Bi-Ped!

Eli has officially transitioned into the world of walking. Watch out!! And wish me luck!

Tricks and Treats

"George Horns" (the clown name Finn chose for himself) rocked Halloween night in Oak-town! :)

Pumpkin Pickin'

We kicked off Halloween week with a trip to the local, totally over-priced pumpkin patch "land" on Sunday evening. The boys had a great time riding around in the wagon, jumping over haystacks, and Finn especially enjoyed the rickety carnival rides.

The Baby is One!!!

Elijah's first moments of life...


...and one year later. :) What a sweet boy!

Yosemite 2009!

The summer season would not have been complete without a camping trip to Yosemite. Scott, Finn, Eli, my dad and I spent three nights in the valley exploring, hiking, biking, swimming (or jumping into a freezing cold river and immediately getting out to thaw in the warm sun), s'more-ing, and, for some - rock-eating. ;) It was a fabulous, but very, very dirty trip.

Last First Day of Preschool

What a difference a year makes. Finn's funny face from last year's first day of preschool...

...and this year's first day. :)

(Note the lack of control his mom has over his outfit this year.)

Catching Up

I've been a bit of a slacker on the blog business. I guess that's how you know you're having a fun, busy life - you don't have time to blog about it. :) Enjoy these shots from our summer adventures.

On our road trip to San Diego/Comic Con, we stopped for a fabulous visit and boat ride compliments of the wonderful Duarte family.

Eli likes to play it safe.


While Scott worked at Comic Con, the boys and I enjoyed SeaWorld for a day. Finn got a kick out of feeding the sea lions little fish - Gross!


In August, my sister, Katie, and I took the kids on a little trip to the wine country. The kids had a great time while Katie and I actually had a chance to catch up and have a glass of wine together. :)



The rest of the summer was filled with "couch houses", plastic pools and lots of brotherly love.

Stay-cation

It's truly amazing how many cool things the Bay Area has to offer for kids and families. As a special treat, we spent a week stay-cationing and doing our best to take advantage of those local spots.

Tuesday: SF Ferry Building Farmer's Market (our first taste of Blue Bottle Coffee - YUM!) and The California Academy of Sciences.




Wednesday: Fort Funston with Lola :) The boys caught a few wind-free moments of snacking in the car.



Friday: Charles M. Schultz Museum in Santa Rosa and picnicking at The Larson Family Winery (no pictures...that's how great it was - we forgot to take pictures ;)).

Wild Strawberries

Adding to our list of summer adventures, we joined the Podesta Family for some strawberry picking in Davenport. The kids had a great time in the fields ("one for the mouth, one for the basket, repeat") and we ended up with enough berries to make some super yummy jam and frozen yogurt.

Breaker, breaker

As a belated birthday present to me, my cousin Aaron took me for a private, aerial tour of the Bay Area. We flew from Oakland, over San Francisco, up to Santa Rosa where we stopped for a late lunch and then back to Oakland just before sunset. It was a little scary at first, but mostly excited and beautiful, and super awesome to see my airplane-loving cousin in action. :)

the pre-fireworks show

The Fourth of July brings many all-American favorites into play: the eating of Dad's hat, the sharing of Otter Pops, and of course, the landscape littered with pretty ladies.

Daddy Day

We celebrated Father's Day this year by putt-ing a round at good ol' Golfland (Finn's first mini golf experience). Both grandpas shared the day and their professional golfing skills. :)

Philo Dome!

The Morse Clan and Chez Podesta had a wonderful weekend at a vacation home outside of Philo in the Anderson Valley. The kids spent the whole time playing and running around the beautiful (and super kid-friendly) property while the adults watched and relaxed. We checked out a few local wineries, picnicked, hot tubbed and ate way too much delicious food. It was a blast!