Mama and I generally make an effort to do at least one “exciting” thing every weekend. Some are less exciting than others, but we do get out and enjoy the bay area as much as possible. This weekend we started out Saturday with soccer and then after taking Babi home we decided to go to the Monterey Bay Aquarium. We haven’t been there before and both love the ocean so it seemed like a natural place to try.
While I realize that this blog is about our children, it is also about everyone that is a part of our life. Looking back I realized that is quite a few people and thought that perhaps I should share some of those photos, too. Show you how you made us smile an how much we enjoyed your company. Hopefully each of you - included in these photos and not - will know that we think of you as a part of our family and hope that you will continue to be a part of our lives and the lives of our daughters for many years to come.
For reference, all photos in this set are from the calendar year 2005.
It has been my goal from the beginning of this blog to try and post something for the girl’s blog every day or at the most every other day. I’m doing this for two reasons really - one so that I don’t forget and two so that their audience remembers what our children are all about. I want to remember how special these kids make me feel and to try and share with anyone wanting to read this how special these girls really are - how special all children really are. Of course, with work and fun and everything that steals our week away it’s sometimes difficult to get pictures to fill in the blank spaces around these words, but digital cameras have made it a heck of a lot easier.
I went to Fry’s Electronics tonight with my daughters. It’s Gina’s night out and I figured this would be a good bonding experience for us. As always, I needed a couple of things anyway and, I thought, how bad could it be? Ha. What the heck was I thinking?
“Research tells us fourteen out of any ten individuals likes chocolate.” - Sandra Boynton
Success is rewarded in many ways and I was recently rewarded with a box of Chocolate Fudge Mint Cookies (think Girl Scout Thin Mints for an idea of how good they are). The gift came from Cathy Spencer, our director of training at Rockcliff, and while it was completely unwarranted it was definitely appreciated. Like most of the good things that I get at the office, I took this home with me. I should have taken a picture of the box, but it’s a shiny silver deal with a ribbon on the top. Not even knowing what was inside - the shiny box and ribbon had the girls very excited. Imagine their surprise to find chocolate inside?!?! Thanks, Cathy, they loved the cookies!
Mama has a great program of doing something with the children almost every day. Tuesday has become their sort of mom’s day out with a couple of her closest friends and on the 16th of October 2007 they decided to take in the Children’s Discovery Museum of San Jose. We’re members (which I highly recommend for every San Jose parent) which basically means that we get in for free for an entire year, and so far we’ve more than gotten our money’s worth. The kids love it and the variety of activities available is really quite a bit of fun. This day they got to go out with Michele and Troy’s children, Cole and Sydney, and even though Troy and I were both working we get to enjoy the fun through pictures and stories - which I am now sharing with you, too.
Hopefully most of the visitors have realized that I’m trying to post some “new stuff” amidst some of the legacy pieces that I’ve been thinking about while developing the idea behind this blog. The most recent, of course, being our recent trip to Preston Ranch and some, like this, relatively recent but still way out of order. At some point, I imagine, I will be “caught up” and the posts will be primarily about current events in the life of Sofi and Natali. Now, with all that said, this posting is about our recent trip to the Santa Cruz County Fair in Watsonville, California.
If you have young children and you haven’t thought about bowling – at least once – you’re really missing out on a great opportunity for a fun family activity, a hooting good time, and quite a few laughs. Unlike normal bowling, no alcohol is required to make this a fun afternoon for all. My strongest recommendation is to bring your camera, because as you can see there are a multitude of opportunities for some great photos.
We just got back from a great weekend with our friend’s Jean, Victor, Cassandra and Reina. We visited Preston Ranch in Paso Robles, which is their family vineyard, and it was a great experience. Unlike last year we didn’t get to swim in the pool (too cold), but we did get to play with them, their dogs, and see how grapes grow and are picked for wine.
“Each friend represents a world in us, a world possibly not born until they arrive, and it is only by this meeting that a new world is born.”
- Anais Nin
I realize now, more than ever, that the people around us make us who we are. The friends, and even the enemies, create our personality – good or bad – and make us who we are. The same is true with children. I can watch my children and watch their interaction with others and know that they realize friendship is good – and sometimes painful – and it makes them happy. When they are happy, I am happy, and the world is wonderful. Fortunately, children are never truly unhappy – which means that the world is always a pretty wonderful place.
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