Look Whooo Carved Their Pumpkin Today!

The drama of the ooey-gooeys.

 Careful carving.

The pumpkin carving team and their masterpiece.

H is for Humorous Story

Each week for show-and-tell, Ella is given a letter that the item she brings needs to start with.  Today's assigned H gave her a bit of trouble since she didn't want to bring anything "normal" or expected, like a hat or horse.  She finally came up with hydrangea-- one snipped off our giant flowering bush. 

This morning I pruned a blossom for Ella and was standing over her demonstrating how we were going to keep it from drying out (wet paper towel wrapped around the stem, plastic wrap around that), when suddenly I felt something pricking my pinkie finger.  I thought, "Hydrangeas don't have thorns, why is this branch caught in my skin?"  As I tried to brush it off, I realized what it was and screamed in surprise, which totally alarmed the girls.  As I frantically tried to unlatch a large praying mantis from my finger, I inadvertently threw it at Ella, who then started screaming herself as it crawled on her lap.  Now, normally we LOVE finding a praying mantis and think they are the coolest bugs!  Being free of its thorny legs calmed me down enough to try to get Ella to appreciate it.  "Look!  Isn't that the neatest bug ever? Look how big and green he is!" But she wanted no part of this nature lesson and started crying.  As I tired to settle a hysterical Ella by brushing the bug off her lap, I accidentally sent it soaring at Delia, who was already unhinged from Mommy screaming and Ella now weeping and wailing.  She started crying too.  Seeing my two girls crying in terror was too much, I started crying myself while the praying mantis was still free and scaring the pants off the kids.  And this was how Dave found us when he was done getting ready.

So, here's what I learned this morning: if you want to terrify your children and make them cry instantly, simply find and fling a huge exotic insect at them.  Maybe keep it in mind the next time you need to get their attention or punish them.  :)

We trapped the praying mantis and carried him back out to the hydrangea bush, where the girls were happy to finally admire him.  We even took a picture to remember him.  Dave told Ella that she had her H show-and-tell: a humorous story!

Only Ella

Ella's class is beginning to learn about how to research and write reports.  Each 1st grader was recently told to pick an animal they want to learn more about and work on writing a 5 page report at home.  Ella told us about the spiders, snakes, monkeys, lions and cheetahs that her classmates picked.  What did she choose, you wonder?

(Are you also wondering where in the world she came up with this?  The blue-footed booby has been an obsession since the first time she read What Do You Do with a Tail Like This?) 

My first reaction to her choice was, "What!? You'll have to stand in front of the class sharing your report and saying 'Booby'!  And this is a research project, where are we going to find any information about this random bird?" However, researching reports no longer means digging through the old World Book Encyclopedias at the public library.  Ella was smart enough to answer, "The computer, Mom!" (duh).  Sure enough, a Google search led us to a plethora of You Tube videos, images and personal blog posts about people's encounters with this interesting bird.  If you want to know more, give Ella a call and she'd be happy to fill you in on all things blue-footed booby, including a detailed description of the odd dance it does to get a girlfriend! :)

Apple Hill Is

Since Ella had a day off school yesterday, we decided to head to Apple Hill, where we cleverly planned on beating the weekend crowds.  Well, we did in fact have the place to ourselves, but it was because almost everything was closed on the weekday!  It was disappointing to miss some of the favorites that we make the drive for (like pony rides and U-pick), but it was still nice to get out of the house and into some fresh fall air.

Though it looked different than we were expecting, Apple Hill is:

Warm apple donuts and a porch swing.

A smorgasbord of mouth watering apple goodies.  An apple pie now resides in my freezer, a gallon of fresh apple cider in my fridge. 

Sighting our first fall colors.

Coming home with several pounds of apples in all different varieties, though we picked this year's batch from crates in barns instead of right off the trees.

A pretty little park with wild blackberry bushes and bridges over a bubbling stream where we ate a picnic lunch (probably my favorite part of the day).

Enjoying time together as a family-- taking goofy pictures, hiking nature trails, petting farm animals.

Apple Hill, even when mostly closed, is still a special fall tradition!

Feels Like Fall

We finally made it over to our friend's pumpkin farm today and partook in all of the traditions that make it feel a little more like fall (despite the temps staying in the high 80's every day this week).

Jumping and doing flips on the hay bale trampoline.

Racing trikes around the dirt and tire track (new this year!).

Enjoying a tractor-pulled hay ride.

Also new this year at the pumpkin farm was a huge field opened up to U-pick customers.  This is what we spent the most time on-- pulling our wagon along the pumpkin patch paths with our eyes peeled for those perfect pumpkins (give me a high five for that impressive alliteration! :).  After carefully considering dozens of options, the girls were very proud of their selections. 

Next up on our fall agenda: apple picking, pony riding and cider sipping!  Stay tuned!

Being a PK is Awesome!

As we do every year, yesterday we enjoyed our Pastor Appreciation Day spoils at Funworks.  The whole place gets opened up to just pastors and their families and we get to play everything for free.  This year we were intentional about sharing the experience with our good buddies the Wickers.  Our 5 kids had a ball playing together while Lloyd, Heidi, Dave and I got in as much conversation as was possible over the drone of go-kart engines or the pounding beat of loud music!

The go-karts are always our first stop.  I just love riding with a squealing little girl as my passenger.  It is not possible to drive too fast or too crazy for these kiddos.  Can you tell that they're pretty excited as they wait in line?

 (The picture below was taken as we drove past Dave and Delia.  Its blurriness makes me think I was driving pretty fast. :)

This year, Anika met the bumper car driver height requirement, so she loved driving both Ella and then Delia during Bump 'n Tag time.  There are a lot of ways to gauge time flying and bumper cars seem a strange way to do it, but I remember our first Pastor Appreciation Day at Funworks with kids.  Ella was a tiny tot and we spent just an hour there, all of it in the ball pit.  Now our kids are running around riding things by themselves!

The indoor play structure seems to be timeless and remains a favorite. Though, riding the zip line thingy upside-down was a new experience this year.

After a fun afternoon at Funworks, we had to end the night with some pizza for dinner.  I know there are times when being the pastor's kids will be challenging, but at least once a year being a PK = go-karts + pizza with friends.  And that's a pretty awesome equation.

Something New

Yesterday Ella took her first step on what we hope will be a long journey.  She began piano lessons with Miss Sara (our very good friend who I write about often).  Ella's favorite thing about school is her twice a week music class.  We hear more about the notes and beats she learns in this class than anything else school-related.  It was her own idea to start piano lessons and she is thrilled! 

Will she play the piano her whole life?  Will what she learns in lessons give her a strong foundation for choir or other instrument playing?  Will it come naturally or will she always have to work hard it at?  We don't know any answers at this point, but are sure that the journey to finding them will definitely have value.  And, for now, Ella couldn't be happier to be sitting with Sara at the fancy piano once a week learning about "bear claw hands"!

Reunited

I'm thinking of changing the title of this blog to "Things the VM Family Does on Saturdays" since that seems to be all I actually post anymore! :)  This Saturday the family activity was to get together with our dear friends the Gilmores, who had all sorts of exciting God stories to share about their season of ministry in Haiti. 

Today's goal was to relax, enjoy the beautiful day and catch up.  This means on the agenda was eating, talking, visiting the farmer's market, taking the girls to the park, then eating and talking some more.

We're so proud to support the work Dorina and Ericlee do in Haiti and strongly believe in their vision to move past aid into development for their school/church/orphanage/medical clinic ministry in rural Haiti.  Today we heard stories about 40 kids giving their hearts to Jesus in a single day of VBS, people so desperate to meet God that they hike for 2 hours to get to their little mountain church and the launching of a new beaded necklace business that will make the women of this community self-sustaining.  We also marveled at some of the fun stories about the Gilmore's adjustment to life in Haiti-- tarantulas in their house, living with just an hour of electricity a day, getting their truck unstuck on muddy roads.  They feel strongly that God is calling them to continue this ministry of connecting resources and plan to keep living half the year in California and half the year in Haiti.  They head back in April with an exciting plan to install solar energy panels into their buildings, greatly increasing their electricity and eliminating the cost of the gasoline to run generators.  The fundraising they do now will go towards the $18,000 price tag on this project.  Though Dave is not running with Team Gilmore again this year, we're still excited to contribute and invite you to do the same. You can visit http://www.christianfriendshipministries.org/ for more info. 

(Oh, and for those who know Dorina well and know no post about a visit with them is complete without describing her menu, tonight it was butternut squash lasagna and strawberry salad.  And it was incredible.)

Clam Shell Comparison

At the aquarium, a popular place to take pictures is in the life-sized giant clam shell.  Never ones to miss a photo op, this is what we looked like yesterday...

And this is what we looked like the last time we visited the aquarium, a mere three and half years ago!

I think that clam shell is shrinking!

Under the Sea

Because we were in desperate need of a day away and because there seemed to be about a dozen good reasons to do it, today we became members of the world class Monterey Bay Aquarium.  We can't wait to spend a whole year getting to know this place and the amazing creatures that dwell inside of it better!  And we're excited to share it with friends since our membership comes with reusable guest passes!

The big story is the Great White Shark the aquarium currently has on exhibit.  He's part of a shark conservation program, as his very presence at the aquarium makes a million visitors appreciate sharks more.  He's hard to get a picture of, though, especially since we were warned to not use our flash.  I decided to settle on a fuzzy picture instead of breaking the rules and angering the Great White Shark!  We spent a long time watching him and his Hammer Head buddies glide around the huge Open Seas tank.  This is one animal we've never seen before, so it's extremely cool to now say we have.

The sea turtle tank brought back happy memories of snorkeling in Hawaii.  Delia made friends with one turtle here who kept following her and putting his nose up to the glass.

We loved the soothing sea horse exhibit.  Here we marveled at what a great artist God is.  Each tank showed us one more interesting kind of sea horse after the next.  Above, Ella shows off our favorite Leafy Sea Dragons.

There were some neat movies and interactive displays teaching us about how the sea horse dads carry and give birth to the babies. This whole exhibit really brought our beloved Mister Seahorse book to life!

Delia just couldn't wait to get to the penguin habitat.  In the lookout bubble, it seemed like the penguins were checking her out!

 On the aquarium's wrap-around observation decks, we had another huge treat-- sighting a pod of about 100 dolphins out in the ocean.  Aquarium workers told us that the pod has been hanging out here all week.  The naked eye showed us a ton of splashing in the water.  The telescope helped us see the dolphins actually jumping and breaching the water in play!

I am completely intrigued by the Giant Octopus, who we learned from a video are mysterious, shy and super intelligent.  Today they were both out and suctioned to the glass for us to get a good look.

The touch pools are aways a hit.  We felt star fish, urchins, crabs, kelp and this mushy sea cucumber.

We saved the Splash Zone play area for last and it was just as fun for the girls as we expected.  They quickly dressed up as sea creatures and had a ball running around the play area and getting soaked in the water tables.

 The glass room with the big wave that crashes over it took a good chunk of our time too.  A look at the girls' faces tells you how this delighted them, which of course delighted their parents.

And no trip to Monterey is complete without a stop at the beach.  There are a lot of reasons why my soul is well, but the fact that I regularly get to dig my toes in sand and see, hear and smell the ocean is one of them!