Spring Vacation: Part 4

The last day of our vacation, we spent at Gilroy Gardens. We had never gone, and quite frankly, we just weren't sure what to expect. Amazingly, we were quiet surprised and even upgraded our tickets to season passes! This place was perfect for our little family. Ethan was able to go on the majority of the rides, there were quiet places for me to feed Weston, and their were strollers everywhere! It was busy the day we went, but not so busy we had to wait forever on rides. . . it was perfect!

Ethan loved every minute of it. He got to walk everywhere, "drive" cars, and go on rides all by himself. He felt like such a big boy. Weston slept the majority of the day (although, I am sure he had a blast, too!). We even ran into some good friends from Fresno. It was great! We are definitley going back a few more times before summer is over!

Spring Vacation: part 3

The second day of our trip was filled with aquarium fun! Ethan LOVED everything (except touching the animals!). We had so much fun exploring and seeing things through the eyes of Ethan. After several hours at the aquarium, we went on a nice long walk along this nice pathway they have there. We have walked this walk several times and never really noticed that the first historical landmark is on this walk. We were so excited! It is the Customs Building and it is also where the United States Flag was first raised in the state of California. Eventually, we headed back to feed Weston and make a decision on where to eat dinner that would be both kid friendly and stroller friendly. It was definitely a early to bed night for this family. We were pooped!

Spring Vacation: Part 2

Our first day in Carmel, led us through 17 mile drive (so Jon could stop by Pebble Beach and dream of playing golf there) and into Monterey. It was a beautiful drive from Carmel to Monterey via 17 mile drive. It was slightly overcast, but so very beautiful. We stopped at a look out along the way that had a beach with wonderful, white sand. Ethan and I got out and did some playing. Unfortunately, the combination of way past nap time (for Ethan) and the tide coming in kind of freaked Ethan out, so we didn't spend a lot of time down there.

Once we got into Monterey, checked into our home for the next two nights, we headed down to dinner. One of our favorite places to go, is Bubba Gump's. It's a great place for kids, plus they have stroller parking! We went on a great night, too! Only a 15 minute wait. . . perfect for taking some pictures outside!

Spring Vacation: part 1

Last month (yeah, I've been a slacker when it comes to blogging lately), Jon, the kids, and I snuck away for several days of adventure and beach fun. It was so nice to get away as a family and do something together. . . just the 4 of us.

Our first stop was Casa de Fruta (who doesn't stop here?) so Weston could eat and Ethan could use the bathroom. While I sat in the car feeding Weston, Jon took Ethan for a walking adventure. Ethan is really into walking, and so any opportunity for him to walk around he thinks is great! Jon and Ethan walked around chasing peacocks and checking out the trains. Meanwhile, I was being surrounded by some beautiful peacocks. After Weston had a full tummy, Ethan showed me everything they saw, we bought ourselves a treat (they have the best chocolate covered cinnamon bears!), and headed on our way.

Our second stop was the beautiful town of Carmel. Jon and I hadn't been here since we were dating and were really looking forward to being there again. We started out by feeding Weston (he seems to eat a lot . . . ha ha ha), packing the stroller, and heading out. We walked all around downtown and even managed to do some geocaching.

This particular geocache was near a lovely bronze statue of an older couple sitting on a park bench. Jon read something about it being made in Loveland, Co (which is a neat town we stayed in on our Wyoming trip). Ethan decided that he needed to showcase his modeling skills and posed in several super cute pictures and a nice couple took a picture of us. Weston didn't make it in the picture because he was sound asleep in the stroller.

On the way back the the car, we made a stop into the local Anthropologie store, where Ethan fell in love with a chair. He even brought Jon over to it and showed him the price tag. . . unfortunately the chair was WAY out of our budget. . . and couldn't fit in the car (ha ha). In the middle of downtown, there is this cute little park, so we let Ethan run free for a few minutes and then headed back to the car for the next part of our little journey (which I will tell you about in the next post).

Easter 2011, part 3

Okay, I think this is my last Easter post (I can't believe it took 3 posts, oh well!). We spent Easter afternoon with Jon's family. This year, his Aunt Debbie and Uncle John hosted the festivities. We had a blast hanging outside watching the kids play in the warm, spring sun.

Ethan and his cousin Everett had so much fun playing in the sandbox.

Everett had fun opening up the Easter eggs.

Counting the eggs.

Ethan taking a break from the "hunting" and relaxing.

Weston had fun chillin in his Grandma Carolyn's arms.

And finally, I just can't get enough of how cute Ethan looked in his tie.

Easter 2011, part 2

Since Easter was so busy, the only time we could fit in our family traditions (which is very important to us), we decided to have a nice quiet morning at home and ditch church (a hard decision to make). It was a beautiful morning . . . perfect for an Easter Egg hunt. This year, we only hunted plastic eggs filled with jelly bellies and Reeces eggs. I boiled the eggs to dye, it just never happened (like, I said, we were super busy.) I usually make something yummy for breakfast, but we had enough leftovers of quiche and muffins from brunch the day before that I didn't even have to cook. . . that made life so much easier!

Take me out to the Ball game

Easter weekend was a rush of activities for us. . . busy, but incredibly fun! Saturday night we headed to a game with our friends, the Mikow's. The weather was perfect for a game. We brought sweatshirts, but never used them. . . my kind of weather!

towards the end of the night, Ethan got a little pooped. Cuddle time with daddy!

The field

Weston did a lot of this during the game.

Stephanie and Abi enjoying the game.

The front row. . . Ethan enjoyed clapping and even when the new pitcher was warming up for the opposing team, he tried very hard to get them to throw him a ball.

Ethan enjoyed it! (he seems to really enjoy baseball. . . everything becomes a baseball bat right now and is constantly wanting to play catch).