Preschool

Owen loves his school. When I pick him up afterwards he usually says, "Mom, let's go back to school now!" He has been there since September and feels very comfortable with the environment, teachers and his classmates. I volunteer one day a week (it's a co-op), so I get to know his little friends and see what really goes on there all day. He usually sticks close by on the days I work, but lately he has been venturing out to play elsewhere when I am there. He is very proud of everything he does there which makes my heart melt. : )

Owen and some of his adorable girlfriends!

My little construction worker

Burning Energy

I guess it would be safe to say Owen is a "spirited" child. :) He has enough energy running through his veins to run the planet for an entire year, I swear. We run him ragged as often as we can, and somehow it fuels him to run faster and jump higher. I don't get it, and it's exhausting trying to figure it out.

The other day, Owen was unstoppable. He was bouncing off the walls at home (after spending time skateboarding and playing at the park already) and really needed to get out and burn off more energy. So, we took him to East Beach and brought his 3 wheel bike. We thought we would walk/ ride to the wharf and go to the Sea Center for a bit and walk/ ride back to the car. It's just over one mile from our car to the Sea Center. Owen was excited about this idea for about 5 minutes before he said "I am tired, I don't want to ride my bike, can you carry me Mom?" Seriously?! So we spent the rest of the time talking him in to riding a little longer, then carrying him AND the bike for a while before my arms gave out and I would make him ride again....

We finally made it to the pier, which felt like eons to get there. Next, we stopped for a quick ice cream cone and made it to the aquarium with just a few minutes left before they closed (good thing we are members and didn't have to pay!). We only spent about 30 minutes on the wharf before heading back to the car. I knew Owen wouldn't be able to walk or ride the rest of the way back, nor could I carry him for that long again. We were all tired and it was starting to get cold, so I walked back to get the car by myself and Adam took the kids to the Fish House to wait for me to pick them up. Low and behold, Owen got his 10th wind at the restaurant and ran around like a crazy kid as if he hadn't just walked over 2 miles (from the entire day). He didn't fall asleep on our 20 minute drive home either. I wish I had a quarter of his energy. I think he sucks it all out of us...actually, I know he does. Sigh..

Adam's turn carrying the bike. Petting the sharks at the Sea Center

Random Pictures

Father Daughter Beach Time

These two adore eachother!

Monterey Bay

We got to spend a few more days with Pop Pop and Mimi in Monterey before they finished up their vacation up north. Owen's highlight on the drive up was getting to pee on the train tracks just off the freeway. Boys! We were in the middle of nowhere when he said "Dad, I gotta go pee!" So we took the next exit and Adam led him to the tracks. I think they were both pretty excited about this. I don't get it. And my favorite picture last.....

The weather started to turn gray half way there. But it didn't rain until we were snug in our hotel beds that night.

We walked to dinner on Cannery Row just down from our hotel. Since it was a gloomy Tuesday night during the off season, the place was almost all ours. It was nice that Owen could get loud and run around a bit after being couped up in the car all day and no one cared. We bundled Emily up on our chilly walk home.We were lucky enough to have a beautiful room over looking the water. When we woke up in the morning we were greeted with at least 7 harbor seals below and a few sea otters. The hotel had binoculars to use to spot the sea otters and seals. Breakfast on the balcony. Emily met her twin, and really liked what she saw!

After breakfast, we headed to the Aquarium when they opened. I haven't been there in almost 7 years and it was just as wonderful as I had remembered.

Leopard Sharks. Owen's favorite part of the aquarium.Beautiful coral tropical fish exhibit. So colorful. The sea turtles were fun! Wearing Daddy's rain coat....when it wasn't raining. Thought this was a cool mural.

Once we had exhausted the Aquarium, and had lunch, we headed to Dennis the Menace Park. What a great place for kids! I highly recommend this park, we all had a blast!

This was a "super fun park" as Owen refers to it now.

We all took turns going down this big rolling slide.

Pop Pop

I LOVE this picture. He had so much fun on this little ride that spun around super fast.

This is how Emily viewed the park all day. She'll be running circles around Owen one day soon! This is a legitimate face I made. This slide was steep, but fun! I went on it 4 more times : ) pure joy.

Thank you Pop Pop and Mimi for such a fun trip and special memories! Love you!

Beets

Emily loving local beets for the first time. Seven Months OldOwen at 11 months old trying beets for the first time.

Fun After Preschool

Messy face after preschool.
Wearing Emily's hat and gloves she got for Christmas (that clearly don't fit her yet). And yes, he is in a diaper at 3 years old. He has been peeing in the potty since September no problem, and doesn't wear a diaper to bed. BUT he INSISTS on wearing one for #2. So, instead of him crying and holding it in because I want to break him of this habit, we let it go and are waiting for him to decide to go on his own...hopefully SOON.Adam's Dad, Bob (Pop Pop) and his wife Lauren (Mimi) have been here visiting for the first two weeks in February. It's nice that they are here for a while so they can enjoy the simple things that we do on a day to day basis, and we get the chance to go out more and explore more local fun stuff for kids!

After school, we all took off to Summerland to Stackys for lunch. It was not crowded, had good food and we got to eat outside on a beautiful February day. After we filled our bellies, we headed to the Summerland Park that overlooks the ocean. We had a lot of fun playing at this park.