Hanging out with Cousin Avery

Lisa's twin brother Mark, wife Lindsay and daughter Avery were recently in San Francisco for a mini vacation so we had the opportunity to take the train up to San Francisco to meet them for dinner. It was so much fun to catch up with them. Avery is just 3 months younger than Jack and they loved chasing each other and running around the streets of San Francisco. The night was a little later than expected since we missed our train back to Redwood City by 2 minutes and had to catch the last train at 9pm. Oh well, it was well worth it and there's no place Jack would rather be stuck than a train station.

Grandma and Grandpa's House

We've been very fortunate in the last month to have Jack's grandparents take him for a few days...first just to give mom a break and the following weekend to let us take off for the weekend to Stinson Beach to celebrate our anniversary.
Jack did all kinds of fun things with grandma and grandpa such as playing at the river, swimming, driving grandpa's loader and flying to their house was probably the highlight.
Although he's been well taken care of, he's been having a lot of bumps and bruises. Here's a photo of him after he came back from his vacation with the grandparents (he fell on their brick sidewalk and immediately scratched his face at our house when he got home). Since then he's multiplied his bruises and cuts.

A weekend with family

We just got back from a fun weekend with all of Scott's siblings and their families(3 sisters and one brother). We rented a house in Morro Bay and had a great time at the beach, playing bocce ball, eating too much Mexican food and hanging out in San Luis. Jack loved seeing his aunts and uncles and baby cousin Noah.
It was a lot of fun to hang out because most of the time when we see them its not all together. Unfortunately I did an awful job as the photographer because I only came home with a few photos of Jack and Noah and none of the rest of the family - sorry!

All Boy

We're having a great time with Jack right now because he's talking a lot more to us and getting more and more active. This last week he had several experiences, both good and bad that goes along with being a boy:
Among the bad were a split lip on the playground & some bruises from having 2 fingers in the path of a closing window in our house. He's fine, but it was a really sad experience for the parents.
Other than that he's jumping off everything possible and does a lot more pretend play mostly involving animals and trucks. However, we've learned that all animals growl with Jack, even rabbits.
Here's a photo of Jack at Half Moon Bay this past weekend.

Fire Truck!

If you are ever in the car with Jack and a fire truck passes by you'll hear an ecstatic "fire truck, fire truck, woohooo". So, you can imagine his excitement when he got to meet a fireman, touch the hoses on the truck and even hug the wheel at the Foster City Arts & Wine Festival. Here's some photos to document this obsession.

Hello Lizard

Today, while peacefully typing away (Jack was napping), I heard "movement". It sounded as if something was moving a piece of paper. At first I jumped, but it subsided so I typed more. Again it happened, this time I fled the room and peaked back inside, but nothing. So, this continued for a few minutes...typing, noise, Lisa running out the room, bravely re-entering...repeat.
Finally I swore I saw a lizard's head pop out from behind a box lid that was leaning against the wall. I took up position near the door jam and lobbed Jack's toys at the lid until it toppled over revealing a lizard at least 6 inches long. The next logical step was to leave the room and lock the lizard in by stuffing pillows in the doorway (ok, so the lizard could still escape under a pillow, but it made me feel safer).
I have finally re-entered the office, but no lizard. I imagine he has taken up residence nearby, inside the walls or the closet. And, I don't feel very comfortable about a reptile being able to enter my home. Will I see something larger tomorrow? I have a feeling I'm going to have a nightmare about a lizard bringing one of the neighborhood squirrels in.

Cruising in the Caribbean

We just came back from a week long cruise in the Caribbean with Lisa's family. Here are a few of the highlights (& lowlights):

- Family. We had a great time catching up with each other and watching the cousins play.


- Wildlife in Barbados - we were right next to turtles, monkeys, wallabies & even touched a peacock



- Clearest Water Ever - the water was gorgeous, especially in St. Maarten & St. Thomas. Jack loved the beach and ran right into the water even regardless of whether he was in his swimming gear or not.



Food - It was plentiful and great, but Jack went almost 4 days eating hardly anything. He did not consume one vegetable or fruit (even a banana) while we were there. He had a fever one night, and actually through up on the dining room table near the end of our cruise (yep, disgusting...I whisked him back to the cabin pretty quickly after that). So, although he had a great time in the pool and on the beach he was out of sorts.
Oh, you can order room service anytime for free so that was cool. Here's cousin Avery below enjoying her cookies for dessert.


Scuba - We went for our first scuba dive and it was amazing. We aren't certified yet, so it was a 25 foot dive but we still saw a baracuda, lobster, and other colorful fish.

Cruise Ship - The thing is HUGE. Jack loved seeing the ocean from our room and woke up every day saying, "I see the ocean". We even went to an ice skating show. This is a great photo of my niece in front of the ship.