July California Trip

We went to California for a week to celebrate Claire's wedding. We also had the rare chance to spend time with my cousin Sarah and her family. (By the way, she used our camera to take a lot of the following photos...mostly the good ones!) She has a new baby, Alex, who we met for the first time, and the last time we saw her daughter, Beka, she was just over a year old. Of course, they hadn't met Asher yet either! We hung out quite a bit at my parents' house, and enjoyed a visit to the neighborhood Farmer's Market for a train ride, pony ride, and petting zoo.


Sunday afternoon on the 17th was the wedding at Heritage Park. It was a really nice day, Claire looked perfect, and the ceremony was lovely. Some of the choir members from Claire's high school sang some beautiful music. My sister Kayla and I sang a little part also. Gregory's job was to help Ariana (his cousin) walk down the aisle. But at not-quite-17 months old, she wasn't too sure what she was supposed to do. He took his job very seriously though, and did his absolute best. After the dinner, we all danced into the night. Gregory was quite the party animal!


After the wedding was over, we had nothing but free time to play and have fun! We went to Santa Monica Pier, walked along the shops, rode a ride, and played at the beach. It was the first time the boys had really had a full beach outing at the Ocean. No one got sunburned except poor Dan. That night we went to the Music in the Park with the Long Beach Municipal Band. I have so many memories of doing that when we were kids, it was really fun to go as a grown up with our little guys. El Pollo Loco made the perfect picnic. Even Great Grandma Juanita and Aunt Karen came along.


We spent an afternoon at the Orange County Fair, another favorite childhood experience my mine. In the morning, Gregory, Dan and I fed a few ducks over at El Dorado Park while Asher was napping. Then we met up with most of the Aunties and Uncles at the Fair. We petted the animals, watched a circus act, ice sculpting, and the Peking Acrobats, and ate too much fried food. We did not take enough pictures, at least with our camera!

On Thursday, our little family plus Auntie Audrey, took an excursion down to the San Diego area. We visited the San Diego Botanical Gardens. What a fabulous place! Amazing gardens, including 2 children's areas. The boys played for hours. Asher even climbed up a 5 ft high cargo net and back down again all by himself. We were amazed. He knew he could do it! We might be in trouble with him and the climbing, considering he isn't even walking yet! Afterwards we had dinner with Dan's cousins, Julie and Angie, and Angie's new baby Enzo, who was adorable! Again with the camera fail - we forgot to take pictures of them!


Towards the end of the trip it seems like we did get a little tired of taking pictures, but we got a few of our trip to the Cabrillo Beach, Marine Aquarium, and Point Fermin in San Pedro. Gregory seemed to really like the Touch Tank and the Tidepools. And the face-cut-outs. You know, the photo-op ones - he kept insisting that we take pictures in those! And did I mention that he and Ariana are totally infatuated with each other!?! They were hugging and kissing each other the whole week - we had to curb the kissing to cheeks only - but how adorable! Gregory really loves HIS cousin!


We did a lot of other things involving playing with the Aunties and Uncles, and a good time was had by young and old alike. There was a lot of foosball, Wii Rock Band, rolling in a giant inflatable ball, and building with Tinker Toys. On Friday night, Dan and I were finally able to sneak away to see the Harry Potter movie - thanks Audrey for babysitting! Late on Saturday night, Asher actually took his first steps! It was so fun for that to happen with the family all around, just like we witnessed Ariana's first steps back at Christmastime. And we were able to get in a last minute goodbye with Great Grandma Juanita on our way to the airport on Sunday morning. The traveling went really smoothly too - we kind of have it down to a science now. It was a very full trip, and we are really looking forward to visiting again for a week in October for Ben and Liz's wedding. 3 days in Mexico, plus visits with Michal and family, and Angela and Galiano all the way from Germany. Oh what fun! Can't wait! But I do promise to make at least a couple of blog posts here before then!

From 2011-07-24

June Catch-up

I am so sorry I didn't manage to post before we went to California last week. So we have a lot of catching up to do!

We have been really busy and distracted since May, with the new house. All throughout May we were working on construction and yard work. We finally moved in the third week of June. This was our 3rd move in 2 years, and it was by far the worst. We still haven't gotten fully settled, but since we don't plan on going anywhere for a long time, I guess there is not a huge rush. Sometime soon I will have to post before and after pictures of the remodeling.

At the beginning of June, Grandma Bonnie, Auntie Kim, and her fiance Troy, and his three kids, Joey, David, and Eden, came to visit for a few days. We had a lot of fun with them. Outings included a couple of pools and the Como Park Zoo, and the Minnesota Zoo. It was great making memories with the soon-to-be cousins - we really look forward to having them in the family officially after Kim and Troy's wedding in November.


Over the boys' birthday weekend we went on the annual API camping trip. You may recall that my labor with Asher began there last year! This was the first time we tent camped with the boys and it was a damp, rainy weekend. It really was pretty fun, though, and we look forward to doing more camping. I am sure with a little practice, we will get the hang of it and it will run more smoothly. Still, we gorged ourselves on S'mores, potluck food, good company, and of course, birthday cake. We don't indulge in too many birthday presents but the Grandparents never fail in that department. Of note this year were the amazing fabric art pieces that Grandma Mary made of their names. Hopefully I can incorporate them into some custom headboards or something like that.




It might have been insane, but our moving day was actually the day we came home from camping. But we managed to get things sort of presentable enough to have a great party on the 4th of July, complete with the big fireworks show around the corner at the park. I snapped some photos of the boys looking adorable (i.e., before they got all dirty and sticky!)


Otherwise, we have been spending our days at playgroups and splash pads, trying not to make too much of a mess at home! Gregory is taking gymnastics, which he loves. Asher finally got some more teeth, so now he has 6 on top, including 2 molars, and just 2 little ones on bottom. It doesn't slow down his eating, though, he is voracious! He weighs a full 2 lbs more than Gregory did at a year. He also took to sign language really quickly, within a couple of days of starting to show it to him. He really loves being able to signal some communication of his opinions. His dexterity isn't too good yet, but I can usually tell what he means contextually. Sometimes he tries to say a few words too, though its mostly a lot of adorable babbling. I have heard him say Mama, Dada, Ga (or GaGa or GaGee, meaning Gregory), Hi, Bye, Bug, Bird, Tweet, and Doggie.

July update to be posted momentarily...