Fires in San Diego County

First, I want to say that we were never in any real harm's way and that we are safe. However, it was a freaky couple of days with not knowing where the wind would blow or how fast so I did pack bags for all of us just in case.

Second, my heart goes out to every family who lost their home in one of the many recent fires. I cannot even imagine the pain of their loss. I only wish that I was able to help in some way.

I am blogging today because it has been a strange week. The places that we visited this month have been placed in danger and were evacuated due to the fires. I am still trying to find out if they survived. It is a weird feeling because we were just there and then the fires broke out and have destroyed so much. It makes me very sad...for the residents of those particular areas and for the residents of all of San Diego County.

Pumpkin Picking

On October 14, 2000, Jack and I were married. On October 14, 2007 we celebrated this day with our family.

We drove up to Bates Nut Farm in Valley Center, CA with Jack's parents and the boys' cousin Sophia. Supposedly this place has pumpkins growing and you get to walk around the fields and pick your own pumpkin. Ok, misconception. All of the pumpkins were off the vine and just laying around in this massive field. Looked great from a distance - all the orange colors among corn stalks. Once you walk into the field, well, that is another story. It smelled and there was smashed and moldy pumpkins everywhere. Poor Sophia slipped on one and landed on her butt in slimy pumpkin guts. We walked around the field for about 15 minutes, took a couple of pictures and got out of there.

The rest of the farm was nice. There was a whole seperate area full of smaller pumpkins in groups. Ideal for the kids to walk thru and pick out there own pumpkin. There were hay rides and horse carriage rides. Jack took the boys and Sophia on the carriage ride. There was also a straw maze but we didn't have time for that. The Chargers were playing at 1PM so we were on a tight schedule. We did stop for the best kettle corn I have ever tasted. Fresh, hot, sweet and salty! YUMMY! All in all, it was a nice day. It was gorgeous weather and the kids were good. This will be a place we go to next year.

Happy Anniversary, Jack. I love you!

Apple Picking

"My Pple" said Dylan over and over today while we were apple picking. Yup, that's right! We drove up to Julian, CA (about 65 miles east of us and up in the mountains) today with Jack's parents and Sophia, the boys' cousin. It was a beautiful crisp October day of about 65 degrees and lots of sun. We drove up there intending on attending the Apple Days Festival but at the same winery there was a U-pick orchard. It was so much fun walking among the apple trees that were in long, long rows one after another. Ryan got to be the "tree picker" and we all had to keep an eye on where that stick was pointing. There were 4 or 5 types of apples at this orchard. Jonathan apples, Gradins and Goldens, Empires and Pippins (which are used for baking). We got 3 bags of apples and definitely some of each type. This worked out so well because Ryan is sharing in school this week about apples. So he is going to take apples to all the kids and share with them a homemade apple pie (they say Julian has the best apple pies anywhere).

Dylan had more fun than anyone, I think. He wanted to eat the apples so we let him (and those were some delicious tasting apples). He had a great eye/perspective for finding apples. I guess when you are two feet tall, you see what everyone else passes. He was absolutely adorable running around saying "my pple" to each apple he had. He would hand us apples thru the trees and who couldn't in be awe of those big blue eyes looking at you thru a lush green apple tree.

After we finished picking apples, we drove into the town of Julian. We stopped for dinner and headed back home with FOUR apple pies. Of course, they were not all for our house, only two and one of those is for Ryan to take to school. Not bad for 7 hours on a lovely fall day.