Goofing around in SJ

I got my new camera so practiced taking different shots. We took a couple trips to our local faves. 

On the merry go round at Happy Hollow 

On the merry go round at Happy Hollow

At the diorama at the Children's Discovery Museum

Putting balls into the water

Say CHEEEEEZ!

 We met the Powell-Russells at the Discovery Museum and then had lunch outside. These are some silly kids!

With the warm weather, it was time to break out the splash rocket!

Waiting for the light rail to head to Campbell (soup)

I tried to take a picture of the girls for Father's day. I think the girls look adorable, but the sun is messing up the picture.

At our park. Claudia is helping Juliet get across the monkey bars. Who knew my two monkeys would be such monkeys? 

Best Buds!

Juliet and her friend Abigail have known each other since they were ~8 months old. Abigail doesn't go to Juliet's preschool anymore so we try to meet up for play dates and birthday parties when we can. Here are the little cheese balls.

Juliet and her buddy Abigail

Claudia had a sleep over with her friends (and twins) Kennedy and Landry. They've known each other since they were 6 months old. The teachers at daycare/pre-school referred to them as the triplets.

Kennedy, Claudia and Landry

Bennie and Juliet

Ollie and Claudia have been buds since they were 2ish, and Ben and Juliet have been buddies since Ben was born. :-)

Claudia and Ollie

But we can't forget the best buds of all - each other!

Angry Bird-day to you!

Auntie Gina came out to celebrate (and help out with the birthday party preparations). The night before Gina arrived, Juliet decided to get the croup. So our last minute birthday prep was cramped even more by a sick little 3 year old. But Auntie Gina didn't mind hanging out with Juliet and napping after a long and early plane ride.

We set up to play a full size angry birds (sans a slingshot - that would have been too much work and probably dangerous!). The party favors were angry bird -themed. I found keychains and erasers, gummy bears and added a little wooden birdhouse and markers.

Safeway cake/Gina & Kelly decorations (supervised by a 7 and 3 year old).

Claudia in the last minute tshirt find

A few large purchases earlier in the year and we had the cardboard we needed for creating the game. Gina and I had fun making the pig balloons the night before. After each balloon touched the ground, it would slowly start to deflate!

Part of the birthday party crew

The deflated mustache piggy

I'd say someone is enjoying her cake!

Miss Bean and Auntie Gina

Since Juliet was croupy we had to keep her away from the other kids. She napped thru the entire birthday party. Even when the kids were playing in the house (since it was an odd 90 degrees in April!).

The croupy Juliet and Auntie Gina

Happy Birthday, Miss Bean!

Claudia turned 7 this year. Wow, where does the time go?! We threw her an Angry Bird's birthday party. For her birthday, Peter made a chiffon cake, and I decorated it, with some direction from Juliet. 

Happy Angry Bird-day!

Not too bad for freehand!

Camping in Big Sur

We went camping again this year at Big Sur. The last time we camped was for Claudia's 4th birthday; Juliet was 2 months old. We stayed at the same place as last time in a great campsite, close enough to the playground, but not too close. The girls loved it. Unfortunately we had a lot of rain (mostly over night) but that just meant the girls got to slosh around in the big puddles!

We need a bigger car, or less stuff! Luckily it's only a 2 hour drive.

Having s'mores at the campsites

Climbing monkeys!

This is our favorite overlook, we spent our lunches dining here. I especially love this picture of the two of them; Claudia's arm around Juliet, them holding hands and Juliet tickling Claudia's chin. :-)

Our campsite was in the middle of this fairy ring of Redwoods. This was the view looking straight up. 

In the tent, keeping warm with their big blankets.

We were about to head home. Juliet is ready for a nap. Claudia is still going strong!

Mom & Dad's visit

As is the custom, the Spains made it out to winter in California for 2 months. It's always so nice to have them out. The girls get so much quality Poh Poh and Gong Gong time. Peter and I tried to take as much advantage of it as we could by getting some bigger projects done around the house, getting to see movies, and getting away for a long weekend. We reward mom & dad with extra time with the girls. :-)

We celebrated Mom's birthday with dim sum. Yum!

We always try to make a trip to San Francisco, to Fisherman's Wharf for clam chowder, Pier 39, and seal-watching. We also walked on part of the Golden Gate bridge that day. That was not as fun as in the past. They were doing construction on the bike side so the east side of the bridge was packed with people and bicycles who were trying to pedal thru all of the pedestrians. It was stressful dodging fast bikes and keeping the girls out of the way.

At the wharf with Alcatraz in the background. While it looks like Juliet is picking her nose, it's just her weird little habit of putting a finger on her lips. :-)

Mom and Dad made it down to the Pebble Beach area and played golf at Poppy Hills. There weren't too many sunny days toward the end of their trip, and they made it down there the last sunny day of their stay.

For our weekend getaway (and thanks to Groupon) we headed up the coast to just a little south of Mendocino. We stayed in a great place with a great view of the ocean. It was pretty cold and rained on and off but we got out for some hikes and even got to watch some of the 2nd round games.

On our way north. You can take the girl out of Kansas...

Daddy/Daughter Dance

Claudia's school had a daddy/daughter dance. Claudia's wearing the $5 dress I found at Walmart when we were in Lawrence at Christmas time. Can't beat that!

The littlest peanut turns 3!

Juliet turned 3 today! She was ready for her birthday. This morning when I asked who's birthday is today? She raised her hand really high.

At school she got to make and share cupcakes (I'm guessing they were actually muffins) with her friends.

The 2 cheeze balls right before singing

The Olivia Pig inspired birthday cake. 

Mom made the traditional chiffon cake and I did the decorating. You can't see that the opposite side is pretty much caved in. Mom's blaming the cake pan. :-)

After singing; Juliet got a little freaked out when Claudia turned the lights out so we could sing to her with the candles glowing. Juliet didn't want to blow out the candles, so she let Claudia. I just hope she wished for something really good!

Opening her Dora mermaid bathtub friend. This should be fun!

We FaceTimed with Auntie Gina, Uncle John and Chandler (she thought it was Uncle Darren!). They sang to her and then she started showing them some of her presents. 

A little Olivia playset

Opening up her My Little Pony from our neighbors the Kravitzes , I mean the Malandrinos.  :-)

A big cheezy smile because she's having cake at 8 o'clock at night. Surprisingly she went to bed fairly early (for her). 

Showing off her ladybug jammies from Auntie Kel. I was with Kel when she picked these out.  Juliet was so excited to put everything on. 

We're off to celebrate this weekend at a place called Fairyland, a storybook theme park perfect for monkeys this age. Should be fun!

Lava Girls - Tournament Champions!

Claudia played soccer again this fall. It was an entirely new team, and she made friends and had a good time. She's a great hustler and loves to get out there. Last year her favorite positions were defender and goalie; this year the coach recognized her hustle and had her playing forward most of the season. She still played defense and goalie a few times and enjoyed those, but as a parent it is much more fun to watch her attacking the ball. While it will be nice to have our Saturdays back, it will be a little sad not to get to watch her playing. There's always next fall. Now she wants to try gymnastics.  One sport at a time is our motto!

Claudia's MVP award. She got it for her hustle.

Receiving her trophy. It's huge!

Grandpa took us out to celebrate right after at In-n-Out! Yum!

Peter's folks were here and were able to enjoy a few of Claudia's soccer games, including the tournament. It was a little chilly for some of the games. Juliet does pretty well if she's got her crackers, but towards the end of the season, I had to break out the iTouch to keep her entertained throughout the game.

On the sidelines with crackers and a movie