Recent happenings....

We ate dinner at Dave & Tia's. Josie had so much fun playing with the kids.

Eric with baby Holland; Josie, Emerson & Rocco watching a video; Rocco on their cool rope swing; playing on the tractors; eating plums from the tree

Tricks on the trampoline

Josie hasn't been to My Gym in a long time. She couldn't wait to go back.

 Josie and Kaira hadn't seen each other in a couple weeks. Such fun they had.

Ron, Tara & Caleb came over for dinner and we went on a walk.

 At the Woodside Library they had a Wildlife exhibit. There was a baby coyote, boa constrictor, porcupine, hedgehog, & frog.

Our neighbors Satoshi and Shuli are members of the SF Zoo. They invited us to go with them. This was Josie's first time. It was a beautiful day in the City. 

Libraries

We managed to make it to the library 3 times this week. 

One day we went to Redwood Shores. We're really enjoying this library. Josie of course loves to check out the sculptures before going in.

I got to watch a puppet show.

 

The next day we stopped in at the Belmont library b/c our Alice in Wonderland dvd didn't seem to work. The suggestion of wiping with windex did the trick. We caught the last part of story time and coloring. Then headed out to their fun playground. It was kind of chilly out. 

The next day we went back to Belmont library for Ukulele and story time. We read some books and Josie had fun with the extra large stuffed animals.

Our library treasures this week. A wiggles cd and The 5 Monkeys Make a Birthday Cake didn't make the photo shoot. Josie is totally into Obama right now so it was fun to read about their dog. She was excited when she saw the Obamas on CBS Sunday Morning this morning. The balloon at the Met book is a fabulous picture-only book of many highlights of NYC as you travel with the balloon to see the sights as grandma and granddaughter peruse the museum and the art work simultaneously depicts the city sights (I guess you have to see if for yourself).

Coyote Point & Cousins

We had fun at Coyote Point this week. First we went to CuriOdyssey and checked out the animals. Then we ate our lunch at the beach. It's a very rocky beach but it's still fun.

It was a little windy so the air was chilly. Josie ate lunch all snuggled up.

The draw of the water was too much to resist. I didn't bother putting her suit on b/c it was so windy but apparently I was wrong. The water turned out to be quite warm.

We went to Stephen and Janet's for dinner and cousin Martha and her son from Austin were visiting and cousin Luke came too. 

Happy Birthday Aunt Mil

We're missing Aunt Mil and remembering here today especially on her birthday. We have fun memories of celebrating her 80th in Yosemite. 

Josie goes camping

After the 4th of July Fun Run we packed up and drove to Big Basin. We met Karen, Luke, & Katie; Luke's sister Sue and son Alberto; and my parents. Each site had a tent cabin and space for a tent. My parents were in the cabin and the 3 of us in a tent with air mattresses and the others were a few sites over from us. We had a great time.

Eric grilled up some flap steak for tacos the first night and we grilled sausages and corn on the cob the 2nd night along with plenty of fruit and salad both nights. Of course smores to top it off. 

 

 Both nights we went to the ranger talk. The first night they had stuff to roast apples. Katie and Luke are doing that below. The 2nd night we heard all about banana slugs.

 

Cooking up eggs and bacon for breakfast. Day two was cereal.

 We went on a nice hike for about an 2 hrs with lots of stops.

Josie liked holding hands with Katie and Berto.

 Here's a bunch of goofy shots where we stood by the camera, set the timer and ran into place. 

Josie had her own private bathroom.

Can't wait to go camping again.

4th of July Fun Run

On the 4th of July Redwood City has a 5k run before the parade. Many of the participants are from the PCC community (church and community center) and we all try to wear the PCC shirt. This summer the theme is Pursue. It was a very warm morning and the race was sold out. This year it was official with running chips and sponsors providing goodies at the end. We invited two sets of neighbors fairly new to PCC to join us. The Winding Way Warriors!

Satoshi, Shuli, Eric, Brigit, Justin, Josie & Kaira

 

Anthony (Comm Ctr director) and his wife Cheryl and their kids, Dani, Jared, & Abby;

We hooked up with Theresa on lap 2; Kaira & Josie enjoying snacks; Amy & baby Devon

Josie beat us at the finish line.

29 months

A month in review....

Our sweet, almost 2 1/2 yr old, is 27 lbs and I'm not sure how tall b/c she doesn't really stand still long enough to measure. She's so verbal and amazes me with her words. One day she started crying and said "I want my driver's license". Now she knows she has to wait until she's 16. I told her recently that when she can write her name she can get a library card. The next day when Eric got home from work she said, "Daddy, when I write my name I'm going to get my library card." She spent quite a bit of time practicing with him to write her name. She basically covered her entire paper with lines of all different colors. She also tends to be very bossy telling you exactly how to do something. It's quite annoying and we're trying to teach her to think about other's feelings and to ask if they would like to do something instead of telling them to do something. That takes constant reminding. She says some very sweet things too. She likes to whisper in my ear, "I love you just the way you are." She's very snuggly right now and loves to wake up and snuggle with daddy. Going to a new place or a place with unknown people she wants to be carried. Sometimes she'll say, "mommy take care of me". 

 

She's been doing great with potty training and has been diaper free since day one (over a month now). She has her challenges getting to the potty on time b/c she likes to hold it until the very last second.

 

She's a good sleeper but doesn't always take her naps. She likes to read books before she falls asleep and sometimes she likes to snuggle with an animal or two.

She likes to dress up and here she is wearing Gram's old nighty. 

Josie has a bit of a temper. One day she didn't want to take a nap. She climbed out of her bed and through her closed door I could hear her rummaging around in her room.  I didn't bother going in b/c I didn't want to deal wth her. She ended up falling asleep in the middle of the mess she made. Other times she'll get out of bed and play quietly and then get back into bed and fall asleep.

 Another day she was so made she threw her naughty chair and it split in two. She said "mommy, you make me mad". She's very good expressing her feelings. Later she said she was sorry she made me mad. 

Snuggling in a storage box with baby.

Making a fried egg with daddy with a fresh egg from Aunt Gaylynne and Uncle Bill's chickens.

Sorry Papa, this isn't the year of the Cubs so I'm rooting for the Giants. Go Giants! Thanks Grandpa Rich for reminding me that I should root for a winning team. Hopefully next year it will be the Cubs.

Hanging out with cousin Matt.

This girl likes to eat.

 Still taking swimming lessons. Thanks Kynadi for all the swim suit hand-me-downs. She passed on about 5 or 6 adorable one piece and tankini suits.

It was Katie's 10th birthday on June 28.