise. Josh, as the birthday boy, could hold each reptile and the other kids could touch them. Super cool. The brown "snake" Josh is holding, is actually a legless lizard...because he has eyelids and ears...and an x-ray shows about 10 legs that disappeared over time.

The baseball playoffs are still in full swing and Gavin's team, the San Francisco Giants are still in the running...so Team Harvett was dressed in Giant's gear to show support (on Gavin's insistence). Yes, even I am the proud owner of a Buster Posey t-shirt, and yes, I know who he is!


We were able to visit the Svendsens on the way home, to say goodbye. The boys are super cute.

It feels like Halloween!

We are making the most of a few weeks of Fall before we return to South Africa and the start of another summer. We visited Apple Hill with friends and had a great time eating apples, apple pie, running through the maze and picking out the perfect pumpkin to take home and carve.
Just look at Aiden's funny faces - it seems to becoming an art form for him....trying to make a different face each time we take a photo.



Gavin made his best pumpkin carving to date! We were all very impressed!

Alcatraz, Science, & Giants!

It's the end of a hectic but enjoyable weekend spent in San Francisco and Mountain View. Christina swam the "Alcatraz Centurion" event on Saturday. A ferry takes the swimmers to Alcatraz and then they swim 1.3 miles in the Bay to San Francisco's Aquatic Park. Fortunately the sea lions stayed away this year and let the swimmers do their thing without distraction. Christina really enjoyed the event and it was a memorable conclusion to her very busy summer of open water swimming.

Afterwards we met the Pollocks at the California Academy of Sciences in the Golden Gate Park. The boys really enjoyed every minute of it and Aiden even got to see the worlds biggest and most advanced planetarium show... Mind blowing graphics and simulation of how the sun, stars and supernovas formed.

In between all the weekend activity we kept our finger on the pulse of the last 3 games of the regular season for the San Francisco Giants. On Sunday, in the last game of the 162-game season, they beat the San Diego Padres to win the National League West division and make it to the playoffs. Aiden and Zack were thrilled that "the good guys" won! We showed our support by wearing our Giants T-shirts!