Perfectly Pismo

October 2014....that went fast...

October was a little slower, almost.  Noelle was busy with photography sessions.  She shot three this month and delivered her wedding from this summer.  The kids are getting in the swing of school  We spent the month studying South America, specifically the Amazon.  It was great fun.  We went on a few field trips, including a whale watching trip with our charter school.  I was so glad to get back off the boat with all the kids and our things.  The kids were wonderful and while we didn't see much, some seals and a pod of dolphins.

We then went and played on the beach.  It was a great day.  I love what the kids wrote in the sand...  

 Our second field trip was to the San Diego Zoo. We love it here.  I grew up coming here with my family as a child. I love that my children love it too.  It is worth the drive.  We had a great time enjoying our day here.  After the zoo we went to Old Town and saw the altares that were set up for Day of the Dead and then off to La Jolla to find the sleeping sea lions.  Unfortunately the sea lions weren't there but it was such great fun to take the kids to my favorite childhood haunts for the day.  

A little aside here about Anna and Woody.  She brought him all over the zoo and carried him on her back.  It is so sweet how caring she is for her "babies".    And how kind it was of Vinny to let her adopt Woody from his collection for the day.

 It rained!  It rained!  The kids loved spending the rainy day playing in the rain. 

Anna has discovered Barbies, I love that she plays with them the way I did.  They have whole worlds and conversations.  Thank you Gillichs for sharing your collection with us. 

 The CalPoly Pumpkin Patch.  We love that we moved from one Poly to another.  Although at this Poly, they have all these funny shirts that highlight their insecurity about not being CalPoly SLO, referring to it as the "other Poly".  They put on a great pumpkin patch every year.  It is huge and well organized.  And we made it through the patch without losing anyone.  Unlike last year when we had to shut down the patch to find two of our children who panicked and headed back to the car when they couldn't see us.  We found them quickly, thank goodness.  But back to this year...we didn't have much time, having crushed as much into one Saturday as possible (photo shoot, smog check, pumpkin patch and birthday party).  

We attended a few Halloween parties this year.  The first was at our Church.  It was great fun.  The kids love being with their friends.  Here is our sweet Elsa.  She loved singing and her beautiful capes. 

Gianni and his best friend Chris 

Some more Co-op fun, the teenagers built hovercrafts and gave rides to all the kids at lunch.  It was great fun. 

Pumpkin Carving Time!  You didn't tell me you were going to kill it!  The kids all helped us scrape out the insides of the pumpkins a first for us, it is usually my job to scrape them all clean as no one wanted to put their hands inside them until this year.  We got a great assortment of faces.  I love that Anna wanted curls on her pumpkin so it would look like her.  Gianni carved his own and kept all of his fingers too!  Vinny chose a cyclops theme for his and Mudge and Frankie had his dad help him design his face. Vinny and Gianni took turns grossing us out by eating the pumpkin guts.  We had a great discussion about the gross things that boys eat. They thought it was hilarious.  I love that when we put them out on our wall, the kids insisted on placing them close together like our family.  It was so great! 

Frankie was a Pokemon named Oshawatt.  He is an otter type creature.  He showed me a photo and I did my best to recreate it.  People who knew Pokemon knew who he was, so I call that success! 

This is Frankie at his preschool.  He is attending a Pre-K program four days a week.  The program's director is one of our close friends and she does the most amazing job!  Frankie does so many crafts and I love that he is allowed to create and create all day.  He loves it and is learning a lot.  It was a hard sell to convince him to stay at school in the beginning, but he is getting better.  It takes a series of hugs to leave him there, but he enjoys it once he relaxes into it.  

 These are our Pokemon Connoisseurs.  Vinny was Ash Ketchum who trains Pokemons, such as Oshawatt and Pikachu.  Gianni was Cilan, who trains Pansage, whom he is holding.  Again, they just said make me look like that.  I had a marathon sewing session and got them all done.  I didn't mean to stay up all night, but when I went to lay down that night before our Halloween Party, Gianni woke up just enough to ask me, "Mom, if you are going to sleep will our costumes be done?" And I realized the answer was, no.  So I got up and finished all that I had to do.  I was so grateful to have finished it off and the rest of the week went so much better. My favorite part was when Dan came in and I asked him why he was up in the middle of the night, he answered that he was getting up for work...

 Pokemon Collection, our boys with Vinny's best friend Luke as a Pokemon. 

 We ended the night at our friend's haunted house.  Frankie was done in, he asked if he could lay down.  He did and fell asleep in the driveway.  We didn't realize how tired he was. 

September 2014 - A quick pictorial tour

September was a great whirl of activity.  We began with a trip to Santa Cruz to celebrate Deborah and Eric's birthdays with the family.  We also went and saw Karen in Monterey and spent the evening with her.  Then Anna's birthday (you can see the prior post) then some final trips to the Hollywood Bowl.  We promised ourselves after a long and busy summer that we would stay home for awhile and try and catch up.  We succeeded for a few weekends.  We spent some time at the LA county fair and Oma came to visit us.

We also began our semester at our homeschool co-op.  It has been wonderful.  My favorite part was Dan's reaction when we asked him about joining it.  Vinny was so excited, he said "Dad, there is a Pokemon class."  Dan replied, "That is not a class, that is like saying Lego is a  class."  We all got a good laugh at that, as one of Vinny's other five classes is a LEGO class.  He also is taking a class on the science of bubbles, brain games, and chess club.  Gianni is studying animals (via stuffed animals), sculpting, LEGOs and a writing class. The boys have converted me to a Pokemon supporter, I am surprised at the amount of math and strategy that is required to play.  We have also all learned to play chess which we are enjoying.  Vinny is loving teaching us.   We are really enjoying making new friends and learning as well.  I enjoy the fact that I get to spend the day with Frankie and Anna.  While the boys are learning in their classes, I get to spend the day with the younger two playing and doing crafts.  It has been really good for all of us.

John Williams (composer of Star Wars) concert at the Hollywood Bowl, our favorite concert of the year.  Note all the lightsabers...

Anna and her Dalmatian Bunny

Gianni, Owen and Anna with Baby Chicks

Uncle Dan and Jamison, Mike and Brittney's new baby

Give Dan a Sleeping Baby and he'll fall right asleep, always has

Jamison Michael Buffo

Eric Making Dinner

Eric made a his own birthday dinner, it was beautiful

We had a birthday party at the farm for Deborah and Eric.  The Allens and Becks (Deborah's family) came to celebrate too.  It was great fun to play with all the cousins, especially on the giant rope swing over the redwoods.  It was great fun. 

The Boys, Giovanni, Vincent, Frankie and Theo

Gianni and School, it wasn't particularly his favorite subject

Frankie and Anna working during school

Vinny and Science Experiment 

Anna playing with a lizard she caught

Popcorn Experiment from Farmer Boy, all about displacement and absorption

 Last Hollywood Bowl Concert of the year, Holst's Planets Suite with footage from the Hubble Telescope of the planets.  It was amazing.  Vinny was especially excited as he wants to be an astronomer/zoologist when he grows up. 

Preschool Co-Op playing Parachute Games

Anna's Preschool Activities at Home, making playdough

Frankie caught his first lizard at co-op

Gianni and Anna play at co-op

LA County Fair 

We were able to hop into the LA County fair for a few hours this year.  It is a funny fair, but the kids love it.  They have a great field trip program. The kids love the petting area.  We spend a lot of time there. 

Oma came to visit us.  Vinny taught her a little Pokemon.  We went swimming and enjoyed our day.  Dan and Oma went skeet shooting and then that night Anna, Oma and I went to the Hollywood Bowl Sing a Long Sound of Music.  It was campy and wonderful.  It was fun.  Anna loved the movie and spent the next week singing Do, Re, Mi.  

 Vinny earned his Wolf Badge at Scouts.  We are so proud of him.

More Co-Op Fun, Anna and the Swings and Gianni and his Animal Class 

There were so many photos of this one, I had to make a collage.  I am so glad I could capture this everyday thing.  Each night when Dan gets home Anna rushes to him and tells him all about his day.  Oh my stars, she is so cute and animated.   I love all the things that she tells him, way more than she says to me.  I stand close by to help translate.  I love all her little faces and I love how much she is a Daddy's girl. 

That was our September in a nutshell (plus a birthday).  For us, this was a quiet month, that is a scary thought.