Closing 2010 with the Boys...

Reminiscent of the "Binky Mule" entry, I guess it's either a genetic trait, or something all kids do when they're teething. Here Miles is harboring an entire binky in his mouth. Lucky for us, when he turned 1 in November, his gift to us was no more binky. :)

Funny thing, this is actually Simon smiling for the camera.

After taking this picture, I think Rosa is now officially recognized as family.

We loved having 2 boys...and for those who didn't know, in early June we're going to have a 3rd boy!!!! We'll see if we can get a boy name picked out...those things are tough. Kelvin's horrible at coming up with names. Susie is threatening to name the boy all by herself.

Ward Halloween Party

This year, Kelvin decided to push a last-minute Trunk-or-Treat Halloween activity. Apparently a lot of people showed-up for a Bring-your-own Dinner event as long as their kids could wear costumes and get candy from the parking lot. Susie spent a lot of time making Simon's costume...can you guess what he was?

That's right, he wouldn't wear it. I won't say what it is, just in case next year Miles decides to wear it. I'll give you a hint though, it went in theme with Miles' shark costume, and Kelvin and Susie's matching "Discovery Channel" t-shirts.

Pumpkin Patch

Of course, every year we go to Farmer John's pumpkin patch in Half-Moon Bay. Though in years past they used to allow us the chance to go out to the field and cut the pumpkins from the vine. I think from all the years of irresponsible visitors, they've stopped the tradition and now it's just like any other lot full of pumpkins.

We're not sure if Simon realizes this is his 3rd time at this particular pumpkin patch, but he definitely knew what to do with the wagon.

As in years past, Simon continued to just climb on top of the pumpkins.

Miles got into the season by pulling the wagon around.

Simon and James

One of Simon's best friends in Palo Alto is James. Those 2 are about 5 months apart and they just chase each other around, wrestle, and do just about everything together if they could. Here they are at Seale Park under the playground. From this "Stand" they will sell anyone interested sand-ice-cream cones.

While Kelvin is at work, Susie will go to the beach during the summer with James and his family so the boys can play. It makes the day go by quickly and the kids absolutely love the sand.

Miles is becoming one of those kids who just eats sand. I never knew what happened to the sand once he eats it, but now I do.

Farewell to the Orange Truck

At the end of the summer, we were sad to say good-bye to the Orange Truck. This used to be the signature icon of the Ning Family in the SF Bay Area. People used to see the truck from afar and say, "Look, there go the Nings!!!"

With 3 cars in the family, it was time to get rid of 1. Though we tried posting it for weeks in the Bay Area on craigslist.org, we decided to take it to CarMax where they gave us a fair price for it. Of course we took it to the dealership in Phoenix, and Susie was able to take the boys on a road-trip to visit family. First Stop was the Owen's in Santa Barbara.

Simon loves playing with Grace. When he saw this picture (months later) he still said her name because he remembers how much fun she is.

Miles was able to spend some time with his twin-cousin Annie Owen (both born on the same day). Can you tell which one has a red-head for a mother? Oh wait...they both do.

It was a hot day in Phoenix when Simon went to visit his Great-grandmother "842". He was glad to have his sun-hat and eat Ritz crackers.

Lake Powell

In August, we did the annual Robinson Family trip to Lake Powell. The boat wasn't as nice as Uncle Gordon's last year, but Kelvin still was able to get a better trip than in years past. The Daniels from Utah were able to make it again and to make matters worse, instead of 1 water weenie, there were now 2.

We did do a little wake-boarding, but by far, the most fun was jumping across and pulling people off the inner-tubes.

I don't know who had the bright idea of dedicating 1 of the 2 water-weenie's as a "Kid-Safe" ride. We had all of the kids on a single tube and of course they all fell off and most of them screamed for a little bit...Ben however decided he was "underwater for like 10 minutes" and wanted everyone to know about it.

Fun had by all.