Ojai Girls' Trip!

Next up: California! My cousin Pippa was getting married in Ojai, CA, so Grandma India came down for Halloween and then stayed through the week so she could travel with Sadie and me. Papa and Sawyer took their own special trip to Santa Cruz while we were gone, but that will be a separate post. 

First we all got our nails done! A first for Sadie, and now I'll never hear the end of it. It was cute though. She went with a rose gold color.

Next, the flight. First of all, this kid is a great traveler. Look at her. Sidenote: she can READ. Like really read. She has always been able to sound things out, but since kindergarten started, she is super fluent. She can hold the beginning of an idea in her head while she gets to the end, and she recognizes patterns like repeated names. Here she is reading a CHAPTER book from Grandma Vicki - quietly, to herself, like a big kid, in the airport.

Next: the wedding! It was held on a beautiful estate in Ojai. The ceremony was at the top of this long spiral path leading up a mountain. Sadie takes in the view.

I took this one off facebook so you could see the full effect. It was gorgeous!

Sadie and her cousin Truman totally not trying to steal the Just Married boat.

We had heard lots about cousin Tom's daughter Adina, but never met her! She's a swell lady.

Sadie spent a lot of time in the hot tub at the hotel, and even worked on her pool swimming! 

Sunday we explored Ojai, said goodbye to Pippa who was off for her honeymoon in Mexico, and met some family at the playground for cousin Truman's birthday party (didn't get pics, but it was nice to have a little more time for the kids to play together).

Monday we went to Santa Barbara to check out Mom's old haunts (she is from there originally). We went to the MOXI museum of science and exploration, where Pippa recently started working as a volunteer coordinator. It is a great place.

After lunch at the old school Joe's Cafe we got a special treat. Cousin Tom works as an arborist at Lotus Land, a giant estate once owned by a Polish opera star. He gave us a private tour and showed us all kind of neat plants he works with. His main thing is the cacti, which are extraordinary as you can see.

That's Tom!

Tom got us a pomegranate right off the tree. Messy but delish!

P.S. This kid is great.

The flight home was smooth, and it was nice to have Sadie to myself for a couple days before the boys got home. As a last hurrah, I took her to see Disney on Ice at the nearby Barclays Center. It was pretty exciting.

Dancing cakes! I'm glad we are all home for a bit, but I'm so glad we had this time together with my mom and my California family. 

Halloween!

Phew! It's been a busy several weeks. Grandma Vicki came to stay for the month of October. We had lots of fun, and it was very special that the kids got to spend so much time with their Grandma. One highlight was that we all went to Washington DC for a long weekend. It was my and the kids' first time! It was great, and it will have to be a separate post. It was pretty hectic, so I'm not sure how much photographic evidence we have, but I swear we went.

Next: Halloween! Sadie wanted to be one of the characters from My Little Pony, the main source of children's entertainment in our house at the moment  (the recent reboot, not the show of my youth). She ultimately decided to make up her own pony called Princess Firework. Sawyer and Papa went as Spike the friendly dragon, I was Princess Celestia, and Grandma India came down to play Fluttershy. I think it all came off quite well. The weather was good for trick-or-treating, we made the rounds and came home to watch the parade go by our house. Always a hit.

Pajama Party

V had an industry event to go to tonight, so she fed and readied the kids for bed and I came home early and took over while she went out.
It quickly became apparent that the kids were nowhere near ready to go to sleep. It was just 6:15 after all. So, I proposed we take a little walk with them in their pjs.  I might have even promised a little treat if they were very cooperative. They were!
We strolled several blocks (Sawyer ran mostly) and one of us rolled around on the ground a little. Then we headed to our frozen yogurt place where we all split a kids size strawberry mint yogurt with granola topping. Just right!
After that, bedtime was a breeze.
I love these kids!

A particularly busy day!

Saturday was a very busy day. Mommy had a class in Manhattan so the kids and I set out for adventure in Brooklyn. 

We started by going to singalong at CBE.

Then we took a bus down to Industry City where we met up with Theo M. and his family and another family for lunch and a concert. 

Sadie and Theo had their own little lunch date at their own table. 

The kids loved running around the giant cement halls at IC. Sawyer was especially delighted to be off the leash and ran wild before passing out in his stroller. 

The concert was outdoors in a plaza between the IC buildings. It was a Madonna tribute show for kids - a fun band playing Madge's greatest hits while kids ran around with hula hoops and colorful steamers and noisy shakers. It was great fun.

Sawyer slept through half the show, but awoke in time to play some cornhole and then get ensorcelled by the Madonna stand-in singer.

After the show, the kids had ice cream and did some Olympic quality pommel horsing. 

Then we took another bus back to Park Slope. By this time, mommy was back and she met us at a friend's block party where the kids squoze out their last bit of crazy energy.
It was a very very busy day!

Sadie Frog!

It turns out, Sadie is a frog and she eats bugs! 

No big deal. 

Another Block Party!

The weather turned back to hot and humid this weekend. The kids didn't seem to mind though. On Saturday, there was a big block party on 2nd Street where some of our friends live. So, when Sawyer went down for his nap around noon, Sadie and I headed over there to see what was what. 

It was, by far, the best block party we have been to. There were tons of kids, three bouncy houses (one for big Kids like Sadie, one for little kids and one for very little kids), a magician, a raffle, beer, pizza and face painting! 

Sadie went straight for the face painting. Over the course of the day, she had her face painted by adults twice and then took matters into her own hands. She also spent the better part of the afternoon in the bouncy house. 

Happily, the same friends who invited us invited most of Sadie's preschool class so it was a big reunion. Those kids really like each other. 

Mommy and Sawyer joined us later in the afternoon after a very long nap. 

By the end of the day, we were all whooped. Sadie spent 5 hours in constant motion and she was delirious. Sawyer could have kept going but he was pooped too.

Mommy and papa were done.

What a long day. 

Oh, and we won two prizes in the raffle! (Gift certificates to local businesses we like).

YAY FOR OUR BUSY DAY!