pumpkin patch.

we visited the pumpkin patch at tanaka family farms a couple of weeks ago.  i had grand plans to get nice, fallish pictures of each of the kids there.

turns out, kids don't give a hoot about posing for nice, fallish pictures when there's a corn maze involved.

what is it about corn mazes that prompt every little kid to take off running, leaving me in the dust?

well, every little kid except for this one.  she consented to be my corn maze buddy and was happy to stay put.  as long as she got to hold on to her baby pumpkin.

daddy handed it to her soon after we got there and it was love at first sight.  until we found an even smaller, babyer pumpkin an hour later.  then the first one was toast.  ah, young pumpkin love...  so fickle.

he finally paused long enough for one shot.  but only one before he was off again.

i also meant to get a shot of each of the kids here, too.  but i forgot.  it's a common theme with me.

so yuuuuup, it was turning out to be an awesome picture taking day for me.  by golly, just awesome.

happily though, the tractor ride saved the day.  captive audience, ya know.

except i didn't account for the face-making.  and the high sun was killing me.  i tried to get phil on board with the idea of coming later in the afternoon, but the thought of hauling around cranky kids who were missing their nap led to an emphatic no.

but every once in a while, even a tired, forgetful mom with all the elements working against her gets lucky.  love this one.

and just to prove i was there, too...

after the tractor ride, we finally made it into the pumpkin patch.  i told the kids if they could lift it, they could have it.  allie found hers early on stayed committed to it, unlike her fickle sister.

mikey tested out a few before deciding on one.

i was pretty surprised that he managed to get this one into the wheelbarrow.

he was pretty determined.

he thought maybe, just maybe, he could pick this one up.  maybe next year.

in the end though, he decided to go with this one his dad found.

all loaded up and ready to go!

happy fall, everyone!

arizona trip, part 3.

so like i said before, we didn't go out much while on vacation in arizona.  no need to when the house kept us plenty entertained.

except for one little outing.  some might call it a field trip.  others would have it on their bucket list.  we figured we might as well since we were in the state and all...

it involved a train.

and it was headed to the...

and we tsais were on it!

daddy bought us seats in the part of the train that included complimentary refreshments for the two-hour ride.  the kids thought these were chocolate muffins.  they were bran.  they ate half of 'em anyway.  and were very regular that day, as i recall.

looking out the window was entertaining.

as was this accordion-playing grandma.  after she finished the last verse of "she'll be coming around the mountain" (which was, "and we'll have to sleep with grandma when she comes, aw man!  and we'll have to sleep with grandma, we'll have to sleep with grandma, we'll have to sleep with grandma when she comes.  she snores!") allie matter-of-factly informed her loudly enough for the whole car to hear, that her mommy snores when she sleeps, too.  everyone had a good laugh at that.  thanks, allie.

and finally, the iphone came out to keep 'em entertained and quiet, much to my shredded dignity's relief.

ahhh, enjoying the moment of peace with a cozily sleeping baby and a cup of complimentary fruit.

and finally, we reached our destination.

where i vainly attempted to get a family photo.

and where phil contemplated God's creation whilst sitting on the very edge of it.  juuust kidding, there was another large ledge just below him.  but still, this definitely made my fingers and spine tingle.

especially when mikey wanted to go contemplate with him.

father and son.  contemplating.

har har har, hardy har har.  father of my children, you so funny, ha ha ha.

we took her all the way to see the grand canyon and what did she want to do?  play in the dirt and collect dusty rocks.  of course.

jonah, too, was in a contemplative mood that day.

second vain attempt at a family photo.

knowing when to throw in the towel?

golden.

mikey wished to see the grand canyon through a telescope.  i wished for a picture of him seeing the grand canyon through a telescope.  both wishes were granted that day.

i also wished for a picture of my monkeys in their sibling shirts.  that wish didn't quite work out.

and on the train ride back, what should we see but a renegade cowboy comin' to rob us!

our car's hostess informed us that we were going to be robbed shortly and it would be the most orderly robbing we'd ever be part of.  she instructed us to look out the window and ignore the cowboys if we didn't want to take part.  they would leave us alone.  but if we were interested in being robbed, then we should put a dollar somewhere visible on our person.  these would be the friendliest robber cowboys we were about to meet and it was going to take a while since they had to get through the whole long train before they got to us.

it took a long while.  long enough to build lots of anticipation...

and dread.

we was a-quakin' in our boots!  if we was a-wearin' boots, that is.

lauren (having missed her nap) wasn't in the best mood for this and wanted to hide in the little space behind our seats so she wouldn't even have to look at the bad cowboys.  allie came with her to protect her.  and hide too, just in case the cowboys were really scary.

the cowboy that came to our car was really scary!  so scary he even paused for a photo op for me!  (that's what a dollar'll get ya in these here parts).

ok so we adults and possibly mikey and allie were entertained by this, but it turns out lauren is decidedly NOT a fan of cowboys (based on this experience and a similar one on the knotts berry farm train).  so now we get to add cowboys to her list of not-favorite things, which also include drive-thru carwashes and mascots with big heads.

i was pretty bummed we didn't get to stay at the grand canyon for sunset (we had to be on the train at 3:30pm).  but we did get treated to a beautiful sunset on the drive back to the vacation house.

followed by a glimpse of the tiniest sliver of a new moon.

and that, my friends, is a field trip, done the tsai family way.  :)

arizona trip, part 2.

lest you think it was all play and no work on our vacation, i'll have you know that i did pack up our school stuff and we did do schoolwork there at the house, too.  two whole times!

see?

additionally, phil had brought back this highly educational item back for mikey from salt lake city.  they learned all about excavation from this fossilized dino egg. 

they pretended to be archeologists while practicing the life skills of cooperation and teamwork.

throw in patience and forbearance when the other little sister wanted to "help".

ok, so their efforts lasted all of five minutes before they called in the big guy for help.

which turned in to an exercise of patience of different kind as this excavation was much harder and took muuuch longer than any of us initially thought it would.

but finally, sweet success!

and a new friend for the green lizard toy allie brought along in her backpack.

the kids were even treated to a special guest lecturer who taught them all about the inner workings of the human body.

the kids were fascinated.

and stayed on task the entire time...

well, at least i'd like to believe they learned something and had a bit of fun while doing it.

extolling the virtues of the ribcage and sternum.

mikey wanted to add the skin to our poster.

and we finished up by making ball-and-socket joints!

and that my friends, is homeschooling, done the tsai family way.  :)

next up, the ultimate vacation field trip!