Sanborn! Right in our own backyard....

I'll keep this short because I don't have a cool photo to post with it. But, we decided to take the trailer overnight to Sanborn park in Saratoga. So fun, we parked the trailer (w/full hook ups) and spent Sat afternoon hiking the nature trail, BBQ'd, went to bed early and biked and hiked Sunday morning too. Kids loved playing in the burnt out redwood tree, aka "the volcano." Literally took us 15 mins to get home. Sometimes the best trips are the most spontaneous and convenient.....

Surprise!

What a great surprise today! At lunchtime today, my co-workers and I headed to "house of pizza" next door to our building and when I walked in, the boys were there with flowers and a card waiting for me. Shawna had arranged with our babysitter "Dani" to have them join us. Totally made my day......

Birthday Time x 2

Boys had a fantastic birthday party - Dinosaur themed. Hard to believe they are 4 and 2 already. We celebrated at Oakmeadow park with friends & family...and a train ride. Tomorrow night (on Kyle's birthday) and eve of Sean's birthday, we'll have dinner - my mom is making yummy pulled pork sandwiches and we'll eat the rest of the leftover birthday cake.
It's nice that we can celebrate both boys, and because they are so close - they play with each others new toys. Big hits this year will be dinosaur train set, new pirate Thomas the Train set, Dino Train characters, baseball pitching machine, Star Wars helmet and pump up missile.
Sean's gift to us (tonight) was his first "poop" on the potty. We randomly put him on the toilet tonight, and were thrilled...light at the end of the tunnel.
Sean moves up to Room G next week (potty training room). Kyle is still enjoying preschool with Ms. Laura - he runs in and hugs her around the legs in the morning. She loves the fact that Kyle, although quiet most of the time, will sing Karaoke in the classroom when she puts on "Dynamite."
Boys are so fun, and so funny. Kyle - Mr. Sensitive, Sean - the Comedian.

Summer Vacation

It's been weeks since I last posted. I thought I'd be better about it this but time, but days/weeks go by too quickly. I don't want to see summer leave us. Summer was great as a kid; but it seems wonderful again with my own kids.
I took the last 2 weeks off of work. We were lucky enough to have a full week in Tahoe (thanks to the Burg's) and then the 2nd week was spent doing a variety things (Happy Hollow, the mall, read & saw the movie "The Help.")
Tahoe was about reconnecting with family (hubby & boys), catching up with friends (Michelle & Cameron), and just being lazy, eating & drinking way too much and relaxing (mostly by the lake). We literally woke up every day to decide what time we should arrive with all of our beach gear to the Lake Beach across the way (2 min walk). We were right by my favorite restaurant Sunnyside, so a few afternoon Chardonnays were had there as well.
The boys had such a blast - Kyle really got the hang of swimming (w/a life vest on), and loved "crock-a-dadding" which was crawdad fishing involving a bucket, a net, a line, a alligator clip and a piece of salami. These poor guys were caught and released 20+ times - a little dazed by the end. Kept the boys busy for hours.
Sean loved the rocks, and throwing his super ball into the lake for Kyle to fish out. He ate his way through vacation and also enjoyed sword fighting on the deck with everyone that would engage.
Big hit was watching the original Wizard of Oz. Boys watched it start to finish 3 times and were quoting it by the end of our break.
Chad and I relaxed, got a good tan, had many happy hours, ate lots of junk food, went to bed early and loved watching the boys go nuts over everything.
I was able to go for a run most mornings, which helped me avoid slipping into vacation lethargy.
The pictures really say it all.....

Two peas in a pod

More pictures from the weekend!

Finally feels like summer around here....

Such a nice weekend here; the rain has hopefully left us for a while. Saw a lot of family this weekend which was nice. Vicki, Scott, Olivia and my mom had BBQ Friday night. On Saturday Sean and I did a run (w/the bob stroller) and then we did a family hike/bike up in Los Gatos. Saturday night Chris, Shannon and Lily arrived. We got to take Lily for the night while Chris and Shannon did dinner & a movie. We love Lily!! All 3 of them played so hard and had such a good time.
This morning Mom came for a spectacular brunch that Shannon prepared. Later today we took the boys up to my favorite childhood destination - Garrod horse farms. Even cooler now (as an adult) is the Cooper-Garrod wine tasting room they have on site. Didn't get to do that but took the kids to the stables to see & pet all the different horses. A number of horse owners even introduced us to their horses. Lucky for us one unknown cowboy took Kyle into the stall and showed him how to feed his horse carrots off the palm of his hand. Boys got a huge kick out of that experience.
Next we went over to Saratoga Springs, played on the bouncy houses and spent lots of time exploring the creek. On the way back we brought the boys to the cemetery in Saratoga my Grandmother May is buried in. Unfortunately did not have flowers to leave (next time), but was glad we could pay a visit. As the boys say, we enjoy our "adventures."

How do you keep two boys out of mom's hair?

It's Monday morning, mom's home and boys are "challenging." Decided to set up our tent in the backyard to keep them occupied. Problem is Kyle keeps zipping up the door while Sean is in there and then Sean freaks out. They are at that age; takes a lot of patience. We are excited to have Luke, Jared and Lane Newman over this afternoon for play date. I'm excited to finally catch up with Annie!

Light at the end of the tunnel

Last week was another intense week at work, many long days/hours but I am (hopeful) that while things will remain busy, the worst of it is behind us (for another year!). This weekend we enjoyed a BBQ with friends on Saturday night (lots of kids, lots of wine....I promise it's not as bad as it sounds). Today I gave Chad a break, took the kids down to Aunt Vicki's to visit with Aunt Lori and Sarah. We went for a 3 mile run while Kyle rode his bike (& Sean in jogger), and Hannah & Sarah walked with Vicki. It was a beautiful loop in San Martin. Finally a day without rain. The phenomenon this year is called June-uary because since the beginning of the month it's been raining - global warming I guess.
Lori and I got away for couple hours while Vicki (so graciously) watched all kids while we ran to a couple of wineries. Very fun. Rest of the day was lazy.....so nice. Here's a picture of Sarah, Hannah and the boys along with Hannah's new kitten "midnight."

Little miss Lily

Chris, Shannon and Lily stayed the night last night. We don't get to see them often enough; for some reason our busy lives and a 45 minute drive between us limits our visits....go figure. We were lucky enough to get them all to ourselves for an overnight before they left for Vegas.
The boys adore little miss Lily and she is truly the cutest thing. I'm pretty sure Sean hugged her 50 times. The boys made sure she spent lots of time in their new play house and kept her very busy. They were so sad to see her leave this morning and Kyle kept saying "I want to go on vacation with Lily." Then came the "we miss Lily," and the "we don't want to go to school today, just stay home with Lily." Such fun cousin time...need to do it more often.

One person's trash....

We had a nice Memorial weekend. Spent Friday night and Saturday in Capitola with Michelle and Cameron and then stayed at home for the duration of Sunday & Monday. Tahoe got 2 feet of snow so Chad spent Sunday at Kirkwood - a day of solitude he needed.
Today we were driving home and around the corner I spotted a pile of plastic - dirty and covered in spider webs..but resembled a kids log cabin.
I went home but it kept calling me so I ran back with Chad's truck and loaded up. Chad, Kyle and I scrubbed it with soap and water and then put it together. The end result was a real treasure and totally free!!! Kyle and Sean were so excited, what a thrill. One person's trash is another's treasure. Fun filled family weekend!

Life!

Back to trying to make a conscious effort to get back to blogging. I haven't created baby books and relied on this mechanism to log life's moments...but have let too much time pass. We're doing well and the boys are changing every day.
Kyle started riding his two wheeler bike last week (went straight from balance bike to 2 wheeler). I felt like this weekend was a milestone when I took him running on the Campbell trail with me - mom jogging and Kyle riding his bike in front of me. He did well for his first time out and only stopped in front of me 3 times and I nearly tripped over him (lots to see on that trail - especially for a highly distracted 3 1/2 year old).
Sean is a character, mostly all smiles and very charming but boy when he doesn't get what he wants it's body to the floor temper tantrums. He has so much personality, talking so much and always getting hurt. His latest was falling off the slide in the backyard onto the cement, but that's just another day in the life of Mr. Sean.
Looking forward to summer. I'm working a ton right now (HR busy season) and am so thankful to have a very involved and understanding husband, a mom (Grandma) that helps us out and in-laws that have come down from Oregon now on multiple occasions to get involved and keep the household running. It takes a village and I'm thankful to have one. The boys love having Grandpa Pat, Grandma Lynn and Grandpa Ron around the house.
I'm still running most mornings before work and that's been my "sacred time" for many months now.
We're planning a few camping trips this summer which should be fun. I'm trying to talk Chad into a late summer trip to Hawaii but it's hard for him to leave the business.
I'll write more soon. Here are a few pictures from Easter.... Kyle 3.5 yrs and Sean 20 months.

Chelsea Justine Chiala

In honor of my little niece Chelsea, I am starting up my blog again tonight. She has helped us put our busy lives on "pause" and re evaluate what is truly important - love, family, friends and faith. At 9 weeks of age she suddenly left us; way too soon. There really are no words, no explanations, no real reasons, but we will accept what life has dealt us and move forward.
She was truly the most beautiful little girl you have ever seen.
Life is so precious.
On the day after she passed away, a butterfly hatched out of a cocoon just above the last place she closed her eyes to sleep. No one knows how the cocoon came to attach on the window just days prior, but this beautiful creature appeared - blue and pink spots. The butterfly just sat on the step outside the window for a while and eventually flew off. Truly a sign from God.
We love you Chelsea, thank you for being with us and thank you for helping the babies that needed your organs to live on in your memory.
May you rest in peace: 9/29/10 - 12/4/10.

Pac Northwest Adventure - Day 2 (Seattle)

It's 6pm, I'm sitting at the RV Park picnic table, looking out on the view of the man made "brownish greenish" pond (Chad says it's natural and called a Pete Bog...I'll have to look that one up)...... with many signs reading "no swimming allowed." I'm armed with a glass of chardonnay...and all is good. Had a fantastic day in Seattle. Both kids are wiped out.
We took the jeep to downtown Seattle center. Didn't leave the motor home until almost 11am but we'll get the shower/getting organized for the day thing down as we go.
I tried to talk Chad into the city "duck boat" tour but when he saw the tour truck/boat with tourists chanting as they went by - he was basically not into that option AT ALL. So, he talked me down from that and we did our own Nelson tour of Seattle - very fun!
We started with the space needle (not cheap!) - Kyle's reaction was "oh ....my....gosh...." and had snacks up at the top and toured around. Outside the needle was a great option for young kids, lots of rides...Kyle did a few of those and loved them (fire engine ride, space ship and a crazy flying boat.)
Just a few steps away was the monorail. That's a cheap thrill for Kyle because any moving vehicle that resembles a train is like Christmas morning. The mono rail took us straight into downtown and then down the VERY STEEP hill to the Market. I had to be the typical tourist and hit that (with the other million people there) to see the Fish Market where they yell, and throw fish - there were some really ugly fish there. I made Chad walk with me down the middle of the market with our huge (and very packed) stroller just to say we did it. I only ran into the back of a few heels - no major injuries.
After that it was back to the monorail, back to the jeep (didn't have keys to unlock the door but back hatch was unlocked - phewwww) and now back to the park. Contemplating dinner but thinking cashews and wine aren't a bad option. Great day, kids were well behaved and survived our day excursion to Seattle.

Pac Northwest Adventure - Day 1

We're on our trip! We left town Tuesday night at 8 pm, arrived to Scottsburg, OR (Chad's parents) at 5am, slept for a few hrs and enjoyed Chad's birthday (8/18) with his parents. We set off for Canada today (8/19) around noon, made a stop at Costco (loaded up with goodies), drove through Portland and many small towns along the way and arrived at our RV park in Bothell, WA around 8PM this evening.
Chad did a great job driving the 38 ft motor home with jeep trailing behind. Kyle calls us a "train" because we're towing the car. This is totally the way to travel with kids - potty, fridge, microwave (all of which I used constantly) and will look forward to the washer/dryer, stove top, etc in the coming 10 days. There are pop outs so when we're parked this lovely vehicle becomes a luxury home in minutes. We are so thankful to Chad's parents for being brave & generous enough to let us experience their home on wheels. Oh, big bonus is the porta crib that conveniently fits into a corner of the motor home - so Sean does have a portable cage.
I feel like I got a workout along the way having jumped up and down from my seat six million times to get various things for kids, but all in all they did really well for the 7 or so hours we did on the road today. Don't forget, that's after 9 hrs in the car Tuesday night..but they slept through most of that.
Sean has been surprisingly good - he loves being away from home. Kyle loved the many bridges we passed over to get here. Tomorrow we'll tour downtown Seattle.
Before I leave you for the night, just have to share that I am so happy to have this break, am sitting here at the motor home kitchen table with a beer and both kids are sound asleep ( love that sound - of nothingness...and the click of the keys on the keyboard). Here are a few pics to give you an idea.