thanksgiving at the harbor

Thanksgiving 2013 was spent at home, with Kirk's side of the family.  It was filled with lots of good food, lots of family time, and lots of Kirk not having to work!  My favorite.  On the Saturday after Thanksgiving, we were feeling a little stir crazy, so we spent the afternoon exploring the tide pools at Dana Point Harbor.  Love it there - the weather was a little chilly but we could have explored all day.  The tide was nice and low and made for some good adventures among the sea urchins and crabs. 

Ace is in the stage of telling us about everything he does - and we *must* repeat it, or else he's not convinced you heard him. So, climbing on all these rocks went like this: "Mom!  I climb on a big rock!" "Yeah, you climbed on a big rock Ace!"  "A really big one!"  "Yeah, a really big one!" "Mom, I'm gonna climb all the way to the top!"  "Yeah, you're going to climb all the way to the top!"  "Mom! Mom! Mom!"  Multiply that times the 37 rocks he climbed on that day. Adorably exhausting.

Love these boys!  So much.  And I'm so, so grateful for them.  I'm the luckiest to get to spend every day with them. 

The rest of Kirk's family joined us a little later.  Ace and his cousin are such cute little best friends.

Blurry family shot for the win!

Plus overexposed ocean shots because clearly you can never have enough of those. 

apple picking

 Oh, apple picking.  Easily one of my favorite outings of the year.  This was the second year we went apple picking in Oak Glen with our friends.  Apparently though, it was a light crop this year and they had thousands of people come out to the orchards to pick apples, so by the time we got there, there were no apples left to be picked!  Sad day.  But don't feel bad, it was still a grand old time.  It is so beautiful there that time of year.  It actually feels like fall, which, in southern California can be hard to find at times.  We pressed our own cider, visited the pumpkin patch, and got our fill of apple cider donuts and barbecue sandwiches on the way home.  The boys got nice and dirty, which is always a sign of a good time.

Also, my camera ran out of battery halfway through so ya know.  Even thought there are a million pics here, they are half of what I wanted to take, so consider yourself lucky.

^Visiting Flopsy.  That rabbit is huge!  

^Little lover boy.  

^Ace went in for a hug and they both toppled backwards.  hah!  

^Pictures don't do this tree justice.  So pretty!

These three pictures are some of my favorites, ever.  Ace climbed into this (very friendly) mini-horse's corral and was half thrilled/half terrified when it wanted to get to know him a little better.  

The woman at the orchard told us their apple trees are over a hundred years old.^

^Pressing our own cider.  Fresh-pressed apple cider is like fall in a cup.  Mmm.

Wildflowers at the pumpkin patch.  So pretty.^ Until next year, apple picking!