Fun Weekend Hike

 The Lopezjones' went on a hike over the weekend on a new trail.  Well, the trail wasn't really new.  Ada and Navi hiked this trail when they were young, so young they only did about 40 feet and called it a day.

 This time they went all the way to the end.

 And the views were spectacular.

 Continuing on they found a little overlook where you could see the entire city. Papa was a little nervous about the twins playing on these rocks.

 But soon enough they settled down for a picture...

 Or two.

Afterwards they were off to eat ramen.  Ada and Navi prefer the chirasi don bowls instead (raw fish over rice), which they eat all on their own.

Downtown Slumber

 

 Last night due to the fumes from the wood finish upstairs the Lopezjones fled downtown (shockingly that's where the nearest hotels are) for an overnight. It was a fun adventure for Ada and Navi who had planned for microwavable TV dinners that night, but instead found themselves dining in a restaurant downtown.

In the morning the rain poured outside so the twins had breakfast in their room, blueberry-granola pancakes.  They loved it and were having so much fun.

 Because it kept raining and the wood floor at home was getting another coat of finish early in the morning the twins hung out in their hotel room watching TV.

 

 Later in the morning Ada and Navi made it home just in time for lunch. The smell of the finish was gone and everyone was doing okay.  Nikko the cat seems to be the only one really bothered by the move downstairs.  The daddies are making sure these two weeks are fun and comfortable for the twins.

In the afternoon Ada dressed up for a Frozen-Princess birthday party. She was really excited to see her friend Druvy and wear her dress up clothes outside the house.  She was especially excited because her brother was not going to the party, just her.

Fun Times

This is what the upstairs part of the house looks like this week.

And this is what it sounds like.

On the way home from school the twins ran into the Wiener Mobile.

Twilight Zone

 This morning the twins thought something strange was happening when Ada had to have her breakfast in the kitchen.

 When they came home from school they found their entire upstairs furnishings in the garage!

The Lopezjones will be living in the lower level of their house for the next 1.5-2 weeks. This means no kitchen, one shared bathroom and one very cramped communal area.  The upstairs part of the house is getting the floors redone and new paint on the walls (the daddies feel the twins are at an age where they will no longer draw or destroy the walls).

This is dinner for the next week.  Takeout on the first night was a delicious vegan Mexican dinner.

Sacramento Overnight

 The twins headed north over the weekend for an overnight at ZiaNonna's new apartment.

 UncleTodd joined in the fun too. Ada and Navi loved horse-playing with UncleTodd who had so much fun 'tossing' them around.

Jaxton was also there and spent some time with the twins.  He liked watching what his bigger cousins were doing and had fun chasing them around.

Lazy Weekend Morning

 Every Saturday morning the twin's get a special breakfast instead of their usual cereal.  This morning Navi was making french toast. PapaJason loves helping them cook, but only one little chef in the kitchen at a time.

Meanwhile, Ada awaits her turn by hanging out with Lucy. Both love to cook and show a knack for it.

Cycling

 Last week the twins had the day off for Veteran's day - thank you veteran's for your service!

 Ada and Navi headed to Berkeley to join Nonna and Grandpa on a bike ride through the Berkeley Marina.

It was a beautiful day and a great bike ride.

Fun With George

The twins hosted a special guest in town for a few days.  Uncle Gorge! The twins had so much fun hosting George, they can't wait to do it again.

Benji's Birthday

 It's been a while since the twins have seen their cousin Benji, but over the weekend Abue hosted a birthday party for his 7th birthday.

 The usual group of aunts, uncles, cousins and one great-grandmother came to celebrate.

 Abue rented a jumpy house for the entire day and all the kids had so much fun, including baby Mark who if not chasing after the big kids was chasing after Abue's chicken, Chleo.

 The theme of the party was dinosaurs.  Navi's was thrilled to see a volcano birthday cake.

 Timing for the birthday was great for Abue.  It rained on Halloween and she did not get many trick-or-treaters and had a lot of candy left over so she used that candy to fill the birthday piñata.

 It was great to have all the cousins together playing and getting a long.

 The birthday party went well into the night. Which made the blowing out of the birthday candles even more magical.

After six hours the party was over.  The jumpy house came down and Ada was more than eager to help.

Happy Birthday Benji!

Food

Following the steps of Jason's nonna, the twins raised snails and made escargot. Covered in butter and garlic - they loved it.

 After a hike in the Excelsior the Lopezjones' tried a new Japanese restaurant. Navi could not decide what to order, he missed the sushi boat experience, so he and Ada had their first bento boxes.  They were super excited when they saw how much food and variety was on their plate.  In this picture Navi's eyes are towards a TV showing Nascar.

 The other night after hosting a dinner party there was a little bit of leftover high quality meat.  So DaddyQuique made steak tartare.  It was a bitter sweet moment when both Ada and Navi wanted seconds.  Sweet because they are eating it, but bitter because the daddies had to share their raw appetizer.

 These two enjoy eating - a lot.  They are really good at trying new things and have good ideas about what they like.  Yesterday at the market they helped plan the dinner menu.  At first they suggested hamburgers, but after walking through the store Ada chose Brussels sprouts and Navi chose bockwurst.

Beach & Swim School

 Before going to swim class the twins headed to the beach for a little bit.

 They had a good time playing in the sand and running around.

At swim class the twins are practicing their on their backstrokes and they earned a foundation sticker, they can do 38ft of streamline back kicks.

Halloween Part 2

 Yesterday afternoon a few friends joined the twins in starting out the Halloween festivities. Nonna, AuntyShane and GrandmaAnnie came over and started the evening with a board game.

 Then it was costume time.  To complete Navi's look he wore a ninja mast, which he could not wear at school.  It proved to be to uncomfortable so he went without it.

 Ada loved showing off her costume to everyone and of coursed loved the attention.

 When it came time to trick-or-treat Navi could not wait.  He was so eager to start that it was difficult for him to pose for pictures.

 It was still light outside when they started and everyone was happy it was not raining. Linda joined us in the trick-or-treating; two kids and six adults out walking the neighborhood.

 Darkness came fast and the twins trick-or-treated at 8 homes in the neighborhood.

 They were probably the only trick-or-treaters that night.

 Back home they counted their candy.  There was some good stuff in their buckets.

 Including some bags of potato chips, yum!

After having a few pieces of Halloween candy came dinner time.  Dinner went late, but being a special day Ada and Navi stayed up quite late and loved it.

In total that night the Lopezjones' doorbell rang twice with trick-or-treaters, one more than last year.
Happy Halloween!