The Simple Life: TJ Farms & Nut Tree

This past weekend we hit the road and headed up to Chico to visit the Jauregui family. It was a nice fall weekend in Chico, only 80 degrees which is a relief from the usual summer heat. Claire flew down from Seattle for a few days and Camille and the boys came up on Saturday. It was an almost complete reunion of the Jauregui kids except that we were missing Tina and Jordan.

Ellie really enjoyed hanging out with her cousins and playing in Grandpa Ricardo's big backyard. It makes me long for a big back yard of our own for Ellie to roam. She *loves* to be outside and when I take her on walks she acts like a hen out of the hen house. She had even more fun going up and down the stairs in grandpa's house. She is getting pretty good at going up and then scooting down on her bottom. It also makes me really glad we don't have stairs. The family came over on Saturday and we had a nice lunch together and then headed off to JK Pumpkin Patch to pick some pumpkins.


Riding the wagon

Just her size

Getting a ride

Searching for the perfect pumpkin

Not funny Papa

This is the way to ride!

Her favorite part of the patch!

What they do to badly behaving Aunties

It was a short trip but we managed to squeeze in a visit to almost everyone, including grandma Agnes, Aunt Mimi and Paula & Greg. On our way home we hit some pretty bad traffic and decided to eat dinner in Vacaville. Since Ellie was pent up from being in the car for so long we decided to burn off some steam at what used to be the Nut Tree, a most beloved playground and farm for both Tom and I when we were little. It is now a shopping center (boo!) but they've kept the iconic train, carousel and a few of the old rocking horses. It certainly brought back some fond memories for me and it was fun seeing Ellie enjoy it too.