Sunny September Scenes

It's September but it's still full-on summer here in Southern California. We actually did get a few cooler days last week that made us feel like maybe we would actually start to see fall, but it's back up in the high 90's today, so we weren't too surprised when someone told us that September is usually the hottest month here. Really?! Yeah. So what are we doing about it? We're going on lots of fun little trips.

Last Wednesday I met up with my brother (who was on paternity leave) and his family for a half day at Disneyland. I wouldn't dare take my two little girls there by myself right now, but if there are two other adults going, I am totally game. Sophie is currently obsessed with everything Tinker Bell and has already informed me that that's what she's going to be for Halloween (don't even get me started on the ridiculous price they're asking for a Tinker Bell outfit at Disneyland though). So we had to get a picture with Tink in the background.
She usually loves the carousel, but for some reason the horses freaked her out this time and it was all I could do to convince her to get on one and stay on. She was fine by the end, I think.
We went over to California Adventure at the end and Austin and Sophie got to cool off in the water a bit at one little toddler-friendly place we found.

They're such great buds.

And here's a shout out to my brother who watched two toddlers, one of whom likes to be all over the place at once, plus two babies 10 weeks and under (Gabe was just 10 days!) so that Abby and I could ride Space Mountain for the first time in over a decade for both of us! We walked right on and had so much fun! Thanks again, Pete! I wish Joseph could've been there to help you, too! We sure missed daddy that whole day.

Then on Saturday when Joseph could come with us, we went to the Huntington Library and Museum. Bank of America was sponsoring one of their exhibits so all BofA employees got free admission, so we took advantage of it and went for a couple hours. Thanks for saving us 40 bucks, BofA!This place is absolutely amazing. They have the Gutenburg Bible in one of the museums, not to mention some first edition Shakespeare plays and the original 13th amendment and other incredible stuff. If we hadn't had Sophie we could've spent hours looking at these things! (Sadly, no pictures allowed, of course.)But we did have Sophie and that was okay because she had a great time. They had a little garden for kids, complete with jumping fountains and lots of water to get soaked in. She had a blast.

We found a lily pond full of huge, colorful fish probably much older than even we are. They were beautiful and Sophie would've been content to look at them for hours.

And this is a shout out to my best friend when I was little, Angi Beamer, whose favorite joke used to be something like "Ask me if I'm a tree." "Are you a tree?" "Yes." Don't ask me why, but we'd laugh forever over that, and it never got old. So yes, Angi, I'm a tree.

Everything was so beautiful here, we wish we could've stayed longer, but that's how it goes when your life is dictated by a 2-year old and her nap schedule, and that's okay. :)