Halloween Costumes!

Happy Halloween!

Calvin dressed up as an Engineer!  Our first stop was Hy-Vee for some trick or treating and supper.  Then we went to a few houses around our block.

 

 Watching the Halloween parade!

Mendocino County

We went up to Mendocino county for our last California getaway before baby comes.  It's 3 hours north of San Francisco, so we flew up to SF and drove a winding, two lane road the rest of the way.  Our first stop was Fort Ross, an old Russian fort that was established in 1812.  The Russians farmed and hunted in order to send food up to Alaska, but they decided to leave in the 1840s.  

 An old-fashioned windmill.

 The place we stayed was Glendeven Inn, and it was a bed and breakfast on a farm.  This was our little patio off of the room.  Every morning they brought us breakfast, usually a type of souffle, scones or muffins, and things such as apple/rhubarb crisp, fresh fruit, or granola.  It was delicious!

This is the old farmhouse, where our room was.  

 The property had all kinds of chickens to feed and some llamas.

 Our favorite thing we did was take an outrigger canoe out on the Big River.  It was a narrow canoe with outriggers on both sides.  We paddled up the river and had lunch in the boat!

 The coast off Mendocino is really pretty and quite rugged.  There aren't many cities or town on the North Coast, so it's nice and natural.

A lighthouse along the coast

We also went to Glass Beach in Fort Bragg, just north of Mendocino.  The residents of Fort Bragg used to throw their garbage off the cliffs on the coast in the early 1900s.  All of broken glass bottles have accumulated on this particular beach and it's now really smooth sea glass.  

31 weeks preggers!

Cutie

We stopped at the zoo in Madison on our way home from Sheboygan.  The goats were so playful!  There were about 20 running around, butting heads.

 Riding the train and the carousal.

 Not a good pic of Calvin, but notice the GIANT anaconda in the background!

 Walked in to his room and found him like this.

Garage before and after

 BEFORE....neglected

AFTER....looking much cleaner

Took a ride in a basket on the neighbor's Bobcat today to paint the peak!

Summer

Finally in the third trimester and still feeling good!

 Here's a profile shot of baby girl, with her hand up by her head.  Since they were checking into the extra fluid in my belly, we got to have more pictures.

 A funny one of Eliza that I found from her birthday :)

 I never finished putting up pictures from our Yosemite trip in May.  This is Bodie, a ghost town that we stopped at on our way back from Yosemite.  It used to be a mining town, but was completely abandoned with most of the buildings still standing.

 We also stopped at Death Valley National Park, because, well, why not?!?

 Our hotel was at Furnace Creek Ranch, the only place to stay in Death Valley.  It was a strange oasis in the middle of the desert.  It even had a golf course!

 The lowest point in North America, 282 feet below sea level.  It was already 90 degrees by 8am...

 Coyotes stopped us in the road on our way out.  I think they were used to cars giving them handouts!  We could have reached out and pet them.

Last weeks of summer

Playing "Just Dance" on the Wii has been a frequent past time lately. 

Calvin loves to dance!

 

Replicas of the Nina and Pinta came to Dubuque last weekend.  You can see the second ship in the back.  They were way smaller than I expected!

Calvin wasn't into the ships, so he blindly pushed his stroller around.

 Yesterday we visited a small petting zoo outside Dubuque.  I snapped this picture before my camera died.  Calvin enjoyed feeding the goats grass and loved watching the "chickens" which was 1 chicken and about 10 doves.