Local fun

One thing I love about living in this area is the plethora of things to do within an hour or two of driving.  We try to get out and do some of the local fun things as often as we can, but it had been a while - so we went adventuring last weekend.  

I can't get enough of this kid's smiles.  He is such a happy kid and we love it!  When he gets tired, he will run like a crazy man around the house and then come and crash into me and give me a big hug and snuggle.  It's the best.  

This was four loads of laundry that I folded in one night.  I was pretty proud of myself.  I tend to save up and then we have a TON of laundry to do.  I'm trying to find a good system to keep up with it - but I'm not great at following a cleaning schedule.  Any laundry suggestions? 

The girls who live down the street from us (5 houses down, as Spencer would tell you) came over to play last week and within 2 minutes of being there, they had Daniel dressed up as a fairy and given a wand.  Ha!!

Gordon took Spencer and his buddy, Madi, to a park a few weekends ago to give her mom a break (Dad was out of town, we know how that goes!) and they had such a blast.  These two are such great friends!

Daniel woke up pretty early this morning and both Gordon and I were super tired.  I asked if he minded taking the first shift and he agreed.  I came out later to find them snuggled up on the couch - Gordon totally asleep and watching Bubble Guppies, Daniel loves that show.  :) 

It was warm enough a few weeks ago to have a pool day and we had such a great time!  Dad was working from home that day (we LOVE those days!) and he kept Daniel while Spence and I went swimming with Madi at their pool.  Daniel snoozed the whole time we were gone and we stopped to grab Subway on the way home.  The pool makes you hungry!!!

Bathtime.  

These two love the bath.  As soon as I mention the word "bath", Daniel starts bookin' it down the hallway.  They love to splash and play in there.  But, lately Daniel has been having some bowel issues in the tub.  As I mentioned in the last post ... 

Obviously, this night I got him out in time, but not diapered in time.  Ugh. 

Daniel is almost long enough to ride this tricycle!  That seems crazy.  He is definitely not sturdy enough to ride, but he loves being pushed around.  

The boys and I were out for a walk one morning and found a home that had a sign on their fence saying "Neighbors, please help yourself to some lemons from our tree!" 

And so .. we did! 

And lemonade was made and enjoyed by all.  

Yum!

Some nights, Spence gets to relax in our bed while Daniel falls asleep.  

Sometimes, he doesn't last long.  :) 

And here's the adventure I was talking about ... 

We went up to Golden Gate Park in SF.  

Our plan was to hike around the trails and just enjoy the outdoors, but we saw this cool observatory near where we parked, so we went to check it out.  Turns out, it's free to go up to the top.  It was awesome.  This is at the top of the De Jung Museum. 

I love big palm trees like this. 

I also love that boy in front of it.  

We eventually got a little hiking in around the trails, and ended up at an AWESOME playground.  The boys had such a great time.  They were also filming something, so there was a big sign at the entrance warning that "you or your children" may be filmed and included in the documentary they were filming.  I have no idea what kind of film it was or where it will be seen ... but, just so you know, we might be famous.  ;) 

At the end of the day, we were walking back to the van - which turned out to be a lot farther than we remembered.  And Spencer was wiped out.  I was too.  

Gordon offered to jog up to the van and bring it back to us while we waited at this bench.  I tried to get some pictures, but this was the best I could do.  

Shortly after this, Daniel was walking and face planted into the cement.  We were all tired.

Playing in the van.  

The next day we went to the Children's Discovery Museum in San Jose.  We have been there several times before, but Daddy hadn't been in about 3 years.  We always go during the week, and we went on a Saturday this time.  

That was a mistake, it was INSANE!  I don't feel like I am intimidated by crowds usually, but this was crazy.  People were EVERYWHERE!  I couldn't let go of Daniel or he would get knocked down or lost in the sea of kids.  Not fun for us, but the kids had a good time.  

Upstairs is the escape.  There's a room just for crawling babies (where Gordon took Daniel) and Spence and I went to the 4 and up craft room.  They had different flavored play dough to experiment with. They flavored it with paprika, coffee, cocoa, curry ... you could get one little sample of each.  He had a great time and created an Alien.  He is such a boy!

Time to go home!

Shopping at Target later that night, we just thought it was so cute how Daniel turned all the way around to watch Spencer in front of him.  He loves his big brother. 

Spencer has to make his bed every morning as one of his chores.  He told me his bed was all made and had me come and look at it.  

Nice job, kid.

Sending funny faces to Dad at work.  

Spencer likes to find my phone and send text messages or pictures to Gordon.  It's fun for them to chat during the day.  

He also sends them to unsuspecting Aunts and Uncles ... 

Daddy was working late and Spence wanted to send this picture to him to tell him good night.  :) 

Nice cozy chair for cartoons in the morning. 

We bought some flowers for the backyard this week and the boys had a blast at Home Depot.  Spencer was trying to find a comfortable position for them and it ended up being with Daniel relaxing and playing with his car with his legs up on Spencer, it looked so cute - but when I tried to get a picture, Spencer leaned in to smile at Daniel and they lost the position.  Funny picture anyway.  :) 

He likes spaghetti.  

Can you tell?

Good night.