San Diego Zoo

 We had the joy of going to the San Diego Zoo and it was fantastic!

This was the end of the day so the kids (and mommy) were pretty tired but we had to get a picture!!! :)

We were able to see pretty much everything, which is a feat if you know anything about this zoo...

Grandma was a big help and I was so glad I didn't try to take them by myself!

There were brother crocodiles in this aquarium and the boys were really taken with their wrestling matches :)  Imagine that...

I think they feel this legitimizes their behavior... sigh... 

Connor was trying to get his Tiger head toy to bite the hippo's bottom... sigh... only a three year old... 

Oh and then he was very taken with the fact that the fish in their tank were eating off of their poop in the bottom of the water... oh my... now I know why kids love the zoo... no filter on anything... 

So we went to see the panda's and the little baby one was named 'Shally Woo' (obviously not the chinese spelling but that's how you pronounce it) and Vale was yelling, "Shally Woo where are YOUUUUU" :)  It was cute... 

Connor cheesin' it up with grandma in front of the zebras :)

They had a really cool elephant enclosure thing and the boys really liked it... ok well Vale is just bitter he's stuck in the stroller... :)

 They were so cute looking at all the animals together :) 

I guess this was some sort of meerkat thing, Connor went right up and gave him a big hug...

Vale, not so much... he wouldn't get any closer than this... 

They had some pretty cool bird atriums and Vale really likes to point out birds... 

Connor wanted to ride the gorilla... 

So we put Vale on there with him but... 

Vale just wanted to kiss the gorillas... hahaha he kissed every single one... 

Then he wanted to swing like them... and the monkeys... 

Connor was in love with the map!!!  He carried it everywhere and had to know where we were going... 

The hotel we stayed in was about 8 minutes from the zoo and it was A.M.A.Z.I.N.G.

Two toddlers in a king sized bed watching cartoons... does like get any better than this, I submit that is can not... at least for them... 

We had a suite and the bedroom was upstairs and this was the downstairs... I could def live here... :)

They had a tray for chocolate covered strawberries for us... thank you very much, I'll take it! :)

And the view was fantastic!!!!  Vale liked watching all the cars on the street below.

The boys took a dip in the 'pool' as they called it... I wanted to get a bath but ran out of time... would have been amazing though! :)

Vale was so excited about these drawers!  He kept getting in them and shutting himself in!  I swear he's not afraid of anything... it's truly scary for me as a mom... 

The hotel was great, the zoo was great... overall a fantastic little trip!!!

Pumpkin Patch

We headed to Lombardi Ranch again this year for some family fun of picking out pumpkins and other shenanigans!

They boys love to climb on the hay bales... first thing they did... well after Vale danced for a bit... kids got the rhythm I tell ya! :)

We had some company... my boys are so blessed to have family close by!!

Emma was pretty much an expert at picking out pumpkins... well the little ones at least... 

After Abby let a goat suck on her finger I think she was a little unsure about what the rabbit was going to do... :)

Link was such a happy little guy... especially since he wasn't feeling well!

We had to stop Vale from throwing the pumpkins and this is his 'so what are they good for then?' look...

They had a cute little toddler play area with a hay maze and all these little vehicles the kids could ride around in.  They would have stayed there all day if we let them!

 'Wait you want us BOTH to look at you at the same time?!  Yeah not gonna happen mom..."

My sweet little chub monster :)

They took a train ride... which mommy abstained from, being quite preggers didn't think I'd enjoy that... 

Connor wants to get down to business and start pickin out some pumpkins!  'Nough of this childs play! :)

Found one in the first 30 seconds... and promptly dropped in on the ground, breaking it... yeah we bought it... He was so proud of it though!!! 

Vale took more of the approach, let me just drape myself over the pumpkin I want... 

Holding a pumpkin next to your abdomen does not come close to comparing with the discomfort of carrying a child... sorry buddy... :)

Headed to the Gregory home where we carved pumpkins, ate sloppy joes and delicious caramel apples!

The boys painted their pumpkins... 

Jimmy decided to make himself useful and was fixing something under the sink while Vale assisted... :)

We carved our pumpkin, although neither Jimmy nor I are supreme artists... :)

Final product!  Yeah!! :)

Kati's Baby Shower

We had a baby shower for Kati and Baby Love!!! :)

We did a tea and it was so much fun!

Had a bunch of tea cakes, finger sandwiches and candies...

cute little plush toys...

cream puffs, quiches, and fruit...

And of course TEA! :)

We had a lot of really cute shabby chic decorations...

the house we had the shower at had so many awesome things that fit the theme...

... like this absolutely adorable dollhouse...

we brought some baby stuff too...

Baby Love is going to be very spoiled...

This was my doll when I was a little girl!

There was even a cute little baby tea set!

As the ladies came in there was a book to write some advice for Kati and the favors were there for them as they left.

We had little tea cookies and tea bags tagged with 'baby girl' as favors.

The gift table started out looking great...

With cute decorations and some awesome baskets of gifts...

Then it overflowed and it was even more awesome... :)

Kati got a corsage...

We made sure that she got pictures with the ladies that put the whole thing together... Michelle did most of it :)

I love it that we all live in a 1 mile radius... family is such a blessing!

Chelsea did all the games and she did a GREAT job!

Aunt Pat gave a little talk about the career of motherhood.  It was very good!

She's got the cutest little prego belly! Love it!

We played a game where we had to guess Kati's belly size... I was close! I really was!

I was like an inch off!!  Somebody guessed perfectly though... She must have cheated.. ;-)

Then we played a game where we had to guess what the baby food contents were... all I have to say is I'm pretty sure that was apricot not peach! :)

Kati was so wonderfully 'showered' by all the ladies who came... it really was overwhelming!

We all got to inspect the gorgeous gifts!  Baby Love is gonna be one smartly dressed little girl!

Kati's mom came in from Colorado...

Family came down from Sacramento, my mom came in from North Carolina and other cousins came up from about an hour south.  It was great!

There were about 30 ladies there!

I just had to show you one more picture... this was the view from the back yard of this house... absolutely beautiful!!!  It was a lovely day too! Such a blessing!