Andy and Bri's Fall Break

First they spend their spring break with us and now their fall break! WOW! We are so lucky. This is Andy and Bri's first visit where they've experienced any kind of inclement weather. Can you believe it? And inclement it was. So, they got to spend some quality time at museums, gymnastics, shopping, playing horse, and of course--VIRTUAL BOWLING! We tried a little different set-up this time and played as couples on several different courses. I won't say who won. (cough, us, cough!)

We ate lots and lots of yummy food including Pacific Catch twice and In N Out twice. Bri loves her some double doubles! :)
We had so much fun with them the entire week. And I can't believe the late hours I was able to stay up to playing Nertz with them. So much fun--and no one in that group is competitive at all. Thanks for coming to visit us! We love you!

Jack the Gymnast!

Jack is a little gymnast now. Or at least on his way to becoming one. But he sure is different than his big brother. Jack is much more cautious. At first he was selectively exploring, holding my hand at most times.
When it was parachute time, he was very hesitant to help pop the bubbles. But once he saw Sarah, he was all for it. Thank goodness Sarah is in class with us.
And it was no surprise when it was time to go under the parachute that he was also a little nervous, but soon, he was just laying down, laughing.
He liked hanging on the rings.
And he liked running on the big tramp. He was so funny to watch--holding his arms out, a little behind him, while sticking his head forward. I guess it's good for balance. :)
But the best part of gymnastics was watching Jack "jump" off the vault. He would bend his knees to get all geared up for his big leap.
Then he'd drop to his hands and knees
And proceed to climb off
Until he reached his ultimate destination oh so far below.
And he did this over and over and over. Jack, you are such a funny boy. I love the time we spend together.

P.S. Thank you to Andy for being our official gymnastics photographer!

Surrey with a Fringe on the Top

The hands down most fun thing we've done with Andy and Bri in San Francisco--a surrey bicycle ride. Don't worry, we had to make a special request for one with the fringe.
We went all around Golden Gate Park...
until we got a flat. (Actually Blake was sitting over the flat tire, but he was on the phone and couldn't pose for a picture. I wasn't ashamed to pose in his spot, though--my belly weighs a lot.)
So, we huffed and puffed back up to the bike shop to make a trade and started out again.
By the end (or should I say by the beginning...) my legs were burning and I couldn't stop singing the "surrey with the fringe on the top" song. Can you believe both Blake and Bri have never seen that movie? Andy, who did we marry? :) So much fun!

See ya Grandma and Grandpa!

Grandma and Grandpa hit the road back to the best state ever today. We had so much fun with them. We ate at Mama's (7 Monte Cristos please!) then went across the street and saw the Italian car show in honor of Columbus Day.
We saw some amazing views of the city.
And we had so much fun playing Chutes and Ladders, Hide and Seek, Skip-Bo, Opposites, and Nertz with them. We owe them big time for making the trek out to San Francisco to bring us all sorts of yummy food and gifts. What would we do without them? Plus, they are leaving us with another fun gift--Andy and Bri for the rest of the week! We sure love Grandma and Grandpa!

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!