Gram & Papa come to visit and help at home

Gram and Papa were planning on visiting to take care of Josie while her day care was closed. It was convenient to have them to also help me out since I couldn't do that much while on crutches. Thanks mom and dad for cooking, cleaning, entertaining Josie and for the fun activities. 

Sunday night there was a surprise 60th bday party for cousin Stephen. It was fun to see Roger and Marilyn from Chicago, Jean from Turlock and Martha from Austin. 

Friday on my day off we went to the Conservatory of Flowers in Golden Gate Park for the Butterfly exhibit. Beautiful flowers and butterflies.

 

 Friday night we went to Music on the Square in Redwood City for a Beetle's tribute. It was crowded and quite hot until the sun went down. Stephen, Janet, Evan, and Martha met us there. Josie got an Ariel balloon. It was impressive.

Satureday morning we made blueberry pancakes for breakfast to say goodbye to Gram and Papa.

One last story with Gram

4th of July in Arnold

 We spent the 4th of July weekend with Dave & Tia and kids at their cabin in Arnold. We stopped for lunch in Murphys and Josie found a pool table.

 

Playing on my crutches. It's a bummer to be on crutches and not be able to partake in all the fun or be very helpful with the kids. Josie had so much fun with her surrogate cousins.

 

We drove to Utica reservoir for the day and it was a gorgeous spot. A little windy but quite warm. 

 

 Morgan jumping off the rocks.

Rocco jumping off the rocks.

 

Watching the 4th of July parade in Arnold on Saturday the 6th.

  

 We drove to Murphys to Ironstone winery for a big festival and fireworks show.

 Taking turns on the potty chair.

Waiting for dark when the fireworks will begin. What a fireworks show it was. It didn't seem like it would ever end. We drove home from there and got home about 1am but nice to wake up in our own beds and still have a day to relax before going back to work.

Mom's post

There's a couple events I wanted to document that don't involve Josie.
Shirley invited all the ladies to a tea at Filoli Gardens. What a lovely time we had.

 

Kelly, Allison, Shirley, Kirsten, Jody, Gaylynne

On the way out we saw a mama deer and her three little ones.

 

The next weekend I went on a women's retreat in Tahoe with 12 other ladies from PCC. We stayed in a friend's cabin. I met some fabulous women and reconnected with some others I've known for over 10 years but just see in passing at church. Eric and Josie went camping with Uncle Bill, Aunt Gaylynn, Lori, and almost 5 yr old Sophia. I left for my retreat on Thursday around 10am and got home Sunday around 10pm. It was a great weekend had by all. Below are some views around the cabin.

Four of us went on a great hike on Friday afternoon and again on Sunday. We saw this ski lift tower and thought it would be fun to climb it. As we got closer it looked a little scarier and we had to stand on each other's shoulders to reach the ladder. It was a great view from the top. On Friday that was a far as we hiked and headed down the mountain running down the trail to make it in time for dinner. Saturday we were determined to find the lakes we'd been hearing about and it was so hot, in the 90's. We found the lake and took a refreshing dip.

 

We had trouble finding the path again so scrambled over boulders and eventually found it. Since I was on dinner duty and we were running late two of us decided to keep scrambling down the side of the mountain and the other two took the path. Unfortunately at some point I rolled my ankle. It didn't hurt terribly but I knew I messed up my ankle. I managed to hobble over brush and creeks and we eventually found the trail and Lisa even carried me on her back part of the way once we were on the path. I was well cared for the rest of the retreat and iced it for the next 24 hours until we left and even the whole way home in the car. 20 min. on 20 min. off. After advil for the first 24 hours I never needed it again.
This was my view Saturday evening and Sunday.

 
On Monday I did go to Kaiser for an x-ray and sure enough it was broken. 8 weeks in a cast. Since I already had purple toe nails and purple spray-painted crutches I borrowed I knew I needed a purple cast.

 

3 yrs 5 months

This is a long one since I haven't posted in awhile. 

A few of her recent sayings:

We were looking for something in her room and I found it tucked away somewhere and she sang out "Super Mom". I asked her why she didn't say hi to someone that had just walked by and said hi to her. She said "I'm allergic to people". Out of the blue one day she said, "When I grow up I want to be a tent". She keeps us on our toes and makes us laugh. 

Josie has some interesting ways of writing her name. Cracks me up that she stills uses a dot for her s.

She spent a couple hours at Gaya's house while I hiked with a friend. They had lunch ready for the 3 of us when I got back. Gaya passed on some baby dolls to Josie which she's had fun playing with and dressing up in her pants for blankets.

 

Cousins Sophia and Lori are in town for a couple months and Rebecca came to visit for the weekend so we stopped by Gaylynne and Bill's. Sophia's international jetlag finally caught up with her so had just fallen asleep when we arrived and off to bed she went. Josie had fun dancing with Rebecca. We look forward to a fun summer with Sophia. She turns 5 next month.

 What a fun evening Josie and I had when Rachel and Jamie came over for dinner. Eric was gone for the evening.

 Josie being her goofy self.

 Serious jumping with her buddy Caleb.

While jumping Josie says to Caleb you be the baby and I'll be the daddy. Hard to hear it in the video.

Fun at My Gym

Our little fashionista.

 Just like cousin Katie Josie likes to bite into a fresh tomato (even for breakfast).

 

checking out Shuli and Satoshi's home grown cabbage. It was delicious.

 Even on a car ride Josie likes to bring along her tools. She was busy with a project. Just like her dad although dad doesn't wear a ballet outfit while building.

 We had a great day walking in and out of shops in Menlo Park. One was a pet shop showing off pups up for adoption. Another pet shop had kittens for adoption.

 Josie and I ran the Lucille Packard Children's Hospital 5k. We actually came in 3rd place for my age group (it was a slow group). Very fun event, very kid oriented. Josie did a fun run and got a medal. 

When I went in to wake her up for the run her borrowed big dog was snuggled on top of her. We rushed out to make the run in time.

She got to climb aboard a fire truck.

Family got together to celebrate Matt's birthday. We went around the table and said what we appreciate about him. It was very sweet and funny.

 Hanging with the cousins and then wanted a "double hug" with Gahaus and Uncle Bill

Apparently Josie says the Pledge of Allegiance at school. Didn't know she knew this.