Samantha and Amelia’s First Field Trip

On Halloween, Samantha and Amelia had the most exciting adventure of their lives… a ride on a REAL school bus. Oh, and a field trip to Irvine Regional Park. But that was just an afterthought in the minds of the twins. Instead of going anywhere, we should have just driven around town on the school bus with all of the kids, and they would have been perfectly happy!

I helped chaperone the field trip, and was assigned to Samantha and Amelia. What a coincidence!

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What? School buses have seat belts now? Not in my day.

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When I was teaching, most of my fellow teachers (myself included) viewed field trips with a sense of dread. It’s fun to do something different, but there’s also a lot of organization and work involved to keep everyone together and safe. I was always stressed out planning field trips! It was nice to follow someone else’s direction for a change and the Irvine Regional Park people had an organized agenda for us, making our jobs easier. Still, rounding up 50+ preschoolers and herding them through the park was no easy task.

First up: the train. All the kids were shouting things like, “Look! A peacock!” and “Look! A squirrel!” Owen chimed in, “Look! A bathroom!”

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Little skeletons.

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We also took the kids through the haunted house, through the corn maze and let them run around and stick their heads through the spooky cutouts. Amelia and Samantha kept begging to go in the bounce house and play the carnival games (I swear, they are addicted), but since that wasn’t on the agenda, we had to skip it. They didn’t really understand the whole field trip concept and kept asking when we were going back to school and if we were ever going home! You’d think they would just be happy to be there, but Samantha and Amelia typically feel ill at ease unless they know exactly what’s going on.

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I guess we should have waited to buy our pumpkins this year because they let the kids pick some out for free that day.

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What kid isn’t excited to eat their sack lunch on a field trip?

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After lunch, we unleashed the torrent of kids onto the playground and the parents joked that we should have just walked to the park across the street from school instead of paying to come here. They would have been just as happy; although, the bus ride definitely put it over the top!

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Meanwhile, Meredith was enjoying Take Your Daughter to Work Day at the firm. Jake’s paralegals and the other attorneys had a great time with Meredith (and probably got absolutely nothing done that morning!)

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Lots of love,

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Irvine Regional Park Train and Zoo with Noah

Trains, animals and cousin Noah? Nothing beats that entertainment value in Samantha and Amelia’s book, so when the girls found out we would be meeting Noah and his entourage (Cousins Allison, Zack, Ben, Great Auntie Lynn and Great Uncle Steve) at Irvine Regional Park, they cooperated lightning fast to potty up and get out the door.

Samantha and Amelia with engineer Noah.

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Last year, we rode the special Christmas train at the park to see Santa, but this year, the regular train was just as fun– except for a few minor technical difficulties. The tracks were slippery (or, more likely, we were all just too heavy from all those Christmas sweets) and the train had a hard time making it up the hill… after sitting stopped for so long, Samantha and Amelia were ready to jump ship. There were only so many “I think I can, I think I can” comments we could make to keep the girls occupied! Thankfully, Noah’s crew never fails to entertain.

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Last year on the Christmas Train:

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So much bigger now!

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Ben’s disappearing arm trick kept the girls occupied.

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After our ten-minute-turned-thirty-minute train ride, we walked up to the zoo; or, rather, I drove my car while Uncle Steve pushed the twins up the hill to meet me there. Thank you!

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Two little birdies.

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Fascinated by deer, or in Noah’s case, giant ornament decorations on the ground.

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What an entourage!

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Samantha was a big girl carrying her own lunchbox around and then thought it was hilarious to walk around with it on her head.

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Of course, Amelia had to follow suit.

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The girls kept asking the cougar if he would like anything out of their lunch boxes. I’m fairly certain he would have rather eaten one or two of the creatures holding the lunches… starting with the meatier one.

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Thanks for a fun outing, Noah and crew!

Lots of love,

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Fall pumpkin patches

Earlier in October, we spent a festive Saturday morning with our friends, Michael, Phi and Parker, plus Todd, Sheela, Lily, Avery, Owen, and Gavin at the Irvine Regional Park pumpkin patch. The OC cross country championships happened to be going on there that morning, so we had to be bussed over from another parking lot due to the crowds.

Pretty much every parent with strollers and young kids could be heard grumbling about the lines and hauling everything onto the bus, but to the girls, riding a REAL BUS was a total bonus! Highlight of their morning!

The girls decided to wear their Doc McStuffins and Princess costumes to the park that day. Because why not?

 

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Avery was such a cutie and offered to drive Amelia around on the tractor.

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The ladies were cruising!

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Owen sweetly offered to drive Samantha around, but she decided she didn’t want to ride at the last second, so Owen drove his little bro around instead. Meanwhile, the sweet Lily tried valiantly to entertain Samantha over at the bounce house, but Samantha was just too upset!

She changed her mind again and REALLY wanted to ride the tractor after all. Every time we went over to the tractor race to let her on, she had a complete meltdown since she wanted to drive it by herself. Judging by her driving skills on Parker’s toy mini cooper in the neighborhood, this was not happening. Poor Samantha gets so worked up sometimes, she just can’t calm down and make rational decisions. That girl shows her emotions like no one’s business!

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Flash back to last year’s outing to Irvine– the girls were desperate to drive one of the tractors then too!

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Fortunately, the train was sure to put a smile on her face.

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Yet another failed family selfie.

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The three little piggies: Lily, Avery and Amelia.

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Panning for gold.

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For some reason, there were several sets of twins there that day. I talked with two moms of twins outside the maze while the girls ran around inside; one had three-month-old twins and the other had nine-year-old twins. It’s always nice to chat with other twin moms at different stages, especially the ones with older twins. It gives me hope that if they can do it, so can I! It was also fun to see the baby twins– oh how I remember that Snap ‘n’ Go twin stroller with the two baby carriers… seems so long ago!

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Even last year seems like forever ago.

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The girls are ruined for life after going to so many fairs and carnivals over the summer since they know Daddy will eventually cave and let them play one of the carnival games– especially when they pronounce it “carvinal.” He melts every time. Thank goodness for the “Everyone’s a winner!” games. Jake has been known to waste a minimum of $20 trying in vain to knock down milk bottles in order to win a stuffed animal that likely cost 50 cents.

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Samantha and Amelia slept for three hours after our morning out with our Phi and Sheela’s families in Irvine, so I’ll call that a win. Thanks, friends, for a fun morning!

Our pre-Halloween line-up also included a girls’ playdate with my friend, Susan, and the girls’ fellow birthday buddy, Grace, at Tanaka Farms.

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Susan and I went on a Monday morning and pretty much had the place to ourselves.

The same birthday triplets!

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Private tour of the farm.

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Admiring the scarecrows.

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I had a few mildly terrifying moments thinking I had lost the girls in the maze. I am so used to mazes I can see over, that this one threw me off as the girls ran amuck. These days, me running is not a pretty sight.

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All three girls decided they had to climb over every single pumpkin to get to the top, ignoring the pumpkin-less path up the hay bales.

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Despite my best attempts distracting them every time we walked past, the girls eventually found the petting zoo. I guess that’s what hand sanitizer and washing machines are for.

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They of course had to pet every sheep and goat there, all while serenading the animals with rousing renditions of Baa, Baa, Black Sheep.

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My, how they’ve grown!

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Amelia is always asking to hold Samantha’s hand, but Samantha rarely wants to. Good thing Grace loves hand holding as much as Amelia does!

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These two are such cuties!

More fall fun with friends to come!

Lots of love,

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