Trip to the Pumpkin Patch and Halloween!!!!!!!

The Alexander Family has continued to be super busy this October! We were so excited to take Mia to the pumpkin patch for the first time. We went to Bishop's Pumpkin Patch in Wheatland, which is about 20 minutes from our house. It is a large pumpkin patch with farm animals, a hayride, fields and fields of pumpkins and lots of yummy treats!! Mia loved looking at all the animals and mommy was really happy to avoid the petting zoo!! After jumping in the hay, we took the hayride to a field of pumpkins and walked around for a little while before we found our perfect pumpkins! After taking the pumpkins to our car, we had the most amazing apple slushies and bought an apple pie to take home! Mia with the chickens
Jumping in the hay
Running to the pumpkins

Mommy and Mia on the hayride

Mia loved the little green pumpkins!

For Halloween, we drove to Redding to visit Papa Peter and Grandma Shelly. Nobody loves Halloween like Grandma Shelly nor does anyone make such amazing costumes! This year's theme was Wizard of Oz and all of us dressed as different characters. Of course, Mia was a beautiful Dorothy!! Daddy was the tin man and Mommy was the tornado! Mia had so much fun and did such a great job trick or treating! She was so brave as she walked to each door and knocked her tiny little knock. Although she did not say "trick or treat", we were very proud that she instead said "please" and "thank you"!

Helping Grandma pick tomatoes

Reading with Auntie Steph

Playing in the playhouse with Cousin Kaiya

It's Dorothy!!

Mommy the Tornado, Daddy the Tin Man and Mia as Dorothy

Grandma the Good Witch with Dorothy

Dorothy going into her house!

Dorothy with her Auntie Steph (AKA the Wicked Witch as the beginning of the movie)

Papa Peter the Scarecrow with Dorothy and Cousin Kaiya the Wicked Witch

The TORNAO!!

Please and Thank You (AKA Trick or Treat!)

Mia with Auntie Shawna---her Dorothy counterpart!

Reading with Papa

The morning after Halloween bikeride!

End of Summer

We have been so busy the past few months! Too much too blog about and not enough time to sit down to write. In an attempt to catch up...here we go! We'll start with our trip to Santa Cruz in August!!



After returning from our camping adventures in July, we headed to Santa Cruz for some more vacation time! While in Santa Cruz, we were able to go to the Monterey Bay Aquarium for the day. Mia LOVED all the fish and even learned how to say "fish" while we were there.

Mia LOVED the touch pools!

We also spent lots of time with Doc and Gram at the beach and the park!

It wouldn't be a trip to Santa Cruz without riding the Merry Go Round at the Boardwalk!

Camping at Burney Falls

We had a wonderful time on our annual camping trip to Burney Falls...so much fun that we actually went twice. Since I couldn't get any time off from work, we drove up to Burney Falls on Friday and stayed through Monday with Papa Peter and Grandma Shelly. I then worked Tuesday and Wednesday and went back up camping on Thursday and stayed until Monday. In addition to Papa Peter and Grandma Shelly, Uncle Kevin, Aunt Michelle and Cousin Kaiya also joined us! It was really nice because we were able to leave all our things at the campsite and even left our tent pitched! It made it really easy to come back up! Mia LOVED everything about camping....the tent, the campfires, the beach, the hikes in the backpack, and especially helping Grandma Shelly with the dishes!

Reading with Papa Peter

Asleep in the backpack after a hike

Mia and Cousin Kaiya

Reading the paper

Feeding Papa Peter on the beach

Opening bottles with Grandma Shelly

A hike to the falls in the backpack with Daddy!

MMMMM...Grandma Shelly's famous Banana French Toast

Happy camping girl!!

Helping Grandma Shelly with the dishes!

Santa Cruzin'

We just got back from our first Santa Cruz trip of the summer and we are already looking forward to returning later this month! We were so excited to be able to join Doc, Gram, Roger, Mika and the girls for some great beach days! Mia had so much fun playing with her cousins on the beach and the boardwalk! I was relieved that Mia seems to like the beach now. Last year, she didn't like the sand and screamed when we put her feet in the ocean. We explained to her that this is simply not allowed in the Thomas family! She loved digging in the sand and splashing in the ocean. She even got to taste some sand and ocean water :) Mia experienced her first ride at the boardwalk (which I got to experience as well!)
The girls loaded in the car on the way to the beach.

Mia laughing in the water with Daddy

Digging, digging, digging...Ready to swim
Mia and Mommy with Nisa and our beach family, Lisa and Lily

Mia and Mommy on Mia's first ride at the Boardwalk

Maile and Nisa loving their boat ride!

Last ride of the night

Fairy Tale Town

Mia took her first trip to Fairy Tale Town last month and had a blast. It brought back so many memories for me. I went there a few times with my grandparents when I would visit Sacramento in the summer. It was almost exactly as I remember, although it did seem quite a bit smaller! We enjoyed running around the park and going down each slide over and over again. We hope to go again sometime, but we really can't wait until we can make a trip to Fresno to visit Doc's Storyland!Mia loved driving The Little Engine That Could!

Mia as the Scarecrow

Mommy as Dorothy

Mia inside the Jack and the Beanstalk foot

King Arthur's throne might be big enough for my Papa Peter!