Boy do I have alotta stuff to say today! I finally have an evening that I can devote to blogging and picture uploading. As of tomorrow, I'm getting Cory's sloppy laptop seconds because he's getting a fancy new one, so then it'll be even easier to blog (although I shouldn't say that, that implies I'll be doing a lot more of it, and we all know I'm lazy). Anyway, Now that I've uploaded all the pics stored in my camera, I'm remembering back to all the fun things we did this summer! So let's reminisce together...
First, okay, the pic doesn't capture nearly the amount of fun we had on our long weekend trip down to LA in July. We went for my BFF Kat's 29+1 birthday, and aside from the travel time in the car, we had a blast! This pic is us at the Rainforest Cafe...we took the poor man's Disneyland trip and only went to Downtown Disney, the free shopping strip there. Audrey's too young to appreciate the dough we'd drop on the real deal, so we just went down and shopped and basked in the shadow of the Magic Kingdom. Audrey loooooved the aquarium room that she got to stay in at Kat & Pablo's... they're so well prepared for their soon-to-be little one that they already painted fish and sea cucumbers and kelp and a whale in their nursery, and Audrey had a blast pointing everything out and laughing!!
keep reading for more summer fun...
The next week, Grandma Sandi came from Canada to stay with us all week, and every day she took Audrey to do something fun, like the zoo or the park. Over the weekend, we took the ferry from Oakland to SF and walked around downtown. Unfortunately, we missed the ferry back to Oakland (envision us running up to the dock and seeing the ferry pull away... very dramatic!). Not to worry, however; the next ferry was taking off from Pier 39, which was a 30 minute walk from the Embarcadero where we were. So we made the best of the jaunt and had some fun along the way...
Wow! A picture that's not of Audrey!! This one was taken on our way to Tilden park a few weekends ago, and it's to make those of you that wonder why we pay the big bucks to live in the Bay Area. When it is good it is very very good, and we've had some stellar days of awesomely clear and warm weather (I won't mention how the wildfires have now filled our air up with smoke and ash the last few days). Anyway, we took the Turkey and Audrey to Tilden in Berkeley and had a great time, although we were there too early for the carousel and we brought the stroller, even though all of the paths were dirt. So we just had a little walk around Lake Anza and played on the playground. We're planning to go back and go to the petting zoo in a few weeks; we had to stay away this trip due to the Turkey, but next time we'll leave him at home.
Last weekend, we went to San Francisco for a wedding, and made a whole day of it. Long story made not quite so long, the Bay Bridge was closed the entire Labor Day weekend for seismic retrofitting, which didn't fit our schedule at all since we literally had fun things to do in the city all three days. On Saturday, friends were getting married in the Presidio, so we left super early and took Audrey to the phatty new toddler playground in GG park (pictured). We met Aunty Jen there, who watched both Audrey and Mia while Cory, Allison, Roland and I all went to the wedding and had a great time! Luckily the feedback from the babysitter was all good; little Audrey wanted to do everything her big girl cousin was doing, but they all had a good time (and I didn't lose a friend by a babysitting gig gone awry. :) )
Lastly, we're to our fun day today!! Grandma Bette called me yesterday to ask if we wanted to meet her at Gilroy Gardens, which is a little kid amusement park in (you guessed it) Gilroy. She was watching Mia while Allison & Roland were on a booze cruise (I mean, sailing to Mexico), so we thought it would be a good chance to get the little ones together again. And it was a blast! I swear Audrey has read the handbook on what it takes to be the cutest little girl ever - she was waving at people and just all around having a ball. She loved the rides -
The indy car races...
A boat ride with Mommy...
Riding on a caterpillar in an apple...
Riding a flying goldfish...
Mia loved the goldfish too! She insisted on Number 5 (like Short Circuit, 5 is alive...)
We rode a spinning artichoke...
And of course, the classic, the carousel.
So it was an exhausting, but fun day!! I definitely want to go back, although it's a little pricey as far as fun kiddy things to do. But well worth it when she has so much fun, and everything is her size. We get so used to going to parks where she's just a little too little to enjoy, she gets frustrated, and we go home. So it was really nice to let her get out, run around and have some 15 month old fun.
So, I've just caught you up to speed on our incredibly fun summer and all that we've been up to. Unfortunately, our summer has ended with a family blow just this week that we are dealing with... our beloved cat, Iggy "The Chicken," was diagnosed with a fatal virus, FIP. Apparently it's a pretty rare virus that's passed between cats, but he's got it and we fear he's in his last days. Just the past few days we've been a bit encouraged because he's been eating and drinking, but he is still pretty weak and definitely not his true Chickeny self. So of course we are devastated that we're going to lose him... Audrey loves to pet him, The Turkey loves to cuddle with him and nibble on the nape of his neck, and of course Cory & I love to make him drool with a few quick scratches on the head. Even though he loved to wake us up with his insistent meowing to get out at 5am and he never pooed more than once in his litter box (he resorted to pooping right outside his box on the floor), we're going to miss him alot. I'll let you know as things progress...right now we're just trying to make sure he's comfortable and not in pain so we can enjoy our last few moments with him.
