Goblin Gardens Pumpkin Patch Trip - Bastiao Farms, Sacramento

First trip to Goblin Gardens Pumpkin Patch, Sacramento

Alina driving the John Deere tractor, this would have made
her Great Grandpa Crothers so proud during his farming days

Plenty of great selections in the pumpkin patch

Fun day at Bastiao Farms, they especially loved the seesaw

Little goblins at Goblin Gardens

Alina by the Haunted Barn, the paintings here are great!

Inside the haunted town of Goblin Gardens

We took our first trip to a new pumpkin patch for mommy's birthday this year. We visited Goblin Gardens Pumpkin Patch at Bastiao Farms in Sacramento. This pumpkin patch is the perfect place to go if you only want to spend an hour or two on activities and get some great photo opportunities along the way. With mama being hugely pregnant (38 weeks) and pretty uncomfortable walking long distances, I enjoyed our trip here as the pumpkin patch is relatively small, but there were still plenty of activities to entertain the kids. The admission here is pricier than other pumpkin patches we've visited, but the kids had the best time here despite the sweltering 90+ degree Sacramento Valley weather...is it fall yet, seriously!? 

Goblin Gardens Pumpkin Patch has a cool mini town area for the kids and they loved playing and exploring inside. Also, most of the buildings here are adorned with great paintings, which make for fantastic photos. They also have small hay and corn mazes, hay rides and a train ride through the corn field with costumed ghouls who jump out and surprise everyone on board. The hay pyramid here was one of the tallest we've seen yet. Dad, of course, helped the girls scale it...success! All in all, it was a fun/overly hot day. We went home with a few large pumpkins which will eventually be turned to jack-o-lanterns before Halloween. Mama had a fun birthday this year, though a part of me wished all my walking that day would have jump-started labor. I am over being pregnant and ready to meet our little man.

The fun kids town at Goblin Gardens Pumpkin Patch

Alina exiting the saloon 

Everyone ready for a very fun hay ride

Alina and Daddy, all smiles before the hay ride

They scaled their tallest hay maze yet

Smiles and waves from the top

Goodbye Goblin Gardens pumpkin patch!

25th Annual Chalk it Up Festival - Sacramento

At the 25th Annual Chalk it Up Festival in Sacramento

Chalk art Beatles portraits

The girls picking out their favorite chalk works of art

Elise has become a hula hoop pro

Admiring and creating art of their own

Alina's watercolor

We spent our Labor Day weekend at the 25th Annual Chalk it Up Festival in Fremont Park Sacramento. This was our first Chalk it Up experience and we loved it! The festival is all free and the artists were great. Some were very impressive in terms of what they were able to create using chalk as a medium. The girls loved cruising by the sidewalks and picking out their favorite artwork. There was also a kids area where they were able to embrace their inner artists and draw and paint with watercolors. It was a very fun way to spend Labor Day weekend!

A very talented chalk artist creating a 3 dimensional piece

It was fun to watch this one in progress

A few of the more vibrant displays

Amazing likeness

Star Wars and more chalk art fun

Beautiful black and white chalk art piece

Winged heart

Elise's Kindergarten Graduation - June 2015

Elise is going to miss her wonderful K teacher and class!

Special gifts for her teacher

What a whirlwind Kindergarten year it has been! I recall the first day of school like it was last week. Elise had such an incredible Kindergarten teacher, class and overall experience that I feel like any future year will be quite difficult to live up to. She has learned so much and grown by leaps and bounds both academically and socially. Her reading is far beyond anything I had expected at this age. She was already reading short books by the start of Kindergarten, but her learning really took off and she breezed through all her sight words, and moved on to spelling them all by year end. She rarely even needs help with big words anymore. We are so impressed with her determination and drive and thankful that she had such a supportive teacher who challenged her to continue her growth and learning. It was an emotional day, but she is looking forward to summer camp and seeing many of her friends at summer parties and play dates. Here's looking forward to first grade 2015.

Little classmates/friends at Kindergarten graduation

Visiting with her schoolmate and old neighborhood pal

Her amazing art and school work portfolio; proud mama here

Happy St. Patrick's Day 2015

Mischievous little Irish gal, Alina!

Well, I must admit that I feel so behind on holidays and blogging these days. We are in the thick of  full-time work plus raising kids and, like most parents know, it's a 24/7 job and most weekends and weeknights leave little time for much else. The birthday parties, school and extracurricular activities, plus just trying to find time to see old friends and family is certainly a juggling act. I had all these fantastic ideas and activities for St. Patrick's Day, but being a busy work weekday most didn't quite pan out and that sneaky leprechaun just barely made it on St. Patty's evening to hide some of his gold for the girls to find. They enjoyed the hunt, and mom forgot her camera...go figure. Alina happily donned some cute shamrock antennas and posed for a couple photos. Afterwards, it was the quick routine of bath and bedtime for the girls. 

Although, I will say that I did make Elise's day at school by packing her a festive green avocado egg salad sandwich, she loved showing off her green meal to her classmates. Elise was also on cloud nine this past week because she was selected as Super Kid of the week at school. She got to bring in a special poster to share with her class and wore a superhero cape all week! This is the equivalent of the Superbowl of the school year for kids. They are so excited to be Super Kid, it's preferable to finding a pot of gold at the end of a rainbow really.

Proud Elise posing with her Kindergarten Super Kid poster

Happy Valentine's Day 2015!

Elise Valentine Love

Valentine's hand heart tree art, flowers and goodies

Alina Valentine Love - she made us this cute frame!

Make no mistakes about it, they love being spoiled

I love you - Happy Valentine's Day 2015!

First Trip to The Bay Area Discovery Museum - Sausalito

Making music at the Bay Area Discovery Museum

View of the San Francisco skyline from Sausalito

The Bay Area Discovery Museum's Bay Hall is fun, fun, fun!

The cute kids art at the museum

Outdoor play time at Lookout Cove

Climbing through the giant tree trunk

Elise and Grams enjoyed dressing up and green screen fun

Several weeks ago, we made our first trip to the Bay Area Discovery Museum in Sausalito and this place was serious fun for the kids (as well as Mom, Dad and Grandma). There are plenty of fun/unique kids activities, but perhaps the best part of this place is the idyllic location with lovely views of the Golden Gate Bridge and the San Francisco skyline. I know I say this all the time, but thank goodness for Groupon deals because we got half off admission for the entire family. The girls favorite part of the museum was the Bay Hall, which is basically a play set version of San Francisco complete with a mini grotto and fishing boat that rocks back and forth. The girls enjoyed fishing for toy crabs off the boat.

Sausalito is one of our favorite places to visit. We spent our anniversary here a couple years ago in a scenic hilltop vacation rental overlooking Richardson Bay. It really is as quaint and charming of a city as one could imagine (especially being so close to the crowded and bustling San Francisco) and there are plenty of fantastic restaurants in the area. Being the girls first trip to Sausalito, we wanted to make sure it was special, and while I think that they were happy enough after a fun day exploring the Bay Area Discovery Museum, afterwards we treated them to a nice dinner at Scoma's Sausalito overlooking the San Francisco Bay. We plan to visit again soon.

Exploring the wave workshop and outdoor play areas

Mom joined in on the green screen fun

Gears, gadgets, and gizmos

Cuties posing by The Golden Gate

Enjoying dinner at Scoma's in Sausalito

Beautiful sunset view in Sausalito