Johnny's Travel Blog

My brother is doing some awesome traveling this summer and I am happy to say that he is keeping a blog of his travels. Some of it is hard to read because he is trying to update from internet cafes as quickly as possible, but it's neat to read about.

The blog is:

http://jawnstravels.blogspot.com/

Enjoy!

We miss you Johnny. Gianna "called" you today to ask you if you saw any Zebras drinking water

Happy Birthday Justin

On Tuesday Justin turned 27.

Here he is with his kids and his ice cream cake (no, I did not make that).

And Gianna singing to him.

Scared Silly!

Connor laughs at a lot but the thing that gets real belly laughs is to scare him a little. Like a really excited game of peek a boo. In this video he is laughing so hard at my mom playing with him.

Marshall Gulch State Beach 5/17

Gianna has figured out that my mom and dad live not-too-far from the beach. So every time we go to their house she manages to spend most of the car ride asking if we'll go "at the beach". Of course, we love the beach too so we are happy to oblige. We took a tip there last Sunday. The last few times we've gone to this beach (Marshall Gulch) or the one just north of it. It is WAY less crowded than Salmon Creek and the sand is almost like tiny pebbles (or really coarse sand), which is great because you don't get too much sand in your car. We highly recommend it...but not too highly because we don't want it to get too crowded too :)


Connor feeling the sand between his toes."I like long walks on the beach..."
Playing in the sand.

Happy.
More playing.

Mommy and Connor.
Beach feet.Justin, Poppy and Connor.
Ooda and Connor.Talking about where we are.

Connor's Ocean Baptism

On Sunday (5/17) we went to the beach north of Bodega and Connor dipped his feet in the Ocean for the first time. This always feels like a big deal for me. Here are pictures.

Getting ready:
Dipping the toes!
Wow! That was cold...but I liked it.

Watering

After the party we headed up to Santa Rosa to start Justin's Birthday celebration. That night Gianna was very interested in helping Ooda water her plants. Here are some pictures after this had been going on for a while (that's why she's already soaked). What fun!


Don't get wet!

Sitting Independently

Connor was so excited by the party that he thought he'd have some fun too. While he was hanging out with Daddy in Elmo's World he decided to sit independently. This picture is when he was getting tired so he's a little hunched over, but its still so exciting!Not even 5 months and sitting!

Kaylee's 2nd Birthday Party

Round 2 of birthdays has officially begun, and Kaylee (and her family) kicked it off with a bang! They created their very own Sesame Street in Keri's parents' backyard and it was awesome. There was everything from games, to Elmo tattoos, to a pinata, a real visit from Elmo Gianna was too scared to get close), an Elmo's World playhouse, a mechanical horse to ride, a sand box and a bounce house. It was so fun that no one even noticed that it was 100 degrees out.

Here are [a lot of] pictures from the party.

Playing in the Sand Box.
Gianna's pull string from the Pinata.Loving the horse.
Bounce house.
Oscar tattoo.
Gianna and Sophia hanging out in lounge chairs.
Gianna playing in Elmo's World.

Elmo cake/cupcakes.Getting ready to eat.
Yum! Yum!

Free birthday ice cream.

If you join the Coldstone birthday club you get a free ice cream for your birthday (up to one week before or after). Since our birthdays are so close Justin and I got to have our free ice cream on the same night. Gianna loved watching the people making the ice cream and then making her own "ice cream soup" and eating/drinking it. She had us laughing.

Mother's Day at the SF Zoo

Thanks to our friends, we found out that the San Francisco Zoo was going to be free on Mother's Day. This sounded like a great way to spend the day so we loaded up the car and headed to the city.Here are Daddy and Connor in front of the Polar bears.
Gianna as a Peacock.
And meeting a real one.Gianna as a Kangaroo
The definite highlight of the Zoo was the Grizzly bears playing. This video, while amazing, doesn't even begin to do them justice. This was so cool to see. We could have watched them all day.

Pictures of the bears (the second one is them behind viewing glass...you can see Gianna's pink sweatshirt, we were so close!):
Meerkats:
Petting (and feeding) the goats:At the end of the day, Gianna saw a bench and said, "Look, a bench. Sit down, take a rest." So we did.

Park on 5/9

We went to the Pleasanton Farmer's Market on May 9 and took a break to play at this great little park in downtown Pleasanton. Everyone had a great time.

Growing up Fast!

Gianna is growing up fast. Every day she is more interested in "Big Girl" things. Today she had a big milestone: I painted her toenails!
She was so Excited about her newly painted nails.

Ooh, Ahh, You wish you were a Bronco!

Many of you know that Justin is going back to school this fall (for his Masters in Mechanical Engineering Design). I just wanted to let everyone else know and congratulate Justin again on getting in to Santa Clara. We're so proud of you!

Happy Birthday to Mommy

The joys of a 2 year old (I've put all of these videos because they are all hilarious, especially the one where she starts to pick her nose):








(This is also what Gianna decided to do today *instead* of napping...lets just say I didn't mind too much)

Underpants!

Here are some photos from our trip to target this week to pick out Gianna's underpants for when she finishes potty training.
Lining them up so she can decide which ones she wants.All lined up.She picked the princess ones.Standing under her "potty chain" (yes, those are underpants on the wall...at the end of the chain).