Big girl

Happy Hollow with "tusins"

Luke was so excited to show his "tusins" his new favorite place: Happy Hollow. Mia hung with Day and the rest of us enjoyed the beautiful weather and the relative quietness of Happy Hollow on a Monday.


Feeding the goats



Driving police cars and firetrucks

L&J on the ladybugs

Danny the Dragon

Riding the Pacific Fruit Express rollercoaster

Luke asked to go on it last time we were at HH, but it was busy and I thought that he might chicken out after we waited in line, so I told him that Daddy would go next time we came. SO, he remembered and wanted to ride it - and to my surprise, he followed through and LOVED it. In fact, we asked each of the kids towards the end of the day to pick one thing that they could go back to and Luke picked the roller coaster, so Mommy got to ride with him on the 2nd time around.

So much fun!

SacEast

Uncle James, Aunt Kate, Jacqueline, and Frederick visited last weekend from Massachusetts. It was so good to see them and spend some time together - it had been far too long.

I'm not sure how I will put into words or pictures the time that we had here together. Here's an overview of their visit in photos (see separate post on our adventure to Happy Hollow).

To have family like them means the world. I love that we enjoy each other's company, that our kids are close in age and will grow up together, that seeing one another never feels like a chore, that we can all laugh at the chaos that together our families create, and that the kids will one day look back on times that we do spend together and will (hopefully) remember them as integral parts of their childhoods.

Thank you, SacEast, for coming to visit ... we know that it isn't easy to travel so far with two young kids. Don't worry, SacWest will invade your home next time around!

Spring has sprung...

...well, it sprung a few times already this year, but it sprung again this past weekend (and now it's back to rain - figures!).

I had to get a few of Mia looking cute in her spring-time wear and enjoying the beautiful weather.

In her sunhat from Grandma:

Playing

Airing out those cute toes that have been covered pretty much since she was born

Looking colorful and spring-like with Day

Linus moves in

Mia is sleeping in the cradle in our room this weekend while SacEast visits. So, I come up for bed last night, and this is what I find:


Um ... really NOT okay. First I made sure Mia was okay, then I grabbed my camera, and then I started wondering how he was able to get his 14lb body into that cradle and snuggle up at her feet (mind you, she's not even 12lbs), without waking her up!?

Linus seriously thinks that the cradle is his bed ... it's coming down soon and he's going to be one sad kitty.

Reading

Too cute...

Luke actually knows the words to this book pretty well, so "reading" it to Mia was no problem. Goes to show how many times we've read it!

I'm pretty sure that there is an almost identical picture to this of my brother and I - I'll have to get it from my mom and I'll post it here, just for fun. So check back

Happy 31st Birthday, Daddy!

We were happy to have Daddy back home from a friend's out of town wedding in time to celebrate his birthday!

We had a small celebration at home where Luke could sing, help blow out candles, and give Daddy his gifts before the adults headed out for dinner.

Seriously, singing "Happy Birthday" and blowing out candles might be Luke's favorite thing to do. Ever.

Dressing up

Okay, I knew that I would enjoy having a girl so that I could "dress her up," but I didn't know just how much I am loving it!

Here are a few that I just couldn't resist taking of her in her red boots.

Mia is such a peanut, she is just finally starting to fit in some of her 0-3 month winter outfits that I bought for her before she arrived. Luckily, we've had so much rain this spring, she's still been able to wear them a few times in the past few weeks.

Happy Hollow

Happy Hollow is sort of a childhood staple if you live in San Jose. I don't think anyone who lived here in the '80s would dispute that. Now, I can't speak for what it has been like since the '80s, but I can tell you that it is now open again post-remodel (it has been closed since 2007 for complete renovation) and is just as magical now as it was then (in the eyes of a 2 year old!). In fact, we even bought a membership during our visit because I forsee many, many trips there this spring/summer/fall.


A few highlights from our first visit included:
Danny the Dragon train ride (one of the parts of Happy Hollow that I remember most vividly from my visits there as a child)



The petting zoo/feeding the goats (Luke gave only one pellet at a time!)

The firetruck/police car ride

So, it has definitely been updated, but some things remain the same for nostalgia. Check me out back in the early 80's on the firetruck ride (which then also included yellow cars!)