Happy Valentine's Day!

This Valentine's Day was perfect. Owen stayed at Nanna's house the night before so we got to start our day by sleeping in. That in itself will make any day perfect for me! We then got to leave our car and borrow Pappy's convertible Porche, Boxter for the day. This made Adam VERY happy.

We had a leisurely brunch at Jeannine's which was delicious as always, and then headed to the Santa Ynez valley to relax at the wineries. Meanwhile, Owen got to hang out with Nanna and Pappy on the boat at the harbor for the afternoon.

We started off at Beckman for a small tasting (which Adam did most of), and got to sit on their veranda overlooking the vineyards on a beautiful mid 70's day.

Next we drove to Bridlewood and enjoyed their lush gardens while snacking on fresh strawberries, a chocolate almond fondue, and cheese and crackers. We soon headed home before the sun went down to change clothes and go out to dinner with my Mom and David, and of course our little Valentine, Owen. It was such a relaxing day, I couldn't have asked for more : ) Thanks again Nanna and Pappy!!

Park

Another day at the park! Another chance to practice photography! I still have a long way to go, but I LOVE my camera (If you haven't noticed from all the pictures I post!). We had a lot of fun playing today before I had to go to work. Here are some of today's favorites. Oh. and yes we know, Owen has a terrible "bowl" cut right now. We need to find a new place to get his hair cut!
Owen loves ALL animals (real or not : ) He had just finished feeding this dolphin tan bark.

Nojoki Falls and Solvang

On Sunday I was about to head out to farmer's market when my Mom called to see if we wanted to join her and David on a short hike to Nojoki falls (about a 30 minute drive north). It was a beautiful day out and the waterfall was supposed to be really roaring after all the rain we had just had. Of course we'll go! It was a beautiful drive with snow capped mountains in the background and green rolling hills everywhere you turned. The walk to the waterfall was pretty muddy and cold, but it was so nice to be outside with the sound of water.

Too cool for school.

One muddy boy who was having a lot of fun throwing rocks into the river.

Afterwards, we took a short drive to Solvang for lunch and a little walk around town. I promised Adam that he could watch football since last Sunday we went up north to visit my Grandmothers. We found the only place in town with a TV in the restaurant; Tower Pizza. Pizza wasn't bad and Owen was happy to run around the joint!

"There was a little boy who lived in a shoe..." Adam and David look like his body guards! : ) Having pizza with the guys while watching football. It has already begun! In front of Tower Pizza We couldn't leave Solvang without a trip to the candy store. We all went for the hand made chocolates, but Owen was eyeing the Jelly Bellys!
It was a good day. I love spontaneous trips like that!

It's a GIRL!!!

We brought Owen with us to my 19 week ultrasound this morning. We have been putting off explaining that he was going to get a new brother or sister for a while now. We didn't want him to ask about it for the entire 40+ weeks. One minute can feel like an eternity to a child, let alone 9 months.

Owen and I both knew it was a girl from the start. Even the nurse asked him on her way out if he thought he would be getting a brother or a sister, and of course he said "Sister!" 10 minutes later the doctor came in and confirmed his answer : ) We took home a DVD of the ultrasound. It's amazing what you can see these days! He said she looks very healthy and is about 10 oz. and 10 inches long already! We are all very excited, and looking forward to raising a little girl along with Owen. There are not many girls on either side of our family, so it was a pleasant surprise to everyone.

Since figuring this whole thing out, Owen has been SO sweet to his little sister. He kisses my belly and says "I wuv you little baby" several times a day. He can't wait to meet her. He says "baby's so sweet" (he says this to his cute stuffed animals, dogs and other babies too) while touching my stomach. He thinks she lives in "mommy's pants." And when I am in the bathroom he says "mommy going potty, baby going potty too." When we ask him what we should name her he always replies with a giggly "Baby Poopies" or "Pooh-Pas." We will not be naming our daughter that by the way ; ) He does seem to like every name we have suggested though.

I made the mistake today of telling him that he will feel the baby kick soon, and he said "Owen kick Mommy too" just before he kicked me in the leg! Ouch!


Anyway, reality is setting in and we are starting to get excited about the whole thing. Time to start shopping for any color but blue! : )I should have turned a little more to the side for this picture. I swear my belly is bigger than it looks here!

Birds and Snow

Our place is fairly small, but we love the location. After the rains we always get lots of cool birds hanging out behind our fence. I got some pictures of a Great Blue Heron that I see fairly often. We see lots of white cranes, hawks, vultures, doves and lots of others that I can't name.

We also got a dusting of snow on the Santa Ynez Mountains. It only lasted for about a day, though the tippy top still has some white remaining. It's always exciting to see snow in Santa Barbara. It happens about once a year or so, sometimes more, sometimes less, yet always beautiful.

Singing In the Rain!

As you all know, we got quite a lot of rain this last week! Owen did fairly well considering he didn't get outside much. Still thanking my Mom for that trampoline! He spends so much time on that thing! I wish I had one! Not that I should be bouncing up and down right now, but I will next fall!

We usually got a break from the weather by mid day when things started to dry up and the sun came out. So, we put him in his foul weather gear (rain pants that Granny Anna got him for his birthday...we have used at least twice already! And rain boots that are probably a bit too small, but he's not complaining yet). Adam duck taped the boots to the pants to keep the water out and we walked out behind our house in search of puddles. Only took about 5 seconds to find lots of them. Owen was up to his thighs in water! Sadly, the duck tape didn't quite work as well as planned, but Owen didn't seem to mind.

He thought he was fishing with the stick : )

Kids World

Owen's favorite park in Santa Barbara is the "big park, downtown," Kid's World. Last week we packed up some snacks and headed down there as a family for an hour or so. He was so happy, I had to share some pics. He ran into his friend Ella Mae (Mae Mae) and they played with a broken drinking fountain that squirted water straight up into the air. They had a good time until they got a little too wet. Just getting off the twisty slide.Tire swing with Daddy. Daddy was a bit too big to be on this ride with him. He ran back and forth on this moving bridge about 100 times!Each time he got to the end, I got a BIG hug! Almost knocking me over most of the time as he came at me running full force! I love it.

Update!

Thank you so much to those that read about and supported The Gwendolyn Strong Foundation this past week. It has been an exhausting week trying to get as many votes as possible for this cause. Well, thanks to you, we did it! All that hard work paid off! Without each of your votes, and the votes you brought in with your friends and family, they might not be where they are today! They came in 6th out of 100 different charities, and won $100,000 that is going directly to research to get this cure on it's way!!

Bill and Victoria Strong are incredible people who have more drive, passion and heart of anyone I have ever met. They will literally walk to the ends of the Earth to see an end to their daughter's disease. And without their sweet Gwendolyn, over 51,000 people (from this campaign alone) would still not know of this disease. The awareness that has been raised during this campaign is absolutely amazing! This beautiful two year old little girl who is completely paralyzed has literally changed this disease just by being born. Thank you Gwendolyn for being so brave and strong for so long! Keep it up, the whole world is on your side fighting for you!!

I am so grateful for meeting this family and being able to become a part of their daughter's now hopeful future. I am grateful for having friends and family like you who have supported this cause from the start. Thank you.

Road Trip to see the Grandparents

"Over the river and through the woods, to Grandmother's house we go....." We were supposed to take a drive up north to see friends and family several weeks ago when I was on vacation from UCSB....however, I got sick and didn't want to spread the germs to those I love. So, we decided to wait until my next holiday I had off, which was Martin Luther King Jr. day last weekend.

Sadly, my day off was the start of this crazy storm CA has been getting. We drove about 5 hours in the rain to San Jose to see Grandma Suzanne (my Dad's mom) and my uncle Pat, Aunt Cindy and cousin Brian. (So mad at myself, I didn't take ONE picture!) It was a nice visit, but too short as always. I don't think we were there for more than two hours before we got back in the car to head to San Ramon (45 minutes away) to visit Norm (family friend, like a father to me).

We skipped any idea of taking Owen to a restaurant for dinner that night. I couldn't fathom putting him back in the car, and I only imagined what sort of shenanigans he would have gotten into while running around a restaurant after being cooped up in a rainy car all day. We were too tired to even think about chasing him, so we got comfortable and ordered pizza at home. It was nice to relax and spend some time with Norm for the evening, though I was in bed by 9:30! So tired.

After dinner it was time to put our sleepy head to bed. We were worried about how this was going to go down since we are still dealing with the pacifier issue, and he was going to be sleeping in a big, fairly high bed in his own room...ALONE! Fortunately, he was SO excited to be in a big bed with fluffy pillows and comforters, that he didn't make a peep when I left the room. (Time to get a toddler bed at home soon.) He slept great until he woke up soaked from a leaky diaper just before 6 AM : ( The next morning, the rain was REALLY bad on our way to Santa Clara to visit Grandma Pat and her sweet husband Paul. I was dreading the drive back to Santa Barbara in a matter of hours.

Of course Owen decides to take a 15 minute nap before we get to my Grandmother's house, and would not even wink one eye shut on the entire ride back home.

We arrived with lunch from Whole Foods and had a nice, yet another short visit with family. Owen had a good time jumping on their couch (grrrr). He was pretty well behaved given all he had been through in the last 24 hours of this trip. He got to pick out an animal puppet from a big box of them and bring them home. I swear my Grandma had every animal on the planet in puppet form in this box. Out of all the bugs, lizards, cows, chickens, and pelicans just to name a few...he chose the pink flamingo! He loves this thing! I have to say that it did save our life on the last 20 minutes of the drive back when the whining wasn't stopping, it was a good distraction. Thanks Grandma!

Fortunately, by the time we left their house, the rain had stopped and the sun was shining! Our drive back was beautiful! Green velvety hills, fluffy white clouds, and crisp clean air. We hit some patches of rain, but nothing too bad.

After lots of complaining to "get up" from his car seat, we decided to make a pit stop in Pismo Beach and let Owen run around and stretch his legs. He deserved it! We found a cool park over looking the ocean. It was great except there were huge puddles everywhere from the rains earlier in the day. Puddles to a toddler is like chocolate to a woman; he couldn't resist. He was good for about 5-10 minutes, and then he just dove right in! Oh well, he's wet already, let him go nuts and have fun at least! Thankfully we had clean clothes in the car.

He was So Happy playing in the water, until..........Face plant into the muddy puddle!This doesn't even look like my son. He has a soul patch, a Hitler mustache and dark brown eyebrows!This picture cracks me up. It reminds me of those Wooly Willy games I had as a kid with the magnet pen and the metal shavings that let you drop the shavings over a drawing of a bald man's head to look like hair....does anyone else know what I am talking about?

Needless to say, after a quick wipe down with baby wipes and fresh warm clothes, we were back on our way, and made it home safe and sound. It was way too much driving with a toddler in such a short amount of time. We didn't get to see friends or any other family that live up there either. : ( I will not do this trip again in so few days. I need a minimum of 3-4 days to make it worth while. Though it was nice to see everone, we didn't get to visit anyone long enough.