Dickens Christmas Fair

Todd and I had a little adventure a weekend or so ago.

We decided to trek to San Francisco and go to the

Dickens Christmas Fair.

As I mentioned in my previous post,

I was looking for new adventures,

and this looked to be something I would be interested in.

Todd was up for it, so we left bright and early Saturday morning.

It happened to be a pretty stormy day,

so travel wasn't particularly fast,

but it was no problem.

Todd and I just conversed the entire way there

(and back if truth be told),

The actual fair was at the Cow Palace,

but not inside the main arena.

The event was held in the two building located

directly behind the main building.

I had never heard anything about the Dickens Fair

prior to the event, so I was a little worried that it would be

 similar to the Christkindlmarkt Lexx and I had just visited.

As soon as we pulled into the parking lot, 

I knew this wasn't going to be the case.

The lower parking lot was full, 

and the upper lot was filling up quickly.

The event reminded me somewhat of a Renaissance Fair

except, of course, that it was based in a different time period.

When you entered the building,

it was as if you stepped back to 1800's England.

There were little vignettes that you could peek in on.

This one happened to be of a family being served

 dinner by their butler.  In the next room,their maid

was trying to figure something out.  I just never

figured out what she was trying to do.

There were lots of shops to purchase

various goods.  There were things like food,

clothes, hats, jewelry, art...you name it,

it was probably there.

There was definitely lots of entertainment.

There were various musicians throughout the

venue, as well as shows, and various random

people walking around.  Todd read that there

were 700 actors at the event.

Musicians performing on the street.

What looked to be an interactive comedy show...

but I'm not positive about that.

Women dressed in appropriate garb.

It was difficult to tell the general

public from the actors.  

We saw several people enter the venue

 with us dressed in their fancy costumes.

One of the most random things at the fair

was this humongous robot.  He stood probably 

around 8 1/2 feet tall.  He was being led around

by his inventor.  That was pretty awesome,

and definitely not something you see every day.

Todd and I ended up exploring the fair for about

3 1/2 hours, but we got so hot that we decided to 

head out and go to dinner.

We dressed way to warm for the venue 

and were sweating like crazy. 

The ride home was just as wet as the ride there,

but we had plenty to talk about.

We decided to go again next year,

but we want to plan out our day a little better.

Next year we will watch a couple shows,

shop and then eat dinner there.

Plus, it's more fun when we have the kids with us.

We want to go on a day that all of us can attend.

Lexx was too tired and Austin had to work this year.

I can't wait to see what they think about the event.

It was really fun, and something new and interesting.

So have you done anything new and fun that

you would recommend to friends and family?

I'm always looking for something new.

Christkindlmarkt

I wanted to do something a little 

different this holiday.

I'd seen a vlog on a Christkindlmarkt

in Chicago, and decided I wanted to try 

and find one in my local area.

For those of you who are unfamiliar,

a Christkindlmarkt is generally a street

market associated with the four weeks of Advent.

They originally started in Germany 

during the middle ages.

Christkindl translates to "Christ child".

These markets are generally held outside 

in open-air stalls, and sell a variety of

goods including food, drink, and seasonal goods.

After doing a little research, and watching a vlog,

I got busy researching and actually found one in

the Sacramento area.  Talk about excited!

Lexx volunteered to go check it out with me.

So we headed down after the BBBS shopping event.

I would say we arrived around 1PM, 

and I could hardly could hardly contain myself.

We had to park a couple blocks away, so when we

turned the corner where the market was taking place,

I was a little surprised it was housed inside a building.

No big deal, I was sure there was plenty to do inside.

The entrance was decorated beautifully,

and there was a Santa looking character

greeting all attendees.

Lexx and I heard music in the background,

and as we entered the main room...

WHOMP, WHOMP...

it looked like a normal little local 

Christmas Fair that we have in our neighborhood.

 There was singing and performances.

There was some German food,

but everything else just looked like your good old

Christmas fair.  I didn't bother taking any pictures

because frankly, it wasn't that exciting.

One good thing we did end up getting

that I had never had before were

sugar and cinnamon almonds.

Mercy, they were delicious!

So overall, it was a flop,

but maybe only because I had a 

preconceived notion of what it was 

supposed to look and be like.

Just so you have an idea of why I

was disappointed, here is a link to the 

market in Chicago.

http://www.christkindlmarket.com/

And here is a picture of part of it below.

via

Shopping For a Cause - BBBS

The girlie and I had so much fun this past Saturday.

We woke up way too early so that we could go shopping.

This time it wasn't for us, we were asked to be volunteer shoppers

for the Big Brothers Big Sisters Snowball Shopping Event.

We had to meet our littles by 7 AM, so it was a super early morning.

Breakfast was provided to all who participated,

and then we were shuttled to our local Target store to go shopping.

We were greeted by the most adorable elves,

who just so happen to be K9 police dogs. 

The event is sponsored by several organizations,

but the police/sheriff, local fire department, and 

Target were major sponsors. 

The littles were allowed a $200 budget,

and the gal we had was so sweet and frugal.

We shopped our hearts out for 2 hours before 

she finally had found enough to come close to meeting her budget. 

Lexx had a super little.

This cute little one didn't want to wake up to go shopping.

She was mad at Santa, and asked her mom

why Santa had to wake up so early when 

it wasn't even Christmas.

She eventually got in the Christmas spirit,

and by the end of the event was sporting

two headbands she had picked out at once.

Lexx and I had so much fun,

and plan on doing it again next year.

It was only 3 hours out of our day,

and the children appreciated everything 

they were able to buy.

It was definitely a fun 3 hours!

So have you volunteered lately?

If so, for what cause?

I'm Back...and I Survived Thanksgiving

I know I've been gone for a minute.

Don't really have a good excuse.

I was fascinated with the election,

so I spent about a week obsessing over it.

After that I had a funeral, Thanksgiving,

a wedding, and then I will have a few other

random events coming up every weekend until Christmas.

I just didn't really make blogging a priority 

the past couple of weeks.

But I'm back,

and I have a little bit to blog about.

So let's get this party started.

Like the past 3 years,

we had Thanksgiving at our house.

I like to have the one holiday here

because it really makes Todd and I

get our butt's in gear and get some

projects finished.

Todd took Thanksgiving week off,

but I worked until the day before.

I got off work around 3 PM,

and I worked on cleaning and

cooking until around 11:30 PM.

Then I woke up at 4 AM and pretty much 

got the holiday started.

We only had about 12-15 people attend,

but the house was full and we had lots of fun.

The turkey turned out well.

I'm always a little worried,

because if you mess it up....

what else are you going to eat?

Everyone pitched in and brought food.

I have to say, we have some amazing cooks in my family.

I'm not one of them,

so thank goodness for everyone else. 

After dinner everyone tried Robb and Amber's

virtual reality games/demos.

It was pretty awesome and we had 

a few laughs when my dad tried the

roller coaster vr and almost fell over.

My sister and niece visited from out of state.

It was a secret, so it was a nice surprise when

they showed up at the door.

After dinner we all just sat around and

talked, played games, and took a few pictures.

Not many though, cause we were 

too busy eating and drinking.

My sweet baby girl was so helpful getting stuff prepared.

I'm not sure why there is no picture of Austin.

He was there, but for some reason he didn't make

it into any of the pictures.  He also was a life saver.

He helped Todd with all the manual work.

I don't know what we would do without those two!

I got a random picture of my beautiful

sister-in-law Amber.  Isn't she so cute!

The last picture we got were of some of the gals.

Karen, Ava and Amber didn't make it in because

they were in a different room...

plus I don't think Lexxa's arms would have been 

long enough to get the entire group;)

It was such an enjoyable afternoon.

I really love it when the family gets together.

We don't do it often enough because of 

everyone's different schedules.

But it does make it that more special when we do.

My Random Life

I wasn't sure what I was going to post this

week, then I looked at my phone camera

and decided I would do a photo dump.

Cole was relaxing on our bed, 

and when I took his picture, his beard

turned out purple.  I didn't color it for

Halloween.  There was a blue light on

in the background that reflected off 

the white hair on his face.

So cute!

We were on our way into town

the other day, and when we came around the corner,

a HUGE pine tree fell in the road.

It completely covered our lane,

and went partially into the other.

So glad we didn't leave the house

30 seconds earlier.

Can you say "Guardian Angels".

Todd and I decorated the pumpkins

we got from Bishop's Pumpkin Farm.

Guess which one is mine...

hint:  It probably took me less than

5 minutes to decorate my pumpkin.

My Mother-in-law and Father-in-law

were kind enough to throw a birthday party.

As usual, there was delicious food and I was

spoiled rotten.  I didn't manage to get a picture

of the food, but I did get a picture of the 

white bottom brownies my MIL made.

AHHH MAAAA GAWD!

They are so delicious!

It's a good thing I only have 

a brithday once a year

cause these goodies could be dangerous.

So there you have it.

My random life in a nutshell.

Pumpkin Farm With the Fam

This year, I managed to get Todd and Lexx 

to go with me to Bishop's Pumpkin Farm.

If you remember last year,

I had to go by myself because Todd was

helping his brother with his house,

and the kids were both away at college.

Todd's brother finished his house,

and Lexx graduated, so they had no excuse 

not to join me this year.

This made me super happy!

Last year, as you remember from my previous post,

I was discombobulated and took 

a while to get my bearings.

This year, I was an expert!

I knew right where I wanted to go,

and had no problem directing Todd and Lexx.

We ended up exploring some cool little areas

that I didn't get to really see last year.

We actually started our afternoon in the

garden area of the farm.

Bordering the flower garden was 

their antique farm equipment.

After we explored for a little bit,

we decided to go get some food.

Of course we got my favorite,

the pumpkin bread, as well as a cranberry

and white chocolate scone and a cinnamon roll.

We didn't eat it all there, but we taste

tested all of it while relaxing at their

little picnic area.

After we finished stuffing our faces,

we decided to take some pictures of pumpkins 

and the cute little pumpkin farm train.

We visited the field on the back side of

the farm.  This field was much smaller 

than the others, and it was pretty picked over.

It was really fun seeing all the little

kids excited to be at the farm.

After we wandered around, and didn't find

any pumpkins, we decided to just pick some

pumpkins out of the trucks.

After approximately 2 minutes of looking,

Todd and Lexx found the pumpkins they 

wanted and we were able to check out.

 

In all, we were there for a couple hours.

Although it was fairly crowded,

it was still relaxing and fun.

I just love spending special time with my family.

It's way more fun when you can share experiences with someone.

Maybe next year, Austin will be able to go with us.

Halloween Porch Ideas

I'm not one that likes super scary

Halloween decorations.

I'm what some would call...a chicken.

So while searching for cute porch

decorating ideas, I looked for ideas

that wouldn't scare young children or me.

I think some of the following examples

are adorable, and some are even

easy enough for me to pull off.

Via

Via

Via

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Via

Via

Via

Cute right?

You find anything you might use?