Trick Or Treat!

We set out in our town home complex looking for homes with the lights on. Out of 90 something homes, 9 had lights on and Noah got candy from 6. Just the perfect amount for a 4 year old.

It was a success!!

Party Day!

On Saturday, Noah went to his school's Halloween Party.

He was excited to show off his Black Widow costume. He was "a mommy black widow because daddy black widows just get eaten."

Then we all went to Cousin Ellie's 3rd birthday party. Grandma Paula and Cousin Katherine put on a puppet show.

 Noah joined in the fun. Ellie looks enthralled.

Noah was happy to see that there was a toy firetruck to play with at Uncle Todd's house.

Later, we carved pumpkins.

 Olivia's Mouth-less Scared Pumpkin

 Noah's "Whammer Slammer" Pumpkin

Victor's Domo Pumpkin

Something in the Works

Coming in May 2014...a new Alm!

 Despite what this picture may look like, we are 99.9% sure it's a baby and not an alien.

 It has toes!

For all those wondering, that's an umbilical cord between baby's legs. We'll find out the sex in December.

Noah is very excited to be a big brother. As of yesterday, he's wanting a little sister. Of course last week he wanted a brother, so we'll just have to wait and see. He told Olivia the other day that the baby could not go to church. When prodded for further explanation, he said it was because the baby does not have any clothes and you have to wear clothes to go to church. Olivia assured him that we could buy the baby some clothes to put on as soon as he/she is born.

Pumpkin Patch

We went back to our regular pumpkin patch this year and as always, we had a blast!

 Super Noah!!

 Complete craziness in the hay maze.

 It was too dry. Noah's nose started bleeding while he was running in the hay maze.

 He just would not look at the camera!

Pumpkin patch pictures of years gone by:

2012

 

2011

 

  

2010

  

 

Just Hanging Out

Bad traffic forced us to stay in Oakland and have dinner with a friend at a favorite restaurant. 

Aw shucks. 

Noah had fun hanging out at a nearby playground as we waited for everyone to arrive. 

Footballllllllllll

We have absolutely no connection to UC Davis, but this was our second Davis football game of the season. We spent the afternoon celebrating Markus' birthday by watching Davis get creamed by Montana State 7-42. It's a fun stadium to watch a game in, though. 

In Search of Butterflies

We went to Antioch Dunes National Wildlife Refuge a few weekends ago in search of the Lange's Metalmark Butterfly. This butterfly is only found in this small wildlife refuge and its numbers are dropping considerably. This year's census identified less than 100 butterflies. We went on a guided tour and saw a lot of sand dunes, but not too many butterflies. Victor saw two of them, but Noah and Olivia didn't see any.

 Someone did not enjoy the ranger's lecture.

 Thankfully, he was easily distracted by writing his name in the sand.

 Buzz!

 Fires are a huge threat to this area. The butterfly larva only like one type of plant and a fire could easily wipe out the whole population.

 What we were looking for.

 Ooh, a legless lizard!

 Noah was so proud to climb this tree by himself.

And here it is. Blurry evidence that we found one of the last Lange's Metalmark Butterflies.