lion fun

since we stayed at the MGM in vegas, lions were the theme. mahala and noble were able to get this photo of them petting a lion cub and we got to watch the lion feeding-only glass separating the kids faces from the hungry lions. the kids were very excited about all of this needless to say!

museum hopping

since we are members of the children's museum here in the bay area, it allowed us to get into childrens museums down on san diego so we went to three-yes, three. all were very different but great in their own way.

the skirball with it's huge noah's ark exhibit with animals made from found objects

the san diego children's museum-hip and modern-with messy painting, rock climbing and cool hand-powered chariots to ride around on

and finally mr pennypickle's museum with various kooky inventions like this piano that plays sounds of other instruments

vegas baby!

aaaah, the strip. we finally made it to vegas of all places! we met my parents there as well as seena, eric and quinn. we stayed at the MGM Grand and took illegal pictures of our kids at the slot machines. we saw cirque du soleil and the hoover dam as well. it was a fun trip but it was much better hanging out in san diego after our two days in vegas. at least now say that we have been there...

manor harvest festival

halloween at manor school was simplified for the kindergarteners...they were woodland creatures and made their own costumes complete with wings. the whole schol got together for performances by each class and for a parade.

hallween 09

this year mahala wanted to be a dinosaur. THEN i realized my sewing machine was buried somewhere in storage. not to worry though-i had my glue gun! and i thought noble could be a caveboy since that was a REALLY easy costume to make! mahala picked her fabrics (insisting that the dino have stripes, not dots like i suggested, in sparklely felt). we took part in the fairax town parade which was along the downtown route and involved trick or treating at the local businesses. it ended at the park in a grove of redwoods lit up and decorated for the event. the we went trick or treating for a short time on the official trick or treating street-complete with lot of decorations and lights, drumming paraders and some pyrotechnics even!

downpours = puddle jumping!

after school today i decided to let the kids go for it in the puddles. it was a crazy rainy day-maybe 8 or 9 hours straight of pouring rain. this made for some great puddles. noble did not want to take off his boots at all today (although i made him!) so it was a fun 30-40 minutes of puddle jumping. when daddy came home noble yelled "puddle jumping! puddle jumping!"

gospel flats farm fieldtrip

manor school kindergarten class #2 visited gospel flats farm in bolinas today and had a wonderful time with farmer mickey, a fourth generation farmer. they have a mostly fruit and vegetable farm (but they do have some animals), an educational mobile boat-on-wheels that teaches everyone to eat local and a farm stand. the kids got to "harvest" sunflower seeds, chard and zucchini (the latter to feed the pigs and rabbits). noble even got to come as an honorary kindergartener. we bought some produce and flowers to take home with us. the kids ate fresh apples on the way home. i chauferred 4 girls, noble and one other mom. good thing for the extra mom!