Julian, CA- Apple Orchard and Mining Co

On Saturday, October 6th we had the pleasure of driving down to Julian, CA. It took about an hour and forty-five minutes to get there, but it was well worth the drive. We went with three other families and made the most of our day in Julian by going apple picking, having BBQ for lunch, visiting the Julian Mining Company and picking up a couple of pies and fresh apple cider. What an awesome day!

                             Raven Hill Orchard. No admission fee, just $10 fee for a bag of apples.
                     Free to roam the orchard and take your time. There were about 6 different varieties.

We had a great time picking and eating apples for about 1.5 hours. They were all dwarf varieties so the kids were able to pick the apples by themselves most of the time.

Next, we all headed back to Main Street for some BBQ lunch. Party of 9 adults, 8 children under 5 years old and one baby on the way.

Our last main activity around 3PM in the afternoon was to the Julian Mining Co. The kids got to use the gem sluice, pet and feed some Billie goats, go into a teepee, run through a pumpkin patch, and sit on a tractor. They had a great time just running through the pumpkin patch.

                                               Charlotte tried, but she is not quite tall enough yet.

                                                        Our loot from the day's events. Yum!


                                                                                   The End!

Ava at 3 years and 10 mo Old

                                                  Ava and her Baby Kitty at 3 yrs 10 mo Old.

Ava is always saying she is a great balancer. She enjoys trying to learn how to balance across a low beam at gymnastics. She is getting better but still can't quite make it all the way across without stepping off at least once in the process.

                                            Hosting their first lemonade stand at a friend's house.

                                   Ava and Charlotte at our friend's home. Ava dressed herself up
                                   in a Princess Aurora dress, red hair bow, and bike helmet. Fancy!

                                                               Ava telling Charlotte a story.

                                                    Ava and her pal Mikey love bunnies and cats.

                                                      Playing castle at Grandpa and Omi's house.

Charlotte at 23 mo Old

Charlotte is 23 mo old now and is talking a lot more. She ways things like "No Way!", "Oh, my!", and is learning and repeating new words and expressions everyday. She enjoys watching Go Diego Go just as much as Ava. It's their favorite and only show that they want to watch lately. Charlotte will repeat the Spanish words on the show and anytime there is any short of music she was dance by rocking side to side, and if the song is a fast song she will also swing her arms in the air and do a head banging moves.

                       She's gotten very good at climbing up and down stairs while holding on to a handrail.

Visiting the Santa Ana Zoo for the First Time

We went with our friends to the Santa Ana Zoo for the first time a few weeks back.  It's a really cute local zoo with lots of primates and a rain forest like setting. It costs $10 for adults and $7 for kids 3years and up.

We love looking at turtles. Their pond had several different species that were either resting on the bank or swimming about.

                               The Lion Tamarin was their favorite animal to look at at the zoo.

                                 We loved watching this lemur show off his acrobatic moves.

                             Charlotte's least favorite animal to look at was definitely the ant eater.
                                                    She was horrified. We quickly moved on.

                         Charlotte's first ride on a carousel. Ava got lucky because no one else was on
                                                 the  ride and she got to sit on the leopard.

                                                                    Petting the goats.

One of the really cool things about visiting the Santa Ana Zoo was that Ava got to identify and name a few of the animals that she has learned about on her favorite show, Go Diego Go. She saw a Cotton-Top Tamarin, a blue macaw, lemurs, and several different types of turtles.

Celebrating Ryan's Birthday at Medieval Times

Ryan wanted to bring the kids to Medieval Times for his birthday. We went on a Sunday night and had a lot of fun during the two hour show and dinner. We got to sit in the Royalty section, first row, and they announced Ryan's birthday during the opening ceremony too. We were cheering for the blue knight and he won the tournament! Ava was handed a pink carnation after he won one tournament and Charlotte was named queen of the entire tournament at the end of it all! She got lucky! Our blue knight came over on this horse and gave her a blue sash to wear that says "Queen of the Tournament". I was trying to take a picture of our blue knight and didn't even realize he was giving the sash to Charlotte. Ryan was holding Charlotte up at the time and he accepted the sash on her behalf. I only got a blurry picture of the blue knight! Oops. We had a great time and I am sure in years to come we will be going again. Once we got back home we had ice cream cake ready for Daddy.

                                                    Beautiful white Spanish horses.

                   The kids especially enjoyed watching the falcon circle the arena. Pretty amazed.

                                       Ava after she received the pink carnation from the blue knight.

Our blue knight approaching Ryan and Charlotte with the blue sash at the end of his lance.

                                                   Yay! Charlotte! Queen of the Tournament.