Farmer's Market at the Ferry Building

After staying the night in San Francisco we woke up and walked down to the Ferry Building for the biggest farmer's market you've ever seen. The kids were great and rode in the stroller for most of the time. They loved all of the people watching and tasting all of the yummy food.

Here is Connor having a taste of Acme bread (he squealed in frustration if I moved it out of his reach).Gianna's favorite part was the pickles (yep, she's definitely related to me-haha!)

Tonga Room 6/19/09

Great Grammy and Ooda (Jessica's mom) were headed to the city for a night last week and we decided to tag along. On Friday night we went to the Tonga room, a "bar" at the Fairmont where the theme is tropical and it rains every 20 minutes. It was so fun, everyone had a great time.
Gianna holding her mini umbrealla during the rain storm:
Connor has his first trip to a bar at the ripe age of 6 months:
The buffet for happy hour is yummy and under $10, and the atmosphere is great. We definitely recommend going there next time you are in San Francisco.

Free Movie Day 6/18/09

This summer Regal theaters are offering a free kids' movie series. The first one was Madagascar 2 (which also happens to be the first and only movie Gianna had previously seen in a theater). We got together with some of our playgroup buddies and took the kids to see Madagascar and Gianna (and Connor) loved it.
Here are Gianna and Sophia, waiting for the movie to start:
Kaylee was nice enough to share her popcorn:
Connor was so good during the movie. He watched it for a while then took a nice nap and woke up to watch it again at the end. He was dancing along to all of the great music and definitely was happy to watch the girls and watch the movie. He even laughed when the other kids laughed. What a sport!
As always, we ended the outing with a little sillyness and hugs.

Livermore Rodeo 6/11/09

The Livermore Rodeo has a family night where admission is free and hotdogs and drinks are only $1. We took Gianna last year and had so much fun that we went back this year. They had local team steer roping and a really funny event called "Wild cow milking." In wild cow milking one cowboy (on a horse) ropes a wild cow while another cowboy (on foot) chases it down, and milks the wild cow (into a beer bottle). It was pretty hilarious.
Gianna clapping for the cowboys (and girls).

Although Gianna's favorite part of the rodeo was definitely meeting her friend Sophia there and having some time to play in the grandstands while Daddy took a sleeping Connor for a walk. There is a funny video of the girls goofing off here.
Here are some action shots of the girls goofing off:

Tasty Indian Dish

Below is an a-bomb fire hot Indian dish that Jess whipped up yesterday night. Jess usually makes mild Indian food but this time I asked for something with a kick and got it. It was unbelievable. Look at the color, you know there's flavor when your food looks like that. This is one of the best ever. It was a chicken tikka masala with extra garam masala and a little cayenne. The vegetable dish is slow cooked veggies with masala.

Connor 6 month check up etc

On Friday Connor had his 6 month check up. The Dr. said he looks great. He had the usual immunizations and got weighed and measured.

Weight: 15lbs 10oz (10%tile)
Length: 26.75" (75%tile)

Looks like hes gonna be the tallest one of us so far.

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Also, Gianna has been getting sick a lot so we had her blood retested for anemia, turns out she's pretty anemic so they drew A LOT of blood and are running some tests and doing a full "spectrum" of her blood. The Dr. thinks she has a type of anemia that is not iron deficiency, but rather a problem with her red blood cell walls. We are going to have another appointment later this week or early next week when they get the results back. I'll keep you posted.

Video for Johnny

We all miss Uncle Johnny (Jessica's brother), especially Gianna. She talks about him constantly.
Here is a little video I made of her talking about him (our typical conversation) yesterday during lunch. Note her fine table manners.

She knows that he is in Africa and she knows what animals live there, but I'm sure she has no further understanding than that (and the fact that she hasn't seen him in a while and misses him).
Don't worry Johnny, she knows exactly who you are and even remembers that you cut your hair. There's not even the slightest chance she'll forget anything about you. Hope you're having an awesome time in Zanzibar, can't wait to see pictures.
Johnny has a blog (that he rarely updates) for those of you who are interested:
http://jawnstravels.blogspot.com

Gianna's braids

Yesterday I french braided Gianna's hair in 2 braids for the first time. She was surprisingly patient while I did it, and then very cooperative for a picture afterward.Don't worry shes been spending lots of time doing my hair too.

Family Hike

After the Baptism we went up to Pleasanton Ridge for a hike. Justin and I took turns wearing each of the kids--Connor in the Bjorn and Gianna in the backpack. It was so much fun and we obviously got a good workout because we are both still sore.

This was a great hike, but let me warn anyone who wants to go there: there is about a mile of uphill switchbacks right at the beginning before you get to the rolling [up]hill part and the great views. Definitely worth it, especially if you don't have a kid on your back/front! :)

Gianna and Mommy
Family Photo
Gianna shows us the way home.

Sunday baptism and birthday

On Sunday we went to Courtney and Mackenzie's Baptism (and Courtney's 2nd Birthday). The Baptism was nice (what I caught of it anyway, because both of the kids got pretty fussy about half-way through). And the BBQ at the park afterward was awesome.
Mackenzie being Baptised:
Courtney being Baptised:
Courtney and Gianna swinging at the park afterwards:

Sophia turns 2!

Saturday was Sophia's 2nd Birthday and we were so happy to help her celebrate!

The party was Tinkerbell themed and Gianna and Connor (and Mommy and Daddy) were so impressed by the decorations and yummy food.

Gianna loved playing in the sandbox with Sophia.
And having a cupcake.
Sophia got very shy while everyone sang to her.
Sophia blows out the candle.
Yum, cake!

Growing up too fast.

Connor's newest trick lately is to get on his knees and rock.
It seems really early for that. But maybe it's because he has always loved tummy time. Or maybe it's because he just can't wait to join in the action.
I'll try to get a video of him getting on to his knees.

Dancing Queens!

As would be expected, the girls didn't take the longest naps when Sophia was here. So we also spent a good part of the afternoon dancing.

Here they are warming up. Gianna is at the age where she always wants to know what's coming up...you can hear her ask "What's next?" in this video (long before the song is over).
Also, listen at the end of the video for Sophia's suggestion of what they should do next.

Did you hear Sophia ask Gianna to jump? Well the next video is the result of short naps and great ideas of 2 year-olds. Jenny, I'm sure you'll get a kick out of this.

Disclaimer: No toddlers were injured in the making of this video. Hahaha! I wish my legs were that short so it didn't hurt when I fall down.

Gardening Girls

Last week Sophia got to come over for the day and in the afternoon we planted our herb garden. The Girls had an awesome time and I couldn't pick just a few pictures so I added a bunch. I think they are so adorable and really tell a story.

Really excited to get started:
Dig in!Adding dirt:A video of the girls filling the pots with dirt.


Having fun (I love this sequence of photos):

Watering the plants:All Done!

Happy Birthday Grammy!

On Grammy's birthday we met in Alviso (google it...it's a tiny town in the edge of Milpitas) at a cute old restaurant called Vahl's for Lunch.
At lunch Gianna had her first taste of clam chowder, and loved it. Both of the kids were so good and at the end Gianna was happy to help Great Grammy blow out her candles.

Gianna's last day of preschool

We have had a great time during our first session of Mommy and Me preschool. I wanted to share some photos from the last day to give you an idea of what a typical day at preschool is like.

Walk to class, don't forget your lunchbox!
Put your things in the cubby.Crafts.Free time, Gianna likes to paint.Snack and recess.