Only in San Francisco

When my bestest bud Diana came for a visit we headed to San Fran for a day of frolicking. Here are some shots of stuff that screams CA to us.

Playing at the Golden Gate.

Only in California: A Christmas decorated surfer chick. (Also Californian- the yummy fish tacos at this place).

Nuff said.

The GINORMOUS Christmas tree at the pier. You can only see like .5% of it in this picture.

Children's wine tasting. Definitely a San Francisco thing. Mia was tipsy in this photo.

...............I really hope people know I'm being sarcastic.

Palm trees, a light house, and the sunset. What a picturesque romantic evening. Too bad I was nursing Mia on some super uncomfortable bench somewhere else and Griff and Sophie were crashing on Diana and Grayson's memorable moment.

This doesn't really have anything to do with California- but while in SF, we stopped at the fun little arcade with olden day games. They had this Career game which was supposed to tell Griff his new path in life.

Apparently Griff was born for Adagio Dancing. He is surprisingly limber.

I just had to post this video of our daring Cowgirl.

While up for the weekend Diana helped me cook my very first turkey! I had to take a picture! It was sooooo Delicious! Thanks Di! It was awesome having you guys here! I miss you! It was a great Thanksgiving.... except the part where Griff busted his hand playing flag (?) football. Yes, really busted, like surgery with pins and general anesthetic. Just in time to move. :)

And here is one last video to get you in the Christmas Spirit! This is an actual house here in the city! We can sit and watch this forever. (And we did that night.) Check out their website.

I smell a rat.

Hi and Hello and happy American Thanksgiving! We had my friend Diana and her husband come and spend the holiday with us and it was GREAT!!! (I'll post about that later...) right now I have to catch up on some of the goings ons.

BIG NEWS:

We are officially moving home to the great white north. No, we are not communists. No, we are not going back for free health care. No, we are not crazy to be moving in January... wait, I take that one back.

Griff has been accepted to the good ol' U of L (Lethbridge for our non native friends) and will be starting a second degree in biochem. So back to the life of the starving student for us. (Yippee??!) Actually we are pretty excited to try something new and to live right (RIGHT) by grandma.

So this will be our last month in California and we've been trying to enjoy it. We took the girls to the Sacramento zoo and to Fairytale Land. It's a big park where kids can climb and jump and slide. Pretty much a big hit with Sophie.

Tentatively going into King Aurthur's Castle.

Ever wonder about the shoe the little old woman lived in?

Well, wonder no more.

Big slide.

Fast slide.

Driving Cinderella's coach

Mia riding a giant turtle.

The cheese stands alone.

No, really, see:

The only family shot we got. Pretty great.

We saw lots of fun animals at the zoo. Lions, tigers, anteaters. But gotta love the freaky giant RAT we saw running around with the flamingos. Alberta is sounding better and better.

Also, Mia enjoying her first swing! (better get park time in before the big move):(

We will keep everyone updated on the plans. HAPPY THANKSGIVING EVERYONE!

Watch out...

Sooooo close! But not quite crawling yet.

Trick or Treat

Thankfully I pulled something together and Mia did not have to go as a Banana for trick or treating! On Halloween we went to the local farmers market to get candy from the vendors and participated in the costume parade for the kids. There was also a costume contest and Sophie won 3rd place! I dressed them up as matching fairies but Sophie thought she was a butterfly. Really it was just a fru fru girly costume.

Griff took Sophie around trick or treating that night. He dressed up as the perfect companion of a little pixie.......

A bank robber.

Tutorial on how to make a Lame halloween costume

1.Procrastinate until the night the costume is needed.

2.No need for sewing, just use lots of hot glue.

3.Reuse or just adjust last years costume.

Yup, I suck. Halloween is one of my favorite holidays but I could not get it together this year. So poor Mia's first Halloween costume is just, well, Lame. Oh well. They had a blast at the trunk or treat!

Here are some shots of Mia in Sophie's costume (that I bought for 5 bucks last year). Sophie was terrified of it when I first tried to put it on her, so I put it on Mia to show her the gorilla wasn't going to eat her.

A visit from Grandma Jan

This month we were so lucky to have Grandma Jan come and stay a week with us! It was so fun for the girls to spend time with Grandma,

and sure nice for Griff and I too! We kept her busy the whole week with travels and eating and shopping and playing games. We sure miss you grandma Jan!

Checking out the Golden Gate at night.

Santa Cruz! It was so cold that day!

Griff leaning at the Mystery Spot..... it is very mysterious.

Rainforest Cafe... always a must.

At the Monterey Bay Aquarium. Grandma Jan was brave enough to touch a sting ray!

Sophie pulling the Cannery whistle.

Sophie wanted to take Grandma to her favorite place. It is so crazy here. Soph just can't get enough chuck e cheese. The building is located right next to the freeway and when we drive by it she can see the big purple mouse and screams "chuck e cheese! Hi chuck e cheese!" There should be laws against advertising directed towards children.

Down here they have these things called pumpkin patches where you go and pick out your pumpkins before Halloween. (I know, kinda weird). But they always have lots of fun stuff. We went to this one that had a little maze and a haunted hay bale house. The girls loved it.

Mia is seriously tough. Like future rugby player tough. It's not easy having Sophie as an older sibling.

Mia eating some hay.

Mean daddy taking Sophie into the haunted house. There is nothing in there, it's just a dark tunnel. When I went through with Mia though, some bratty kid was hiding in there and scared me. Little punk.

We were so sad to see Grandma Jan to the airport. We made some good memories: Jess FINALLY won settlers of catan for the first time in her life,

We discovered one star motels really aren't that bad,

You can gain five pounds in one week when you eat yourself sick every night,

Sophie had a blast at the park watching soccer with Grandma,

Jan saw finding nemo for the first time ever,

Life is wonderful when someone else doesn't mind changing dirty diapers,

I think the most important memory is that the girls got to know their grandma better. We love and miss you Grandma Jan!

I'm in Love

And I don't care who knows it. I love Sydney Bristow. Best. Show. Ever.

I guess I'll post about some of my other loves too...

Love this goof ball.

Love my Home and Native Land. (This was from our Canadian Booth at the International Heritage Festival)

Love our little mascot. (Shhhh, don't tell her she's really not Canadian).

Love this monkey jumping on my couch. (One fell down and bumped his head... So true to life song.)

Love messy faces. Mmmmmm bananas.

Love that I have 2 girls. (I'll be taking this back in approximately 13 years)

Love warm coat weather.

Love baby giggles. (Sorry for the jiggly camera. Hard to videotape when fighting off 2 year old).

Love baby bums.

All you need is love.