Summer fun.

Where have we been?

For those of you who know us well, Justin and I have spent the summer training for a triathlon (it's coming up in just 9 days!). Between that, all of the summer travels, regular activities and Connor being extremely mobile I have very little time to update. And the time I do have is spent trying to pick up my house from hurricane Gianna or to [maybe] have a chance to rest. Whew. Hope I can update you a little. Here are lots and lots of photos and explanations to let you know what we've been doing for the past 2 months.

9/16 - Gianna's first day of Mommy and Me preschool for the year. We had so much fun doing crafts, singing and playing.
9/13 - Gianna's favorite thing to do this week is run around our coffee table in circles. She cracks us up.
9/12 - Portia's 4th Birthday party. This is particularly noteworthy for a few reasons: 1) I can't believe Gina has a 4 year old. Seems like she was just a baby. and 2) Justin decided to ride his bike to the party (which was in Palo Alto)...from Livermore. 60 miles = crazy. But he had a great time. Anyway, here are some pictures from the party.

Connor LOVED the bounce house.
Gianna bouncing and Connor watching.Giggle girl.

9/11 - Gianna picked tomatoes and basil for bruschetta with dinner. Yummy!
9/11 - Cooper's first birthday party. It's hard to believe it, but Connor's friends are turning 1 already! Connor is just around the corner. Eek!
9/9 - Connor cut his 3rd tooth. No picture yet, but it's definitely note-worthy.
9/6 - Justin and I used the left-over peppers (and some extra tomatos from Marade-Thanks!) and made more salsa. Turned out so yummy!
9/4 - I went for a girls' night at a friend's house and we canned salsa, pasta sauce and strawberry jam.
Marade, Natasha, Jesssica, Michelle
8/31 - Gianna talking to Ooda on the phone to say thanks for the cow socks....and Connor cruising.
8/29 - Justin's 45 miler. I should let Justin blog more about this, but I wanted to add some pictures. At the end of August he went on a 45 mile bike ride with most of the groomsmen from our wedding. These guys have all been friends since they were born, pretty awesome. Justin, Ryan, Scotty, Andrew and Pat.
In case you didn't know how skinny Justin is... haha!
Taking a break.
Riding across the Golden Gate Bridge.

8/28 - Connor took his first step. No walking yet, just a step or two here and there. But a step!!! Already? Geez, he's only 8 months old.
8/28 - Gianna's Babies. She is such a ham...she wanted me to take her picture with her two favorite babies: hear baby and baby Karlie (named after the real Baby Karlie).
8/28 - Gianna's first dentist appointment. It went pretty well. She was great except for the part where we wanted her to open her mouth so he could see her teeth-haha! I think now that she knows what's going on she'll do even better next time.
Brushing her teeth at home the morning of her appointment.
In the waiting room.
Picking what she wants from the toy machine.
Pretty smile!
8/26 - Making Dinner:
Laying out the potatoes for scalloped potatoes.
So proud of what she made.
8/21 - Uncle Johnny is home!! We made a trip over to the airport to see him when he arrived (late 8/20), but we just had to hear all about his trip so we headed up to Santa Rosa for a quick visit.Playing Guitar with Uncle Johnny.Connor going for a ride.

8/18 - Playgroup trip to the zoo. Last time our playgroup went to the zoo was when the big kids were babies. Now we have a bunch of new babies so we thought it was time to make another trip over there. Gianna had fun visiting the zoo with her friends. We hope it won't be quite as long between trips next time.
Gianna and Sophia check out the Meerkats.
Gianna brushing the goats.

8/16 - Gianna got this Easy Bake Oven from my aunt Mary and she loved baking a cookie in it. She needed lots of supervision because the pans come out hot, but it was fun for her to mix it up then eat the cookie. Although I think she was a little surprised that it only made 2 cookies, but that was all she needed, so it was perfect. We are looking forward to many more easy bake treats.
Waiting for it to be ready. Talking about baking. The finished product.
8/15 - Connor chillaxin' at a BBQ at Keri and Kenny's house.
8/15 - My first paid cake job. It was for a bridal shower (every time I upload this picture it turns and I have no idea why...so here it is...sideways).
8/14 - Gianna at the park. She wanted me to take her picture.
8/13 - You only really need to watch the first few seconds of this. It is Gianna jump-roping. And those first 5 seconds are hilarious (then she gets distracted and shy).
8/12 - Connor at the Park. Doing his favorite thing.
8/7-8/10 Trip up to Applegate, Or to visit family.
We made the long drive up to Oregon late friday night (arriving somewhere after 2 am). Having kids means you have to get creative about car trips that may not seem so hard without them. Justin and I chose to share driving and do it late at night in hopes that we wouldn't have to stop for me to feed Connor. We made it until 1am without stopping. Not too bad, right? Then we spent the weekend hanging out at Grandma and Grandpa's with lots of visitors: Jarrod, Kelly, Jadyn, Cole, Great Grandpa, Greg, Marilyn, Joyce (and we just missed Brad and Geoff).
S'mores!
Gianna with Jadyn and Cole.
Roasting a marshmallow.
Connor in the highchair that Justin and Gianna used.
Mastering the Pincer grasp (first time!).
Group photo.
Gianna and Cole.
Gianna and Great Grandpa.
Gianna on Great Grandpa's suspension bridge.

8/5- We've got a climber! Connor at just 7 1/2 months trying to climb up our living room slide.
8/5- Look at these cuties just goofing around after one of our weekly walks. They are such fun friends.

7/31-8/2 Trip to Santa Rosa and the Sonoma County Fair
One of the highlights of summer is getting to go to the Sonoma County Fair. The kids had a great time looking at the animals, eating ice cream, watching the horse races, participating in a diaper derby (Connor), looking at art projects, seeing a pig show and the Budweiser Clydesdales and walking through the hall of flowers. And then Mommy and Daddy even got to go back later at night without the kids. It has to be one of the best fairs around.
Trying out a jiggle foot.
Family photo in the hall of flowers.
Gianna is pretending to be asleep in protest of having her picture taken while Connor is smiley as always.
Gianna got to bottle feed a baby goat.
Milking a "cow."
Gianna, Ooda and the Budweiser Clydesdales.
Connor is really excited for the diaper derby.
At the starting line...
With his prize-a "Sonoma County Fair Diaper Derby" hat, and a ribbon for participating.

7/31 - The kids love swinging together at the park.
7/29 - Gianna loves helping Mommy cook. This plastic cheese knife from Grandma was perfect for mushrooms.
7/28 - Connor's first time in the push-around buggy.

Family Getaway (7/26-27) We took a couple days to get away to the coast at the end of July. We went to Gilroy Gardens, the Monterey Bay Aquarium and Santa Cruz. It was so fun and the kids loved getting away and staying in a hotel. It was a busy two days but worth it. On Sunday we went to Gilroy Gardens, left there in the afternoon, made a quick stop by the outlets and then headed down to check-in at our hotel. After that we went to the Aquarium because they were staying open until 8pm. We saw half of the Aquarium and left the rest for the morning. After a good nights rest we headed back to the Aquarium, saw the rest (spent a long time in the kids' area) and then took off to Santa Cruz where my parents met us for the afternoon. We loved playing on the beach and Justin and I even got to do a little body surfing while my parents watched the kids. Then it was time for rides. By the time we made it back to the car, the kids zonked out and we had a nice quiet drive home. What a fun trip!
First ride of the day: the cars!
Gianna drives us crazy.
Connor in his own seat on the water ride.
Gianna in her own seat.
Gianna on the kiddy car ride.
Gianna driving Connor in the fire truck.
She giggled through the whole fishy ride.
Carousel.
Connor's first time on the carousel.
Choo-choo train.
Swinging on the rings.

Next stop: the aquarium.
Connor checking out the fish.
Touch pool.
Gianna-sized tank.
Daddy and Connor.
Starfish.
Bro and Sis.
In the kids area.
Family picture.

Last stop: Santa Cruz!

Gianna loves to dig.
Gianna in the hole.
Daddy in the hole (yes, he's standing up).
Mommy and Gianna on the race cars.
Big girl rides the carousel by herself (and gets a ring from Daddy).
Connor's first time on the Santa Cruz carousel.
Connor on the dragon ride with Mommy.
Gianna and Daddy on the dragon.
Cars.
Boat ride.
Whew, what a long 2 days!




Montana trip! (7/16-21) Justin already posted some pictures he received from his cousin, but here are some additions:

Whoever said, "The journey is as important as the destination," has never traveled with kids. Haha!
All kidding aside, our kids were great for the plane ride there if you don't include the total meltdown Gianna had because they even make KIDS take their shoes off to go through security.
Mommy and the kiddos go for a "ride."Watching them load our plane.Connor's first time on a plane!!! He was so excited he fell asleep.Thank goodness that Connor wanted to rest for the first flight. It made it super easy.
During our first take off.

Daddy and the kiddos during our layover in Denver.

Hitching a ride with Mommy.
Connor's first time on a Tarmac (Gianna's an old pro).
Flight #2Connor was pretty amazed by the whole thing (now that he was awake!).
Justin's parents rented a house for us all to stay at that was just a short walk to the family reunion. It was a great house with lots of space for the kids to play and we had so much fun staying all together.
Connor playing.
Connor playing with the big boys.
Gianna getting ready to walk over to the reunion.
Connor testing out the backpack for the first time.
Mommy and Gianna hanging out on the dock at the reunion (looking at the baby fish).
The kids at the reunion.

On Saturday we went over to Glacier National Park. The drive up there was gorgeous, we loved the "Going to the Sun" road--we got to enjoy it even more because they have a wonderful FREE tram to the top, which meant the kids didn't have to ride in carseats and Justin and I both got to enjoy the view. We were headed to a hike that Justin had been on about 10 years ago, but while on the shuttle another family told us that there was an amazing hike to "hidden lake" at the top of the park. We decided it sounded like something we shouldn't miss so we headed all the way up to the trailhead. The hike was not a dissapointment. It was 1.5 miles out through a beautiful canyon, across a boardwalk, through snow, up hills and steps to an amzing view. Then we got to do the 1.5 miles back noticing things that we never saw on the way up. The kids were awesome, they both rode the whole way up in their packs and then Gianna hiked the whole way back (minus the snow). She is still talking about our fun "kike." We saw lots of cool wildlife too: chimpmunks, marmots, mountain goats and sheep.
At the trailhead, heading towards the boardwalk (and lots of stairs).
Gianna, Mommy and a friendly sheep.
Connor, Daddy and a herd of sheep.
Rock through the boardwalk.
Snow in July!!!
Family photo at the top.
Gianna found a perfect spot to admire the view.
G and a goat.
Starting to hike back down.
She loves to hike. And Connor made lots of friends on the trail.
Beautiful View.
Almost there!
We were very lucky that the reunion was right on Flathead Lake. There were lots of fun things to do on the water. Our kids are a little too young to go boating or skiing, Gianna and Daddy did have fun playing with a tube and on the edge of the water.
Chatting on the dock.
Gianna gives the tube a try.
Daddy and Gianna floating.
Connor hanging out while Gianna and Daddy float in the background.
Kisses!
Mommy and Connor.
Family Photo (Connor is really excited about the grass).
Gianna and Great Grandpa talking.
Hugs.
Alpine sledding 7/20: Alpine sledding is like a downhill luge (basically a way for ski resorts to make money during the summer). It is super fun! Mommy was very nervous riding up the ski lift, but we made it safe and even Connor decided to go for a ride.
Gianna, Daddy and Grandpa heading up the lift for the first time.
Great Grandpa coming down.
Mommy and Gianna--she giggled the whole way down.
Family snapshot on the lift.
Getting ready to take off.
That night we went to dinner at Justin's great Aunt and Uncle's house. Dinner was delicious and we kept ourselves entertained on their gorgeous property beforehand. We all especially enjoyed visiting their cherry orchard and picking cherries. Then after dinner we walked down the hill to the lake and enjoyed the beautiful sunset.
Beautiful garden.
Gianna picking cherries.
Here's a nice little tree.
Connor and Daddy in the orchard.
Showing off what she picked.
Probably asking to wash them so she can eat them.
Showing great grandpa.
Down at the lake after dinner.
Enjoying the view.
Daddy and Connor skipping rocks while Gianna looks on.

The flight home was rough. Both kids were tired and missed their afternoon naps. We kept them entertained with food and books and coloring for G, but by the time we landed in Oakland we were all happy to be off the plane.

At home, before the reunion, Gianna ate a bunch of blueberries and her hands got dyed blue. She said she has "Poppy Hands". Dad, you should appreciate that :)

7/13 Last day of Preschool summer session. Gianna loves going to Mommy and me preschool. We have just started fall session and she is so happy to see Ms. Linda again. Her favorite part is doing crafts (notice the necklace).
Wheee!
Going through the tunnel.

On Sunday 7/12 while Daddy worked (to get ready for vacation), Mommy took Connor and Gianna to the zoo. We were lucky enough to have Ooda meet us there to play for the morning.
Gianna climbing on the big spider web.

First time on the Lily Pads.
Taking a picture with 2 kids looking is like herding cats. Haha!
Gianna up on the snake.
Mommy and Connor by the elephants.


That should bring you up to date. I can't promise I'll keep up the blog as much as I used to (before Connor was mobile). But I'll try to be better about at least keeping you updated with what we're doing.