Santa Barbara

We had our second family get away - to Santa Barbara.  We saw Aunt Katlyn and Uncle Nick, went to the Zoo, the Boathouse and Hendry's Beach (where we had amazing food and ran all over the beach before and during/after sunset), the Beachside Cafe - where we ran on the beach again and walked down the wharf/pier with Katlyn, and we finished off the weekend with a quick stop at the Sea Center/Aquarium. 

OK - shall I mention two of my favorite things - feeding the giraffe lettuce and sliding down the "hill" in the children's play area in the Zoo with Garrett on pieces of cardboard boxes.  So fun!  Love how having kids lets you be a kid again.

So fun!  We'll have to head back around December for the Butterfly Preserve and the tide pools.  So much to do, so little time!

BTW - Garrett's favorite part was the roll away bed and the breakfast room at the hotel.  The simple pleasures . . .

I Don't Want to Crawl, I Just Want To Stand Up

Really, Brady?!  You're barely 7 mo old.

You are going to be a handful my friend - and we can't wait for every minute of it.

Brothers

Just hanging out together at home . . .

Uncle Dick

We LOVED having Uncle Dick visit - it was a great opportunity to get caught up in person and have Garrett and Brady start to get to know him better.
As you can tell by the photo, Brady was VERY fascinated by the shirt and the beard!

Birthday Party Madness

Garrett went to birthday parties for Hudson, Emily, Maddy, and Sarah . . .

Fun to be had by all.

I Like Food

Brady is 6 months old already and is just starting to enjoy the world of solid foods.  Little by little.  Brown rice cereal, sweet potato, avocado . . . .

Yum.  More please.

I'm Sitting, I'm Sitting

Wasn't I just posting something the other day about Brady desperately trying to roll over??!!

And now he is sitting on his own.  Wow - things are moving too fast. 

Try to give me some time before you start crawling . . . (or get up and run after Garrett) . . .

Garrett's 3rd Birthday Extravaganza - Part III of III

Final installment of birthday madness . . .

a family celebration at home.  Fun, fun.  Pat, Herk, Bob's sisters and their families, Katlyn and Nick, Gary, and some family friends and neighbors all joined in the fun.

Enough celebrating for now!  Looks like Garrett had a great weekend.

Time to recover . . . . (and play with all of Garrett's new toys) . . .

Garrett's 3rd Birthday Extravaganza - Part II of III

The Kidspace Children's Museum in Pasadena ROCKS.  What a well put together space for kids to explore (with great indoor and outdoor spaces).

We had about 40 some people (20 kids) in the Celebration Center to help celebrate G's B-Day.  The two Educators brought out three animals - a hissing cockroach, tortoise, and bearded dragon - and told the kids all about their habitats, eating habits, etc. and let the kids touch them.  They also set up free play for the beginning of the party during the time where guests were rolling in, led an art project, set up an art table to use throughout the party, helped with a parachute game, singing and musical instruments time, freeze dance, the limbo, and generally kept things rolling.  We had a great time - Garrett loved running around and, of course, when everyone sang happy birthday to him.  Bridget (one of Bob's former assistants) made an amazing carrot cake and carrot cake cupcakes - yum - and we had other healthy goodies to eat.  Mom even made her famous banana bread and pulled pork BBQ.

After the party all of the kids were able to roam around the museum for free.  Garrett spent two hours climbing through tunnels, climbing a climbing tower, exploring rocks and seeds in the Nature Exchange, digging for fossils, creating art, exploring spiders and a bee hive, running around the amphitheatre space outside, using a spray gun at the water symphony area, climbing outside, riding a tricycle on the bike path, and generally just having fun!

How will we top this for his 4th B-Day??!! Yikes.

BTW - Brady was there in spirit - he chilled outside the museum in the park so mom could run out and breastfeed.  He had a good, long nap and enjoyed the scenery - Brookside Park is really cute - and busy.