Hockey Dreams

In case some of you havent heard, we are in the middle of a major drought here in San Francisco.  We have gotten almost no rain at all this winter, and it never rains in summer, so understandably people are getting worried.  
But with the bad comes the good, and we have been fortunate to have absolutely beautiful weather--sunny and high sixties every day.  Ethan has taken great advantage of this weather to practice his new favorite activity: street hockey.

It all began when new neighbors moved in next door.   They have a 5-year old boy who brought a hockey net and stick with him and started playing in the cul-de-sac.   Ethan (having never even heard of hockey before) was intrigued and started to play too.  For Christmas he got his own net and sticks, and now nearly every weekend there is a "game".

Today, his friend Shelby came over to join in on the fun.

I have to admit, it is pretty nice to live on a cul-de-sac in California when Ethan can get his energy out even in the winter time.   I guess this is why housing is so expensive here!!

Elephant Seals

For the long weekend, we decided to take a drive down to Ano Nuevo State Park.   This place is a lovely beach on the San Francisco peninsula that is famous because every winter the beach becomes a birthing/mating ground for elephant seals.   We have been here before--but it has been awhile--the last time was the day that Jason proposed to me back in 2005!  So I was interested in going back, and thought that Ethan would get a kick out of it.

We were lucky to have beautiful weather, and great views of the seals.   The male elephant seals can weigh up to 5000 pounds!   And they stink.   We enjoyed a long hike and then had a picnic afterwards.  

Unfortunately, the kids did not sleep on the car ride home so we had 2 cranky monsters this evening.   Oh well, what can you do.....

Party Time

Last night we had a rockin' first birthday party for Alaina.   Jason's parents, grandparents, Aunt Marcy and Uncle Jeff, as well as our friends Ben and Sue and their kids Cruz and Whitney came over for spagetti and meatballs as well as cake.

Alaina hammed it up and even wore her birthday hat for longer than I expected her to tolerate it!


The girls:

The boys:

Alaina with her great-grandparents:

I had fun decorating our dining room, including pictures of Alaina at each month--just like I did for Ethan nearly five years ago!

And it's official: Alaina has as big of a sweet tooth as her mommy.   She got her finger in the cake as we were singing to her, and once she had her piece, she shoveled it in super fast!   Sh loved it so much, I even gave her a bit extra, which I later paid for as she didn't fall asleep until almost 10pm due to the sugar high.
Oh well, you are only one once!

By present time, I had to take her dress off--it was so covered in frosting!!!

 Overall, a great celebration to mark an incredible year.

Happy 1st Birthday Alaina!

More pictures and a real post coming soon, but I had to put a picture in today.   Happy birthday to our sweet, sweet little girl!   We love you.

Christmas Vacation!

Well it has been a long time since we have had time off work...I was able to get nearly 2 weeks off over the holidays, and Jason was off for one.   We kept busy!

On Christmas Eve morning, Santa came.   The kids had a lot of fun opening their presents, and Alaina seemed to enjoy her first Christmas.   A favorite was a swing that we hung from a big oak tree in our backyard--picture coming soon.

That afternoon, the kids and I headed to Chicago.  Flying with the two of them was interesting.   Actually, they were both really good, until we landed in Chicago and were stuck on the tarmac for almost an hour waiting for a gate.   They lost it (and I nearly did too!).

We celebrated Christmas with my family on Christmas day.  On Saturday, Jason flew in.  While in Chicago, we were able to visit with my Grandma and Aunt Judith, some college friends, and take advantage of the snow for sledding and building a snowman.

On New Year's Eve, we headed back west, and after landing in Chicago drove up to Lake Tahoe for a few nights with friends in a cabin by the lake.   Unfortunately, this winter has been really, really dry so far, so there was not enough snow to ski.   We did get in a little sledding, rode a gondola, and Ethan tried out ice skating for the first time, which he loved.

Whew....it was a whirlwind...but lots of fun.  Now we are back and dreading starting back to work on Monday......