Happy Turkey Day

Cheers!

Happily reunited with the Hagglof family at their new home at Sand Rock Farm in Aptos for a Thanksgiving celebration. 

Ugh, didn't take pictures of the property, but if you're interested...
www.sandrockfarm.com 

Kjell and Kenzo were happy to see each other too!

Pizza dinner the night before the feast.

Ken, Nancy & Jen. 

Jorgen, Pat & Derek.

The Guthiel family came too, from Truckee!

Cari & Jen at breakfast.

Yes, we ate every moment we weren't cooking!!

Thanksgiving morning we got started early with prep around the kitchen and property.

Jen and I setting up for dinner in the wine cellar, a remnant from the property's history as a winery.

Looking awesome, if I do say so myself!

Vine covered entrance to the open air wine cellar.

Jorgen, Pat and Lulu (5 pounds of puppy sweetness down there between their legs) enjoying cocktail hour.

Stop for a minute.

Get dressed.

Take a photo.

Okay, back to work! 

Chef Derek working his magic in the trailer kitchen.

Needless to say, dinner was DELICIOUS and BEAUTIFUL and PLENTIFUL!

Kenzo and Eric entertaining themselves...

Welcome toast from our hosts.

Dinner for 38? No sweat.

I guess all that cooking really works up an appetite!

Taking a breather between helpings.

I mean, right out of the pages of Sunset or Martha... it truly was this awesome.

I did the centerpieces with clippings from all around the property and vases from the house. 

It was pretty fun going around, cutting leaves, fruit, berries, herbs & greenery everywhere you turned.

Cousins Ryder and Kjell up early for breakfast the next day.

After leaving the B&B, we strolled around Capitola and enjoyed the sunshine!

Watching the surfers, playing in the sand.

Rough life. 

Really rough life.

Shoot, I cut off the "O" but you can see Kenzo is into practicing his new writing skills.

We left Santa Cruz and rolled into Alamo, just in time to join Michelle, Tim & baby Axel for a tour at the Walnut Creek Model Railroad Society - a private club for foamers!

The display was so intricate and cool, complete with a change of lighting as the "day" ended and a thunderstorm with real rain falling from the sky!

Engineers working in the pit, along with the controllers up high, overseeing their lines. 

This is SERIOUS stuff. 

Had a great time!

After dinner, we got the kids some yogurt.

Happy Axel! 

Happy and exhausted Kenzo.

We loved staying over at Tim & Michelle's house, as well our visits with Takemi, the Andre girls, and the Hagglofs. We are very thankful for all the friends we have scattered all over with room for us!
 

Hella Love Oakland

We got off the mountain last weekend and visited Takemi in Oakland!

Kenzo loved the open warehouse studio & wanted to throw some clay with his uncle.

Learning from the master...!

 The boys.

After a yummy Korean dinner, we headed to Fenton's.

The guy behind us ate an ENORMOUS banana split that was hilariously huge.
 

Lots of fire truck sightings!
 

Gorgeous day in the city!

 

Throwing clay with Uncle Takemi. Kenzo loved it!

Skateboarding in the studio was a big hit too!

 

Beautiful day!

Kenzo really wanted to see the prison, but that would have not been a good idea with all the sleepless nights he's been having.
 

Got a cable car ride in! 

Poor thing was so tired on the return trip...
 

But not tired enough to throw some more clay!

Art school, here we come!
 

School pictures

School photos arrived and they are 
ADORABLE!
 
I love the way Kenzo posed and smiled for this stranger photographer.



Don't let this sweet face fool you though...he's been a handful at bed time lately, going through excuses and defiance with tears and the works. 

Let's hope this is a short-lived stage because we are spoiled by his normally great behavior. 

Here's the whole 4 year old class...LOTS of girls! Cute to think that these kids will grow up together.

 

Happy Halloween!

Since our return from Portland, things have been busy with Halloween prep around here!

Kenzo's preschool had a bake sale table set up at the Harvest Festival. I made mini pumpkin pies! 

Kenzo's class had a field trip to the Tahoe City fire station - very cool!

We secured Kenzo's season rentals for the winter.

Note, the guys still in shorts - it's been a gorgeous fall season here.

"That's you, me, and Kjell!"


 

Morning tea with this cutie pie.

And that's just a more civilized way of saying "second breakfast!"

And then there's the pumpkins....

So we started off with a pretty scary face, which Kenzo was excited about, but then that excitement and his vivid imagination got him scared at bedtime. 

So our second pumpkin was a bit more friendly...
 

And the third was just plain old cute.

Kenzo is so obsessed with Halloween, but can't really handle it all. 

I threatened a princess or Winnie the Pooh costume if he couldn't calm down!

He can't calm down. 

I suppose it's my fault, as I've been diving in to cookie making, costume designing, and house decorating!

Mini ghost cookie, for those, like me, who have a hard time seeing things close up!

This, by the way, is Kenzo's "smile for the camera."

I have heard that all kids go through an awkward smiling phase (aka, a recent episode of Modern Family) but I think it's darn cute.
 

Treats for his preschool party today.

A yummy paella dinner last night here with the Hagglof family before they move to Santa Cruz next week :(

Kjell and Kenzo watched part of Charlie Brown's Great Pumpkin movie!

Too scary for Kenzo, though. Sigh.

Happy Halloween!!

Dressed and ready for school!

Pretty proud of my creation.

Not anatomically correct, but a good learning process while we made it!

The 4 year old class, getting ready for Trunk-or-Treating in the school parking lot.

 

Cody and Kenzo.

 

Willy and Kenzo.

Yes, Willy really is that big.

The boys: Willy, Kenzo, Elio, Cody & Chase.

They are totally outnumbered by the girls.

On our way back to town for trick-or-treating, this time with mask.

That mask lasted all of 10 minutes...oh well!  

 Skeleton and mummy, hand in hand.

Kenzo and Noah having a blast watching all the crazy people!

Morgan was the cutest spider!

Alisha and the boys. Do I sense a future babysitter?

All in all, a great Halloween season for us. But yes, I am glad it's over :)