Jack is 2!

Jack's birthday started out with a traditional pop-up breakfast. Jack didn't really like everyone singing at him, but when he realized he would be blowing out a candle he was all smiles. And he blew out the candle again and again and again.
For the birthday activity, Jack chose to take Grandma, Grandpa, Andy and Bri to the Academy to meet Claude. Claude is the white alligator and Jack loves him. The last time we went to the Academy is was Claude's 14th birthday and there was always a group of people singing to him. So when we started telling Jack it would be his birthday soon, he always got upset and said it was Claude's birthday. Finally today he gave-in and decided it was his birthday AND Claude's birthday. We saw all the fish, the butterflies, and played in the kids' room. The only other excitement was when the entire Academy was evacuated for a fire alarm. Now that's exciting.

We came home and had Jack's favorite dinner of sweet and sour meatballs and then opened presents. Jack was in heaven and poor Max had to be restrained so he didn't steal all the presents--especially the dinosaurs, which turned out to be the biggest hit of the day. In addition to the restraint, Jack did his best to keep all the dinosaurs tucked in his lap and under his legs and arms to keep them safe from Max.

After dinner was the best part of the night--cake time! By now Jack was a candle blowing expert and even let his brother come have a turn.
After the candle blowing was completed both boys licked the cake clean. So much fun.
I think Jack had the best birthday ever. Happy Birthday sweet baby boy! Your mommy loves you...as do many, many other people!

Happy Birthday Jack!

Today is my sweet baby's birthday. I don't know what it is about Jack, but I really think I will always, always call him my baby--even though his little personality is starting to lean more to stinker than sweet baby. He is becoming so independent and has to do everything "by myself." He is quite the little jabber-mouth and I especially love when he answers my questions with a big YES said more like, "Yesh!" He loves, loves, loves playing with Max. Max is usually the first to fall asleep at bedtime and I always hear Jack yelling to him, "Wake up Max!" so they can continue their silly bedtime antics. And although they really do love to play together (one of my favorite things they do is play duck-duck-goose, just the two of them), I often hear Jack say, "Be nice Max!" or he'll come tattle that "Max hit me" even if Max didn't, just to get him in trouble. He is learning these sneaky little tricks way too early. Jack still loves all things elephant. He loves looking at the pictures of him by the baby elephant at Grandma's zoo and still requests songs from Dumbo at bedtime. When Blake comes home he will ask to make him fly, then Blake will throw him around the room and Jack laughs and reports to me, "I fly like Dumbo." And of course I think Jack is a little smarty pants--he loves to color in his animal coloring book with two crayons at a time. He knows the letters and the sounds they make and can count to ten (and to tres en espanol). When you ask him he says his favorite color is blue, but I really think it's orange. His hands down favorite food is french fries and he recently told me, "I hungry. My body need french fries." So, guess who won't be getting french fries for quite a while! I really love this age and I really love that even though my baby is now officially a toddler, he still manages to cuddle with me every day. I hope his little cheeks never go away. Happy Birthday Baby! I love you!

Fleet Week

{Picture by Andy}

Is it pathetic that I got a little teary thinking that this would be the last time my kids' naps were rudely interrupted by what sounds like an air attack on our city? Everything is starting to be "the last" for us and it's very sad. Like this is our last fleet week in San Francisco. And this is the last time my family will come out for fleet week. And this is Jack's last birthday weekend in San Francisco. I'm glad they decided to make it a tradition, even if it was only two years in the running.

This year, once again, we got amazing seats and an amazing parking spot right by the Golden Gate bridge. Only this year, the weather wasn't quite as nice. Instead of basking in the sun, we were huddled under blankets. Jack was in heaven watching the planes and dogs all around us and Max was in heaven with his peanut butter sandwich.

Between shows while the girls waited in the long line for the bathroom, the boys went and played on the beach. So much fun.

Then the blue angels started--the main reason to go to fleet week. Only we couldn't see the planes. We could only hear and feel them through the clouds. So when all of the sudden we stopped hearing them, even though we knew the show had probably been canceled, we waited around and played catch with the smash ball and made dog piles, hoping our efforts to get down to the bay were not in vain.
But we soon found out the show was indeed canceled and started to make our way home with the rest of the San Francisco traffic. Good thing our last fleet week wasn't a total bust since we had such fun visitors here to enjoy it with us. Goodbye fleet week!

When Daddy Comes Home

I couldn't believe that the boys waited patiently in the windows for almost 10 minutes to welcome their daddy home tonight. We love him.

Tennis!

Today was Max's first tennis lesson. He was so, so excited...once he started playing. Before that, it was a bit of a fight to get him there since he was so upset Blake wouldn't be there and he "never plays tennis without Blake." Max is such a sweet boy. The little class was fabulous--pure entertainment for the spectators on the side. They started out doing stretches, jumping up and down and running around the court. I think my favorite part was when they had to run sideways and backwards. Max kept cheating by running forwards until he caught up to the teacher and he almost tripped over his own feet while trying to run sideways.
Then they worked on their forehand.
And then their backhand. It took Max a few hits to get the hang of it. At first he was swinging too early and then would hit the ball when he was bringing his racket back around. But he got it; and really, any contact with the ball was worthy of some clapping and yelling from the cheering section!
Next was practicing their volleys at the net. Basically the kids would hold their racket in front of their face and the teacher would throw the ball right at them. So much fun. The teacher kept telling them they were losing points by resting their rackets on the net, but I don't think Max minded.
And last, they worked on an overhead smash. Pure entertainment.
And I can't do this post without mentioning the honorary ball boy and Max's second biggest fan. He is just too cute.
Can't wait for next week!

The Lone Star State Part III

On Wednesday, we said good-bye to Dallas and started the journey down to Austin. We didn't have much time in Austin so we quickly stopped by the capital and the Texas State History Museum. We continued on to a rural neighborhood just outside of Austin for what we heard was the "best BBQ" in all of Texas--The Salt Lick. Ah, the sausage was to die for.
We hit the road again and made it down to San Antonio with just enough time for a picture by the temple before heading down to our luxurious River Walk hotel.
The next morning we had the yummiest breakfast. Blake had huevos rancheros and the boys and I had Mexican hot cakes. Blake LOVED the huevos rancheros, both for the fact that they were yummy AND that they cost $2.50. We started off our time in San Antonio down by the River Walk. Unfortunately we started on the wrong side of the river and were pretty tired by the time we got to all the shops and restaurants. But it was very pretty.
We stopped by the Alamo, but did not make it to the basement.
And last, but certainly not least, we went to the San Antonio Children's Museum. So much fun. They had a very large pretend grocery store complete with working cash registers that actually scanned the items. The boys were in heaven.
We absolutely loved the Lone Star State. Hopefully we get to come back again!

The Lone Start State Part II

In addition to being reunited with Dave, Michelle, Audrey, and Joshua, Natalie was one brave girl and drove over 5 hours, by herself with her 3(!) children, to spend the night and stay for part of the day playing with us. It was so, so much fun to have these three little rascals reunited (even if the girls were too busy coloring in their Barbie books and playing dolls to bother themselves with a ew--gross BOY! :))

THEN

NOW

We went to run in some fountains and for an additional surprise, Meisha and kids also joined us for the mini reunion.

I love San Francisco friends. Here is a picture of all the San Francisco-born babies. I think it's pretty cool to say you were born in San Francisco.
And it's really cool to be a mommy who births children in San Francisco! I am so lucky to have these friends!

The Lone Star State Part I

Well, it was obvious before we even left for Texas that the best part of the very large state would be Dave, Michelle, Audrey, and Joshua. I thought we'd find them miserable, missing San Francisco at every turn, but it was just the opposite. They showed us how fabulous a suburban, post-San Francisco life can be.

They showed us what it is like to live in a house, an actual house, with room enough for some serious buckin' bull riding.

And if you're lucky, that house may have an extra room dedicated solely to the purpose of housing guests and pillow fights.
And a backyard. Oooooo! A backyard. Complete with its own insect farm to look at when you're done running around and playing duck-duck-goose.
And maybe, just maybe, a swimming pool.
And then there's the mini-van that you all get to cram in to while DRIVING THRU(!) at Sonic, Wendy's, or Taco Bueno to pick up lunch.And don't even get me started on the teenaged babysitter who comes over to the house to play with the kids, put them to bed, and then cleans up your house all for a very, very reasonable price while you go to MONDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL!
I'm sure we over-stayed our welcome with these dear friends, but we seriously could not get enough of them. We were spoiled with delicious homemade meals, late nights of games and crafting, and lots of playing. Even two days after we had left their house, when we asked the boys what their favorite part about Texas was, Max said playing with Audrey and Jack said playing with Joshua. My favorite part was definitely playing with Michelle and I think it's safe to say Blake's favorite part was eating the steaks Dave grilled! :) We love these friends--thank you, thank you for letting us come visit you!