Oak Glen Adventuring

For the past several years now we have been going up to Oak Glen one day in the fall season to enjoy all there is to offer.  Sometimes we pick apples, sometimes we ride tractors and tour the apple farm, always we eat apple cider/cinnamon doughnuts, and always we have a good time.  When I glanced at our calendar recently I realized that last Sunday was our only free day to go this year, so I invited my fam along, we packed up our lunches, and off we went.

We like to stop at Los Rios Ranchos first.  And although it is usually crowded, we've gone enough times now to seem to know the spots to go.

We found an open spot on the grass, and laid down our blanket for our picnic.

Lucky for us, soon after a picnic table opened up, just in time for us to serve the organic locally made and grown pumpkin pie that we bought from the pumpkin ranch that Hannah's girl scout troop visited this month!

The kids were SO excited that we brought pie AND cream on our picnic!!!  And it was hands down the best pumpkin pie we've ever had!!!  So fresh and flavorful.  Hmmmmm.

Claire gave it two thumbs up. 

It's a wonder that Hannah stopped moving long enough to get her pie down, but she managed. ;)

It was a perfect fall day in Oak Glen.  Last year it was pretty hot when we went, and this year there was a crisp chill in the air and it was cold in the shade.  I loved it!

After we picnicked, and visited the store to buy some apples and apple cider, we threw our stuff in the car and made our way over to listen to the bluegrass band.  The girls had fun dancing and we all enjoyed listening to them sing.

Then we made our way to the trails.  We only discovered these trails last year and are SO glad we did!! Each year we seem to discover something new and we love going up there more and more.

The girls had fun checking out (climbing on) the old farm equipment that was used in the 18 and early 1900's.

These tall sequoia trees are so amazing.  Each year I am awed by how large they are, and how small we seem by comparison.

I love this picture of my cute mom and dad! 

It was probably close to 4 when we were hiking these trails and the sunlight through the leaves and trees was just gorgeous.

We never saw this pond last year, but it was really fun to happen upon.

The girls loved hiking and collecting leaves and acorns and sticks along the way.

And of course Claire enjoyed checking things out up close and personal with her binos. :)

These golden colored ferns were so pretty with the sun casting it's golden glow upon them.  

This pic makes me smile because my Dad is taking pics of the same stuff I was, and if someone was behind me taking a pic of me taking a pic of them, I don't know, it just makes me laugh.  At the end of the trail there were two cozy benches perched at the top of the pond.  There were two couples snuggled up gazing out at the view on each one and it looked like such a perfect spot to sit and stay a while.  With a little wine and cheese of course. ;)

On our way back down the trail Hannah had to hang from this branch.  I wish I had adjusted my camera settings fast enough to capture this shot, but I still like it because you can almost hear the joy coming out of her can't you? 

Of course Claire had to have a turn as well.  By then I at least had my camera in focus.  

If you don't know this about Hannah, the girl never stops moving. Or talking.  EVER.  Her brain is constantly going a million miles a minute.  She asks a million and one questions throughout the day. And not just easy questions.  Questions like, "Mom, how many minutes does it take to drive to San Francisco?  Not hours but minutes.  What's the weather going to be like today?  What do you think I should wear tomorrow?" And serious questions like, "Dad, if Jesus is God's son, then who is God's Dad?" And, "Who invented the world? Where did it all come from? How did it just get here?Yeah, but HOW????"    It reminds me of the neighbor kid in Home Alone, when the vans pull up to take the family to the airport, and he climbs right in, and asks the driver, "Did you know the McCallisters are going to France?  Do you know if it's cold there?  Do these vans get good gas mileage?"  ;)

This girl is just so busy.  Makes me think she's going to do really big things with her life.

See those sticks in Mr. H's hand?  I'm spray painting them for a project.  Hopefully I'll get to that this week.

After we hiked back to our cars, the sun was setting, it was getting chillier, and our bellies were growling.  So we drove down the road to Snowline to stand in line for those famous apple cider cinnamon doughnuts.

I got in line with my parents, and Mr. H grabbed us a table while the girls ran around some more.

We were cold and tired and so of course we got hot coffees and cider for the girls to go with our doughnuts.  It hit the spot!

I was sad to realize that it was almost dark and Sunday night, and we had to go home and prepare for the busy week ahead.  I sure do love the weekends now.  Especially when we are doing something as fun as we did last Sunday!

Catching Up With What's New in the Hass House...

Man has life been busy around here!!!
Is anybody even out there waiting around for me to update this old blog anymore???

When my girls were both babies, and toddlers, I can remember wondering if my days would always be like they were, and if things were every going to change.  You know I love them both to death, but you know what I mean, the monotony of a mother's day can be so long, tiring, and thankless.  I used to think that perhaps when they both went to school for a few hours in the day I might have more time to myself.

Ha.  Ha.  Ha.  
Well, in some ways I guess,  yes I do have a couple hours in the morning.  But do you know how fast that time goes?!
And Wednesdays I am at work, and Fridays I am helping in both girls classrooms until Claire gets out of TK.  So really that leaves me three days from 8-11am of free time.  
And most days I seem to spend it running here and there so fast trying to get all of my errands and housework done, moving at whirlwind speed.
And then it's time to pick up Claire.
We come home, we eat lunch.
I clean up lunch.
And about one hour later it's time to get Hannah.
And then the whirlwind speed continues with homework, and sports and dance and daisy scouts and dinner and clean up and showers and time to pack lunches for the next day...until it is finally time for me to sit on the couch with Mr. H and maybe stay awake long enough to watch an episode of Breaking Bad or Homeland.

I'm not complaining, I'm just saying.
Tis the season of our lives, and I am a little afraid for how much busier it may become.
Free time has been hard to find, and when I do have it I don't always choose to blog.
But I do want to keep up this blog.
Plus I think it helps to improve my long term memory so I'll keep at it.

Here's some pics and randomness of what's been happening around here...
walking to school...

100 Mile Club afternoon runs at Dos Lagos...

Last month we all went to the 100 Mile Club Family Night at school.  They had Jamba Juice there, and the girls got to meet the school mascot, the Orange Bengal. 

 They also got free sunglasses for being first to arrive.

More walks to school...

6am sure does roll around so fast!!!

I try to remember to take a pic of the girls bento boxed lunches...  

I bought the new Weelicious Lunches cookbook and have gotten SO many great ideas from it.  And not just lunch ideas, but dinner too.  I'm so glad I came across her first Weelicious book randomly at Barnes N Noble one day.  Her books have been so helpful with ideas and easy meals to feed my fam.

Vino in the tub... because it's good, and because I can. ;)

The girls have been begging to sign up for dance classes lately.
All Claire talks about is becoming a ballerina, and Hannah says she wants to learn some hip hop moves.
So I did some research, and got them signed up at a non competition studio near us.

The first day Claire seemed like such a natural!

I didn't get to see much of Hannah's class because they shut the blinds once they began working on their Christmas routine.  We signed up too late for that so the girls aren't actually performing in it, but they don't seem to mind.

Claire's teacher reminds me of Taylor Swift.  She's so cute.

Today will be their third week and so far they still love it.

This is a few of the moms with kids in Claire's class that I have gotten to know this year.  She has really lucked out and has such a great group of kids in her class.  There are 6 of us who have been having playdates after school and gotten to know each other a bit.  
A few weekends ago my fam had dinner at one of the girls houses with one other family and we had such a fun time.  

We all bring snacks and drinks for the playdates and this group of kids all plays so nicely together.  

One of the girls is married to a brew master! He started home brewing a couple years ago and has really gotten into it.  He's got an amazing set up in his garage complete with a dishwasher for sterilizing his bottles, and he even grows his own hops.  He makes his own label, and the night we had dinner together he brought several of his brews for everybody to try.  His coconut porter is seriously one of the best beers I've ever had.  Maybe he'll teach Mr. Hass his secrets.  :)

One of Claire's friends from school invited the girls to a great birthday party a couple weekends ago.

They had a huge water slide, and lunch was served.  But that wasn't even the big attraction... it was the reptile guy that came and shared all of his slithery friends.  The kids LOVED it! And so did all the parents! It was a fun party for all.

Are you cringing yet? ;)
I couldn't believe the size of that yellow snake.
Ca-reeeeeeee-py!
And there's Hannah having a blast holding it!
She loved getting to hold ALL the snakes!!!
I could not believe it.

Claire was not quite so hands on with the slithery fellas.  But she sure seemed to enjoy it none the less!

I think this big crocodile looking one freaked me out the most!
It was fast!!!

Ok and the tarantula.
Yeah, the tarantula freaked me out quite a bit too.
Not Hannah.

What a fun time we all had at the party though!
Then it was time to run home, grab some In-N-Out for dinner, freshen up, and then I picked up the babysitter so Mr. H and I could go see a movie.
I can't even remember our last date before that.
Life has just been so busy with the girls lately, and often times the sitter isn't free when we want to go out, and some nights I don't think I can stand to stay home and sit on my couch for one more Saturday night.
So even though Mr. H had worked the 6am-3 shift that day, and then came straight to a birthday party to meet me and the girls, and we were both yawning and so tired from the day, we still jumped at the chance to get out together.

And the poor guy even had to be at work at 6am the next morning.  We saw The Butler.  Both of us enjoyed it.

Selfie in the car on the way to dance last week...

Mr. H had to leave work early that day and meet me at the dance studio so that I could leave and go straight to Girl Scout Leadership Training.

It was supposed to be from 5-8pm, and it went until 9pm!

And we had a 3 page test at the end of class!

But now it's done with and I learned a lot about Girl Scouts.

During training I kept giggling to myself every time I thought of Shelley Long in the movie Troop Beverly Hills.  The instructor talked a bit about the Girl Scout "camporee" (a two night camp excursion) and all I could think about was when Phyllis Nefler (Shelley Long) checks her troop into The Hilton hotel after attempting to camp and gets caught by the Wilderness Girls head honchos.  They say to her something about you think this is "roughing it", and she replies how sharing a bathroom with NINE people IS roughing it!  Oh, it kills me.  

I am now the co-leader of Hannah's troop and plan on being a leader of Claire's troop next year when she starts Kinder.  

The following night I was at work from 9-9.  It was a busy week!

This last Saturday I worked the first half of the day, and later some of Hannah's Daisy troop met up at Cooking 101 for a cooking class.

 It was such a cute sight to see!!!

 The girls seemed to really enjoy it too.
They learned to slice and dice pretty well.
They had to slice up pears for a dessert that they made.
And then they chopped carrots, onions, parsley, and garlic to go into their chicken fried rice.

 (I shared this photo on instagram and commented about the six pack photo bombing in the background.  haha.  That's a nutritional store behind Cooking 101 and it was on the window.)

 They cracked and scrambled their own eggs,
and this was the finished product...!

 And it was mighty tasty!

 The girls were all funny and hesitant to eat it, but once they did they scarfed it right down!

Such a fun outing!!!
Tomorrow Mr. H is taking the girls to meet up with the troop at a local pumpkin patch and corn maze.  I'm so bummed to be missing it but I'll be at work.

Last Sunday we went exploring in Oak Glen.
And as soon as I get the chance I'll share some pics from the day.
Until then, here's one of my little Clairey Beary and her binos.  :)