Oct 08

October had it's mix of travel and home fun! We were here the first few weeks and had friends in town. Which gave us an excuse to go check out Renzo Piano's new California Academy of Science. It was pretty nice and Sasha loved seeing all the fish as well as going into the rain forest and trying to catch the butterflies. The whole place, while expensive, is great to go check out. It was nice seeing Donna and Andy, the ex-Berkeleyites now Burlingtonites, and we were so happy they found time to join us for dinner and catch up.

We also had our block party, which we missed last year, and was amazed that there was entertainment. We had a live band and a neighbor did some fire dancing, I think called Poi. It was really cool and the kids as well as adults were mesmerized. Most of the party for me was spent running back and forth pushing Sasha on her tricycle [she can't reach the pedals yet] to keep up with the older kids on their bikes. I got a good little run in and she had a great time "playing" with the other kids. One little girl was super cool and was on her skateboard which now Sasha likes to balance on one of my legs and pretend she's skateboarding...one day we'll try it.

This month we also went to 2 birthday parties, a pumpkin carving party and even 2 sukkot parties. Sasha has really settled into school and seems to be enjoying it. Now she runs off into the classroom without saying goodbye. Her teachers are incredibly loving and I see her giving them big hugs when she says hello and goodbye. We try to do some fun things as a family there as well- they have an incredible amount of events and the sukkot dinner party was really nice. We were the last ones to leave as Sasha cried while we dragged her out...

At the pumpkin carving party, our friends Andrea and Ray found these great accessories for kids that you push into pumpkins so they feel like they are doing it themselves. Hard to explain and I didn't take a picture...but we put stickers on our pumpkin, Alex helped cut a mouth and Sasha put on the two eyes and nose to help make a good creepy pumpkin that sat out on our porch for almost a month!

One weekend we actually took a day trip down to Half Moon Bay to hit a bunch of pumpkin patches. We found that at age 2 it was a little more difficult to get the nice "sit on the pumpkin and smile for the camera" picture. Sasha was more interested in these rocking horses that the pumpkins could have disappeared. She had a blast riding them and we probably went on all 7 that were at the pumpkin patch. And we got great pictures on those! We had some free alone time in the bouncy house as well, so Mommy joined in on the fun and at one point bounced into Sasha taking her completely out and the fun ended...oops!

So of course we still went back east for my cousin Julie's wedding and to do our whole East Coast visit. We had a great time seeing everyone and the wedding was amazing! Julie looked beautiful, Mark her now husband handsome and everything was over the top! The food was great, the band one of the best I've ever heard and the whole decor elegant. It was a fun night dancing and stuffing ourselves silly. Congrats again!

While there my parents took Sasha to Adventureland - it's got rides and is like a big carnival, we used to love it as kids. She had a blast and is surprisingly more of a daredevil than we thought. She asked if she could go on the roller coaster and due to my parents fear they told her maybe next yr! HA! Ok and maybe the fact she wasn't tall enough...

Alex and I met up with friends that day and I dreamed about what it would be like to move back to NY...surprisingly other than the snow I think it would be nice. Alex says I always say that when we go back during the fall b/c it is so beautiful with all the leaves changing. He suggests we go back during the winter to see what I think, and then I realize I may stay in CA forever.

After the wedding we headed to our friend Mary's in Brooklyn and had two days to explore Manhattan. The first day was beautiful and we just wandered around the village. We met up with Mary for dinner and it was so nice to catch up. The next day was pouring rain- like what you see in the movies- all day! We got soaked going from her apt. to the subway and it's literally a block and a half!! We bought another umbrella and luckily Sasha thought it was hilarious. Considering all this we just headed straight to the Met and spent the entire day in the museum. I hadn't been in a really long time and it was Alex's first time. While it was packed, due to the weather, it really was amazing. We gave into Sasha using her pacifier the whole time we were there and she even napped for an hour and half so we enjoyed seeing all of the art. It really is HUGE!!

The next day we were off to Maryland, on the train and Sasha had a great time. Since she's at the stage where she loves trains we figured we'd just take one from Penn Station to Baltimore. It shockingly wasn't that expensive and only took a little over 2 hrs!!
Once there Alex's sister Julie and her fiance Mike picked us up and we headed out to lunch with Grandma Nellie and Aunt Carol. Sasha had no nap and wasn't the happiest unfortunately but luckily they still love her. The next day we headed over to Alex's other grandparents [the Hills] and had a really nice time. We raked leaves and Sasha had a great time jumping in them while Alex pretended to hide and tackle her. It was hilarious! While it took some time for Sasha to feel comfortable, she ended up on Grandad Hills lap by the end and I think made him incredibly happy. This trip was a bit hard for her, with so many new places and people...so it was nice to see. We also saw a bunch of college friends for dinner and brunch, got to go to a farm with Grandma and take a hay ride and see Sasha's cousins. Overall it was a great trip!

Here are some more pictures of all the fun we had this month!
http://picasaweb.google.com/amyres/Oct08?authkey=4oxr0GsHbD0#