Our First Earthquake

Well, tonight we had our very first earthquake. Brandon tried to tell me it was just the wind so I wouldn't freak out...Ha! The light fixtures were swinging and the mirror on the wall was shaking. Jacob and I were on the bed and the bed was shaking too. We could hear the rumble come and go. Immediately after, a friend of mine called to make sure we felt it too. It was a 5.6 in San Jose which is about an hour North of us. Well, it is nice to say that I have felt and lived through a real earthquake.

messy food

Here is Zoe's first time having baby food. She was eating sweet potatoes.

Pumpkin Patch

Last weekend we went to Borchard Farms, a pumpkin patch. They had pumpkin art, a 1200 pound pumpkin, a corn maze, and of course lots of pumpkins.

Jacob's friend Bryce and his Mommy got to come with us. They had these wagons to take your pumpkins to the car but it was perfect for the kids. Zoe was so cute in her bumbo seat.

There were rows and rows of pumpkins. Jacob and Bryce liked to run through them. Brandon would also chase them.

We got a couple of pumpkins and this was our finished product. I have never used a pumpkin carving kit. They are really cool. I carved the witch and Brandon did the sail boat. Jacob's favorite part was pulling the guts out of the pumpkin. Zoe sat in her bumbo seat the whole time talking to us. It was like she was telling us what to do.

Kids

Zoe has found her feet!! She is constantly grabbing her feet and trying to eat her toes. I think it is her favorite pass time.

Jacob thought it would be fun to play in the cabinet in the bathroom. This is one of the things he found and decided it would be a good toy. He later peeled off the paper and stuck it to his chest.

Jacob has a great grip and wanted to help Brandon work out.

What can I say...she is a very happy baby. Brandon isn't a fan of her big bows, but I love them!!

Rice a Roni...the San Francisco Treat

Jacob wanted to make sure we didn't forget him!


A couple of weeks ago we went to San Francisco for the weekend. We went to celebrate Brandon's 25th Birthday. He has been wanting to go to China Town for a while. We left early Saturday morning and were able to make to the Temple book store and the Babies 'R' Us. Two of the must stops when we go to the Oakland/San Francisco area. That afternoon we were able to check into our hotel which was about 15 minutes South of downtown. It was really nice and a lot cheaper than staying anywhere downtown. We were able to get a suite so that the kids could sleep in the living room and Brandon and I could stay up in our room. That makes it a lot easier than having to go to bed at 8:30 with the kids. Saturday late afternoon/evening we went downtown, and let me tell you driving downtown is not easy with all of the trolleys, buses, cable cars, and people who walk out in front of cars without a care in the world. We rode the trolley all the way down to the Pier. The view was incredible. The trolley was a bit crowded but I met a couple from Australia who had been sight seeing all over the continent for 6 weeks. They didn't go to Texas so I couldn't let them go home with out learning how to say "y'all". Down at the pier we saw a WWII submarine and a beautiful view of Alchatraz. We didn't get back to the hotel that night until 10:30. Jacob was running on fumes. He ran around doing anything and everything to stay awake. Once we got him to lay down and be still, I swear he was asleep in less than five minutes.

On Sunday we spent all day in China Town. I was so proud of Brandon! We went into a shop that had the Chinese style dresses and Brandon started having a conversation in Chinese with the guy in the shop. I hear Brandon speak Chinese quite often but never to someone he doesn't know and never a full fledged conversation. Needless to say, I was impressed. We walked around all day looking in shops and at the scenary. We found a guy who writes Chinese Calligraphy. Brandon asked him to write "Ma Jia", which is basically "The McCain Family". We hung it up in our dining room. At sunset we went to the Golden Gate Bridge Park and took some pictures. Then we had the two hour drive home. I was very glad that we did this on a holiday weekend because we had all day Monday to rest before Brandon had to go back to school.

Airplanes, airplanes and more airplanes

A couple of weekends ago we took Jacob to the Salinas Air Show. He was in heaven!!! As we were driving up he could see and hear the planes flying and would continuously point to the sky. There were some pretty crazy performers. Elvis jumped out of a helicopter, a man stood on top of a plane while it did all sorts of death defying acts and of course, the Blue Angels. It was so fun to watch Jacob's excitement! He got to see how big airplanes really are because there were a ton parked to view. He even got to climb in a helicopter and act like he was driving (one of his favorite things to do). I think we got the absolute best souvenir ever!! I don't really know who was more excited about it, Brandon or Jacob. We got a toy airplane that can fly around Jacob's room on a string. Brandon likes that it flies around the room but Jacob would rather run around the house with it.