Go here for the full set on Flickr (note, you have to friend me, or whatever, to see the pics.)

It’s 2011 and we’ve been remiss in updating this blog (and the flickr stream) with new pics.  So, here’s the last 3 months in brief…

September

The end of September we had several significant events and a visit from Grandma and Grandpa in California.

But first…

The Open Classroom had an all-school field trip to Antelope Island.  It was big.  There was sand.  There were a lot of people.  We scared some tourists.

And tried (unsuccessfully) to fly a kite…

Not long after was Lilah’s 3rd birthday. Grandma and Grandpa came out from California to celebrate.

October

Then came Halloween.  We were a pirate family.

Nothing at all exciting happened between Halloween and Christmas.  Nope.

December

…and now we’re all caught up

We’re busy catching up after our week-long trek to California, in particular Pescadero and Butano State Park.  In the midst of all this catching up with work and other things, we’re also getting ready for Gavin to start kindergarten next week! Nevertheless, we took lots of pics on our trip and thought we should post them here before we’re completely overwhelmed.

Pictures are uploading to Flickr as I type this The rest of the pictures are on Flickr, so be sure to check my Flickr photostream to see all the pics we took on the trip.  Here’s the link straight to the pics from our trip.  And if you’re family or friends and can’t see pics of the kids, make sure you log in with your Yahoo account and add me as a contact.

There was Gavin’s birthday, there was lots of fun with family, there was the kids’ first camping overnight (aside from sleeping in Gma and Gpa McC’s backyard once), there was fun at the beach, a trip to the Exploratorium.  Most of it is undocumented, except in our memories, but we did capture a few moments from our trip.

Here Gavin and Mama are looking at a new book at Gavin’s birthday party.  Gavin was very excited about seeing Button dog, blowing out candles and helping Daddy put together some really fun toys!  He had such a fun time seeing his Grandma and Grandpa Reynolds!

Lilah is celebrating her brother’s birthday.  She enjoyed watching her brother and eating lots of whole strawberries!

Here is a picture of elephant seals we had good close looks at near San Simeon.  They were absolutely huge, made noise of the loudest, strangest kind and very fascinating.

We spent more time at the beach this year, enough for Gavin to fall in love with playing in the water, Lilah to knock over many many sand towers, Chris and I to take a swim… and we all loved it.

Gavin and his Daddy spent quite a bit of time throwing, kicking and chasing the ball into the water and out.

They had so much fun!

Lilah spent most of her time watching and digging in the sand.

Lilah and Grandma looking at the water together.

Gavin enjoying the water with Grandpa.

Gavin is getting a warm-up hug from Grandpa.

Here comes the water! Wheeeeeee!

Gavin digging in the sand on our way back to the trail up.  He really didn’t want to leave the water.

What enthusiasm!

Tired but happy beach pals: Gavin and Grandpa.