Carter's First Tidepooling Adventure

So, instead of focusing on what a grown up little person he is growing into, today I thought about all of the firsts yet to come. There are some firsts that I'm not prepared to think about and hope they come much further down the road. Maybe the age for issuing drivers licenses will be changed to 18, or maybe even 21 ;-) The thought of him driving is one I'd rather not think about just yet. Things like tidepooling are wonderful firsts to think about and look forward to though. His enthusiasm today reminded me of my own when I first began checking out all the sea life in the intertidal zone (I was in college though--lucky kid). I think there are many more tidepooling trips in our future! We saw everything I had hoped to show him today except for sea urchins. We got to see some Harbor Seals though, and they weren't on my list. All in all, it was a great day spent with friends exploring nature and learning along the way.

Sea Star

Anemone

Chiton

Carter showing his friends the abalone shell we found.

Carter writing his name in the sand with a rock.

Can't figure out what this is? An anemone eating a crab.

My little monkey is always looking for something to climb.

Seals resting

China Town

We recently checked out some books from the library about Chinese New Year. I'm not sure yet if we'll venture into the city for the big New Year's parade or not...probably not because I'm not a fan of giant crowds, and finding parking in SF can be difficult enough w/o a special event. Plus, I think it's at nighttime which doesn't work well with our daily schedule. Anyway, China Town is always good for an outing when you're at home bored on the weekend...and since we'd been talking about it already it seemed like a great time to go. We enjoyed some very delicious and reasonably priced Chinese food for lunch (thanks yelp) and let the kids get a treat from a local bakery as well. The highlight of the trip for Carter might seem to be the ginormous chocolate chip cookie coated in chocolate and then topped m&m's, but I think that was actually out done by being able to pick out a cheap toy from one of the little shops. He chose a little trolley car for his "souvenir" of the day. Even if it's a touristy SF souvenir, does it really count as a souvenir if you're not a tourist? Anyway, it was a great day and Carter was ecstatic about his trolley car he got to pick out! To top it off, tomorrow we're going tidepooling. LOVE fun weekends!!

Short video of Ashlyn

Okay, here I am again. Following through so far on my attempt to spend more time on blogger (although I definitely don't plan to continue with posts this frequently).

Today was a hectic day, but ended on a good note. Started at 2 am with Carter having a bloody nose in his sleep. Yes, I was up with the lights on and sheets removed scrubbing out stains and starting a load of laundry at 2 am. FYI, hair shampoo works well for removing blood stains. Anyway, Ashlyn didn't get the memo that mommy wanted to sleep in and woke up early. Then for breakfast, I stuck Carter's oatmeal in the freezer to cool it down quickly, opened the door and down it fell--nice sticky mess all over the contents of my freezer. Changed my plans for the day and just went down the street to Safeway for some grocery shopping. Ashlyn repeatedly climbed out of the cart and threw a fit up and down just about every aisle. I'm guessing everyone gets the point already. So, after a LONG day I was able to get a good amount of cleaning done and spend some time after dinner with kids that were in good moods! :-)

So here's the video. Hopefully there are more to come...but here's a quick one for anyone that hasn't seen her in awhile. Or just for grandparents that can't get enough ;-)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IqvKI-mVEA8

What a difference a year makes!

Well, it has been far too long since I've posted here. I blame facebook for that! Well, ease of use is a contributing factor as well. I'm going to try to spend more time here and less there though. It is interesting to see the contrast from nearly a year ago though. My little baby girl is big enough to walk around downtown SF )union square) holding my hand. And I have to admit, it was great seeing my adorable little-big girl bring out so many smiles from strangers. Her vocabulary is bursting even more quickly than she is growing too! And Carter...well, luckily, he's still my sweetie pie. I can't help but brag about how smart he is too! Already reading, writing and good at math! He has more than impressed me on many occasions.

We had a very happy New Year's Eve today and here are some pictures of us on our first ice skating adventure with the kids .

Ashlyn Feeding Herself

This little girl likes to feed herself...although, "play with her food" is probably a more accurate description!

October pics

Sorry for the delay to those that have been waiting to see Halloween pictures. We had so many Halloween "parties" and picture ops this month that I wanted to upload them all...and I knew if I did a quick couple of the kids in tehir costumes the rest would never get uploaded. So here they are--all of them!

Halloween 2009

We celebrated Halloween this year with our friends, the Keaney's. Carter and Ian had a blast together making each other laugh as usual, then headed out to meet our new neighbors and gather up candy.

My pretty little butterfly, happy as usual :-)

Trick or Treating

Okay, so I knew Carter would LOVE the cany part of Halloween, but I really wasn't expecting to see Ashlyn so intrigued by it. I guess I shouldn't be too surprised, she loves her big brother and is always interested in whatever he's doing...just that he's usually being silly and playing with her. My friends who have more than one child have all told me how much faster younger siblings start doing things and learn from the big kids, but I still didn't expect her to chase after candy at 6 months (well, almost 6 months). In case anyone is wondering, no she didn't get to eat any of it--duh! And, yes, I followed my Halloween Fairy tradition. He loved his week worth of candy AND loved his special books the Halloween Fairy left him in exchange for the rest of his candy!

Ariel's Birthday Party 10-31-09

Oct 27 Fun TIme & Playgroup

Here are some pics of the kids in their costumes. We had Carter's preschool type class I take him to at the community center and Ashlyn's playgroup parties both on the same day.

Carter's art project he did all by himself

Aww...look, Ashly'n actually playing with her baby friend Colt.

He's so good with the kids!

Ariel and Carter