Birthday Celebrations

We celebrated Crew's first birthday on Monday. It was just a little family birthday since we have celebrated it a few other times with family. I made some coconut curry prawns over rice which Crew couldn't eat but the rest of us could. We then had cupcakes and sang happy birthday again to the little man. Athen is pretty good at singing the Happy birthday song now.

Crew loves to climb up on everything. He climbs up on the dinner table, the train table, trunk, and any box he can find and stands up. He loves attention from his big brother, his mama and papa. He is a fast walker and loves to eat sand, grass, flowers or anything else on the ground. He loves swinging high on the swings. He is finally enjoying some finger foods and doesn't choke as much. He is sleeping through the night most of the time. He is really rowdy and on the go at church. We are counting down the months until nursery comes. He drinks real milk now and is in the 80% percentile for height. Athen better start being nice because Crew is going to pass him up pretty quickly. He still only has 2 front teeth and hates getting his fingernails cut. We love like little guy to pieces and are so happy he is a part of our lives.

We celebrated Rick's birthday this week as well. He turned 37 on Father's day. That sounds crazy old to me but I'm going to be there in a few months myself. Luckily we don't feel or look that old - thanks to all our young friends and our young kids. We celebrated Rick's birthday on Friday. The kids and I brought a mandarin orange cake with pineapple frosting into Rick's work to celebrate. I have been doing this for several years now, even before we got married. We then made sure he came home with us instead of working late. The kids love visiting Rick's office because it is high up in a "skyscraper" and they get to see the views. Plus they love all the space, running up and down the halls.

We left the city and headed to Livermore to my mom's house where I had Rick's birthday present. I brought the kids outside to play and Rick noticed that the shiny red vintage 60's Schwin tandem bike with white wheeled tires was for him.  I packed us up a picnic dinner and we headed to the park for some food and then rode our new bike along the bike trail and through the pretty Livermore vineyards. It was a perfect summers night. Athen rode his little red bike along the side while Crew joined us in the Ergo on ours. Happy birthday Rick we love you to pieces. Can't wait to get a house so we can ride our new bike.

Disneyland

Disneyland was a blast. Athen and Crew had so much fun with all their cousins, aunts & uncles and grandparents. Our first day at Disneyland was Thursday. There was 22 of us in our group and we all had bright green Disney shirts on made from mama Bingham. This was a great idea. It was so easy to spot everyone, and hard to get lost. We always knew where everyone was. Plus it was easier to hop in line with the group without people getting upset that you are cutting. They would see the green shirts and let you go on through.

Everyone was so helpful with the kids so Rick and I were able to ride on all the rides we wanted to. They kids had a blast. Athen loved Pirates of the Caribbean and got to go on his first roller coaster with me. It was a happy moment for me. We spent two days hopping back and forth from Disney to California Adventure.

Athen's first roller coaster ride with his hands up. He loved putting his hands up on all the rides. Although, they didn't stay up on the roller coaster ride once it started.

We spent a day at Huntington Beach. The boys and kids went in the water while the girls chased Crew around in the sand all day. Towards the evening we all rented Surrey's and tandem bikes and road up and down the beach. It was a great day.

That evening we all got Mexican take out and headed back to our hotel room. We celebrated Crew's birthday with all the cousins and realatives with a coldstone ice cream cake and some decorations. It was a great trip. We LOVED it!

Lots to Catch up on

I know I have lots to catch up on but we have had several weeks of visitors, have been out of town and have had 2 birthdays to celebrate. Over Memorial day weekend Rick's best friend Ben came into town to learn how to kiteboard with Rick. Rick has been waiting to teach his buddies for some time now so he was super excited. He took Friday off and had Monday as well. They spent several days kiteboarding which meant that I spent several days with the kids all by myself. I am such a good wife. We did have Ben join us on our Sunday walk and picnic to the park. We packed up some snacks and drinks and enjoyed a little picnic and park time.

On Monday morning before the wind came up we decided to head over to Half Moon Bay and go for brunch at one of our favorite places - Cafe Zero. This was pretty much the only time we got out with the boys. It was delicious of course.

A few days later we had Rick's brother Ryan, Sierra, Brynlee and Isaac come into town. Rick took that following Monday off and we played. We went to the beach for a BBQ. We had Salmon, Steak, watermelon, 7 layer dip, and corn on the cob. Rick bought a boogie board on Craigslist this week so he could take Athen out into the ocean. The kids loved it.

A few days later we headed to Disneyland for 5 days. We met up with Rick's family and all the cousins. It was tons of fun. I will post pictures of our Disney trip in the next post.

My mother's day gift from my Friend Amy

Love it. It melts my heart.

Pismo Beach

We headed down south this weekend to go camping at Pismo beach. This is one of our family traditions and one I have been doing most of my life. Both Athen and Crew have been to Pismo before but this time we went camping (we had a beach house last time). We decided to not camp on the sand dunes since it's a little noise and dangerous for the kids. We stayed at a nice campground right next to the dunes. This was our first time camping there and I must say I really liked it. I think this is where we will be staying each year for the next 5 years or so until the kids get a little older and the sand dunes are more doable.

Athen loved digging in the dirt and playing with his trucks and buckets. When he got tired he would just lay down and play. Of course he had to take his buckets filled with trucks and rocks on a bike ride - one on each handle bar.

Playing in the sand. We walked along the beach to downtown and went to Mo's for dinner.

 Grandpa found some seaweed and we played jump rope.

 Crew loved playing peek a boo with his blanket and grandpa.

 Mo's BBQ. Our favorite tradition.
Of course we had to teach Athen how to roast marshmallows. They are one of his favorite treats. In fact his favorite potty treat is a colored mini marshmallow. This time he got to roast the big ones. He loved it.

 Gotta love this snotty sandy face. Athen digging in the sand at our campsite. He loved being out side the whole weekend.

Look how lovely our campsite was. A nice big grassy area for the tent made sleeping more comfortable. A nice big tree to play on and then sand to dig in. We loved it there.

Weekends around the lake

We have spent a lot of our weekend afternoons and evenings around the lake. We have had such nice weather lately that we take walks down to the lake for picnics. Friday night after work we get take out from Cana (a delicious Cuban restaurant) or the pizza place and eat dinner on the grass at the park. We aren't the only ones with this idea. It feels like Central Park in Oakland. On Sundays we bring dessert down to the lake and enjoy our dessert.

Athen eating his Tostones and me drinking a Cuban Iron Beer. Cubans have the best sodas!

This last weekend we babysat Aiden on Saturday night so we decided to take the boys down to the park and get some Mexican take out for Cinco de Mayo. it was delicious of course and the boys had a great time.