Fun with Grandma!

Trains in Tilden

When Grandma Elaine was here, we took her up to the trains in Tilden for a couple of rides around.

Montara Beach for Mother's Day

Daddy was out of town on Mother's Day, but Grandma Elaine was here to visit, so we took a day trip to Montara Beach over by Half Moon Bay.  We stopped at the Princeton Farmer's Market and bought some goodies and then headed over for a few fun hours at the beach.  The little sand bluffs on the beach were a major attraction.

Four Generations

David took some photos of the four generations on Sunday.  We got some keepers out of the bunch.  

S'mores Party

We had a fun campfire on Saturday night with the Grandmas.  We all enjoyed watching the fire and then worked on perfecting the art of roasting marshmallows, before devouring them with some cold milk.

Fun with Great Grandma Grace

Playing this little piggy....and enjoying every moment!

Visit from Grandma

On Sunday we drove down to Emerald Bay with Grandma Elaine and Larry, who stopped over on their way back from Hawaii.  We stopped at Tahoe House Deli in Tahoe City for brunch and then drove down to Emerald Bay.  We had planned to take a hike down to Vikingsholm, but with the snow falling and only Hawaii type clothes, it wasn't quite the right day for it.  We will definitely be back to check it out, as it looked beautiful.  Alex enjoyed trying to catch snowflakes on his tongue, along with Grandma Elaine.

Visitors

We had a nice visit from Grandma Elaine and Larry last week!  Lots of reading, playing outside, putting puzzles together, playing with playdough and coloring were on the agenda.   It was fun to be able to just hang out and show them our routine around here.  Hope that you guys had as much fun as we did!  Oh, and thanks for hemming the pants too!

Julia's New Quilt

When Great Grandma Grace came to visit us in California, she brought an adorable quilt for Miss Julia.  Grandma has made a quilt for each Great Grandchild and Miss Julia at number 18 is no different.  It is such a bright and fun quilt.  As you can see, Julia enjoys hanging out on it while practicing her smiles!  Thanks Great Grandma Grace!

Fun Times!

Alex and Great Grandma Grace at the Ferry Building in San Francisco

We enjoyed having the Grandmas here for the past week and a half.  Thanks to both of them for all of their help with the kiddos and around the house.  Thanks for playing with playdough, playing t-ball in the yard, helping us decorate our playroom wall, going on the BART adventure to the Ferry Building, reading to us, joining us at swim lessons and our Friday shows, cuddling with us, ironing, washing dishes, doing laundry, hemming and hanging draperies....yep, thanks for everything!  We had a fun time and hope that you did too!

Four Generations

 Little Miss Smiley Julia

 Alex and Julia with Great Grandma Grace

 Julia and Grandma Elaine

 Four generations of girls

 Alex with the girls

 The Chngs with the Grandmas (and Xena came in right before the timer went off)

The little photographer

Grandma and Great Grandma have been visiting us this week and we have had alot of fun with them.  On Sunday we thought it would be good to take some photos with all of us together, since it was such a nice day outside.  These are some of our favorites from the photo shoot.  As you can see, Alex had to get his equipment out too, just like Daddy, so he could take photos as well.

A Ferry Trip

The best pic we have of the three of us.  Someone was being rather silly.

Daddy and Alex on the ferry.

Alex showing the variety of produce at the farmer's market.

A view of the city on our way back to Oakland, when it was starting to cloud over.

It's been over a week since Grandma Elaine and Larry were here, and I'm just now getting around to posting some pictures from their visit.  One of the days that they were here, we took the ferry from Jack London Square over to The Ferry Building in San Francisco.  It was a nice day and lots of people were doing the same thing as us, so it was bustling at the Ferry Building.  We enjoyed walking around the farmer's market and the ferry building shops, as well as having a nice lunch of crispy rotisserie porchetta and yummy roasted potatoes from the Roli Roti truck.  Alex and Grandma also enjoyed listening to the musicians who were playing that day.  All in all, a very fun little outing.

Thanksgiving at Grandma's House 2009

Yummilicious! As you can see, the Thanksgiving meal which Grandma prepared was thoroughly enjoyed!


Playing Spill the Beans (the same set which Brant and I played with when we were younger) after dinner. Alex felt that the object was to get the MOST beans.


Great Grandma Grace with Alex, Mackenna and Landen


Great Grandma Grace and Alex


Four generations


Four generations

Last Thanksgiving, we were on a plane to Japan, so this Thanksgiving was really Alex's first taste of turkey and the trimmings. He thoroughly enjoyed the meal, eating everything we put on his plate and then going back for seconds! He sat with the big boys at their own table and loved it. Afterwards, we played some games, including Spill the Beans, which was very entertaining. Surprisingly, the game is still in tact, after all of these years, beans and all. Alex loved it and had his own rule, where more beans is better!

The pictures of the four generations were taken with Grandma sitting in the rocking chair which she was rocked in as a baby. Everyone had a great time eating lots of yummy food and just getting to spend time together, which does not happen often. It was fun to meet Mackenna and to see Landen, who is such a big boy now. It is funny, because when asked by his Grandma Jean that evening, whether he had fun with his Cousin Alex, Landen replied that his Cousin Alex was a baby and he was not at the Thanksgiving celebration. It seems that he was expecting to see the six month old, non-moving, barely sitting up on his own Alex, not the crazy, run around like a whirlwind Alex. Perhaps we need to use Skype more often!

Dancing w Grandma E

Fun With Grandma!

Alex has been having alot of fun this week with Grandma Elaine, who is visiting from Minnesota. He and I have taken her to some fun baby places like Jordan Park, and Tumble and Tea, and we tried to take her with us to swimming class yesterday, but were disappointed to find that it was cancelled due to the holiday weekend. Oh well, maybe next time.

Today we all went to The Conservatory of Flowers in Golden Gate Park, which was a good rainy day activity. The flowers there are always beautiful and since Alex is a big fan of flowers, it was quite a hit. They had a special exhibit, The Golden Gate Express Garden Railway, which was quite cool. There were replicas of a variety of San Francisco landmarks which were made from recycled materials and there were a few train track loops running through it. You can see the Chinatown Gate, the Transamerica Tower, the Ferry Building, The Golden Gate Bridge and the Conservatory of Flowers in the photos above. It was a fun exhibit and Alex enjoyed walking around. Afterwards, we went to the Park Chalet by Ocean Beach for lunch, where Alex found a dog statue which was particularly interesting to him. He seemed to recognize that it was a doggy, just like his Sis-Sis. Quite cute!

It has been fun having Grandma here. Just a couple more days of fun left, before she heads back to the snow.