My favorite time of year

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Well summer is over and so are the the summer posts of what I did this summer! Thanks for sharing your kind, funny and friendly comments with me. I hope you enjoyed them as much as I did and you've gotten a few new ideas to share with your family and friends. I've learned that when you carry your camera with you, there are daily opportunities to make memories!

The weather is starting to cool off, the sunset is coming earlier everyday and late night dinner picnics are coming to an end for the season because...

Fall has arrived!!

By my calendar, it starts Labor Day weekend when all the decorations come out of storage and I decorate over the holiday.

I didn't put out too much this year because Samson is into EVERYTHING! It's just like having a little toddler again. He's so adorable though, we are loving him!

Switching out all the cookbooks for the changing of the season. And I've got a LOT of them! Mmmm, baking cookies goes into high gear this time of year. I always enjoy making Peanut Butter as the first batch!

Chili with beans! I mean, what's chili without beans if you can't toot about it afterwards. tee hee

The crock pot gets used about every other day!

My favorite excuse to make Pumpkin Soup!

And Pumpkin muffins with cream cheese frosting!

And oooh all those different versions of Apple Pie! Our family favorite is Apple, Blackberry and Sour Cream Pie. I will have to take a photo of that this year to share with you along with the recipe.


What is your favorite thing about the Fall season?

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What I did this summer - Part 13

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What I did this summer - Part 13

We drove to Central California to spend the day at Mickey's Grove! For this visit within the grove, we went to the small Zoo, Amusement Park and Japanese Garden.

Listening to some tunes during the car ride. Look at those funny faces. ha ha

 At the small zoo they have 2 bald eagles. I haven't been this close to an eagle before and was shocked to learn it is a HUGE bird. It was as tall as my Girl and it's wing span was enormous. I had no idea what large birds they are. They certainly don't look that big when they are above my head in flight but I think I will see them with new eyes now that I have been only a few feet away from one.

 

This little guy was eating some snacks when we visited him. He was beautiful.

I could use this ugly beetle bug right now as my Girl is doing the bug project for school and I am soooo not into this assignment. Yucko! I've already told her if she gets an F on it, I am totally okay with that. ha ha So how big is this beetle? Well those are my fingers next to it to give you an idea.

It was hot this day and most of the animals were low key or sleeping like this fella.

Awww, picture spot to make a memory!

This waterfall was in a bird sanctuary area and I really liked the design of it. Would lurve to see it in my backyard someday. Not likely, but a girl can dream!

Here I am fanning myself to keep cool. I carry that fan with me in my purse and when I bring it out I get a lot of comments on it and it is a great conversation piece to talk about tea party's, the Regency Era, Afternoon Tea, etc.

For a dollar, you can buy some sweet liquid for the birds to come and eat out of your hand....
... and on your head too! ha ha

 

Snack time! Guess what I found.... Pink Popcorn! Yep, gotta have it!

Then we headed over to the amusement park area and we literally had the ENTIRE PARK TO OURSELVES! I tell ya, this has been the summer of NO crowds during our travels.

We had an employee all to ourselves as we walked around the park and chose rides to play on.

Get out of the way, student driver coming through! ha ha

 The Scrambler! Can you do it?

Hands in the air! Ready, set, GO!

Then we walked across the lawn area to the Japanese Garden.

As you enter the gate, you enter serenity. It was so peaceful.

The trees were so HIGH and so old, it was beautiful to see them above us as we walked through the paths.

A stepping stone pathway!

  It was a lovely day here!

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What I did this summer - Part 12

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What I did this summer - Part 12

Every summer the kids participate in our local library's summer reading program and this year one of the prizes was to a local fun spot for rock climbing, games and minature golf. They won free coupons for rock climbing and I found coupons for free minature golf. Sweet!

They all agreed it was harder than it looks!

Next we played some games... my personal favorite is the Skee ball! Oh yea!

Like Whoa, check out my camera that night on the golf course! I have no idea why the photo came out in the crazy lighting like this but I LIKE IT! Could it be that way because I was on FI-YAH! Oh my stars, you should have seen me. I golfed 18 holes of minature golf UNDER PAR! Someone please give me trophy because I haven't played minature golf in probably 9 years. It was like I was a veteran or something. I think I've missed my calling. Perhaps I should starting touring with Tiger?

I've got the Midas touch and it rubbed off on my Son apparantly because while I was taking this picture of my Girl, my Son is reacting to his Hole-In-One shot. Perfect camera timing!

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What I did this summer - Part 11

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What I did this summer - Part 11

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We went to Carmel by the Sea! (See, they think it's the Sea too!) Carmel is located right next to Monterey and we spent the day here swimming and boogie boarding ALL-DAY-LONG!

When we first arrived, the children did what I've taught them to do and that is respect the water. It can be a mighty force and if conditions aren't right, then we don't go in and instead drive to a different location. This particular day the surf was high but the undertow was weak so we put up our umbrella and enjoyed a quick snack.

Here the kids are counting the waves, so they know the rhythm of the water of when the BIG wave comes in. I lurve this picture, it's like my own Kodak moment!

 This lovely photo of me doesn't do my wipe out justice. I was boogie boarding and caught a wave and rode that baby in like I was 16 yrs old again. But seriously, this is a 40 yr old body now and wipe outs give me more wrinkles than I want at this age. ha ha

We had so much fun at the beach that we stayed well past our normal dinner time so when we got back to our place, we took quick showers and drove back to Monterey to grub on a rack of bbq ribs that In the Garden with Miss Jean told me we should do at Willie's Smokehouse & American Grill located in the Canary Row district. Miss Jean, I owe you a pot of tea and a basket of scones because we grubbed like we've never grubbed before. The food was delicious!

 Here is what I got... a stuffed Artichoke filled with a variety of cheeses, breadcrumbs, butter, garlic and seasonings that was a moaner! Every bite pulled off and dipped into a spicy mayo sauce was so, so good!

Here's what it looks like all shared up together! Plenty of food for us.

Okay now its time to put sleepy children and sleepy parents to bed. We are sooooo tired that we shut the dinner hour down. ha ha

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