Fall Rain

We love watching the rain on chilly weekend days...

...it feels like fall has finally arrived. =)

Friday Finally!

This week has just dragged and dragged!

I can NOT believe how long it's taken to get to Friday. 

HA!

This morning, we needed to shake things up.  It's been a bit of a rough month for our family and there's a general cloud of "funk" clouding around our favorite hangouts....it was time for a road trip. =)

I've heard about the Jelly Belly factory in Fairfield ever since I was in elementary school.  

We took a trip once to visit cousins in Vacaville, and I was so mad that we ended up driving RIGHT by the factory but not stopping for a tour on our way to San Francisco.

LOTS of years later...and seven years into my bay area life....the time had finally come to take that tour!

WHY it took so long to visit the factory I will never know.

It literally took us just over an hour from door to door!

And, the drive was beautiful!

 Of course, we had to wait in line for our free tour.

(there were three school groups on field trip there, so many bouncy excited kids getting yelled at to behave and so many parents happily chatting and snapping pictures...ahhhhh memories)

 Ezra was a little disappointed.  I think I may have convinced him that since we were going so early in the day on a weekday the crowds wouldn't be so large....oops!  

He's also started this new thing that if people are around him when I ask to take his picture with something....this is the face I get.

Oh well!

I think we waited a total of 15 minutes, 

(which to an almost 4 year old feels like forever)

then we were handed our hats and told to turn off our cameras as we were whisked away to view the secret lair of the magical Jelly Belly.

 We had an EXCELLENT tour guide and it was fun to see all the different stages of jelly bean creation. Everything smelled sooooooooo good! 

(they were working on a fresh batch of buttered popcorn beans while we were there)

  We had LOTS of free samples as we walked along the assembly line, 

(including a jelly bean "pre shell" mmmmmmmm!)

and we learned all about Jelly Belly trivia.

(did you know they top sellers are very cherry, buttered popcorn, and licorice.....

...and that President Reagan's favorite jelly bean was licorice....see?  I was paying attention! 

HA!)

Ezra was instantly enamored of the big robot arms that were doing the heavy (and fast) lifting on the floor.  

For the rest of our time in the factory he decided to pretend that he was also a robot arm and that I had taken him to visit this jelly bean factory so that he could see his "cousin robots".  

Man this kid cracks me up!

At then end of our trip, everyone got a little "thank you for visiting us" bag of beans.

Ezra was SO HAPPY!!.....

...until I asked to take a picture with him in the gift shop.

HA! 

Fine.....totally embarrassed of his silly Mom already.

 =)

 We had such a wonderful time, we decided to plan a return trip with Daddy one day!

(or any family/friends that choose to visit...HINT HINT!!)

 Back at home, lunch was made extra special with a souvenir twisty straw....

....and a two pound bag full of Belly Flops!

(the weird shaped beans that don't make it into the "retail bags")

They sell them super cheap in the giant gift shop....although I've heard they used to GIVE them away.

We like trying to guess which flavor they are before we bite in...Ezra's getting pretty good at it!

 Whew! 

Well, here's to the end of the week and the start of a brand new weekend of fun! 

(hopefully!!)

Halloween 2012(aka: the post that should have been 4 posts)

Halloween 2012 kicked off with the ward party this year.

Usually, we don't dress up, but Ezra started planning costumes for us, so we decided to jump in.

Ta-Dah!

The firefighter brought his two constant companions to the party...smoke and fire.

HA!

After a chili cook off, and some games, it was time for the parade...

....door to door trick-or-treating....

...and then a sugar high,dance party

We have such a fun ward family!

On Tuesday, Ezra's preschool had a party ALL DAY!  The kids came in costume and spent the entire two and a half hours, playing games, doing crafts, and being silly.

I signed up to be the parent volunteer that day and it was SO funny to watch Ezra interacting with his little friends.  He's totally a talker, just like his mom, one of the teachers had to come and sit in-between him and his little friend Goh. HA HA!

Oh the memories!

After crafts it was time for the parade.  Look at those adorable faces!

The kids paraded around the playground, and then the parents filled up their little goody bags with non-candy Halloween treats...

 HOORAY!

...we finally got all the kids to sit down for a picture...

...and I got these two little Ezra's to hold still and smile. 

(how crazy is it that this class has two Ezra's?  The best part.....the Ezra moms are both named Jennifer. HA HA!)

After a delicious little potluck, it was time to head home.  

Preschool is so much fun!

That night, when Daddy came home from work it was time to carve up the pumpkins!

 Ezra picked out our "family" of gourds and then our sweet neighbor Debbie asked us to carve her's up as well.  FOUR whole pumpkins to carve!? 

WOO!

 I tried to pick the smallest of the two "biggies".  

I never know what to carve...

 ...Talin on the other hand is always ready for some fun, creative, pumpkin mangling.
We made sure he had the biggest canvas available for his creation. =)

Of course, no party is complete without a bit of Skyping....

....with both families!
Oh how we miss them!

 Once the pumpkins were carved, and the mess was cleaned up, we lit up our creations...

 ...and headed outside to see them. 

(can you see the two orange dots?)

 We finish up the night with a dance party....again. 

HA HA!

 On the ACTUAL day of Halloween we were invited to a friend's house to trick-or-treat in one of the funnest neighborhoods in Burlingame as a group.

THIS party started out with some trampoline fun...

....a bit of dinner, and then we were off!

It was so fun to walk the streets, laughing with friends, holding bulging bags full of candy, to heavy for little hands to hold anymore.

These three little amigos kept right up with the big kids...

 ...running from house to house yelling "TRICK OR TREAT" then dashing away, squealing and calling after each other to "come on lets go to the next one!"

When we got back to the house, it was a sugar FESTIVAL....

 ...which quickly ended with a sugar crash....and one sleeeeeeeeeeepy boy!

This was our first Halloween in the bay area in three years, and even though we missed our families like CRAZY...we feel so blessed to have such wonderful friends to celebrate with. =)