We Love Our Cutie......

Ardenwood Historic Farm

Hello Mr. Turkey

These goats were not willing to leave any morsels untouched

Burning off some lunch jumping on the hay bales

Following the chickens

Standing in a field of beautiful lettuce

Eating some of the goodies which we picked up from Perry Farms

On our way home yesterday, Alex mentioned that he would like to go the farm.  I told him that we would and made good on my promise today.  Instead of visiting the Little Farm again, I decided to take him to Ardenwood Historic Farm in Fremont, which is also part of the East Bay Regional Park District.  We had a nice full day of fun at the farm. 

Alex told me that his favorite part of the day was visiting with the chickens, watching the peacocks which were just roaming around the farm, and feeding the goats.  He also seemed to have a great time jumping from haybale to haybale, over where we sat down to eat our lunch.  Other activities included a train ride, a chance to grind some corn to feed to the goats, watching the blacksmiths working, and a demonstration on old fashioned laundry techniques. 

Ardenwood is a 205 acre farm parcel, with a working organic farm which is run by J.E. Perry.  It is great that this area has been preserved, with all of the development that has happened around it.  There are plenty of areas to picnic on the grounds and there are special events many times throughout the year.  The docents are dressed in period and are very helpful in explaining how things were back in the 1800's when the farm was occupied by the Patterson family.  We're lucky to have such a little gem as part of the regional park system!

Full Moon in Oakland

On Tuesday night, David shot some great footage of the nearly full moon.  The movement in the video is actually the moon moving, not the camera.  I love the effect of the clouds passing in front of it too.  Good job, Daddy!



Moon over Oakland from David Chng on Vimeo.

Cutie

Yesterday, after changing his diaper, I went in the other room to wash my hands, leaving Alex with no pants on, just the new diaper.  He said, "Mommy, I need my ku zi on.  I said ku zi, Mommy, that is Chinese for pants."  It cracked me up and I was so proud of him for using his newfound Mandarin words correctly.  I bought a book of My First 100 Chinese words a couple of months back and he has been very interested in reading that book.  Obviously, it is best for Daddy to read the book to him, and they have alot of fun doing that, but luckily, Usborne, the publisher has a good website which has proununciations for all of the words online, so Mommy can "read" the book too. 

Earlier in the day, I was working on something in the other room and Alex came up with the DVD of the Sound of Music and declared to me that he would like to watch it, because "it's beautiful".  Not bad reasoning for a 2 1/2 year old.  It's true, I cannot argue with that.

Crown Memorial State Beach

Tumbling on the beach

Jump!

We went to the beach in Alameda on Saturday afternoon and Alex had a blast!  The way that he was running around and enjoying the beach reminded me of Xena at the beach when she was little.  These photos are from the first time that she went to the beach, back in May 2005.

I'm free!

Oh, I love this place!!

Sunday Fun

Budding artists

Finger painting....or maybe face painting is more appropriate...hee!

Look at all of that paint!

Making cookies

The little kitchen helpers

Johnny and Alex spent the morning with Carrie on Sunday, while David and I went for a little golfing outing.  No hole in one for David, no pars for me, but we had fun and at least we can still hit the ball.  The boys had a fabulous time over at Johnny and Carrie's house.  As you can see, there was a finger painting activity, which looks like it was a super good time, followed by a quick bath to douse all of it off, which was probably equally fun for both of them.  Then, chocolate chip cookies were made and baked and it looks like both boys were quite into that activity as well and the cookies were super yummy too!  All of that, along with some outside play time and checking out Johnny's cool toys, made for a great morning.  Thanks so much to Carrie for taking Alex for the morning, so that we could get out for a bit, and thanks for the pictures that captured the morning's events! 

BBQ Time

Backup on the slide

The boys having a serious dinner conversation

Johnny in the big bucket

Alex showing off his dance moves on the deck

All a blur, just chasing Max around the yard

Last night we went over to The Reiling's for a delicious barbeque.  The boys had alot of fun running around their fabulous backyard, playing with all of Griffin's toys, eating some yummy homemade mac n' cheese and chasing Max the dog around.  It was a nice evening for everyone.  Thanks for having us over to enjoy such a fun summer barbeque!

Zoo Friday

And the tortise was this big!

Climbing up the spider web.  A bit different than this post when he was trying to climb on it.  http://smaskensbaby.blogspot.com/2009/01/another-zoo-trip.html

The view of the giraffes from the SkyRide

Look!  You can see the elephants from the SkyRide too!

First time on the cars.  Finally tall enough.  Drove the fire engine first.

Drove a blue Mustang next.

We've been going to swim lessons every day this week and this morning when we got in the car, Alex thought we were going there again.  He realized that we did not turn on that exit, so then he wondered where we were going.  Once we got closer to the exit for the zoo, he had figured it out, and as we approached the entrance to the zoo, he was quite excited.  "That's why I was talking about....the zoo!  I am so happy to come to the elephant zoo!  I was surprised Mommy!"  I knew it had been awhile since we had been to the zoo, but I didn't expect quite so much excitement. 

Along with seeing a bunch of his favorite animals, including hornbills that now have a little chick in their nesting box, we rode on the SkyRide per Alex's request.  It was alot of fun and he enjoyed the view more this time than any of the other times that he has been up in it.  Afterwards, we headed to the ride area and he was lucky enough to finally be tall enough to go on the little cars.  He was quite thrilled about this turn of events and took the firetruck for a spin and followed it up with a spin on the metallic blue Mustang.  Certainly a fun morning at the zoo for Alex.

Little Biscuit Maker

It feels a bit more like winter here in the Bay Area today, which made swim lessons a bit chilly this morning.  This afternoon Alex and I made chili and some cheddar chive biscuits to help us warm up.  This was a moment of glee caught on film as Alex rolled out the biscuits. 

June 22, 2010 7:29pm

I was looking through our photo organizer today and found this, which I had not posted previously.  The title shows the date/time stamp of this photo.  Yep, this is what the hour before bedtime typically looks like.  Ha!  FYI....there was a giant beanbag below him.

Brian's Birthday Bash

Alex and Hazel having a blast on the inflatable birthday cake

Let's chat...

Uncle Brian blowing out the candles on his birthday cake

Alex enjoying the ice cream cake

Lots of birthdays this weekend.  On Saturday, we drove to Sunnyvale to help Uncle Brian celebrate his milestone birthday.  The Wankel family's backyard is always a hit and the huge inflatable birthday cake which Brian received as a gift was definitely a hit with all of the kids.  Hazel and Alex were happy to test it out when the big boys weren't around.  We had yummy barbeque and some ice cream cake, so Alex was a happy camper.  He was quite enamored with the "handles" on the ribs.  Happy Birthday Brian!!

Stinson Beach

Johnny and Alex just hanging out (Alex's description of this photo)

Let's play catch!  Throw it to me, Johnny.

Alex in his seaweed "nest"

More fun and games

Flying the kite

Still flying

Happy Birthday Auntie Carrie!

We spent a lovely day on Sunday at Stinson Beach.  After a warm foggy morning, it burned off and we were able to enjoy some sunny time at the beach.  A good picnic lunch, lots of sand toys, a kite and a birthday treat for Auntie Carrie's birthday made for a super fun day.  Happy Birthday Carrie!

Swimming!

Ready for class!

Alex has been loving the swim class which we are taking at Mills College this week and next.  He thinks that his instructors Claire and Michelle are quite cool, and has been practicing kicking, blowing bubbles and jumping in from the side of the pool.  The last couple of days have been warmer, so the pool has felt great by the time our mid-morning class rolls around.  Looking forward to another week!

Packing up for Yosemite

I forgot to post this last week when it happened.  As David and I were packing the bag for Yosemite, Alex filled another suitcase with what he wanted to bring on the trip.  Lots of books, the red tin with all of the playdough, the polka dot tin with all of the stickers and to top it off, his bike.

Tadgh and Alex

The captains of the boat

Alex and Tadgh making music on the garbage can

Taking a spin in the laundry basket

Tadgh and Alex had lots of fun playing this afternoon and then we ended the evening with a nice pizza dinner from Zachary's.  No expensive toys necessary for these guys to have fun.

Jackfruit!

Alex carefully examining the jackfruit

Checking out what the insides look like

Climbing the maple tree afterwards

Yesterday, on our way home, we saw a street vendor selling jackfruits.  Daddy was quite excited and once Alex heard that he was selling jackfruits, he was quite excited too!  The elephants in the Equator documentary which Alex likes eat jackfruits and he talks about them frequently, but typically you cannot find them for sale in the store.  We bought a small one to try and both Daddy and Alex enjoyed it, just like the elephants!