Summer Camping

We had planned to go camping, meaning we reserved our campsite, back in March when we thought Noah would be sleeping wonderfully and would be fine in a tent. Well we were actually right! He slept wonderful...Sasha woke up once, I did as well and Alex tossed and turned a fair amt. So Noah slept great and the rest of us were exhausted...maybe we aren't ready for camping. The kids had a blast in the tent and due to the weather we spent most of our time playing around in there. It ended up being quite cold [as you can see Alex is wearing a ski cap] and it drizzled for a good part of the evening. So we can say it was a sleeping success for the little boy but not the best family camping trip ever. It just means we can try again though, now that we know he's a champ at sleeping in a tent. There's a few pictures of our tent fun to check out...

http://picasaweb.google.com/amyres/NoahSFirstCampingExperience?authkey=Gv1sRgCM7b_5r8tr396wE&feat=directlink

Early August

Alex and I have birthdays sandwiched between our kids birthdays and are only a week apart. This year was the BIG 3-5 and we can now say we're middle age. UGH!!! So while the actual days of our birthday were a little less exciting, we decided to invite some friends out for a pizza and a smack talking game night at a local bar without kids- although Sasha is quite the trash talker and I'm sure could have held her own. It was a fun night with lots of beer, pizza, some tasty treats and good conversation. There are no pictures of the fun night out, actually there was only one which we luckily don't have, taken with a phone of a friend shirtless, he did it for a dollar. We're such adults. However, the night still made us realize we were 35 when by 10:30 we all had to leave b/c we were a) tired or b) the babysitter had to leave by 11. So much for the days where I would make it to midnight...ahhh...


There are a few other photos of us goofing around- being that we're still just BIG kids.

http://picasaweb.google.com/amyres/EarlyAug2010?authkey=Gv1sRgCITE6tmrg6bsXA&feat=directlink

Santa Cruz

Three families, 6 adults and 6 kids, in a house on a river for the weekend- what could be more fun!?! We went away with some friends to the Huckleberry house down in Ben Lemond, a town just a bit inland from Santa Cruz. I was worried we wouldn't sleep at all but have to say was pleasantly surprised to find it wasn't that exhausting. It could have been that some people were drinking tequilla...but maybe the kids were well behaved, after we separated them into their own rooms, and slept like little angels. The weekend was a blast- we went to the boardwalk where Sasha is a roller coaster queen, then to Natural Bridges State Beach and dug big holes after frolicking in the water. And even went on a short hike where we got to climb up rock walls. Once again we all slept as Alex drove us home but this weekend warrior family played hard and had fun doing so. Check out the pictures of our adventure!

http://picasaweb.google.com/amyres/SantaCruz?authkey=Gv1sRgCKSomK-h67L7Cg&feat=directlink

Noah Turns 1!!!

Happy Birthday sweetheart! This year flew by and I am so happy to be at this point. I love this age, he is so fun and his little personality is really starting to come through. He is walking now, he took his real first steps in June, but about a week after he turned one is when he got the confidence to just start roaming around the house. He still never crawled but does more of a butt scoot which is hilarious. He only has 4 teeth however that doesn't slow him down when eating. He LOVES most foods and is incredibly messy. His babysitter was shocked after the first time she gave him lunch and said, " Wow, should I just give him a bath or how do you handle this?" I laughed so hard and told her we usually just wipe him off at the sink. Overall, he is a mellow baby who doesn't sleep much. Still wakes up at 5:30 am every day...which is painful for us but now he's at least sleeping through the night. His favorite person is still Sasha and the best sound in the whole world is when she makes him laugh, he has a really full belly laugh and it is addictive. She does whatever silly thing over and over again to hear it! 

My parents flew in to celebrate with us, and it was so nice to have some family here. We went to Ardenwood, the zoo and a bunch of parks. The pictures speak for themselves and show how much fun we had!


http://picasaweb.google.com/amyres/NoahSBdayWeek?authkey=Gv1sRgCKXiorfkheapGw&feat=directlink

Tahoe Bound

W

We had wanted to check out these little hike in cabins before kids however never made it until now. Due to traffic we got there with little daylight and a lot of hauling and walking to do. Sasha made it with a smattering of complaints but not too bad while I carried Noah the 1/2 mile to the cabin. Luckily after our 1st trip in we saw they had a wheel barrel so Alex took that back to the car and loaded up the various kid gear while I got the kids ready for bed. It was a beautiful spot and overall we had a good time. The first night though Noah did not sleep well which means none of us did...but the second night I can only blame the mosquitos.

The best day was spent at a beautiful beach, however we forgot our camera that day, called Nevada Beach. We hadn't been to that side of the Lake before but would definitely head there again. We set up our sun tent and spent about 5 hrs. at the beach. Noah even took a nap in the shade and it was really relaxing. We had bought Sasha a donut shaped float that she spent hours bobbing in the water just watching the planes, parasailers and other kids play. Luckily it was hot so we didn't mind taking turns hanging around in the big blue lake.

That evening we cooked dinner and played around the cabin in the woods. It was all fun and games until the mosquitos ate us alive. We all got bites and they kept us up all night. It was AWFUL!! So the next day we were all a bit grumpy and I just wanted to head home. Trying to salvage the day we went to another beach and hung around before heading home. Alex drove and we all slept...he is a trooper and we all went to bed before 8 pm that night.

Here are some pictures of the trip:
http://picasaweb.google.com/amyres/TahoeCabin?authkey=Gv1sRgCLaXkYL35ND5_gE&feat=directlink 

Early July

Well we're back in our house and we're thrilled. We only had our house on the market 12 days and decided to pull it. We had plenty of interest however, we are undecided on where we'll be moving. The town we thought we were going to move to did not pass a school bond measure and things are looking uncertain. We really want to move only one more time and want to stay until the kids graduate HS so we're being very cautious on where that is. If you want the full story you'll have to call but we feel really fortunate to have the time to decide. Sasha starts kindergarten next year so we need to make some decision by then...tune in to see where we go! 

This has been an incredibly rainy and cold year for us in Oakland and we are having these strange days where it's foggy and freezing until noon and then sunny and warm until about 5. This was a warm week so check out some fun pool time with the kids!

http://picasaweb.google.com/amyres/EarlyJuly?authkey=Gv1sRgCL34iJiksrKL9QE&feat=directlink