Family Weekend Out

Last weekend we had a wonderful time at my Mom's Group Halloween party at the park. The little one had been looking forward to it and was so excited to get in character.

She hand selected her costume and the winner is....


Our lovely Belle. The entire ride to the park she asked if Cinderella will be there, and Snow White, and the list goes on. Imagine her excitement when the first friends she came upon were....


It was the meeting of the Princesses! She was equally enthusiastic to see Darth Vader, Storm Troopers and Batman (she has been outspoken that this is definitely what Daddy should be for Halloween, "a batman," she says.)

A Halloween party is just not complete without the cookie decorating.


It was a beautiful day in the suburbs and we finished off the morning with a quick stop at the local brewery's Oktoberfest celebration, much to the enjoyment of Daddy. He got to sample the local brew and the little one and I enjoyed the band. Needless to say, I got Mommy props for planning such a fun day and was given a break from the dinner and bedtime nightly routine!

Looking forward to the tricks and treats on Friday.

A Genuine Pumpkin Patch

We took our annual homage to the pumpkin patch, and I mean a real pumpkin patch. Not the side of the freeway bounce house type. We ventured to the town of Valley Center, with some great friends, to a real farm where the pumpkins you pick are actually grown there. Some may recall the huge pumpkin picture from last year.

We all had a great time and I think the pictures capture the event nicely. The little one had been looking forward to the trip for several weeks now and did not disappoint in showing her excitement when we pulled in the dirt paved, make-shift parking lot. One of the qualities I most appreciate is her general, and vocal, enthusiasm for most every event we do. Her excitement is certainly infectious if you happen to be the parents in her life!

She laughed through the pony ride, got a little scared on the slide, and took off running through the pumpkin patch, stopping to hug almost every giant pumpkin. What a joy of a day!



More on the day at TMST.

An Emerging Princess

Yep, it's happening and there's no point in fighting it any longer. My daughter is intent on entering the princess stage. It's just what girls do although I do not remember ever going through this myself. Perhaps it's the super marketing by those geniuses at Disney or just the American consumer that fuels the fire. It brings out the inherent femininity of a little girl.

The little one has had a mild interest in the different Disney princesses and fairies for the past year but yesterday the words came out of her mouth for the first time, "I'm a Princess. Where's my magic wand?" I admit it's very cute but I refuse to overly douse this fire with lighter fluid for fear it will spin out of control. It started a couple weeks ago when the local dance studio was our neighbor vendor at the Harbor Days festival. I asked my munchkin if she wanted to try dance classes. She said yes, of course, and made mention of it daily since then. I knew she had a friend in the class who just started so I agreed to a free trial class to check out what it was all about. She was the youngest in the class but you would not have known by her enthusiasm and readiness to jump right in. About half of the class needed coaxing by Mom to get involved and a few banished themselves to the wall and outright refused any part of the charade. The little one laughed, smiled, and followed instruction for the full hour and refused to leave class when it was over. She sat in the big empty room by herself in total denial that it was over for the day.

Since I had not committed to joining and was unsure it would even work out I didn't purchase the appropriate dress code for the class. She was the only one not in leotard and missing both tap and ballet shoes. As we were leaving she said, "We have to go buy my dance costume." And so we did.


Last night she insisted on putting the leotard on and that is when she became our "little princess". Daddy rolled his eyes but could not help but to comment on how cute it all was.
I finally got her to take her "dance costume" off for bath time and she asked, "Where are my dino's (dinosaurs)?"