October: Farms, Beaches & Gnomes

To celebrate my birthday, Max and Sunny took me up the Gorge for an autumn adventure. We stopped to see Multnomah Falls & score a homemade fudge sample before continuing on to fun farms and orchards. Sunny loved our quest for season stuff, and skipped her nap while staying happy and positive.

Highlights included pumpkin bowling,

careful gourd and squash selection,

Peeing in the flower field, ("Sunny, where are you going? Please stay there a sec for a picture." "Okay, Mama. (I'll stay, but) I'm going pee pee."

feeding critters,

driving heavy equipment,

sampling heirloom apples,

and looking for cool roadside stuff to check out. As we were driving, Max pointed to the hills and said, "Look, there's a vineyard." Sunny piped up from the back seat, "Yeah, there's lots of wine over there." What in the world? We aren't wine drinkers, so maybe Nauntie or Popo taught her about wine making?!

Close-talking and snuggles along the river path.

We shared a special co-birthday dinner with Courtney, Jeff and Asher (Burman)...Not to be confused with Courtney, Jeff and Miles - Sunny actually has everyone straight.

Horsin' around with Auntie Jodie, who stops by whenever our cousins' events bring her near! We love her visits - Sunny and Jodie are non-stop smilers.

Kite flying with Daddy - Sunny flew her first kite and loved it.

Hair with an attitude!

Sunny's been enamored with horses...well, with the *idea* of them, anyway. Her first ride at a pumpkin patch on Sauvie Island ended in tears after about 3 secs - this was the first pic I could get. We'll need to try this again with all of us riding together.

The hay wagon ride was much more popular!

Savoring some of the sweetest corn on the planet.

3-2-1-blast off! In the rocket at OMSI with Daddy. Sunny loves rockets!

"Look, I have 5!" Sunny is so proud that she's finally figured out how to hold up 2 fingers. She would practice manipulating her fingers with a little scowl on her face as her fingers failed to cooperate. Now she'll say, "Look, look - I have 2!" and wave her hand around.

Watching "Circle of Life" with Popo on the phone. Sunny knows all the words, and sings in a very dramatic tone.

Our good friends Chad and Jeni brought their girls Emma and Maddie out from Indiana to visit.
Sunny was the happiest I've ever seen her - she loved having these sweet big girls as friends!!

Our friends Adolf and Brandi, and of course Uncle Scott, all went with us to the beach - it was a perfect weekend.

Emma and Maddie were so kind to Sunny. We packed the 3 car/booster seats in our car so they could ride together. They sang and laughed the whole time. At a shop in Seaside, Emma even used her special trip money to buy SUNNY a cute fat pink kitty-ball toy. So sweet and thoughtful!

We hit the Zoo on the drive back to Portland, and the girls rode on "Simba- " they'd watched Lion King at the beach. Sunny is a joker - here she is drinking her cupcake during a weekend trip to Noah's Bagels.

Getting all gnomed up with Nauntie (who, I should add, is the Original little gnome due to the funny low voice she had as a toddler) before a Halloween carnival.

We took Sunny to her first play, "Pinkalicious" - about a girl who eats so many cupcakes that she turns pink. Sunny liked the singing and dancing, but she was just starting to squirm as the curtain fell = perfect! 1-hour is her max attention span for seated entertainment.

On Halloween, Sunny opted to be a tiger at school and a gnome for trick-or-treating.

2 gardeners and 1 gnome...and check out the crazy natural spotlight that broke through the clouds onto Sunny, right when the picture took!

She actually took directions to strike a gnome pose - super convincing, yes?

Popo joined us to trick-or-treat Multnomah Village: we had a blast!

This is Sunny's "I've had too much candy" face.

Nauntie, dressed as a bathtub, and Sean, dressed as a bather, came along to trick-or-treat our neighborhood. And then we had a floor party, during which Sunny happily shared her candy with all of us. She also enjoyed answering the door and instructing trick-or-treaters to "Just take one," piece of candy in a strikingly authoritative little voice. Uh-oh. That sounds a little too familiar.