Fall season in Cali

So here they are, Erick and Lexi atop a hay pile at Lombardi's Ranch.  This is a popular place here that everyone goes.  It has the horse drawn carriage rides, train ride around the corn fields, pumpkin patch, sunflower maze, music and food.  It's really pretty, on this day it was in the low 70's which was a pleasant change from the 100's we've been experiencing since we arrived in August.  I guess our blood is beginning to thin because it actually felt cool to us.   

Alexia and I are chowing down on the caramel apples we made as we soak our feet in a warm bath and watch Extreme Home Makeover.  This was a Sunday night ritual we did together in NH and we've tried to continue all the fun things we used to do with her, out here.  I was really looking forward to these caramel apples.  They were so yummy, although we don't have Macintosh apples out here...bummer.  Fall is definitely different out here.  We miss the beautiful tree colors of New England.  In this picture you can get a glimpse of our apartment. But we don't miss the cold and front of October either :)

Alexia picked this pumpkin out of the thousands on display.  When we carved it that night, it came out so awesome, of course I didn't take a picture:(  We used the stencil and carving utensils from that little kit.  Unfortunately it didn't even last a week before it started rotting and becoming moldy inside.  We wanted to preserve it until Halloween so we went online and they mentioned coating it with vegetable oil, so we did but within a day it was looking & starting to smell nasty.  Make a note: no vegetable oil on pumpkins. Guess we learned for next year!
 

Alexia is enjoying a dish of shaved ice as we took a break from the train ride and pumpkin picking.  Look at us in our pants, isn't that funny.  Every day other than this we've been in tank tops and shorts and still are.  It's been in the 90's this month, average.  I thought they said it was going to cool down in October...oh yeah, it has from the 100's.  Although the heat is different, we are loving it.  Sure is better than the 30's and 40's you guys are experiencing back East, and the snow you're already getting in upstate NY and NJ, what's up with that?  Better put snowsuits on the kids and winter boots to go trick-or-treating tomorrow.

We went to a park in Castaic, just minutes from us here in Valencia.  Alexia is in a play area climbing a tree.  It was an interesting visit there, pretty park but not a lot to do.  The lake was beautiful, we had a picnic lunch and watched the model gas engine airplane competitions.  These little planes sure looked like the real thing just smaller and they were performing some cool stunts in the air.