San Fran, Vineyards, Family and Friends = Incredible Weekend!

 The second weekend of March was filled with many fun memories. Nicole and Shaun came down for the weekend and on Friday Josh and I took the day off and we all headed down to SF for the day. We spent the first part of our day at the SF Zoo and had a blast watching all the animals. Hannah was into it so much more this visit than our last one during the summer. One of our favorite animals to watch were the gorillas,   they had a little one who was just two years old and was so entertaining! I honestly could sit there and watch the gorillas for hours on end. :)  After spending the morning at the zoo, we headed over to Chinatown where we walked around, shopped and had dinner.  The last time I was in Chinatown was when Hannah was two months old and I left her overnight for the first time for a girls night out in the city.  Of course shopping was part of our trip :) and while in Chinatown Ramona bought Hannah a little kimono. At the time it looked SO big (the smallest size they had was a 2T)...I've had it in her closet for a year and a half and recently put it on her. It is too cute!!!


counting the money in her piggy bank while wearing her kimono :)




watching the gorillas



The oldest living tiger in captivity in N. America

riding the hippo with Auntie Cole

this pic cracks me up!

having fun in the petting zoo area

our sweet girl

walking around Chinatown

That Saturday was our annual barrel tasting trip. Every year we get together with good friends and visit some of our favorite wineries during the 2nd of two barrel tasting weekends. Being able to taste wine at such a young age and straight from the barrel is awesome. Following barrel tasting the bus dropped everyone off back at our house, where we BBQ'ed tri-tip, and hung out into the evening enjoying our backyard fire pit. Barrel tasting is by far one of my favorite events of the year!!



Group Pic 2011



With Sebrina at Armida (one of my favorites!)

with my love

Sarah, Nicole and Me

Love that my sis and Sean make it down every year

At the Family Wineries

Our busy weekend concluded with a fun visit from Grandma and Papa. Our newest nephew Ellory was born on March 9th. He is so adorable and is such an easy going little guy! Hannah enjoyed spending time with her Grandma and Papa and playing with her cousin Mazzy. :) 

Hannah and Mazzy making Grandma "cookies"  :)



Grandma and Papa reading books with 3 of their 5 grandbabies



23 months old

I know I always say this, but WHERE HAS THE TIME GONE?!?! Our baby girl is going to be 2 years old in less than 3 weeks. Sometimes I feel like it was just yesterday that we were changing newborn diapers.... capturing her crawling for the first time on film....celebrating her first birthday....and now she's almost TWO?!?! I know time is going to continue to fly by and so I try to embrace each stage of her childhood. Her laughter and smile are so infectious. The things she says and does continue to amaze us. She truly is the light of our lives. :) Below are some of my favorite recent pictures of her at 23 months old.

Having fun swinging with her teddy

giving teddy a push

being silly for the camera

exploring

our big girl :)

 

kisses for teddy

Outdoor Ed

During the last week of February myself, along with my other two teaching partners, took our 6th graders on a week long Outdoor Ed trip to Alliance Redwoods in Occidental, CA. The week was so incredible! Part of what made the trip go so smoothly was the fact that we have an amazing group of 6th grade students. I started out my school year feeling a little apprehensive about teaching 6th grade (a grade level new to me this year). I wasn't sure I'd like the age group as much as I loved 2nd grade. Despite the increase in class size AND the fact that I had to learn not 1 but 4 new textbook series, my school year has been wonderful so far! I have an incredible group of 29 6th graders, who have made me love my job even more.

The week I spent at Outdoor Ed, with my teaching partners and our 3 6th grade classes was filled with so many great memories. It was so neat to see students challenge themselves in ways they never thought they could, support each other through overcoming fears, be silly and act like little kids, and try new things. They bonded so much as a group and it was so fun to be a part of that. Alliance Redwoods is such an incredible facility! The naturalists that lead the classes & challenge courses were so enthusiastic and knowledgeable and the parents that went as counselors were awesome! It was great because Tracy, Carley and I had very minimal responsiblity while there. We were able to float from group to group and participate in challenge courses with our students, have quiet time to catch up on grading and read a good book, and best of all we didn't have to deal with any major discipline issues. My week was relaxing and filled with many special memories with my students. The only downfall was leaving Josh and Hannah for the week, however Josh and I were able to Skype and Tracy and I drove into Rohnert Park (45 min. away) midweek and picked up the girls from daycare to bring them to camp for the afternoon. Hannah had a great time running around with the big kids!

There are many fun pictures that I took of the students while at camp, however I don't feel that it's appropriate to put pictures of them on the internet, so a few pictures of me will have to do.  :)

The beautiful scenery at Alliance Redwoods

Ready to Zip Line



So much fun!



The Vertical Playpen...a fun and challenging course for the kids (and me!) 

With my incredible teaching partners Carley and Tracy

January and February Fun

The months of January and February were filled with many fun memories. We stuck with our New Year's goal of traveling less.....I know it's hard to believe, but we still haven't traveled out of town (overnight) since Christmas break. Hannah has enjoyed lazy days at home with mom and dad, Saturdays at gymnastics, taking her first soccer class, making Valentines for her friends and family, cooking with Nonnie, riding her first horse and of course having it all captured on camera along the way! :)  The following pictures summarize some of what we've been up to during the past two months.

Ready for our underground tour of the Winchester Mystery House

In front of the Winchester Mystery House with Sean and Nicole

Lunch and drinks before heading to a San Jose Sharks hockey game

Ready to go on a hike at Alliance Redwoods

showing off Valentines cookies she baked with Nonnie

Enjoying a cookie with Nonne

watering her new blueberry plant

It amazes me that March is already here and that Hannah will be 2 in less than a month. She is saying so much more these days and it is so much fun to have conversations with her. She continues to love to dance (I need to make a point of catching her on the video camera), she's still a great eater and sleeper, hasn't hit the terrible two's yet ("knock on wood"!), is working on counting to 20, loves singing along to the radio, enjoys giving hugs and kisses to her friends, gives me enthusiastic "Cheeeeese!" when taking a picture, loves to help mom and dad cook in the kitchen and then try to recreate it in her own little kitchen, is excited about her 2nd birthday and told us she wants a Hello Kitty party. :)

First time riding a horse at Howarth Park....not so sure at first

started loving it about 30 seconds later

carousel ride with dad

train ride with mom



baking Valentines cupcakes for her friends

"Cheeeeese!!!"

showing off her new pillow (part of her Valentine from mom and dad)

ready to head to Ian and Zoe's birthday party....looks so much older to me here!

This is her "Can we please stop taking pictures" face :)

was so excited to hold her friend Carter (8 months old)

bath time fun!

Ready for her first soccer class

listening to her coach :)

taking a break with her BFF Kenzie

also loved running with the ball and telling us she was playing football

Having fun at daycare with Kenzie

with her friends at Daycare