Apple Picking in Oak Glen (Part 1)

This year we decided to go apple picking in Oak Glen instead of Julian and we had a wonderful time! This year we also went with Auntie Chrissy, Uncle Kevin and Cody. Chrissy and I remember picking apples here when we were kids, so we figured it was time our boys went together too!

Look at that beauty!

Cody and Wes check out some farm equipment. These boys love anything with big wheels!

Such good buddys

I took well over 100 pictures, and have many more to post. But Wesley and I are leaving in the morning for Omaha and I need more time to sort through them all...we also picked pears and the most delicious raspberries! I'll leave you with this picture of fresh apple pie a la mode to whet your appetite for more pictures of our day of apple picking!

Clean and Jerk

Do you remember this post from October when I was musing about what Wesley might be when he grows up? I think that Professional Weightlifter is looking like a sure thing. It's not all that surprising though, given the combination of Meacham and Tollefson genes in this kid.

Look at that face!

Trust me, there are 12 cans of soda in there!

Is it possible that weightlifting could be a respectable career choice?!? At least I know God will use his talents in some amazing way or another!

(By the way, Clean and Jerk is a weightlifting exercise)

Meeting Wyatt and Playing in Santa Monica

Wes and I were so excited when we found out that Kyra and Jeff were in town from Denver and that we were going to get to meet baby Wyatt! We haven't seen Kyra and Jeff since January when Wes and my mom and I went to Denver for Kyra's baby shower. So we met them at the 3rd Street Promenade in Santa Monica for some coffee and a stroll through the farmer's market (which was amazing by the way!) and then we got to go to our friend Darcy's beach club for lunch and some play time!

This beach club is amazing! Darcy, who is also a United flight attendant, and her husband are members here along with 29 other families. The structure dates back to the 1910's and it has always been a beach club, not a residence. The history here is pretty cool!

It was pretty chilly when we arrived and Darcy had started a wonderful fire! The sitting room was so cozy and beachy, and Wes of course loved the fire!

Darcy with Wyatt and Wesley.

I met Darcy through Kyra several years ago and when we went to Maui when Wes was just 3 1/2 months old, she just happened to be the purser on our flight! So she hasn't seen Wes since he was tiny. It's amazing how much he has changed since then!

Wes made himself right at home by getting into everything! There were lots of fun toys and things for kids, so Wes had a blast.

Wes checking out the boys changing room.

The property is perfect for little kids since it has this enclosed beach area. Wes could play but not escape :)

Darcy made a delicious lunch of shrimp tacos, guacamole and Corona's. The perfect beach lunch!

We walked to the water for Wyatt's first time in the Pacific!

Wes always manages to find wonderful treasures, at least this is seaweed and not trash!

It was impossible to get a picture where we were all looking at the camera. :)

We loved meeting Wyatt and getting to visit with Kyra, Jeff and Darcy. It's hard living so far away from good friends but luckily the airline industry still provides us with a few good traveling perks!

Labor Day Weekend

We sort of celebrated the beginning and the end of Labor Day weekend. Mike's cousin Jed and his wife Katie and daughter Gacie just moved to Mission Viejo from Colorado so on Friday night we went over to their new house for a delicious BBQ dinner and some swimming.

Wes and Gracie were fast friends.

I had to include a picture of this tart I made. It looks pretty good and I think everyone agreed that it tasted pretty good too!

Then on Monday we headed down to Huntington Beach on our bikes with our friends the Sides for breakfast at the Sugar Shack. (I think we might be starting a holiday tradition, check out our pics from Memorial Day)

These guys love this water fountain!

Such handsome faces!

Wesley has been quite the eater these days. He ate about a quarter of Michael's Spanish Omlette, including the peppers, onions and red sauce and almost a whole pancake plus fruit. I also discovered the day after this ride that his top molars on both sides are through. I had no idea they were even on their way! He's just growing so fast!

Then for dinner, we headed over to Grandma's house for a BBQ.

A little time in the hot tub with Daddy.

I forgot to take a picture when we were all sitting down together to eat, but we did a good job of polishing off all the food!

We told him he wasn't supposed to, but Wes decided to buck tradition and do a little bit of work on this tool bench!

Happy Labor Day everyone!

Obsessions

Here's how we've been spending quite a bit of our time recently:

Driving:

Wesley is truly obsessed with driving. Every time I even open the door to the garage he gets excited. And when driving time is over, he grips the steering wheel so tight that I have to pry his little fingers off the wheel. I don't see how he's going to wait 15 more years!

Climbing in and out and in and out and in and out of his dump trucks:

That pretty much sums up this activity. We did have a few dump truck tipping incidents while he was figuring out the whole 'getting out' thing. But he's solved all the balance problems now.

Airplanes:

I have to admit I'm pretty proud of this obsession. Fire trucks are cool and all, but airplanes are awesome!

I think Wes may have picked up a little of his airplane fever from his buddy Aaron, because we spend a lot of time looking, listening and pointing out all the airplanes that fly over our house. And since we live 5 minutes from John Wayne Airport, that's quite a lot of planes.

Mike got Wes this balsa wood airplane and we had lots of fun with it at the park. It's kind of hard to see in this photo, but on one of the planes first flights Michael let it go and it banked around and came straight at Wes. It actually clipped the brim of his hat! He wasn't phased though and was really enjoying chasing after it until, on one overzealous takeoff, Michael snapped it's wing in two. Oh well, we will be taking off in a real airplane at the end of this month when he head to Nebraska with Grandma. I'm sure that will make up for it!