Lane Farms with the Totos...

On Monday we went to the Lane Farms Pumpkin Patch to meet up with our toto friends. Of course, Little O dressed up! This year, our little lady decided she wanted to be a Geisha (Thanks to Aunt Christy who brought back this adorable dress from her visit to China this past summer. And "yes" I know that this is wrong as the dress is from China and Geisha's are from Japan... just work with us on this one :)) Some of the other totos were dressed up like Cowboys, Mummies and more Geishas to name a few! We also got to explore the farm and take a hay ride. More pics to come, but in the meantime, see below (don't you especially like the one of Olivia and Maxi (Spartacus)?).

SBMA Family Day!

This past Sunday we took Olivia to the Santa Barbara Museum of Art for family day. In honor of Dia de Los Muertos the entire family day catered to the holiday traditionally celebrated on November 1st. There was story telling in english and spanish. We made masks (see image below of Olivia and her mask). We watched Folklorico dancers (this was Olivia's favorite part, now when I say, "baila, baila, baila" which means dance, dance dance in spanish, she stops/dances around). We viewed the many altars that different school children had made as part of their after school art program. All in all, we had a blast! We can't wait for the next family day at SBMA!

Little Miss Sunshine!

The SB Zoo

This past Friday we met our mamatoto friends (Carrie and Brody, Alicia and Cash) at the SB Zoo! We decided to rent a wagon and take our totos for a ride! Olivia loved the flamingos and penquins, however, the gorilla exhibit stole the show! Kimu, one of the bachelor gorillas actually came right up to glass to take a peek at our totos. As you can see by the photos, it really was a close encounter!

Story Time @ Yoga

One of Olivia's favorite "Auntie Mamatotos" is Ashley (pictured above with her daughter Isla and little O.

Recently, Olivia has taken a liking to all things BOOKS! In fact she does this cute thing where she will bring you a book and sit on your lap so that you can read to her. So, last week in yoga, Olivia thought it would be cool if Auntie Ashley would read to her! So in the middle of yoga, Olivia also received a little story time. We still managed to get some yoga in too!

Pink Ladies!

This past weekend I ran my first running race since Olivia was born! As many of you know, I am training a group of my mamas from my mama group to run the first ever SB Marathon. We will actually be relaying it, meaning that there will be four of us completing one marathon. So instead of running all 26.2 miles, we divvy it up! :) So, in light of the fact that we have all been meeting with our joggers 3 times a week to prepare, we thought it might be fun to run a running race before the marathon.

The Cancer Center of Santa Barbara's 10k run/walk was on October 18th. My mamatoto girlfriend and Alicia got me involved in her team that she runs with every year: the PINK LADIES!!

As you can see from the picture, we really did wear "pink." Although Olivia does not seem all that excited in the picture, she really thought mama's race bib was the coolest! Afterward, she had fun running around the house with it! Perhaps a little runner in the making :)

da playground

Dia de Los Muertos!

Olivia, myself and some of our mamatoto friends had a BLAST at the Dia de Los Muertos festival this past Sunday at Casa de la Guerra. The festival was a fundraiser for the Ceasar Chavez Charter School in SB. The entire event was amazing. Fun, artsy local vendors, yummy food and lots of cool activities to partake in (face painting, decorating your own alter and mask making to name a few). Oh yeah, I forgot the mention they had hula hooping! Below you will see Olivia and her friends (Lucinda and Brody) exploring the art of the hula hoop. Enjoy! I know we did!

Olivia + Brody

Right now, I am training some of my mamatoto friends to complete the first ever SB Marathon. They will all be running the marathon as part of two relay teams (so instead of 26.2 miles we each run any where between 5 to 8.5miles). After we meet up to do our run (often times with 'totos' in joggers), we let our little 'totos' out to play. Below you will see Olivia and Brody having a little fun together in the at Shoreline Park. Too cute!

Mommy and Me Yoga

Twice a week Emma and Olivia lead a mommy and me yoga class at the Santa Barbara Yoga Center. I've never been but from the photos it looks like a blast, little ones running amok but also getting in a few yoga poses, check out Olivia's down dog, she gets her form from her mom not me.

Caruthers Fair

Every year, the first weekend of October marks the Caruthers Fair. . As a kid, I use to show my animals (mainly my brown swiss cow) there and enter baking contests (blue ribbon for my lemon bars:) ), etc. To me, what is so amazing about the Caruthers Fair is that it is still a free gate fair, meaning, it is free to enter. What is more, the small town feel of Caruthers really shines through. Local organizations have yummy food booths (many that support local causes), 4-H and FFA groups bring their animals (pigs, sheep, goats, beef and dairy), local vendors from the area show off their crafts and products, and yes, they even have a "midway" filled with games and rides. This year, I decided to start the tradition of taking Olivia. I want her to experience what I did as a kid, granted, I don't think she will be showing cows in Caruthers, but just the idea of seeing the animals and experiencing this small town free gate fair appeals to me. Her nieces and nephews all show at the fair, so this is a bonus as she gets to see the behind the scenes action.

Olivia's reaction to all of it? Well, she loved the animals but was very careful when it came to observing. My dad (Olivia's papa) went to show her a bigger animal and as he took her for a close up she looked at her papa, shook her head and said, "no, no." As soon as papa showed her a smaller heifer she was ok and wanted the up close exploration. I was impressed and excited. Our little lady already understands boundaries and was able to communicate this. :)

The pictures below are of Olivia on the Merry Go Round and the her Uncle Don showing her different heifers.