Girls' Night

Since Max decided he wasn't ready for his 8:00 bedtime last night and it is the one night he MUST be in bed by 8 so I can watch my show, I decided we should spend a little quality time together watching some Dancing With The Stars. I couldn't believe how into it Max was. I was talking on the phone while we were watching and when someone was about to dance Max would shush me and say, "Mommy, da people gonna dance!" Then, once they were done we'd both clap and he'd announce, "Here come da numbers!" He loved when the celebs got nines and would jump up and down on the couch yelling, "Nine! Nine! Nine!" But he was especially impressed when the dancers got ones and zeroes. Man, I love this little guy!
Note to Blake: This picture is totally harmless. It's not like I put a bow in his hair or painted his nails. Plus, everyone's lips get dry and could use a little protection.

Saturday

Today was no typical Saturday. Not typical at all. At least for me, Max, and Jack. Last night April joined us for a less-than-24 hour visit. She had another swim from Alcatraz this morning. We were just happy that old thing came up so we could help her celebrate her birthday which was earlier in the week. I mean, look at that cake. It's basically on fire. I was afraid the sprinklers in my house were going to go off. Sorry Max, no blowing all those candles out twice!After dropping April off at the airport, the three of us decided to hang out in the East Bay then pick up Blake from work. We headed straight to Tilden Park and the steam trains. After the trains I thought we'd hit up the farm and park. But nope. It was hot, hot, hot today (figures since Ashley had come the week before) and I was not prepared. And since I already blistered Baby Jack's head this year, I decided to skip the outsideness.We headed straight for one of our favorite stores--Target. Ahh, my heart yearns for suburban life. We spent our precious time in the air conditioned store, playing with the toys and enjoying an icee. We even walked around the rest of the strip mall, gawking at the merchandise and ease of shopping--one parking lot with TONS of parking spots that you don't have to pay for and so many stores close together. In fact, after we picked up Blake, my only dinner request was a chain restaurant. We decided on Outback, and Blake even indulged my chain craving with a little Cold Stone afterwards. I love San Francisco, but I can't wait to I live in a house with a parking spot and backyard, and lots, and lots, and LOTS of strip malls close by! Is that too much to ask?

The Rest of Ashley's Visit

Well if High School Musical, the Musical and a dislocated elbow wasn't enough, Ashley's visit was filled with fun. Actually, maybe not that much fun. Max was feeling a little under the weather (before his injury) so all Friday we spent a lot of time doing this--
And this--
When we finally got out of the house to walk down the Hollywood to rent a movie, we were greeted by a closed store and "lease expired" signs. Great. But all hope was not lost. I was able to introduce Ashley to the wonderful world of Grey's Anatomy. Season 1--Check.

Of course we didn't spend the entire weekend doing those things. Especially when Blake joined us. We watched the sunset from Point Bonita, where it was freezing cold. Blake had to pull, and I mean literally pull, Ashley out of the car to get this picture. Ashley seriously knows how to pick the time to come--always right after and/or before a warm spell. So, travel tip: Never come to SF with Ashley. :)
We also ate some yummy food. I think Ashley is our only visitor who still loves House of Nanking, her only SF request.
And of course there was the tennis. Ashley claimed that she was so bad even I could beat her. Ha! That was definitely not the case as she openly admitted after I tried to play with her. She and Blake had some good rallies, though. I wish Ashley would just move to San Francisco already so she and Blake could join some sort of doubles tournament. I'm pretty sure they would win!Thanks for the visit Ash! You are seriously the best ever! Can't wait to see what you think of Season 2!

Max's First Tennis Injury

Well, we thought he would be a little older before this happened, but we were wrong. Max plays too hard, always giving 110%. His form was admirable, his ball-chasing technique, exquisite. But today, during his FIRST tennis outing, this little guy dislocated his elbow. Too bad we had no idea what was wrong. We could tell he was hurt (after a swing with help from Daddy Blake) but didn't know how severe. He was holding his arm to his body, but could still move his hand and fingers around. And when we were ready to go home, he cried that he wanted to go down the slides, but still would stop and fuss that his arm hurt in the middle of playing at the park. So was it broken or would the pain just go away with some ice. Lucky for us, our upstairs neighbor just happens to be a pediatrician. I asked her if she could come check it out and let us know if we should go to the emergency room or not. While examining his arm, all of the sudden she yanked it up and POP! All better. It was a miracle. Max immediately stopped crying and wanted to go play. Hopefully the rest of his injuries are this easy to fix. And hopefully we always have someone close enough to fix them. And hopefully the cost of repair will always be comparable--one bouquet of flowers and a Max-made sticker card. Thank you Kathryn!

High School Musical, the Musical!

Growing up, every Sunday after church, Andy and I would get comfortable on the couch, with a plate of nachos on our laps, and watch family classics like The Parent Trap and Newsies. We were even known to perform some of the numbers. Meanwhile, Blake and his family were using some sort of number system to call the best spots on the couch, wrestling each other to actually get the spots, and then watching movies like Tommy Boy. I tell you this not so you'll wonder how Blake and I ended up together (he did know I love those kinds of movies when he proposed), but for two other reasons. 1) When I heard High School Musical, the Musical was starting its nationwide tour, and San Francisco was one of its stops, I knew I HAD to go. And 2)After sending out an email invitation to all family members, Ashley, a Tommy Boy-er, was the only one to respond. Actually, it really isn't a surprise that Ashley would be the one to join me for High School Musical. She is also the one who flew out for Wicked and has been known to enjoy a good 6 hours of Pride and Prejudice, A&E style. We definitely had the best seats in the house. The balcony--where all the real fans sit. Yes, I mean all the squealing, singing 8 year old girls with their HSM T-shirts, their parents, and me and Ash. We loved getting our heads in the game (my favorite number) and once again I realized in my other life I was in musicals. Loved it! Thank you Ash for accommpanying me, you're the best!

April in April!

San Diego has nothing on San Francisco, especially on weekends like this when the sun is scorching hot. Seriously scorching. Just ask April's burnt feet. But wait. I'll get to that in a minute. It was the perfect weekend for April to come to San Francisco. That silly girl came to practice swimming in the bay for her escape from Alcatraz this June. While swimming and drinking a lot of that crystal clear water, she swam right along a seal. And if she had a blog you'd be able to hear more about that. But since she refuses, claiming she doesn't have time in her busy schedule (Whatever! You call 100-hour work weeks busy? Please!), you get to hear about the fun time she had playing animals with Max and being spit up on by Jack.

Friday, after we picked her up from swimming, we went straight to the park to show her our backyard. Max loved having her go down the slides and push him on the swings. If you notice in the picture, Mumble Happy Feet even got to come to the park with us (Mumble deserves an entire post all to himself--thanks Nanny!). And the only mishap at the park was when another little boy decided he wanted Mumble for himself and took him from Max. Don't worry, we got Mumble back.From the park we went to fulfill April's only SF request--a Monte Cristo. And boy did they live up to all the hype. YUM! I was also happy that Mr. Monte Cristo (the owner) now recognizes me. He asked me if I was back for more Monte Cristo's, where my husband was, and told me to sit in our usual table. Do I get some sort of discount or fast-pass to skip through the line now? We were so satisfied by our Monte Cristos that all four of us went home and took some snoozers.
After we were refreshed and ready for more fun, we picked up Blake from work and headed to Oak-town to our favorite taco truck. The taco truck is one of April's favorites that we'd skip out of Saturday work to go to. Yum. From there we rushed to the North Bay to watch the sunset and ended up going on a real estate tour instead. (Which translates to we kind of got lost.) We saw some beautiful and very, very, very expensive homes. And since we were already up there, we stopped by our favorite Sausalito ice cream shop. Unfortunately, they had closed. But don't worry, after we explained to them that they were the only ones who had the infamous banana with chocolate chunks and caramel swirls they were nice enough to let us in and order. After both boys were asleep we taught April how to play Rumikub. She won the first game and I won the second. Ha Blake!

The next morning we took April to Golden Gate Park to check things out. We had intentions of going to the Conservatory of Flowers, but once we got to the park, we didn't leave. Poor Jack had to stay in the shade due to his blistered and yellow-pussing sunburned head, so April and Max played, played, played! Since it was so, so, so hot, April decided to go shoeless instead of wearing her sneakers. Well, about 20 minutes after that, she came hobbling over with a sweaty Max to get some shoes on her burnt feet. Poor girl. And if her hot feet weren't enough, Max made her hike up and down the big cement slide over and over and over. Max is so lucky April likes him THAT much. We dropped her off at the airport last night and Max has been asking nonstop for Apwool to play animals with him. Thanks for visiting us April! We can't wait for you to move here. Admit it, you can't beat it.

Jack is 6 Months Old!

Yes, Baby Jack is now 6 months, that's half a year, old. Where does the time go? He is getting so big and is definitely enjoying exploring the world, or at least our family room, one roll at a time. That's right. Jack is now a roller, almost perfecting the 360 degrees. He only rolls one direction and sometimes gets upset when he forgets that he can roll from his tummy to back. This is especially frustrating (for me, him, and his roommate) when he's trying to fall asleep and he rolls on his tummy and won't roll over again.
He has become a pro at putting his paci in all by himself (if it's within his reach) which is a life saver for me. He likes to put it in sideways and chew on it. Silly guy. But don't think the chewing means he is getting teeth. So far there is no trace of those.His new favorite place to be is the exersaucer. When we first started putting him in it, he loved looking at himself in the mirror. But now he's graduated to the more complex rollers and animal buttons. When he turns on the music, he'll start bouncing up and down, dancing. And of course he likes all the things that are easy to stick in his mouth. I give credit to the exersaucer (and hard work from friends and family) for helping Jack actually straighten his legs and support his weight. This is a rare occurrence, but I now have hope that standing and walking may actually be in this guy's future.Jack is quite the little babbler. He is talking all the time and can even tell you what a sheep and Indian say. Now we just need to work on doing it on command. He loves spitting and I love how round his face looks when he does it. All you have to do is look at him and he'll flash you that toothless, gummy smile. He is quickly soothed by shaking one of his toys in front of him. His favorite now, and from the beginning, is this little bottle rattle. It was tied to the top of one of Max's baby gifts and is the ugliest thing. (Sorry if it's from you.) It's perfect for him to hold on to and stick in his mouth. Why is it that the silliest things are always baby's favorite?Jack has also taken the plunge into the world of solid foods. Goodbye yummy smelling diapers, hello yuck! I think Jack is enjoying his new cuisine. So far he has tried rice cereal, squash, pears, green beans, and applesauce and seems to favor the vegetables over the fruit. Now if only I can use the power of positive thinking to help me like sitting and spoon feeding him. I've always hated this stage. Yes, always. After my infinite experience of already having one child go through it.I wish I could say that I was Jack's favorite, and I'm sure Blake wishes he could say the same, but Jack's favorite is still Max. Basically anything Max does makes Jack laugh. Right now Jack's favorite is Max splashing in the tub. When Max barely moves his leg in the water Jack laughs so hard it sounds like he's crying. They are the best brothers.And here are Jack's six month stats--
Weight: 16 lbs, 3 oz, 25% (Okay, okay. So turns out, at Jack's 2 month appointment he was 90%, and at 4 months he was 50%, and now 25%. The doctor is hoping that the solid foods will get him back up on his growth curve. I have to bring him back for a check up next month rather than in 3 months. Basically now Jack has no eating schedule. The schedule is--EAT! Silly Jack, if you're hungry you could try crying once and a while.)
Height: 27.5 inches, 90%Oh Baby Jack, I love you so much. Will you please stay my little baby forever?

TGITh--Mt. Tam

Are TGIThs back to stay? I wouldn't count on it. See, Blake has actually had the past 3 Thursdays off, but has managed to fill them up with something. So we were super happy today when he announced the day was all ours. We decided to have a picnic up Mt. Tamalpais to check out our new sunset spot during the day. And yes, it's just as beautiful during the day as it is at night. We think we've found the perfect spot for picnics and sunsets--Not a long hike, plenty of rocks to jump off of, short trails to explore, spectacular view of the ocean and Stinson beach, and lots of flat area to relax. Max was in heaven during our picnic watching a hawk circle over us (was he waiting for our turkey meat?) and a bumble bee swarm around our blanket (he was DEFINITELY waiting for our turkey). But if you ask Max what we did today, he'll tell you, "Daddy caught a lizard and put it in a hole." If you didn't know, Blake is cunning and quick in addition to being smart and handsome. While Max was looking at the lizard he kept saying, in a high squeaky voice, "Hi buddy."
And if you ask Baby Jack about today, he'd tell you that he and his mom learned the importance of sunscreen and a hat, even when you don't think it's very warm. This poor little guy has one sunburned head.We love Mt. Tam. Will we ever find all of the Bay Area's beautiful treasures? And Mt. Tam isn't even a hidden gem. I'd definitely recommend it on your next visit. Well, only if you can stomach all the windy roads to get there. I personally have to stick my head out the window.

Conference Weekend

I love Conference Weekend! I love our new prophet and I love his sweet smile. I love the internet and byu.tv so I can watch Conference at home in my pjs. And I love Conference traditions. For our yummy Sunday breakfast I finally made Michelle's buttermilk pancakes and buttermilk syrup. Blake and Max LOVED them. Max was just licking the syrup off the pancakes and Blake said, "This tastes like candy!" Nothing like candy for breakfast! As for our other tradition, I didn't know how we were going to pull off our Conference Sunday Rollerblading. Since we only have one jogging stroller and we didn't think Max is quite old enough yet for his own rollerblades we were thinking about cancelling the activity. But we couldn't break tradition. This is the 4th year...at least that I have documented with pictures. I can't count on my mind to go back that far. So, poor Max had to ride in the old Graco! Ha--poor guy! He looks much too big for that stroller and I'm sure it wasn't the smoothest ride. At least he had Blake, the rollerblading pro, pushing him. We started down at Crissy Field by the Golden Gate Bridge and bladed (yes, bladed) to the Palace of Fine Arts. After feeding the swans, ducks, seagulls, and pigeons, we turned around and bladed back (both there and back we were going against the wind...how is that?) and had a nice picnic. Highlights from the trip included several people asking me if my little baby with a blue hat and blue blanket was a girl, Max holding his hands up over his ears to keep them warm, Jack sleeping the entire time we were going, and not having a single fall. I love my family!

Geri & Cindy Came to Visit!

We have had so much fun with Geri and Cindy this past week. It was the perfect mix of fun and relaxation. Here's some of the fun:

Our last day with the minivan we decided to go for a road trip to Train Town in Sonoma. We should have known we were in for a crazy day when they wouldn't let us bring in our pb&j sandwiches and we had to eat on the side of the road. Once we got in, the mass chaos began. Since there was no order to the way the train was loaded, we left Blake and Jack to wait for the train while the rest of us checked out Train Town. All that was there was a bunch of run down carnival rides, so we decided to go back and wait with Blake. We got back just in time to stake out our place to hurry and jump on the train. Well, when the train actually came, we were elbowed, pushed, kicked, and yanked by the hair out of the way. I could not believe it. Blake was able to get one bench on the very back row of the train. Enough for me, Blake, and Max. Geri, Cindy, and Jack decided to stay behind. So, we waved good bye and were off for a train ride. The actual train ride was quite nice. Max kept saying, "So pretty. Dat's pretty!" while pointing to the lakes and trees that we passed. Blake and I laughed at him and he just looked at us confused. Afterall, it WAS pretty. Then, we finally arrived to the town. About 16 small buildings--a firehouse, church, school, post office, etc. The engineer let us off and we could go around and play. But we didn't get much further than the firehouse. Max loved climbing up the ladder and looking out the window. Besides the town, there was also the option of a small petting zoo. But after 15 minutes, the engineer rang the bell and it was time to get back on the train for the ride back to the station. I love riding the train with Max and watching him chugga-chugga-choo-choo! When we got back to the station, this is what was waiting for us--
And this is what soon followed-- I love these boys!
And since we still had two tickets left, Geri and Max got to ride the train again. Since we knew the ropes this time, we made sure to get them a good seat! Geri was happy to report that Max still thought the ride was pretty and was still only interested in the firehouse.

Geri and Cindy also went to the Exploratorium with us. Blake and I went the first year we lived here, but haven't been back since. I still think it's a little too old for Max and a little crowded on Wednesday free-day, but we had a lot of fun. Max loved playing with the magnets, throwing the balls, splashing in the water, running under a fan with streamers hanging from it (he did this for about a half hour) and of course, riding in the elevator. A success!

But don't think we provided all the fun. Oh no! Geri brought her Wii! Blake was up late every night perfecting is Wii age. By the end of their stay, Blake was basically a pro. And I say basically only because both Geri and I beat him at boxing. Ha!

And as for the relaxation, well, I may be the one who relaxed the most. I took some excellent naps while they played with Max and Jack. We did some Max-friendly shopping and ate at some yummy restaurants. And they even babysat so Blake and I could go to the temple...together! Something that hasn't happened since before Baby Jack was born. Thank you so much for coming to visit us and for everything else. Please, please, PLEASE come again soon! Max is already asking for you!