Veteran's Day Weekend

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Being that my wedding anniversary is on Veteran's Day, I've made an effort to get out of town almost every year since Michael went Home. I'm afraid of sitting at home feeling sorry for myself. November and December are kind of hard. Getting away is a good distraction. 

This year, we went with my mom and dad out to Julian in eastern San Diego County. I wanted to experience a "taste of fall" - fall color, cooler temperatures, etc. There was some fall color, but the temperature was still in the 70s.

It was a pretty low-key trip. Julian is a cute little town, but we didn't spend any time there. Our Gingerbread House was so charming, and our time there so short, that we stayed put. My Aunt Maureen, Uncle Jim, and cousin Zack came out to have dinner with us on Sunday afternoon. By that evening, Michaela had a fever. So, our plans to ride the nearby train the next day were cancelled.

The drive home through some of the California Indian reservation lands was really lovely. We stopped at one of the many casinos for lunch on the way back, and I donated ten dollars to a couple of slot machines.

The weekend was over before I knew it, and had I survived another difficult date on the calendar.

Not What It Seems...

I explained my thoughts about Halloween last year here. So the following is not my Halloween post.

Michaela has cousins on Michael's side of the family who have a birthday this week. Their mom and dad have thrown them an incredible birthday party for the last five years, and we have been included in the celebration each time. The first year, Michael and I attended together, the second year I was in my first trimester of pregnancy, and the last three years I've taken Michaela with me. We have really enjoyed each party as they include so many fun activities, delicious food, and time with family members we don't get to see often. The triplets' mother says this will be the last big bash. It's an incredible amount of work for her to put these parties together, so I don't blame her. But we will miss all the fun!

Michaela had a wonderful time this year! She was finally old enough to do a lot of the things available to the kids - bounce house, "hamster ball", magician, trampoline/bungee jumper, etc. Here are some of the highlights of the afternoon:

This digital slideshow created with Smilebox As for what we'll be doing tomorrow night, I think we will have a quiet night at home. We were going to go over to our church's Harvest Bash, but I figure it's going to have a lot of the same kinds of activities as the birthday party did (bounce houses, etc.), and that we have already had that kind of experience this week. Michaela won't know the difference this year, so she won't be disappointed.

Pumpkin Patch 2013

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It's a running tradition three years in a row now that we head out to the pumpkin patch the Friday of Mommy's conference week. That's because Mommy only has to work a half-day then! Instead of returning to Tanaka Farms, which is also a fun place to go, we decided to go to Irvine Regional Park this time. It's a great location under the old oak trees, and we were there on a beautiful day. Enjoy!