Vineman 2011

Last weekend was one of the weekends I look forward to all year.  Jason participated in the Vineman triathlon again this year and we rented the same house we rented last year.  This year Jason and his dad did a relay.  Jason swam the 2.4 miles, and biked the 112 miles, then his dad ran the marathon.  It was kind of sucky because we left Thursday and Jason was sick with a cold.  Like SO sick, poor guy.  Friday he felt better, still not 100% but better.  That morning we all went and got breakfast and wouldn't you know it a few hours later and into the night Jason got food poisoning and was really sick.  He hardly ate anything Thursday and Friday, except for the omelet that gave him food poisoning.  I really encouraged him to just bow out of the race.  Normally you are eating a lot to prepare for the race, not only had he not eaten anything, but he was throwing up most of Friday.  He got up Saturday morning, was sick that morning, but decided to try the swim since it is the easiest part for him and then see how he felt.  Well he finished the swim in an hour and nine minutes (a PR for him) and finished the bike as well.  His dad was worried about the run since his calf had been bothering him during training, but he finished feeling great (as great as you can feel after running 26.2 miles).  They did great!

The rest of us had a great time.  Thursday before we headed to the house we spend some time at Spring Lake Regional Park.  The kids and I had fun walking around with my parents, enjoying the nice weather and picking blackberries.  That night we just hung out and watched a movie (The Social Network, which I really liked).  Friday we went and got breakfast, and walked around downtown Windsor.  We spent the rest of the day in the pool.  It was nice to just relax.  That evening we cooked the lasagna we had prepared and brought with us, and had Ollie's 3rd birthday party.  We had told Ollie that Friday was his birthday (it was really Sunday), so all day he was the birthday boy.  I can't believe my baby is 3.  We love him more everyday, he is such a crack up.

Saturday some of us headed out to watch Jason finish the swim and transition to the bike.  And the rest of the day was spent swimming and taking occasional breaks to run down the driveway and cheer on Jason and John.  It was a great weekend with almost all of both mine and Jason's families.  I really appreciate that our families can hang out together.  I can't wait for next year!

The typical pool scene.

Chrissy, Nathan, Letty and Jen.

My dad, Jason, and Max relaxing.

Lys and Letty jumping.

Jan, Ezra and Jen enjoying the hot tub.

Me, floating with my boys.

Chrissy and her kids.  I wish Dave could have been there with us :(

Max and his papa he is named after (Glen is my dad and Max's middle name).

What?  This is typical of Max.  He LOVES to eat and rub food in his hair, nbd.

These pics are stuck together for some reason.  Mom and dad.  Our moms were so helpful on this trip.  I felt like I was constantly feeding, bathing, napping, changing etc my children the whole time so they really stepped up and prepared and cleaned up dinner each night, and I really appreciated it.  

Ollie LOVES his papa John, he was so excited to see him.

Aunt Shelley pushing Ollie on the swing set.

Ezra is such a happy, smily kid.

Ollie wanted a "Tangled" birthday cake, so we ordered one and asked them to use more green and blue and less pink and purple.  And he loves the horse from Tangled (he calls him "that funny horse") so I spent a lot of time searching for a white horse I could put on the cake and finally found one at Michaels.  He was pretty happy.

Jason and I with our sweet birthday boy.

The party scene.

Jason finishing the swim.

Starting the bike.

Some of us heading down the driveway of our place to watch John.

Sisters.

Paul, Amy and Clara came up on Saturday to hang out and support Jason.  It was so nice of them and we loved having them around.

The bike finish and the run finish were at the high school which is about a mile from our house, so we walked there to see Jason finish the bike and John start the run.

Jason ran the last mile in with John.  Here they are coming down the homestretch.

Father and son.  Way to go guys!!

Cousin in Town

My mom is from Pennsylvania, and almost every summer we would go back there and visit our family.  We LOVED it.  Seriously, our most fond childhood memories are at my Grandma Bea's house in PA with our cousins.  A couple weekends ago my cousin Leah (who is closest in age to both me and my sister) came to CA with her boyfriend Eric and they were nice enough to stop by and spend a day with us.  My sister and her kids came down and Jason's sister Jenny and our cute nephew Ezra were in town from Utah, so we had a nice big group.  Saturday morning Chrissy and I made brunch (crepes, blueberry scones, fruit salad).  We ate outside and let the kids play in the sprinkler. We just hung out and looked at pictures while kids napped.  In the afternoon we headed to downtown Campbell, got ice cream and walked around.  There is a park close by so we took the kids and let them play.  That evening we got a babysitter and Chrissy, Leah, Eric, Jason and I went to Santana Row for dinner at Straits.  It was delicious and so fun to hang out with Leah and Eric without the kids.  You have no idea how many wonderful memories we have with Leah.  We love her so much and now we love Eric too!  We are so glad they came to visit and hope they will come back soon.

The kids enjoying ice cream, the adults enjoying watching them.

Me and my sweet boy.

Cousins!  I should find an old picture of us to put up with this, haha.

Of course, we must do an ugly face.

Lys and Leah LOVE Justin Bieber.

Ollie hanging out at the park.

The kids hanging out.  I have this same picture of them all in the bathtub, but it was not suitable for the blog :)

Dinner at Straits, so good.

July Camping

Over the weekend we headed up to the Santa Cruz mountains for a little camping trip with Paul, Amy and Clara, plus Michelle and Eric.  We tried a new county park (Sanborn) and it was really nice.  It is only about 20 minutes from our house so that was nice too.  We spent two nights because I think camping is WAY too much work for just one night.  We kept it simple by bringing up take out on Friday and then when Michelle and Eric came up on Saturday they brought pizza, so we didn't have to cook dinner, it was so nice and convenient.  The whole weekend was just so fun.

Paul and Ollie sitting on a rock having a drink (Ollie doing his stinky face). "Mommy you like my happy face. My like my stinky face."

After the kids went to bed (which was kind of a challenge with Max) we got to hang out.  I pretty much hate this picture but taking it was so funny I decided to post it anyway. 

Saturday morning Paul and Amy made a delicious pancake breakfast, with sausage and eggs and tons of fruit, it was so good.

Ollie loved his pancakes, look at that full mouth.

Look at this cute little family.  Clara even turned to the camera.

We had all these rocks around our campsite and Ollie had a lot of fun crawling all over them. Another goofy face for the camera.

Oh Max.  This kid just loves dirt.  And rocks.  I feel like I spent all weekend fishing rocks, twigs, and dirt out of his mouth.

Pretty much anytime someone picked up Max it was like this, holding him far from their body because he was always SO dirty.

Even his biggest fan Michelle kept him at a distance :)

Isn't Jason the cutest dad with his boys??  Seriously!  On Saturday we went on a hike in the morning and a nature walk in the afternoon.  (Btw Max was asleep). 

I tried to direct Max to sticks instead of rocks (less of a choking hazard).

I just love this little baby.  

Jason packing up the tent on Sunday.

Our campground was a little way up the road from where we parked so they provided carts to bring our stuff from our cars to the campsite.  Here is Michelle and Eric posing with our kids.  I think I have mentioned it before, but I will say it again, Ollie LOVES his uncle Eric! He is a totally different kid around him because he is always SO excited.  Eric is so great with him.  It is really sweet.

The whole group before we headed home on Sunday.  We had such a great time.  We can't wait to explore a few more  campgrounds in the area before we move. Did I just say that?  More on that to come...

4th of July Weekend

We had a really great 4th of July weekend with friends and family.  I love the 4th of July and I felt more grateful than ever this year since my brother-in-law is overseas serving in Iraq.  I have always been appreciative of the sacrifices made by those who serve our country, and this year it is so close to home.  I see what my brother-in-law, sister, and their kids sacrifice, and sometimes it is really heartbreaking.  So thank you to all who have served and continue to serve so that we can enjoy this free country.

We started our weekend Thursday night.  I drove up to Newcastle with my sister-in-law Michelle and the kids.  The drive was great except poor Max cried the last 1/2 hour or so.  When we got there we realized he had a poopy diaper and he was FREEZING.  I had the AC on and it was blowing right on the poor little guy.  Yeah, I felt horrible.  Not one of my finest mommy moments.  On Friday we met up with some of our very best friends, the Evers at Lake of the Pines.  It was so fun to see them, I just wish Jason had been able to be there.  The weather was perfect and we had so much fun swimming.

Me, Jeff, and Kelly

The ladies.  Ashley, Chrissy, me, Kelly and my lovely mother.

My beautiful friend Kelly.

Grandma has the magic touch and got Max to take a little nap.

Jason and our brother-in-law Eric drove up late Friday night to avoid traffic.  Saturday we just hung out and relaxed.  And in the afternoon we went swimming at the Hancocks.  Jason has many, many good memories with the Hancocks and it was so nice of them to let us come swim.

Michelle and Nemo.

Ollie had tons of fun jumping in the water and being thrown around.

Jason and Max.

Me and Michelle.

Ollie LOVES Eric.  Later that night he told us "Grandma loves Shelley, and Ollie loves Eric".  It is pretty cute.

"Let me out of here!"

Later that evening Jason, the kids, and I went to my cousin Mary's little boy Jake's birthday party.

Lys and Ollie.

Me, Chrissy and Max.

Max is eating everything these days, including celery.  It was keeping him hydrated :)

After the birthday party, we took the kids back to Jason's parents, put Max to bed, then Jason and I went out to dinner.  We are so grateful to have family willing to let us leave our kids for a bit to spend some time together.

We tried a restaurant in Auburn called Latitudes that we have always wanted to try.  They have a normal menu that is always available, and then every month they have a menu with dishes from different countries available.  This month was South East Asia.  We both ordered from the SE Asia menu and really enjoyed it.  It was so nice to spend alone time together.

Sunday we went to church with my parents then had dinner with my whole family (minus Letty), Jason's family, and the Boatmans.  It was so delicious and fun to all hang out.

The whole gang.

Papa reading books to Nathan and Ollie.

Also Sunday night Jeff and Kelly, and their adorable kids came to Jason's parents house so they could see Jason, which was SO nice of them.  We love them so much and miss them a ton.  We hope to someday end up living close to each other.

Monday morning was the annual City of Lincoln 4th of July parade.  We were really excited because my mom was able to get Ollie and Alyssa a spot on a vintage firetruck in the parade.  We thought Ollie would love it but he actually HATED it.  They were in front of all the big firetruck who had their sirens on and horns blowing.  It was way too loud for Ollie.  Jason was with him and said it left his ears ringing. So Jason texted me and when they got close to us I ran and got Ollie off.  Next year we will just watch from the sides :)

While there we caught up with my bestest friends in the whole world (we missed you Megan).  I seriously love these girls.

Stacie loves being a creeper in our pictures.

Nathan, Owen and Max watching the parade.

My parents at the parade. 

I really love this picture of Jack and Ashley, so cute. 

I had to get one picture of them on the firetruck before I rescued Ollie.

Poor guy was pretty upset.

He was much happier to sit on the truck while it wasn't going.  I can't remember this gentlemen's name but he is the one who drove the firetruck.

After the parade we stopped by the Lions Club fireworks booth where my parents were working and got a few little fireworks.  We live in Santa Clara County and they don't sell fireworks here, lame.  We left to come home right after that and were home by 1:15pm.  We then had a few friends over for a BBQ and fireworks.  It was a perfect evening.

Paul and Amy with sweet little Clara.  She really is the most adorable baby ever.

Claire with her cute boys.  They are both looking at the camera!!

Me, Amy and Claire.

Watching our little fireworks.

The boys were way more into the poppers than any of the actual fireworks.  We will have to remember that next year.

My parents just got back from Isreal.   They got Ollie this hat (while they were in Boston) and he was wearing it around last night calling it his pirate hat.  And this is a huge breakthrough because when I asked him to smile for the camera, he actually did it!!

We hope you all had a fun and safe 4th of July!!