Do you hear what I hear?

My little boy swears.

A Fall Adventure

Matt planned an adventure for us a month or so ago. He woke up early and brought me and Owen breakfast in bed, then he took Owen and let me take a long shower and actually spend time getting ready. We hopped in the car and drove to our first destination (and ate yummy snacks - ie chocolate - that Matt had provided). We went to Lemos Farm in Half Moon Bay, where they had a Fall/Halloween festival. Owen LOVED everything about this place. We took a train ride and a hay ride, saw the animals, picked out a pumpkin, and watched all the other kids running around. 

After that, we went to Mavericks, which is a beach in Half Moon Bay famous for its huge (and dangerous) waves. Matt had always wanted to see it, and it was actually a really cool beach. The waves come in perpendicular to the beach from both sides and meet in the middle - it's quite cool to see. After that we had a great lunch at a local seafood place, then spent some time exploring local beaches. We ended our day by driving up through San Francisco and going to Baker Beach right next to the Golden Gate Bridge. It was a great day, and a much needed vacation for the three of us to spend time just with our little family. Enjoy the pictures... there are lots of them!

Owen so excited to hop on the train.

Looking at the funny white pumpkins.

So excited to be on the train.

Ok, so we didn't realize that when they said "haunted" train ride, they really meant it. They had scenes set up by the side of the tracks that featured dirty old dolls and creepy clowns with scary masks on. They were all covered in gore and all grubbied up... it was actually pretty creepy. Good thing Owen didn't really notice...

Look at this deceased/decaying lamb/donkey thing. Totally creepy. (Way creepier in real life but I wasn't fast enough with the camera).

Playing on the big covered wagon.

Love these two.

Ready for the hayride.

Owen was so excited about the fact that he was allowed to stand up and run around in the hay while we were driving... and he nearly jumped off the truck.

Cowboy Owen.

Picking out a baby pumpkin to take home.

 

Got one!

Being a cheeser. As usual.

Cute farmers.

Sweet pumpkin truck!

Danger sign at Mavericks.

Looking at the HUGE waves.

Look what I found, mom!

Cool rocks with holes in them and a shell that Owen calls a "sea pumpkin".

Owen and mommy doing a rock maze.

Finished!

Finding another cool beach.

Cute beach boy checking out a "house" in the rocks.

Baker Beach, San Francisco.

Look at Owen's face - he loved running from the waves with daddy.

Thanks for the great day Matt!

Bossy

Owen is a very sweet little boy, and generally very polite, but don't for a moment think that this makes him docile.... this video (taken through the doorjamb) is just a little glimpse of what a *strong personality* he has. :)

Halloween 2010

We like to dress up in group costumes, but had some trouble coming up with one using just what we had on hand, so these costumes were thrown together literally at the last minute. Not as well put together as usual, but they turned out pretty cute. Owen had a blast carving pumpkins and getting candy at our ward activity this year - I'm just sad he didn't get to trick-or-treat, because he was loving the whole idea. Oh well. We'll just have to make up for it next year. :)

Owen and I carved Mike Wazowski.

Done!

Matt did Batman... it was really cool!

Everyone's pumpkins lined up on the front porch.

The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.

I have the cutest lion. :)

ROAR!

And.... a dazed face from Owen just for good measure. :)

Owen's birthday party

Ok, I will be the first one to admit that I went a little overboard with Owen's party. However, we decided that since we're so close to a lot of our family right now, we might as well have a big party to celebrate. That, and all the Cars stuff was marked down for clearance at the party store. :) Anyway, we had a lot of fun with plans for Owen's party, and I think everyone enjoyed coming. Most importantly, Owen absolutely loved that everything around him was Cars and Lightning McQueen, and he had a great day.

Daddy surprised Owen with a Lightning McQueen balloon when he woke up in the morning.

Chocolate chip Mickey Mouse pancake for breakfast.

Owen's Lightning McQueen cake. You don't even want to know how much food coloring went into that red frosting. Really.

I must say that I was pretty darn proud of how well the cake turned out, but I will also say that next year, Owen's getting a 13x9 cake that's not even coming out of the pan.

Part of the decorations.

This was Ramone's House of Body Art (from the Cars movie) - we had wooden cars that people could paint, just like in the movie.

Among his many other talents, Matt is a very good artist, and drew these sweet backdrops of places from Radiator Springs. This one is Luigi's Casa della Tires, complete with the Leaning Tower of Tires.

This is Flo's V8 Cafe, where we served 'motor oil' and 'washer fluid'.

This is Ramone's House of Body Art.


We served food in the back of various dumptrucks.

Tow Mater's Fish Pond had prizes for all the kids.

Owen getting started on painting his car.

My mom helping Owen whack the pinata that Matt's mom brought. I'm not quite sure Owen gets it yet.

Free-for-all for candy.

Owen was a bit clueless about the whole thing, but thought it was pretty great that we let him pick up tons of candy.

Opening presents - he got a broom from Grandma Bromley, because he loves to help clean.

He loved all of his new books, and almost wouldn't put them down to open anything else.

Now he's getting into it. :)

Cheeser.

Saying thank you to everyone.

Our present to Owen was a teepee that we made.

Singing happy birthday to himself.

Blowing out his candle.

We had tons of fun with everyone, and got to see almost all of our family in the area. Owen loved all the attention and especially all the Cars stuff. I'm pretty sure he'd be willing to have a birthday every day, but I'm definitely glad it's over with. :) Can't believe my big boy is already two years old. Love you Owen!