Pumpkin Fun

 I just love this time of year!

We waited until Jason came home to visit Impossible Acres and it was such a great family day!

Riley had a blast climbing the bales of hay!

Miss Tessa loved the pumpkins but more than that she loved the hay and she kept trying to eat it all afternoon!

 Pretty girl!

 Checking out the hay!

 There was a great folk band playing and Riley was totally into listening and dancing!

 When she asked her Daddy to dance with her there is no way he was going to say anything other than "yes"

 Our dancing girl...she had a blast!

 Then it was off to check out the animals!!

Sweet ducklings!

We put Tessa in the pig pen and she wasn't quite too sure what to think!!!  The piggies loved her!

 Time to brush the pony!

 Then the kitties...she begged us for one...we won that battle! :)

 We got some pictures...Riley was NOT in a picture taking mood but we still managed to get some good ones!

I just love my girls!

 Tessa is such a sweet pumpkin!

 Riley is quite the diva!

Sure love my family and our sweet time together!

After all that fun we found a great spot for our picnic dinner...I had packed us all something to eat in our big picnic basket which is Riley's favorite thing to do!  We had a yummy dinner and then it was time for a little hide and seek!

 And who wouldn't want kisses from this sweet girl?

We loaded up some tired girls and drove through Starbucks on our way home...our thing these days is the Salted Caramel Mocha...and Jason is so sweet to often let me drink the last sips of his...those are THE best!  Love that man!

A Sort Of Date Day

 Since Riley had school on Friday and Jason was still off work we thought a date day was in order!  My sweet friend Bryn was going to watch Tessa but she was having a rough day!

She had started getting a really bad runny nose the day before and her eyes were watering like faucets...I wasn't sure if it was allergies or what but when she woke up Friday she was a bit worse and her eyes were swollen.  Look at this sweet thing!  I couldn't bare to leave her and if she was sick or getting sick I didn't want to get Bryn and her sweet boy sick!  So she got to go on date day with us!

I packed a ton of kleenex and off we went!

The weather had cooled off and it was a bit of an overcast day but we had a BLAST!!!

Tessa was as sweet as could be and slept on the road...love that girl!

We started off at the Oxbow market with some breakfast!

 It was delicious!

 Our first stop was St Supery...we had a little wine and picked up my new supply of Moscato!  Have you ever facetimed with someone at a winery?  Well until this time I hadn't either but Jason and I facetimed with Christina...it was almost like she was there! :)

Look at my wine sipper!

 Tessa had fun too!

 Next we headed to V Sattui for a picnic lunch!  I set up Miss T with some toys and got her fed while Jason picked out all kinds of yummy things for us to eat!

It's harvest time right now so the grapes and vines are just beautiful!

 Love my man!

 Our sweet girl checking out the fig tree and getting kisses from her Daddy!

We had a great day and just got to catch up and relax and have some fun!  We picked up our second round of Starbucks and headed home!

We had a great date day with Tessa!  We kept joking that life must not be too bad if on your sick day you have to go to Napa!  

Fun with Daddy!

Thankfully Jason had the rest of the week off after he got home...it was SOOO nice!  I wish he could find a way to just work two days a week...that would be great! :)

Wednesday Riley had school and I had some work to get done!  Jason headed out to run errands with T and sent me this picture...so sweet!  She had obviously adjusted to being in her Daddy's arms! 

 One of Jason's missions was to get nerf guns for him and Riley...he had been wanting to play this with her for awhile!

After he secured the nerf guns we went and had sushi for lunch...one of our favorites!!!

Jason picked Riley and Carter up from school which just made her day!

When they got home I had unpacked the nerf guns and loaded them and shot them both when they came in the door...she was surprised for sure!

He got her all set up and they went out to have some wars!

Don't mess with this girl!

Gettin' her Daddy!

Riley absolutely loves the nerf guns and actually became a bit obsessed!  We drew a target on the back door and she doesn't ever want to stop shooting!  We have a bunch of wild turkeys that roam on the golf course and they were out later that afternoon and Riley said "Daddy we should bullet them."  We both cracked up and told her that's probably not a good idea and then she said "ok...i'll go in my playroom and bullet my bears."  I don't think Jason could have been prouder!

A super fun surprise for Riley!

 With this TDY we didn't have an end date for when Jason would be back!  I've learned it's all about expectations when he leaves...so when I thought it would be 4 weeks and it ended up being almost 7 weeks it felt like eternity.  In the big scheme of things that's really nothing compared to most of the 4 month separations we've endured.  

We knew on Sunday things were wrapping up and he would be home soon but I still had Wednesday or Thursday in my head!  Thankfully before he left he was able to go visit my Grandma Rose who lives in Rapid City!  She is 90 and just doing great!  It worked out where we were able to skype with her so she could see the girls and it was so amazing!  I can't imagine all she's seen in her lifetime and to meet Tessa for the first time over a phone!

The sound wasn't great but Jason was able to tell her what was going on and he got a chance to have a good visit with her.  He literally worked for 45 days straight so I was so grateful he had some time off to do this.

On Monday I got an email with his itinerary that he would be home Tuesday!!!  I was so excited and we decided to surprise Riley!  

We went to the gym that morning and it was so hard getting out the door but I couldn't use "Daddy's coming home" as ammo to get her to move quicker..haha!  I told her we were going to pick up my friend Bryn from the airport and she didn't question it.

She had NO IDEA!!

When we got to the airport I totally messed up and went to the terminal we always go to...the terminal where Southwest comes in!  Jason said he was going to surprise her in baggage claim so we walked in and I was videoing and he was nowhere to be found....I wasn't sure what to do and then Riley announced she had to go potty.  So while she was taking care of business I called him and immediately realized he had flown in on Delta and we were in the completely wrong terminal....and in this airport there is no way to get to the other terminal without getting back in the car!  So I loaded the girls back up and around in circles we went to get to the other terminal and try this again!

We headed in and I turned on the video on my phone and Riley really didn't notice so she didn't question anything.  She walked up to the bottom of the escalator and proclaimed "I'm going to wait right here for Bryn".  About this time Jason came up from behind me and stood right next to her...she glanced over and saw him and just stared with this very confused look on her face!  After about 20 seconds of her cute puzzled face he said "It's Daddy" and her face lit up and she leaped into his arms and said "Daddy!!!...Yay!!!" It was precious and we totally got her!

A couple people were watching as this unfolded and offered to take a picture of all of us!

Tessa totally recognized Jason and gave him great big smiles but she wasn't sure about him holding her!  

We headed home and ate at PF Changs on our way...a great day!!!

We're so glad to have him home!

All Caught up

Well I have officially caught up the 'ol blog!  I honestly never thought I would but I made it my priority project while Jason is gone!  He's hopefully going to be home this week so it's perfect timing that I cross this off my to do list!!!

He will have been gone almost 7 weeks by the time he gets home and I have to say I am pretty worn out!  This is the first time I'm flying solo with both girls and they have been REALLY good but there's just a lot less "me" time!  We are all very ready for him to get home!!!

A few highlights of the past few days:

I got Tessa a swing for our backyard and she just loves it...I think she would swing all day if she had it her way!

I put Tessa in this little robe for the first time and had fun comparing pics to when Riley wore it! Riley is 3 months in this pic and Tessa is 9 months!

 
My dear friend Nicki welcomed her sweet baby girl Allie on Thursday!  Tessa and I went to visit her on Friday and Tessa just about jumped out of my arms in glee over her new friend..it was pretty cute!

 Jason and I love to watch Shark Tank...in fact there are several episodes on the DVR for us to watch when he gets home!  Well...back in April or so they had a couple come on with a sippy cup they had invented...the Lolla Cup.  Well a store in Davis was selling it but it was super back ordered because of all the publicity they got on the show but I was able to pick up two Lolla Cups for Tessa on Friday!  She got the hang of it pretty quickly and so far we love it!

 Riley slept in until 8:00 this morning and Tessa slept until 8:30...it was amazing and that has never happened before so I was definitely taking advantage of the extra hour or more of sleep...especially because I am so bad about staying up too late when Jason is gone!

Riley had soccer this morning and then she wanted to help clean her Daddy's truck before he gets home...what a sweet girl!  She also asked if she could earn a few dollars so she did have ulterior motives but hey the girl is smart!

Glad to be back and all caught up!

Girls Day at the Zoo

 I had been feeling like I needed to take my girls on an adventure!  It seemed like we had just been doing our normal routine things and I wanted to take advantage of my days with my two girls!

When I heard the San Fran zoo was free this week for military because of Fleet Week I decided that would be a perfect outing!

My friend Jessica and her two girls, Madison and Quinn, joined us too and it was a girls day out for sure!

We all piled into her car and made the trek into the city!  The drive in was not bad and the kids were all great!

 It was finally starting to feel like fall outside but it wasn't too cold at all either!

Riley is so good with her littler friends and she just watched out for Madison the whole time and was very protective of her!

Two cuties!

 We first went to the children's zoo with the petting zoo and had some fun!  The goats and sheep were pretty entertaining.  The goats just laid there like they were drugged and the sheep kept walking right into us.  Tessa had fun checking them out and Riley had fun feeding them.  Madison was scared and just screamed when they came near her...I don't blame her! :)

Then we headed to a playground for a bit and then off to see more animals!

We saw anteaters, tigers, monkeys, a snow leopard, a huge rhinoceros, and lots of penguins!

 This zoo is just absolutely beautiful...all the trees are amazing and it sits right on the ocean!

 This is only the second time we've been...the first time was back in 2009 when we had just moved here...look how tiny Riley is! Tear Tear!

 I loved that the peacocks just roam and do their own thing all through the zoo...and they are just so pretty!

 I told the girls to pretend like they were on an adventure and look for animals...they were so cute!

 Tessa and Quinn were great...we just had one stroller so we swapped the babies between riding and carrying them and it worked out just fine!  

The ride home was not as easy as the ride in.  We ended up in horrible traffic and it took us 2 hours to get home.  Tessa had a fit as we were crossing the Golden Gate bridge and ultimately ended up passing out but oh the screaming!  Just before we got home Quinn was done and she ended our trip with screaming!  We were ready to be home and out of the car to say the least and so were the babies!  

I'm so glad we went and got away for the day...such fun memories!