First and most important – my note of appreciation to all those who have and will serve in the armed forces, protecting the peace that I hold so dear in my heart. For those men and women and their families, I am thankful. For their willingness to risk and give their lives defending our country and ideals, that is the greatest gift and one that I can never express enough thanks for.
No, no, no… not those chicks! I am talking about the chickens that Babi’s (their maternal grandmother) neighbor just got so that she could raise chickens. Sofi and Natalie got out to take a look and wow – a ton of excitement surrounded getting to hold them and enjoy their softness before they become chickens. I wish that we could have (and had time for) a bunch of chickens in San Jose, but this will have to do for now.
Papa
In a perfect world I would have a way to spend every minute of every day with my children, but it’s not a perfect world and sometimes it is necessary to just accept that there will be days that I miss and time that I can’t be as close to them as I might otherwise desire. Fortunately, during the summer months, Mama has the time and opportunity (being a teacher gives her summers off), and this year, as the girls are older and more able to get around, they’ve been making the most of the summer months and it would seem as though they’re really enjoying themselves.
For my birthday this year I took the day off work and we made the trek up to San Francisco with the girls to see the California Academy of Sciences. This amazing museum, which just completed a multi-million dollar, five-year renovation, is a must see for everyone. The only downside is that everyone knows they need to see it so the lines are very long, and the museum is very crowded. Most days they sell out and unless you arrive early it’s unlikely that you will be able to see any of their shows or get into the centerpiece rain-forest exhibit.
As a handful of our readers know – and anyone that attended our wedding – my parents have a pair of American Eskimo dogs that they treat like children. Imagine our surprise after visiting Sausalito to get a chance to see a couple with THREE of these beautiful dogs. They seemed to be of great personality and the girls dived right in to get their kisses and hugs from this great family.
Since I know that Grammy reads this, I’ll remind everyone that you can click on any photo for a larger video (thanks to the recent fixes) and now the kids are talking more and more about seeing grammy and the dogs that they miss so much.
Papa
The best part of not having written in a while is that there is so much to talk about. I want to catch up quickly, but think it might be best to talk about current events first and roll back into the older stuff. That way everyone knows what’s going on now as well as having a chance to catch up on what’s been happening.
I’ve aways been a fan of the ocean – and the water in general – so this weekend we decided to take the ferry from San Francisco across to Sausalito to talk around for a bit. It would be a great way for the girls to get out and enjoy the beautiful weather and for us to introduce them to the experience and fun of riding the ferry. Needless to say, it was an awesome day and we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves.
It has already been a few weeks since I last posted, but not for lack of want or content. With the beautiful weather, we’ve all just been out enjoying the “winter.” I did want to share, though, so that everyone could see, some of the video that we took on a recent trip to Moss Landing, just south of Watsonville. The weather was awesome -- especially so for the end of January -- and we spent a few hours around the beach enjoying the sun, sand, water, and local wildlife.
The videos below will show off some of what we saw there, with the main attractions being the beautiful (and very friendly looking) sea otters who were both enjoying the sunshine and getting a little lunch to pass their day.
Christmas is off to a rip-roaring start this year and the girls are as excited as can be. So far they have found the bicycles that Santa left and cleaned out their stockings. The first gift, from Grammy and Grampy has caused quite a stir. They each got a barbie doll that includes a golden retriever. The excitement from this comes from the fact that you can actually feed the dog. Parent’s will get a chuckle from the fact that this dog also “poops” the biscuits and barbie comes with all the appropriate attachments for cleaning up the poopie. Brief video attached for those that really must know.
Papa
Generally speaking, I don’t like posting items out of order, and I still have a ton of stuff leftover to share from Halloween. That will come, I promise, but I had to share today’s trip to the beach and thought I’d drop in a quick little video to show you how great it was. More pictures, more story, click more…
It was wild – we were at the zoo and there were so many children dressed up. Everyone was looking great, excited as all get out, and if anything like us, having the time of their life. That’s right – we went to the 2008 Boo at the Zoo at the Oakland Zoo. We got there quite early – about ten minutes to 9:00, before they even opened, and we were one of the first to arrive. I’m glad we got through the exciting stuff quickly, because we really did get to see the zoo and the other kids in their costumes – the girls even got their face (Sofi) and arm (Natalie) painted.
: Love the new feature- the pictures are great even if the are sometime "poses"- The girls are so cute- and yes take all pictures because they [...]
: Hi, Congratulations to the site owner for this marvelous work you've done. It has lots of useful and interesting data.
: how do i subscribe? 
: Welcome to the new guestbook feature - please feel free to leave a note to say hello!
