The Elstons Take California!

Amanda turned the big 3-0 this year! Can you believe it? I bet that makes you feel old. It sure did for me. Well, she celebrated her 30th the way all spring chickens with no chickens of their own should - by visiting her favorite niece and nephew in California for Halloween! Don't worry, it wasn't all about the kids and the holiday - it was about drinking too! We went to 4 breweries and 2 wineries during her visit!

Decorating her own birthday cupcakes!

On Del'Osso Family Farm's Scarecrow Ride

 

Pumpkin Blasting 101

 

Our first brewery - Altamont!

(For reference, the above all happened prior to the last post about Halloween. The rest was all in the last two days of Amanda's visit!)

First stop: Lagunitas Brewing Company in Petaluma. We loved the funky outdoor seating area (even with ominous storm clouds overhead) and enjoyed the free tour after our sampler, a few pints and some lunch. The kids were not into the tour so much, but Gram came to the rescue and whisked the kiddos back to the car so they could play and we could listen to the tour in peace. Thank goodness for Gram!

Second Stop: Francis Ford Coppola Winery in Geyserville. This time, Mike took a turn in the car with the sleeping children while the Elston's headed in for a tasting. After our special "seated" tasting, we walked around and viewed some of the memorabilia before I switched spots in the car with Mike, so he could do a tasting too. Of course, as soon as I get to the car, the kids woke up, and we spent the rest of the time wandering the grounds in the rain. It's definitely a neat place and worth the drive up there if you're in the Napa area.

 

"Run! The Indians have found us!"
Don't ask me why there's a tee-pee at the winery, but the kids loved it!

That night, we went to Santa Rosa for Russian River Brewery. Unfortunately, it was a rainy, cold night, and it had been a long day of drinking... so this stop was not as exciting as it could have (should have) been! We had to skip dinner at Russian River because their wait was over an hour for a table, so we went to Third Street Aleworks for dinner, before heading back for our "dessert" of the Russian River sampler.

Pop's thinking... OMG, another sampler?!

Yep, this is how we kept them entertained.

The next morning, we headed toward San Fran with a quick stop in Bodega Bay.

It was windy and cold, and we weren't exactly dressed for the beach, but it was pretty!

She could not love the beach anymore.

Don't mind my cray cray bangs...

We made it into San Fran about 30 minutes before our 1:00 tour was going to start at Anchor Steam Brewing Company. We ate the couple snacks we had in the car, and braced ourselves for the 2 hour long tour... no food and two kids who normally nap at this time?! Yikes! Although Mike and I didn't hear much of the tour because we were chasing after and hushing the kids, we still had a nice time.

Love this picture!

The secret to enjoying the tasting part of the tour.

Mike's dream.

After the tour we had an "eh" dinner and went to Pier 39 to kill some time before we took Amanda to the airport. It was so cold that Pop had to buy a coat and Mike bought hot chocolate! After walking around, we drove up to Coit Tower (accidentally, we kinda just discovered we were there) and saw the city at night, before heading to the airport and saying goodbye to Mandy Pandy.

After our crazy drunk fest of a weekend (just kidding, we weren't like, completely wasted...), Pop caught a nasty cold and we had a pretty low key week. The day before Gram and Pop left, we took them to the California State Railroad Museum in Sacramento. We were all so glad that we made this stop, because this museum was really pretty cool. Even if you're not a big train lover like Pop and Andrew, it was very interesting and impressive. Pop and Gram did a tour, while Mike and I let the kids run around and explore the trains at their own pace. We all especially loved the sleeper train that you walked through and it felt like it was moving! They also had a model/toy train area where the kids could play at train tables. We will definitely be making a visit back there again in the future!

Andrew tried to listen to the tour guide, but after watching a 20 minute
movie on the railroad in America, he had met his limit for sitting still.

I Spy.... Addison!

In the dining car... and no, they are not real people!

The next day, Gram and Pop packed up to head back to Florida, and I think Andrew's face below summed up how he felt about that. He so loves having visitors, and he doesn't do great with goodbyes anymore. But, we are all excited for the next Elston family reunion - HAWAII, BABY!!

 

Happy Halloween!

Halloween Fun - this way!

BOO! This year, we participated in a community-wide "Boo & Be Booed". For those of you who don't know what this is, you put a basket full of Halloween themed goodies on a neighbor's door step, ring the bell, and run! Yep, it's a nice version of "Ding Dong Ditch". Well, our community is a little more "involved". So, if you want to participate, instead of just picking someone at random on your street that you'd like to spread a little cheer to, you must first join a closed Facebook group, then give your address and family make-up, and then pick another family to Boo. Since I didn't buy into the whole thing at first, I decided to just Boo our neighbors and be happy to gift to our friends some cute Halloween treats. When we were finally Booed, I was SUPER happy because we got WINE! I thought only people who knew each other gave wine! And I still have no idea who Booed us!

Our basket for Bash and Pyper.

We were Booed! Treat bags for the kids, cookie mix, cutters and icing to decorate, a book, window clings,
and chocolate and wine for mommy!

Spooky Fun: There are some people in our neighborhood who go ALL out. The house below is up for the whole month, so at least once a week, we bike or drive down and check it out. They also have a costume party every year where they charge a cover ($25 for food, band and all you can drink), and donate the proceeds to the Children's Hospital in Oakland. This was our first year attending, and we had a great time. On Halloween night, they have a "Haunted House", that thousands of trick or treaters walk through (last year they estimated 2,500). Jumping ahead in our Halloween story, after trick or treating, we decided to drive down here to check out the Haunted House on Halloween night. Mike, Gram and Aunt Amanda went in first, and came out declaring that even Addison could go through. Andrew quickly decided that even though he had wanted to go through the house for the whole month beforehand, now that it was time, he was not "ready". So, with only Addison and Amanda to shield me from the possible terror within, I braved the Haunted House! And it was not even close to exciting. Ha. By the time I came out, Andrew was in tears and clung to me the rest of the night. Poor kid was too excited to nap that day and just could not handle it.

Andrew standing at the gates of hell.

 

 

Addison yelling, "Andrew! There's a witch next to you!!"



 Photo credit: Amanda

 

Photo credit: Amanda

Jenny and Forrest attended the costume party!

 

 

Joan's Pumpkin Patch:

I was thrilled this year when we went pumpkin picking and it felt like fall! I even had to go back to the car for sweatshirts! I'm pretty sure the kids did not understand why I was so happy to be wearing a sweater and jeans, because they were definitely cold, but it sure beats last year - sweating and being beat red in photos!



 

 

 

Pumpkin Decorating and Halloween crafts: We only carved one pumpkin this year because we ended up being pressed for time. (I think our guests kept us busy with too much drinking and other merriment, that we kinda forgot about this tradition! Never got a pic of the lit up Jack O'Lantern either!)  We managed to squeeze in decorating cookies, and building a Halloween House with Pop (since we won't see him for Christmas to do a gingerbread house).

The Artist:

The Carver:

 The Eater? Smeller? Digger!

 

 

The Painter:

 

 



 

 

 



Halloween Cookies!

Andrew's School Party: We attended a Halloween party at Andrew's school the morning before Halloween. The kids had a great time playing at all the different centers that Ms. Charlotte had set up for their entertainment, and we had a great time in the Photo Booth!

 

Fine motor activities - Picking bugs out of colored rice and pumpkin seeds out of dirt!

Hand/Eye coordination - Hammering nails into a pumpkin!

 

Sensory bin filled with worms!

Gross Motor Skills - Bowling with a pumpkin... Addison did not quite get it...

Throwing the balls into the cauldron!

More Sensory Fun - Finding the hidden skeletons in shaving cream!

 

 

Addison's first face painting!

The kids ate fingers (pizza wedges), worms (jello), and spiders (hot dogs)!

Waiting their turn to hit the piñata! Andrew is by far, the strongest child there...

Halloween: There were vampires, witches, werewolves, mummies, ghosts, skeletons and the cutest little black cat you've ever seen! And that was just our family! The Elstons came out to experience Halloween with the Fosters, and man was I impressed with how into it they got. They all took their costume assignments from Andrew very seriously, and he loved every minute of it!

The festivities started with a costume parade at Bethany Elementary, where I was a finalist in the adult costume contest (which I knew nothing about beforehand)! We were melting in the heat (especially Pop who is not used to having so much hair on his head), but the kids got candy and I'm now a celebrity in the local newspaper!

 

 

Left - Pre-makeup, Right - Post Makeup

Good looks and big eyes run in the family....

Pop's wig needed a trim....

Who knew werewolves had Ray-Bans and iPhones?

Strutting their stuff



Waiting for the parade to commence!







 

 

 

The morning after!