More pumpkins

On Monday, we returned to Underwood Farms for a MOPS group trip on a tractor through the field to pick our own pumpkin. (MOPS is Mother of Preschoolers, a group I'm a part of.) I invited Harvey and Elissa to come along, and the four of us had a great time together. Harvey and Cora spent the first 15 minutes of the car journey giggling together.
In the top photo, we have the tractor that took us out into the fields. Then you see Cora picking out her pumpkin, making Harvey carry her pumpkin, and the two tots amazed by the passing tractor (out of sight).
After picking our pumpkin, we ate lunch in the play area, where Cora enjoyed playing in the sand. On the way home, we stopped at a Fresh and Easy Market, a new chain owned by British supermarket giant Tesco. It reminded me of Trader Joes, with some nice deals on fresh food, to Stace's joy, British back bacon. I bought a pack and he was thrilled. American bacon is a completely different meat than what Stace is used to in England.

Cora has begun saying, "Yeah!" She says it frequently, and it's such a nice change from her only being able to nod her head. She says it with such gusto; I'll try to record it and put it on the blog here soon. It feels like you're really having a conversation with her now, with her exclaiming, "Yeah!" if you ask her a simple question ("Do you want some water?" "Do you see the doggie?" etc). Today, when we were reading her stories, she would say "Yeah!" or "Whoa, Daa!" after nearly every page. Such appreciation!
I must say, Cora has been a lot easier to be with the last couple of weeks. She still requires patience, of course, but she is pleasant and cheerful more often. Perhaps she's adjusted to the apartment? Who knows. We'll take it!

Over the weekend, we really enjoyed seeing my sister perform the leading role in South Pacific. She was amazing, such a pro. I am in awe of her!
We also went to the Heritage Haunt event at Hart Park, where we had a tour of the Henry Newhall house (final photo). The house is decorated up as haunted house, and on Saturday they gave "behind the scenes" tours to show how they scare people. We also saw an animal show with the naturalists from Placerita Canyon.