A Visit to San Francisco

On the morning of my and Brian's 11th wedding anniversary, I boarded a plane alone to visit Jessica in San Francisco.  I had been looking forward to this weekend for quite awhile and it was perfect!  After my first flight was cancelled, I landed about 3 hours later than planned.  I got off the plane and the sightseeing began.  We headed to the beach with a view of the Golden Gate bridge:

Up to a hiking trail not far from the bridge:

Along the trail:

After the first night in San Francisco, we headed to Santa Cruz for a night.  And not far from Santa Cruz, Walt and I went on a zip-lining excursion through the redwoods.  Here we are standing on a platform about 100+ feet up in the air and this is how much tree there still was above us:

Walt zip-lining:

Here I'm hanging off the platform from about 120 feet in the air (can't really tell the depth from this picture):

We got to cross a rope bridge as well:

Walt & I crossing the bridge:

More of the scenic coastline:

The next day, back in San Francisco, we toured more sights and got some views of the city from Bernal Heights Summit:

Onto the "painted ladies", made famous by the opening credits of Full House (one of those ladies was unfortunately under construction):

Cartwheel shot, of course:

And one of Jess's pictures near the bridge:

What a fantastic weekend away.  Couldn't have done it without Brian taking care of the kids for the long weekend!

Evan's 4th Birthday Party!

Evan turned 4 last week!  I will be taking him tomorrow to get his 4 year old stats and will do a general update on Evan at age 4 at that time.  But this past weekend, we invited his friends from school to celebrate his 4th birthday at a local bounce house place.  On Friday night, Nana, Papa & Morgan arrived for the weekend.

Eric and Morgan going down the big slide:

The crew in the bounce house:

A few really cute pics of Claire:

What a little sweetie pie:

And Morgan looking so cute with her missing teeth:

Nana and Morgan:

The Weiss ladies with the newest addition, Andrew:

The kids sitting down for pizza:

Evan and his BFF, Liam.  

A Planes cake for the birthday boy who is obsessed with Planes:

Getting ready to sing:

During the singing, Evan kept wanting to kiss me.  It was quite comical. I think maybe he was embarrassed by everyone looking at him:

Me laughing at all of the kisses:

 Matthew ready for his cake:

Dee-dee and Andrew:

After the party, Evan and Matthew having fun driving around the yard:

And Claire enjoying some Doritos:

It was a great day . . . though we woke up to Evan having the stomach bug on Sunday morning so it definitely was a bit of a roller coaster of a weekend.  Thankfully that stomach bug stayed away until the party was over with!

Hard Working Weekend

As I previously mentioned, we spent a lot of time outside this past weekend getting the landscaping in order.  And Evan pulled his weight this year, actually really helping us out.  Here are some of his working shots.  Love those concentration faces!

Pushing the wheelbarrows over to lay the mulch:

That tongue out must really help him  . . . just another way he takes after his mother:

In the past few days, we've finished up the yard work and had our living room/dining room painted.  Evan's birthday is Thursday and his party is Saturday.  Busy week here!

Mother's Day at Tyler Arboretum

We had a busy weekend at home this past weekend, working outside on the yard for most of the time (and by "we", I mean mostly Brian).  The flowers have been planted and about 85% of the mulch has been laid down.  But this afternoon, we took a break and headed to Tyler Arboretum.  We didn't know what to expect but it turned out to be the perfect place to spend the afternoon with two little boys who love the outdoors:

There were little house and tree-house structures throughout:

The lilacs smelled amazing:

Actually cooperating for pictures!

Eric - not so much cooperation this time:

Sitting on a frog's head:

Eric on the frog:

Mushroom seats in a little hut:

Treasures behind this door:

Love this pic:

A really cool moth we saw on a tree - looked just like a leaf:

Climbing up into this really high treehouse:

Evan climbing down.  I was a little nervous about this one!

Eric making his way down on his own, with Brian there to catch him if needed:

The three boys in a house:

Evan loved this - jumping from greek trunk to tree trunk.  He could have done this for an hour if we had let him:

 

The boys in the oversized chairs (with the exception of Brian):

Mother's Day kiss:

We had a blast and will definitely be making a trip back in the future.  Happy Mother's Day to my mom and Janet!  Without them, we wouldn't be the parents we are today :)