More and more Sam

 Rocklin City had a Christmas Tree lighting Festival which we had to attend. They had Santa visits, horse drawn carriage rides, carolers, holiday treats, crafts and more. Sam's favorite activities were as follows:

Picking up rocks and throwing them into a bush.

 and having me names all the colors of the lights on this bush.

Now for some fun Sam Moments:

Balloons are one of his favorite activities. Doesn't his face just get you excited about balloons?

Napping is not his strong point.

Here we are at the library playing with scarfs during story time.

He hasn't had enough of putting things on his head apparently.

This is where Sam is 90% of the time when we are at home. My little book worm.

The best week!

SO I feel pretty lucky. I got my little sister all to myself for an entire week! She was coming from BYU Idaho and could only find a ride to Sacramento. It was meant to be because we had the most amazing week! 

 We took advantage of the rain and went for a hike along the Roseville bike trail where Sam could splash in the puddles with his new rain boots. I discovered this new trail with Bethany. I love living in a beautiful place.

He's showing off, you can tell.

 

Sunday night we went to the Christmas Tree lighting ceremony in Roseville and the hour long ceremony turned in 10 minutes because of the pouring rain. It was pretty memorable.

 

We headed to Sacramento on Monday and had to see the Capital. Notice that the Governer's office still says Schwarzenegger.

 Sam was telling me all about the building's construction and design.

In order to keep Sam sane we headed to the Train Museum where he had much to inform us about.

Naturally a walk through Old Town Sacramento followed. Of course, I was with Bethany so a sweet shop stop was a must!

Recently Sam is getting even more cuddly with stuffed animals. We found this dog made from real Albaca fur. It was so soft and Sam was just tickled by it's cuteness. He kept mimicking how he thought it would sound, then held it and kissed it over and over. Of course the first thought that came to my head was "maybe he would sleep with this thing...I should buy it!" I held back knowing from experience that most implosive buys to get Sam to sleep more usually don't work.

Here comes the highlight of the week! San Francisco. Hank took the entire day off so we had to take a trip. It was amazing! Here we are in front of the Golden Gate Bridge. I loved the design, the history and view. Really spectacular.

Another fun event was the Golden State Park where we observed a staggering amount of homeless people wandering around. The walks were gorgeous and the company even better.

I actually took an insane amount of pictures but I feel like this post is getting long already. Another highlight of the day was China Town. I was pretty amazed how close to China those San Francsico streets were. We happened upon this Chinese Restaurant. The feel, the smells, the chill of the place just brought us back. The food was so delicious and Bethany humored Hank and I as we reminiscent.

 

Thanksgiving was just delightful. We spend the day at McKay and Laree's place. Trevor and Lindsay joined us as well a s the Busby family. We cooked, chatted, swung on swings, climbed trees, played games and just had a great time.

 After an insane morning of black Friday shopping we headed back to Sacramento for Christmas Festivities. We went to an holiday arts and crafts fair and just ate everything up from the hand woven hats to the homemade pepper jelly. If I ever become rich I am going to buy everything from fairs.

 

Old Town put on a holiday show

with staged lights, music and storytelling. Sam was impressive and it really made me feel the spirit of Christmas. Kids really have a way of making you getting excited about holidays.

Bethany got to stick around for another day because of a snow storm and got to experience our second Thanks giving. My friend Tracy's husband is a pilot so his work schedule always conflicts with holidays so they just move everything around. Isn't that the coolest table with the coolest centerpiece! Tracy designed the centerpiece and I am basically in awe of everything she does.

Her son is a little older  than Sam  and I like to pretend they are best friends but in reality I think they might notice each others existence once in a while. Anyway, it's fun to see them interact.

                                           Look how pretty Bethany is! Oh I miss her already!

A Wonderful Visit

I felt very blessed this weekend because my parents came to visit. It was short visit but very satisfying. Here are the highlights.

 

We spent the morning at a bird sanctuary and nature preserve. My mom has recently discovered her true passion in life which is identifying plants in the Santa Monica Mountains. I think she was having a blast comparing north to south at the perserve. I know my dad enjoyed himself because he said it would be a perfect place to paint and that next time they come up we should just drop him off there for a couple hours. Sam also enjoyed himself as there were a few bridges, lots of rocks and puddles. All in all it was a big hit.

 

Here we are looking at an Madiu Indian grinding spot. It was pretty cool. The whole time my parents were here Sam keep pointing at them and yelling. He obviously knows who they are and probably is wondering why they aren't around as much as they used to be.

Our next venture was to Auburn where we had lunch downtown and enjoyed the scenery of this little historic town. We found a museum that talked all about the gold rush and how Auburn came about. I love that I live in such a historic area. My mom's other passion is history so needless to say this was also a big hit.

Sam amazes me everyday. He sees no reason why he can't play on the playground equipment like every other big kid. He is now climbing ladders, swinging on bars, balancing on balance beams and basically climbing up and down on everything no matter the height. He is really quite talented and I often find myself in awe of his playground abilities.

 

In case you were wondering his hair still disappears when it gets wet.

Old West Park

 

One of Sam's joys.

 There are several old west themed parks around here. I think they are so cute and fun so I took some pics. Sam's trying to figure out how to get the free loaders off his train.

I can tell when Sam is happy with an activity because he gets very busy and intense with his playing and then all of a sudden he'll smile with an "EEEEEE" sound. Recently he's added a few dance moves to his happy expressions. I think having Dad with us made the experience that much more exciting and "EEEEEE" worthy.

I seriously get such a kick out of these themed parks. I would have loved to play here when I was little. I really feel like I vicariously live through Sam sometimes, especially when he discovers things for the first time. For instance on this day he discovered the joy of stomping in dried leaves. I have been trying to show him how fun that is for weeks and he finally realized it. Hank and I just watched him played as he ran up and down the sidewalk kicking and stomping on the leaves. I told Hank I couldn't imagine doing anything more entertaining than that. He agreed.

Autumn in all it's glory

 We have certainly been enjoying the Autumn around here. Here we are at very spectacular Pumpkin Patch waiting for the train ride to begin. Sam was so excited to see the train and then when we  rode it he pretty much had that same expression on his face. Who knows what he is thinking half the time.

 These are the pre-picked Pumpkins. We also took a tractor ride out to the real Pumpkin Patch. Sam loved both the ride and wandering aimlessly talking and pointing while we were at the patch. We brought Hank's cousin Addy along and she was the master perfect Pumpkin finder. It was so fun.

 Here we are at our Halloween party. We went as characters from the movie UP, can you guess who each of us are? We won third place! I was pleased since I came up with the idea that day. Sam just seemed especially old man like so I worked around that.

 Last weekend was my Grandpa's funeral so Hank, Sam and I traveled back to Southern California to be there for it. My mom's birthday was coincidentally that same weekend so we had a party. My sister Anna is now a gourmet chef and prepared the meal. It was so delicious, the kind of meal you dream about! It was really nice to see my family.

 Fuzzy picture but all I had of Sam's outfit. After the sweet funeral services the whole big family visited and ate at my Grandpa's. Even though it's not the happiest reason to get together it was still really fun to see all my cousins and Aunts and Uncles. Sam was so exhausted from playing with all his extended family he passed out as soon as he hit his car seat. Through it all he kept his good looks and charm.

 For my mom's group we went to a nursing home and trick or treated. Sam hated his costume, probably because there is no such thing as a black ace of hearts (that's what being in a rush does). He was of course running around frantically while all the other kids nicely accepted candy from the adults. He is so intense! It's amazing I even got this picture!

 Another pumpkin patch. This one a lot smaller but quite cute. Sam got attacked by one of their chickens. I respectfully expressed by concern to the workers there and so they gave us free feed for the goats. If you think that is what Sam is feeding them with, your wrong. He rejected my attempts to feed the goats with goat food and instead decided what these animals needed was rocks off the ground. In fact every time Sam picked a rock off the ground he would gabber to me as if to explain that that is what the goat wants. I didn't argue...or did I point out that the goats ate my food and not his. Moments like this make me so proud to be his mom.

 Sam pretty much looks mad, tired or bored in every picture. I swear he is the happiest child I know. He is just so intense when he plays that it's hard for me to get a picture of his face let alone a picture of him smiling. He loved this tractor, you're just going to have to trust me.

 We probably spent a half an hour just in the patch and that entire time Sam wandered around pointing and picking up the pumpkins while gabbering to himself. He is such a talker!!

 Carving Pumpkins with the other Florences. Addy made a Pumpkin that had one side with a girl face and one side with a boy face (very cute and clever), Truman carved a TNT logo (Take Note Troupe, the theater troupe Hank has been working with) and Corbin's pumpkin went from a jack-o-lantern, to a face throwing up to a face with it's brains blown out. It was fun to watch the transformations. Hank couldn't finish his and so a half faced jack-O-lantern is lighting our doorway.I gave up on my pumpkin half way through and instead we have been enjoying the remains in our bread. Sam wandered around gabbering while getting soaked in their fountain. It was a neat night.

He's a daredevil.  Now we just have to see if he can ride like this on the freeway

A week of Trains

 

Sam got his fill of trains this week. There is an outdoor shopping mall near us that gives free train rides every Tuesday and so we rode a few times. Sam doesn't look very pleased in this picture but I think it's because he was too exhausted from the excitement to show any emotion. 

 The big event of the week was our visit to the California Railroad Museum. It was really nice to be with Hank on this outing. I think my favorite part of having my husband with me when we are out and about is being able to share the pure pleasure of parenthood with someone. We both chuckled together as Sam wondered around frantically trying to get as close to the trains as possible. I like having someone with me who is just as amazed as I am at my little guy.

 This is probably the biggest hit we have had so far. Sam loved being so close to these huge machines with wheel. He couldn't stop himself from gibbering away. He talked and talked the entire time as he ran from one exhibit to the next. He was pretty overwhelmed with excitement.

 Sam had trouble taking pictures. I think his little brain was on overload and he had to expend as much energy as possible...no time for pictures. He slept well that night and we are definitely getting a year membership.

 I am so bummed I didn't bring my camera on this outing. A friend of mine along with her son who is Sam's age took Sam and I hiking up in Auburn. Absolutely gorgeous! I am so glad I found a hiking buddy. Anyway we went hiking to a swimming hole and had a blast! We didn't come prepared with swim trucks and extra clothes, that would have been too boring. Instead we all played and splashed and then watched as our boys rolled around in the dirt and mud. We also had the company of several dogs who joined the fun from some nearby hikers. Sam was a disgusting mess, but fortunately he wasn't alone. We stripped them down and took a long time getting back since both boys were to excited to be carried. Oh how I wish I had my camera!We all had an amazing time.