Vineyard Retreat

We just returned from family camp with our church in the beautiful Santa Cruz mountains. We were blessed to get to stay in an amazing cottage, which was really unexpected and helpful for relaxing and sleeping arrangements.

Hanging on the front porch

 Juggling rocks by request. Rock throwing was the main attraction for the kids, but eventually they demanded that all rocks be pre-juggled before they could be hurled.

 This guy only gets cuter with age, especially when he lets me dress him :)

 Playing in the living room

 We had a great retreat and at the end Jackson got to perform his memory verse with the whole kids church. He is the one in the front row in a blue shirt with his tongue out. Favorite quote of the weekend: 

Kid playing in sandbox next to Jack: "In 2 weeks I'm turning 5!"

Jack: "I'm turning into a walrus!"

That seems about right.

 Video of the magic.

 We got back on Sunday and had such a refreshing time outdoors that we wanted to get outside some more, so we played at the neighborhood park together.

  Fall is so perfect!

 Some high tosses. Different kids, different styles. Cosette lets go and flies free!

 Jackson holds onto Daddy and doesn't go too high

 Either way happy kids

  Attack!

Somehow this turned ugly, probably due to jealousy rather than injury, but I don't remember now. Needed a little recovery

 Back at it.

 Best friends climbing slides

 Coco gets crazy hair

 

 On the way home Jack started a new song he learned. We figured out that it must be from school since we've never heard it before.

 Sharing a chair and books before a good night sleep.

 

Just Some Silly Videos

They were singing made up songs in the car on the way home from church and I tried to film it, but they stopped and were having a silly conversation I captured instead.

A sweet serinade

Cosette deciding to learn to use the tricycle.  We got this for Jack when he was about 18 months thinking he'd grow into it. We were wrong. He has yet to ride it using the pedals. He just doesn't like it. It looks like Cosette is more likely to learn to pedal before Jack. Her legs are still a little short.

He rides in style

Autumn Outings

A lovely fall day at Cuesta Park with these goofballs. 

What a beautiful playground. 

A trip to downtown Redwood City for a "cookie treat" in the afternoon. Giants cookies!

Back to School

Last night I went back to school. I found out that "Back to School Night" is not what is was when I was a kid, which was parents going to meet the teachers and hear about the year. Now you are supposed to bring all of your children, hear about fund raising, and let the child show you his class. I missed the mark by not bringing my kids, but I did learn a few things about my son. 

His ambition for the future surprised me. I was also thrilled to find a folder of artwork saved by his teacher. I assumed he wouldn't participate in art time and was excited to see a folder of masterpieces come home :)

His contribution to the feelings wall did not surprise me one bit. 

Preschool has opened him up to the wild idea of getting near paint again (he was traumatized at an early age by repeated exposure to finger-painting, which is truly awful for a kid who can't have his hands messy)

Showing off his "All About Me" folder to daddy. 

His family portrait included a dog we don't have and left out his sister...hmmm