Best of Winter

It's already well into spring here, of course, but I'm just catching up on the last few winter pictures.

The highlight of this winter was definitely our trip to Colorado.  During our trip, B got her first loose tooth, which fell out soon after we got back. (She has since lost a second tooth, too.)

 

In January I went on my annual women's retreat in Palm Springs.

 

Now that Beatrice is in school every day, Arthur and William are alone together on Tuesday and Thursday mornings. This has been a nice chance for them to get to know one another. They always sit together at library story time on Tuesdays, often hugging.

Together at Target

But of course, Arthur's first best friend is still Beatrice.

 

On Monday mornings, William and I go to baby music class and then places like the park, the zoo, or Kidspace.

Scarf time at Melodies and Me

At Kidspace

 

William rides a pony in Griffith Park.

We continued to have a great time playing with Sancho.

Small dog relaxation pile

B walking Cromwell and Sancho together

Sancho in his rain jacket

Beatrice did a great workshop at Kidspace about meteors (which she discussed in her first podcast).

We took a trip to the tide pools in Malibu.

William loved rolling down this sandy hill.

With a lobster float he found

On the way home from the beach - Arthur, without his wet clothes, and exhausted

And finally, some miscellaneous pictures from the season that just past:

 

William at brunch

 

William eating spaghetti

Me in my favorite shirt

 

Arthur photobombs my attempt at a selfie.





And Arthur in his new bathrobe:

 

 

Plus this "artsy" picture of my sweater, but I love the textures in this photo, I've been using it as a desktop background.

 

 

Now, on to spring!

 

Christmas Decorations

Inside:

 

Christmas bed!

 

 



Hot chocolate station



 

 

 

 

 And outside:

 

Best of Fall

 

It's officially winter in Los Angeles, which means another season has come to an end.

 

 

We started the season with a trip to the pumpkin festival at Underwood Family Farms.

 

Fascinated by goats

 

A goat lounging on the hood of a car

 

 

This is a really challenging corn maze.

 

Beatrice choose this giant pumpkin to bring home.

 

I also made a "hay ride" for the kids by putting some bales of hay into the wagon and pulling it around the neighborhood.  Arthur and William loved it.

 

 

We went to the LA County Fair, where William was mobbed by baby goats.

 

 

Beatrice found the queen bee.

And she rode this pretty serious ride all by herself.

We also discovered a wonderful new "hidden" spot in L.A., the Audubon Center in Montecito Heights.  On the Sunday we went we had the entire place to ourselves.  (We didn't get any photos, but we also went to the excellent Wildlife Learning Center in Sylmar for the first time - highly recommended!)

 

 

A few shots of my front yard, which always looks great in the fall, with the two Japanese maples and the autumnal colors of the Japanese barberry, Mexican feather grass, the nandina, and the three new sweet potato vines I added this year.

 

 

And our Thanksgiving decorations - everything this year was light blue and orange.

 

 

Reading while walking to school, like I used to do

We finally gave Arthur the Princess Anna coronation dress he had been asking for since last November, and I think it was truly the happiest he has ever been in his entire life.

 

The photo is blurry because he couldn't stop dancing for joy.

We went apple picking up in Willow Glen, then made a pie with the apples at home.  Our new baby apple tree in the backyard has some apples on it, too, though not quite enough for a pie yet.

Shamelessly including this photo just because my hair looks good.

And I took some photos of the kids in front of St. Mark's (I was trying to get a nice one of all three together, but I failed - again).

 

St. Mark's also shared some photos of Arthur with us - a glimpse into his life at school:

 

Eating champorado and learning about the Philippines, next to his best friend Henry

 

Learning about dental hygiene by brushing dinosaurs' teeth, with Ivy Harris

Then, at last, we went up to San Jose for Thanksgiving where we went for several long walks through Vasona Park with Aunt Julie, who just moved much closer to us! We are so happy she is in San Francisco now and not all the way across the country in New York.

Sitting on the wing of a real airplane

 

Chasing geese

 

Picking up Chinese takeout on Thanksgiving weekend

And last, a picture of me and Amy, taken by Summer St. Pierre - this might be the first picture of me and Amy I've seen since we were in seventh grade.  Thank you, Summer!