Monterey, CA

We took a trip to Monterey for Christopher's 4th Birthday and spent almost the whole day at the aquarium. I think were were there until it closed! Christopher LOVED the aquarium and loved looking at all the different fish and especially loved the touch pool (which he was too scared to do the last time we went a couple years ago). We spent his birthday on the beach in Monterey where Christopher and Gregory fished and played in the sand. We headed back home with a stop at the Cheesecake Factory for dinner. Christopher got embarrassed when all the waiters & waitresses came out to sing "Happy Birthday" to him and he hid under his napkin- it was so cute!

The Monterey Bay Aquarium.

Birthday breakfast in Monterey.

Fishing on the beach.

Gregory fishing and Christopher looking for crabs in the sand.

Ahhhh! Don't bury me in the sand pit!


Christopher's birthday cheesecake- plain cheesecake with strawberries!

"Happy Birthday" cheesecake.

Snow Day.

We've been trying to take it easy since the holidays but we did manage to make it up to the snow for a day of fun with some friends. The boys enjoyed sledding and making a snowman while us parents enjoyed running after them and trying to keep them from eating the snow! Here are some pictures...

All bundled up for the snow!


Christopher and Jake took turns pulling each other on the sled.


The cute little snowman we built. The boys had fun collecting things to decorate him with.



Christopher was exhausted!

Lake Tahoe

We got away for a whole weekend and spent it up at the North Shore of Lake Tahoe. We had a nice time relaxing, swimming, and just enjoying the Lake Tahoe scenery! Oh, and of course Gregory squeezed in a tiny bit of fishing :)

Here's Christopher's mini version the Lonely Island's song "I'm on A Boat."

Christopher loved the swimming pool.

Here is Christopher hanging out under the pier right on the beach where we stayed. He loved playing in the sand!

We also took his bike up with us so he could ride around in the parking lot. His favorite part was going over all the speed bumps. Gregory and I thought he was going to tip over on them because he was going so fast, but he went right over like a pro.

We took Christopher to see Shakespeare's "Much Ado About Nothing." He did ok for most of it, but we ended up having to leave about 20 minutes before it was over because he was being such a wiggle-worm. Not too bad for his first Shakespeare play though!

We took a paddle boat ride!



Christopher's favorite part was helping pull the boat back up and playing in it on land!


Christopher and Andrew.



Lake Tahoe!



Ahhhh! I'm falling into Lake Tahoe!

San Francisco Sunday trip

We spent another Sunday away from Sacramento, trying to avoid the heat. This time we headed to San Francisco to visit a particular tackle shop that Gregory wanted to go to, hit the Stonestown Galleria mall, grab some lunch and hang out at the beach by the Golden Gate Bridge. Gregory wanted to try some fishing, so we tried the pier but since it was too windy we relocated down to the beach. Christopher had a blast climbing on the rocks and helping Daddy cast and reel in his fishing pole!

The Golden Gate Bridge

Christopher and Daddy fishing.

Playing in the sand.

Fishing in San Francisco!


The Golden Gate Park signs.


This one came out blurry but I think it looks like a painting!


View of the Golden Gate Bridge.


The Palace of Fine Arts at night.


Christopher showing off his sandy hands.


I love the expression on C's face here (and the color of the sky)!


Crossing over the Golden Gate Bridge.

Wrights Lake.

We spent another weekend day away from Sacramento trying to avoid the heat, but this time it was so Gregory and his buddy Ray could get in some fishing. We decided to make a little trip out of it, packed up both families and drove up to Wrights Lake (a little closer to Sacramento than Lake Tahoe). We took a picnic lunch and spent the afternoon splashing around, swimming, canoeing and fishing. The boys (Christopher and his friend Jake and Jake's baby brother Josh) had a blast in the water and Jake and Christopher got to enjoy a couple canoe rides while Josh stayed on land. They absolutely loved getting to swim in the lake and we had to drag them out of the water to take a snack break!

Gregory and Ray took the canoe for a while to fish and apparently found some trout. They caught a couple but came back only towing one because I think they threw the rest back.

All in all it was a great day and even though he's young, I hope Christopher will always remember spending time with friends at the lake!

Jaime took the boys for a walk.

Here's Christopher dressed in his cute little fishing outfit, even though he didn't get a chance to fish :(

Apparently they weren't wet enough, because the boys spent a lot of time watering the rocks.

Ray and Gregory out on the lake.

"Baby" Josh just up and stood up all on his own!

I think this was supposed to be a hug, but it looks more like a a headlock.

Christopher making a spalsh.

Jake about to make a splash. Not really, I think he was throwing rocks!

Here's baby Josh enjoying the water.

Here's Gregory and Ray when they got back from their fishing outing.

Dinner?

You can't tell, but we're really in the middle of the lake where we canoed out to!

Silly boys.

Anyone know what kind of animal this is? We were thinking it's a muskrat, but it's tail has fur on it. Plus, according the the department of fish & game, there aren't muskrats between Folsom and Lake Tahoe.

Los Angeles Vacation 2009

Ok, I'm going to play catch up here and post some pictures from our vacation we took at the end of last month. We stayed down in Los Angeles with family and had so much fun! Gregory and I were able to do a day at Disneyland by ourselves and then we went again with Christopher, Gregory's sisters Karen and Elaine, and my sister, Jennine. Even though he didn't get to go on a ton of rides, it was so much more fun this year for Christopher than it was last year! We saw the Aladdin and Playhouse Disney shows in CA Adventures, caught the parade in Disneyland, met Mickey Mouse, caught a few rides, ate dinner at Downtown Disney and to Christopher's utter enjoyment, rode the Monorail.

Some other highlights from our trip were spending a day at the beach in Malibu, spending the 4th of July up at the Observatory where we could see fireworks from all over Los Angeles, shopping at The Grove shopping center with the American Girl Doll store (Christopher's Andrew doll got some fun new stuff!), riding the miniature train at Travel Town and just relaxing and spending time with family.

Here are some other pictures from our vacation: