October In California

We are definitely not used to the California weather yet.  I keep waiting for the cold and the snow, because its October and well, we Utahns know to expect some snow in October.  But it never comes (hallelujah) and the warmth just makes me happy.  Mind you, we get some fall chill in the mornings... just enough for a comfy sweater or cardi that you can promptly remove once the sun is at its peak.  It is really quite lovely.  
October was such a busy, almost lose your mind, kind of a month.  Devin not only started his new job, but he was still doing a bunch of stuff from his old job.  And on top of that he was still doing his MBA program and preparing for his trip to China.  We were mostly in survival mode but tried making the best of it and fitting in as much family exploring time as possible.

On our second trip to San Francisco we decided that having toddlers isn't ideal when you want to see as much of the city as possible.  So rather than fighting it we decided to do the "tourist thing" and take a double decker tour bus.  The girls loved sitting on the top deck of the bus, and we were able to see so much of San Francisco.

We were able to find a pumpkin patch close by, but unfortunately our experiences at Cornbelly's gave us too high of expectations, and we were quite disappointed (especially since this was deemed the LARGEST pumpkin patch in San Jose...?).  But it was a fun family outing...

And before we knew it, Devin was leaving for China....

He was gone for 10 days and got to see some amazing stuff.  We did not enjoy having him gone.  But again we tried to stay busy so that the time passed quickly...

We spent a lot of time at the pool...

 Went on night-time walks in our jammies....

Ate lots of ice cream...

Went to the movies...

And Addie couldn't help but draw a picture that she wanted to send to dad.  So we took a picture and text it to him. (look closely at Devin's shirt! :) )

And one day, amidst it all, we received the sweetest "care package" ever from our family in Connecticut loaded with books, treats, body wash, and more.  It was the most thoughtful thing and the girls were so excited!

Meanwhile, in China...

Forbidden City

The Great Wall

Olympic Center

Westminster Group

Biking on the Xi'an City Wall (9miles)

Terra Cotta Warriors

Shanghai

Ancient gardens

Two days before he came home my sister, Melissa, her husband, Jordan, and their daughter, Brailey came to visit.  So of course we showed them our favorite spots...

First stop, Santa Cruz...

Then a quick tour of Stanford's beautiful campus...

And finally, Devin came home.  We were relieved, thrilled and showered with spoils from China...

And even with all the jet lag he was awesome by being willing to help me give our guests a tour of San Francisco.  We started at Muir Woods National Park. It was gorgeous and the redwoods were amazing...

Then back in San Fran we found the Painted Ladies, aka The Full House home...

Stopped at Pier 39...

Where Adalyn was called up on stage (for the second time) to be an assistant.  She was paid handsomely for her services as well...

Then we took a ferry around Alcatraz...

And last of all we spent time at the pool...

We loved having these guys in town with us.  We had so much fun and the girls seriously loved having Brailey around.

And then before we knew it the end of October was here and we were getting ready for Halloween.  But to keep this post from being a novel, I will make Halloween a separate post.