November

November whizzed by so quickly! I spent a majority of the month prepping for Rosi and Roy's Thanksgiving visit, and constantly stalking Hatchimals (this year's completely overly-priced hottest toy) inventories of every store I could think of. James finished playing Fall Ball (Little League Baseball). He LOVES baseball.

Rosi and Roy joined us for Thanksgiving. I forgot to take pictures of the food, but it was delicious.

James always dons the family crest for Heritage Day at school. He's proud of his Scottish roots.

Keeping clothes on the natives is quite the difficult task

When Roy and Rosi were here we visited Carmel-by-the-Sea. All the shops are so charming , but we especially loved this tiny little gnome cottage/candy store.

We also took the scenic 17 mile drive. This beach right next to pebble beach golf course is incredible. The sand is so white. Roy was positive the sand was imported. 

James wanted to run into the ocean. I said no way. Instead he and Roy chased each other around the beach with random sea weeds and shells.

Amelia wanted hehr pictures taken by The Lone Cypress. Unfortunately, she's too short. It's back there somewhere.

Trying to get a picture of these two seems impossible most days. They are crazy!

Rosi bought this game only to find out that it was too competitive for us Willardsons. So James and Roy played. Roy is too nice. 

Local cuisine. $15 corn dogs. Or something like that...

And of course, when family visits you must stop off at the Golden Gate bridge!

October

In October Amelia contracted at least 3 different illnesses. She's awesome that way. After having a really gross stomach bug for two weeks, she got a cold, promptly followed by a case of walking pneumonia. Poor kid has had a really rough Fall.

James got his school pictures taken and got a game ball. He LOVES baseball.

 We went to a Fall Festival and the kids had a lot of fun. They each got to pick out a pumpkin and carve it. I think Paul and I did the majority of the work.

Amelia was very proud of her Elsa "tattoo."

Our theme for Halloween was "When I Grow Up." So, naturally, James was a scientist. With green hair, because it's his dream to have green hair when he grows up.

And sweet Amelia was Doc McStuffins. I made their lab coats and Paul took James out trick-or-treating while sick little Amelia stayed home and watched I Love Lucy episodes with me. For some reason whenever my kids are sick, they want to watch I Love Lucy.

That was our October!

Sunset Beach & Labor Day

We went camping for Labor Day again this year. Last year we went to a great campground in Uvas Canyon, but I've been dying for a beach camp experience. Of course, it was much different than my experiences with beach camping in Southern California, but it was still a lot of fun.

 September in NorCal can be chilly. I thought it was going to be colder than it actually was, but at least we were prepared!

 All the pictures I took of him looked like this :)

 After a fun night of camping and a delicious breakfast, we headed to the beach! On our way down we saw at least two dorsal fins. Luckily we had only planned on beach-combing anyway.

Sunset Beach is full of sand dollars! James found quite a few.

Amelia just liked running and trying to scare me with getting too close to the shark infested waters.

The view is quite stunning. The beach is surrounded by large agricultural farms full of lettuces and strawberries. It's quite different from Southern California, but a fun adventure.

Anyone who knows Paul knows he's a sucker for pie. So before heading home we went to Gizdich Ranch. It's a very cute apple farm with amazing pies. Like, seriously the best pie I've ever had.

It was a very relaxing weekend and we got some much-needed r&r! Now it's back to the grind of life.

Point Montara Lighthouse Trip

Back in February we purchased a Lighthouse Passport when we visited the Point Pinos lighthouse in Pacific Grove. Basically when you visit a lighthouse, you get a stamp (or sometimes two!) in your passport. It's been fun to visit several lighthouses in the area in the last couple of months. I love history and old buildings. Lighthouse properties are typically well maintained and offer free or low cost museums.

So far we've visited Point Pinos, Santa Cruz, Pigeon Point, and last week we visited Point Montara.

Point Montara Lighthouse is actually really small. Apparently it started off in Maine, and was auctioned off to a ship captain. No one is quite sure how it came go be at this spot, but it's unique to Northern California. 

I LOVE this lighthouse keepers house. I would live here now and never leave. The property is lush with organic landscaping and I absolutely loved it.

They aren't kidding. It drops off right there and goes waaaay down. 

After exploring the area and getting our stamps we headed to Pacifica where the weather was much warmer and we had a picnic. We are living in an apartment in San Jose right now so the kids need to stretch their legs and run wild. We try to oblige as often as possible.

It was a great day trip! We are loving living so close to the ocean!

Nutshell Updates

Because I have been absent from blogging for so long, I just can't even begin to think of proper updating, so instead, here are our two most recent Christmas letters! They give a pretty good summary of the last couple of years. I can't believe it's been that long since I last updated this blog! Enjoy!

Back to Blogging & Privacy Settings

I started blogging earlier this year over at www.joyfuljourneyings.com. I love it and love that I have a creative outlet, but I've come to realize that I'm not doing a very good job at documenting our family blog/journal. Recently I've become aware and concerned over family safety and privacy issues, and so I will be changing the privacy of this blog. I want to share with anyone I know who is interested in our lives and journeys, I just want to keep the creepers out and my kids safe. If you'd like to stay posted on our family news blog, send me your email and I'll add you to the approved list.

Thanks for understanding!