Rainy Day Road Trip

Another wonderful rainy day today...we decided that we'd rather sit in the car in the rain than sit in the house in the rain, so we went out exploring. We drove southeast to a dirt and gravel road in the hills near the border (which we found listed in an off-road driving guide Jared has). It was a pretty drive down there once we got off the main freeway and wound through the Jamul area--the rain brought out lots of lovely fall colors. The off-road part of the drive was easy--we wanted to make sure we chose an easy trail since it was raining steadily for most of the day, and we wanted to stay safe. We drove up into the hills and along a ridge for about two hours until we came out the other side right near the Otay Mesa border crossing--we had views right into Mexico from high up on the hill. Halfway through the drive along the dirt road, we passed a Ranger in his truck--he told us we "couldn't have picked a worse day" to be exploring this particular trail, as it was so fogged in that there were no pretty views to enjoy! But we still had a fun adventure bouncing around and splashing through big puddles--those were Parker's favorite parts :)

Puddle Jumpers

After several weeks of on-and-off rain, we finally bought Parker some snazzy new rain boots! He was so excited to stomp in all the puddles with his new stegosaurous boots, although we quickly realized that they tend to slip right off his feet pretty easily! I guess that means he won't be outgrowing them too soon, which is always a good thing. The rain stopped and the sun broke through late this afternoon, so we headed to the backyard for some photos, baseball, and tractors.

(In case you're wondering, Parker's holding his new favorite obsession--mommy's dainty "do it herself" hammer that he loves to bonk things with! We'll hopefully be phasing this particular "toy" out of his realm of consciousness soon...)

It's Raining, It's Pouring!

We had two nights of nice heavy rain before Thanksgiving, and then another great rain on Thanksgiving morning. Since Parker's seen it rain only about as many times as you can count on one hand, we made sure he got outside and learned what rain is all about. He had a ton of fun throwing rocks into the "fountain" by the front door, and didn't come inside until his jammies were a squishy wet mess.