It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

Such a fun full day. We started out with the Christmas Cafe and Fair here at the Seminary. The kids basically get to shop for ridiculously low prices, for everyone in their immediate family, while we eat snacks and socialize. It's amazing, they get to go and choose and 'buy' things with the help of another adult and it all gets to be a surprise for the rest of us, and it all happens in one morning. The staff and faculty wives buy items throughout the year for this event. Love it.

Then we headed North and got to have a quick bite of lunch with friends we don't see nearly enough, since our move.

After that, we headed up to our favorite Christmas tree farm, Celesta Farms in Sebastopol to pick out and chop down our Christmas tree, it's one of my favorite traditions. We love this place, complete with free cookies and hot drinks and reasonable prices. It really is a family affair, choosing our tree is a tricky process and we all have different ideas but we always find the perfect tree for us.

Exhausted but happy, we ended our day at Pings for Chinese Food, for dinner. There would be no cooking after that long day.

Thankful!

We had the best Thanksgiving, we normally go to our friends' house mid afternoon, to officially celebrate Thanksgiving and share a meal together with others, so the kids started out the day coloring and playing outside.

But it was just such a great day weather-wise that we decided to go for a family hike together. It was just beautiful. At first the kids were a little reluctant when we suggested a 'hike' so we changed it to an 'adventure' and got them all on board. Whatever it takes eh?!

 Poor Asia, we had hiked way out to a little alcove of a beach and we mentioned the tide was starting to come in and we should start to head back to the main beach and she COMPLETELY freaked out. She was absolutely terrified that she was going to drown, no matter how much we tried to reassure her that we were just planning ahead. No matter how much we cuddled and held her, even when we got back to the main beach she still was traumatized. It was SO sad. Don't think I'll ever forget that reaction and hope that she has not been scarred for life.

I decided to be 'present' for Thanksgiving, so no photos of the food, but it was, as always, a great time. We have so much to be grateful for.

Oakland Zoo

At the beginning of the year I jumped on a deal from Mamapedia and bought us a family pass for the Oakland Zoo. It was a great deal (which of course I love), where the pass for the whole year cost us the same as making one visit. Saturday was our first time using our passes.

When Arran was little we used to take him to the San Francisco Zoo on the free days quite often,  and he loved it, but then they changed the rules and restricted the free days so that only those actually living in the city could get in for free. It was never a zoo that I loved, to be honest, I just loved that he enjoyed it so much. We had only been to the Oakland Zoo one time before, on Arran's first birthday, so it felt pretty new to all of us.

The amphibian displays have always been a hit with Arran, and of course they all love the petting zoo areas.

 Giraffes are so amazing. Asia really wanted to see them and they were the first animals she looked for on the map.

The weather was great and it always feels good to get outdoors and enjoy it. We certainly got some exercise with all that walking and the kids ended up exhausted (as evidenced by the sudden increase in whining towards the end) so much so that all three fell asleep on the way home. The girls have been know to fall asleep on occasion if they are really tired, but for Arran to do that at his age, well that was quite the surprise, we really wore them out.

Hoo Farm

Today Grandad joined us as we went on a fun outing to Hoo Farm. We had been before when Arran was two and Bryttain just a baby. There was so much to see and do, that to be quite honest, I left exhausted! So many animals, not just your common old farm animals.

 The children got to pet this huge rabbit, a skunk, a ferret, and a meerkat.

 They each got to feed a lamb.

 Bryttain milked a (not-real) cow, while Asia petted a calf with daddy.

 It is lambing season so there was a barn set up with all the pregnant ewes and those who had given birth. The kids also got to gather eggs.

The picnic areas had trampolines, swings, a zip line, all sorts of climbing apparatus and these giant enclosed sandpits. We literally had to order the kids out of the sandpit, they would have stayed there for at least an hour, but we had more animals to see.

 They loved getting to feed so many animals.

 Good times.

Another day, another park

We went on a little shopping expedition this morning as we had promised the kids they could each buy a little something to keep them entertained. This afternoon we wanted something a little more active.

We have been so incredibly fortunate with the weather for our time here in England. We seem to have escaped rain, and although at times it has been cool, it has been bright and cheerful, making it easy to spend time outdoors, which the children love.

This afternoon we took a drive out to Ironbridge to find another park for the kids to burn off some energy. It was a cute little town and although the park was on the smaller side it was perfect for our quick outing. I love that we have had all this time just to spend together as a family, it has been so great.