Bates Nut Farm

On Saturday, we went out to Bates Nut Farm with the Eks. This place is pretty much the Disneyland of all Pumpkin Patches. It is enormous, I've never seen so many pumpkins in my life! McKay loved climbing and playing in all of the pumpkins, riding in wheel-barrows and feeding the goats. In fact, he's still walking around saying 'pumpkin!'.

SD Children's Museum

A few weeks ago, Grams, Brooke, McKay and I went to visit the new San Diego Children's Museum. The kids loved every minute of it!

This sculpture is hanging from the ceiling near the entrance. It is made entirely of balloons! Wow, I wonder how long that took?!

Drawing on the giant chalkboard wall.

They had the cutest little pumping carts that the kids could ride. Don't they just look neat?

Playing the drums.

Inside the 'rain house'. I love the keyhole entry.

Bubbles! What kid doesn't love bubbles?

Jumping in the huge rainbow bouncy. What a great photo with all of those colors.

We had so much fun! I loved how everything was so colorful and artistic. Thanks Grams for such a fun day!

Growth Chart

{Just in case you were wondering, no, McKay is not nearly 5 feet tall. The board actually hangs on the wall a couple of feet above the ground.}

Right before McKay turned 2, I decided to make a growth chart for him. I figured I might as well have one I can take with me, rather than the traditional write-on-the-wall method. With a piece of wood, a little paint, fabric and some modge podge, I think it turned out pretty well.

Summer Fun

This summer flew by so fast. I feel like it was over before it even started. Since I've been MIA from the blogging world for a while, I think it's time I started catching up. So, here are just a few of the summer updates...

Of course, we went to the races at Del Mar... 

McKay with Grams

Jodie is always so great (thank you!) to hook us up with all sorts of fun things, including the Weezer concert...

Weezer has always been one of my favorite bands, so I was super excited.

It was so fun to have a date night out...

..with some great friends, too! Here's the gang of us..

Elke, Mindy, Me, Lindsay

With so many people, they often have the concerts in the middle of the racetrack. Afterwards, everyone started jumping the fence and rushing the track. Here's Jeff and I, head-to-head! ;)

Some of our really good friends, Brittany and Derek moved up North this summer. We miss them so much already! Here we are having a going away bonfire at Ponto..

Me & McKay, Brittany, Lindsay

Roasting Biscuits...

All of the kiddos.

So cute, huddling together.

Unfortunately, we had quite a few gloomy days this summer; but, when the sun came out we took full advantage by going to the beach or swimming at the pool.

Cardiff

My little brother, Britt, came down for almost the whole month of June to visit. We always love having him, McKay just loves his 'Uncle Bit'.

We also had our Petersen Family Reunion the first part in August.

..we went to Balboa Park..

...and come to find out, my grandpa & grandpa Petersen had their wedding reception here at Balboa.

Visited the Fleet Science Center, where we also got to see the Kelly Slater Imax movie, 'The Ultimate Wave: Tahiti'. It was really good, despite the fact that my Dad managed to sleep the entire way through it. haha.

We also went to the Mormon Batallian center..

..where the kids got to pan for gold.

And play other pioneer games.

We went to the beach, of course.

...and some of us decided to try out the sand. :) Still adorable, even with sand all over that cute face.

My brother and s-i-l moved to Laguna Nigel in August. We are so excited to have them close by.

We've had lots of different play-dates lately. McKay loves having friends over, and keeping busy constantly.

Too cute for words.

..so, goodbye to Summer, we miss you already. Please stay longer next year!

Buzzed

Who is this little boy? Certainly he couldn't be MY little boy? My little baby. Or so I thought to myself after buzzing away all of that beautiful blonde hair of his. It's not that I still didn't think he was the most beautiful little thing. Because I do. I'll always think he's the cutest kid that walked the face of the earth. (I am his mom after all) It's just that all of a sudden, he looked so old and grown up, and I almost felt as though I lost a part of him. The baby him. And it was all of my fault. I was guilty. I may as well have shaved off my own head of hair. I missed baby him. But, a couple of days passed by and the new boy started to grow on me. (how could he not!) I couldn't be happier with this cute little buzzer boy, looking all grown up. Not to mention, it's easy, quick, clean, adorable and I absolutely love it. So cute. Isn't it funny how you can feel such silly emotions over a haircut? ..let alone someone else's haircut! Besides, this kid looks cute no matter what! (sorry..bragging just comes with the whole mom territory! :D)

Chicago...The End.

(Come explore Chicago with us...Last Part)

McKay and I adventured down to Navy Pier one day.

We found a giant Macaroni.

You know you love it.

I took McKay on the ginourmous ferris wheel. ....He didn't love it. 

And pretty much cried the entire ride.

The view of the city sure was amazing though.

After the traumatic ferris wheel ride, we continued on to the Children's Museum.

This place, he loved.

We stayed and played for hours.

Heading back into the city, we stopped at the Hershey's Factory.

Michigan Ave, also known as 'The Magnificent Mile' is a girls dream. Three huge malls and a gazillion shops in between line up and down both sides of the street. We did lots of window shopping and lots of walking down this street. I loved that everything we did was within walking distance.

In fact, the only time we weren't walking, was the one time we took the Subway. McKay, not so much a big fan of the Subway system. He made it pretty clear.  

But the destination was well worth it. The infamous Wrigley Field for a Cubs game.

Yep, well worth it. Boys and baseball, so natural.

...even when you're 2.

It was a pretty great game. The cubs made a come-back after being down seven, winning the game!

On our last day, we had one more spot to hit, The Willis (Sears) Tower.

They have 'The Skyledge', which allows you to actually walk out over the city. McKay decided to fly over instead.

And color in the Chicago Skyline...literally.

We sure did wear ourselves out, which is the way to travel! It was a great little get-away. I'm glad I got to finally tag along with Jeff while he was away traveling, hard at work. And we even crammed in lots of play time together, too.