Ryan's 6th Birthday

Ryan turned 6 on Thursday, the 17th.  He got really sick on Wednesday and Jessica kept him home.  We weren't sure if he'd be okay by his birthday but he was.  Jessica brought in Halloween-themed cupcakes for his class to share.  He wore a crown with his name and 6's in glitter and they sang Happy Birthday to him.  Here's a photo of the cute cupcakes and Ryan with his birthday crown.

 I remember when I was growing up having a girlfriend, Katie, whose birthday was really close to Halloween and she would always have Halloween-themed birthday parties.  We would dress up in our costumes and her garage was turned into a pretty great haunted house.  Her grandmother would dress up as a witch and tell us ghost stories.  I think Halloween is a fun holiday.  I like to drink out of my Halloween mugs.

Another fun thing about this time of year is all the craft fairs and local farms that have pumpkin patches and hayrides, etc... We have our local Thousand Oaks Street Fair to go to on Sunday.  I guess one of the things we miss in Southern California is apple-picking.  I never even realized that apples were associated with fall until about 10 years ago when some of my graphic artist friends made fall graphics with apples.  Have a great weekend!    

Dog Day Afternoon

Happy Birthday Sadie!!!

We went to the 2nd annual Bark in the Park in Thousand Oaks on Saturday.  We went to the first one last year and enjoyed it so we made sure to catch it again this October.  Everyone brings their dogs and there are lots of activities and booths to explore.  The dogs got so many treats from the people running the booths and I walked away with a big bag full of samples of treats and dog foods.  Camp Bow Wow had a booth with a "Wheel of Fortune" type prize wheel.  I spun and won a free bath for Kanan and Jeff spun and one a free one hour training session fro Cooper.  Cooper could use some training to get him to stop pulling on his leash.  Not to be outdone, "The Barkley" had a spinning wheel and this time Jeff got a free day of doggie day care and I won a toothbrush.  That was our only booby prize.  The other 3 prizes are all quite valuable!  They had all kinds of contests like best howler, dog/owner look-alike and Halloween costume contest.  They had an obstacle course that we took Kanan and Cooper through.  There were even celebrity dogs you could take your photo with:  Beatrice from Modern Family and Aspen from Disney's Dog with a Blog.  All in all, a fun day!

From there, we went to Chris & Liz's for dinner and to meet their new English Springer Spaniel, Maverick or Ricky.  He's a rescue and a real sweetheart and got along fine with Cooper and Kanan.  It was unusually warm for their area which is closer to the ocean so we were able to sit outside and have a delicious dinner of BBQ leg of lamb!  

Happy Labor Day!

Never like this end of the summer holiday time but in SoCal we have plenty of summer left ahead of us.  The last few days have felt more like Florida or Hawaii with the high humidity.  On Saturday, Jeff and I went to Fiesta Hermosa which takes place over the Memorial Day and Labor Day weekends.  It sort of kicks off and wraps up the summer.  Ryan started 1st grade last Wednesday so we mainly have Jacob here with us during the week.  Ryan's school doesn't get out until 2:30 and his dad picks him up here at 4 so he's only here for a little over an hour in the afternoon.  Here's a photo of Ryan walking to school on his first day back.

Not too enthusiastic!

I can relate!  I always thought the last day of school was the best day ever!  All the anticipation of what the summer ahead held!  It seemed to go on forever...all those lazy, hazy crazy days... and now summer is over in a blink of the eye!  

September is a busy month for us.  Jessica's birthday is the 7th, Justin's is the 10th, our 39th anniversary is the 14th and Jacob turns four on the 22nd.  Jeff and I are determined to do something really, really special next year on our 40th!  This year was kind of spoiled by my back problem.  I see my doctor this Friday and I'm sure I'll be able to cast my back brace aside and begin physical therapy!        

Pumpkin Patch

October is always a fun month with lots of street fairs, harvest festivals and pumpkin patches.  On Sunday, Jeff and I went to the Thousand Oaks Street Festival.  We decided to go there instead of the Calabasas Pumpkin Festival since the former is free and the latter charges admission and the booths and activities are pretty much the same.  Today, Ryan's class is going to a Pumpkin Patch at one of our local farms in Camarillo.  It will be his first time on a school bus and he's been experiencing a bit of angst about this but now he's coming around because he's going to sit with his friend, another Ryan, and he knows I'm going to meet him there.  I'll bring along Jacob.  Should be a good opportunity for some more cute Autumn photos.  Remember these from last year?

  

I miss Ryan's long hair.  I'm trying to convince Jessica (mainly Pat) to let it grow out at least enough to make a little spiky top.  

This was a favorite photo and I used it for the cover of a Photobook that I made for Jacob last Christmas.

Bouncing Back

Ryan had a miraculous recovery and was able to go to school on Wednesday and have his birthday celebration after all.  He went from a fever and hardly holding his head up to being excited about filling up his goodie bags for his classmates in a matter of a few hours.  Jessica got home from work and had to get busy making Halloween cookies to share.  Here's a photo of him on his 5th birthday (can you tell) wearing his birthday crown from school.  Sorry I cut it off but I took a quick photo with my cellphone.

  

Yesterday we went down to Channel Islands to go kayaking with Chris but when we got down there it was too windy and the kayak rental place told us it wouldn't be safe to go.  Fortunately, I had a Groupon for flights of beer and appetizers at a local restaurant in the area so we had to make do with that.  It was supposed to be our reward after a hard paddle but we got the reward without the work.  

Our heatwave is over and we have cool and drizzly weather ahead.  If the weather isn't too bad we have our local Pumpkin Festival in Calabasas to attend this weekend.  On Monday, I have a field trip to the Pumpkin Patch with Ryan and we're still looking for a day to take the boys to Disneyland.

Bark in the Park

On Saturday, we took Cooper and Kanan to "Bark in the Park."  It's a festival for dogs and their owners and dogs are welcome.  They had lots of contests:  smallest dog, biggest dog, ugliest dog. cutest, best trick, , dog/owner look-alike, etc... and best Halloween Costume.  They also had small dog (under 25 lbs) races, dog agility demonstrations, Search and Rescue dog demonstrations and pet adoptions.  There were many booths with lots of free stuff- treats, food, toys- which Cooper and Kanan loved.  Tillman, the famous surfing and skating bulldog, was there along with Norman the Scooter Dog.  For the sports fans, there were autographs from famous baseball players of the past:  Steve Garvey, Steve Yeager and Jose Conseco.  I took a couple of photos of the dogs in costumes.  This guy was filming the event for a TV Show (does anyone recognize him... I think he's from Animal Planet or one of those channels?) and he kept saying the event was in Hollywood!  We're about 30 miles from Hollywood but I guess it's close enough if you live elsewhere in the US.  Here's Elvis.

  

And another couple of cute costumes

The bassett is a yellow submarine

Once in a while, I'll record dog shows on the family room TV for Cooper because he likes to watch TV.  I happened to see this girl and her dog win the national championship in frisbee with this dog recently.  I recognized her because of her blue-tipped hair.  This dog really flies through the air!