Academy of Sciences with the McMillans!

Our friends, the McMillans, invited us to go to the Academy of sciences with them. Ethan and their little boy, Tyler are only 1 week apart, and their next child is I think 3 days apart from Lincoln, so Heidi and I have had a lot of fun with our kids playing together. This was our first visit ever to the Academy of Sciences and I had been wanting to go here for a long time! We jumped at the chance when they invited us to go with them! They had this awesome fish tank that you could walk all across the top with peeking windows. Can you see the stingray swimming by?

 The famous Albino Alligator! John says, he remembers with alligator being there when he was little.

 Ethan loved watching them clean the massive fish tanks.

 There is something about watching the fish in a massive tank that you can kind of get lost in it. I find it very relaxing, which is saying something when you're chasing around this little munchkins.

 Can you tell what this is? I didn't even know that there were upside-down jellyfish living in the oceans!

 Ethan also loved looking at the turtles. John has been working on convincing me to get one of those massive turtles that will grow to be like 3 feet tall. Although I think they are nice, they just don't seem to offer all that much back to the family.

The penguins were awfully friendly and kept the kids entertained for quite a while.

  They also had this huge area of stuffed animals. I guess it beats paying for the care of all of them!

 But in the end, the boys preferred the little portals to the underwater.

 And by the end, they were ready to have some hands on experiences.

 They had this awesome play area for little kids to run some energy out. It included a huge treehouse.

And a giant boat, which Ethan gladly took the helm.

 I loved the little bunkhouse.

 The porthole was cute too.

 We had such a fun time McMillans, Thank you!

Lincoln's First Haircut!

I know he's cute, but this kid need a cut!

 Ethan was very helpful in showing Lincoln exactly what was happening during the whole ordeal.

 Lincoln wasn't quite sure he was into the whole idea.

 But as long as he was chewing on something or playing with my necklace, he seemed to do just fine.

 He looks so much older now!

Random moments in January

As we were packing up all the decoration from Christmas, Ethan and Lincoln did their part to help me out.

 Wouldn't you love to get these packages in the mail?

 Ethan is loving the job of "big brother" and likes to teach Lincoln lots of things, especially if it involves the proper use of riding cars.

 Ethan also wants to be the best helper.

 I think Daddy loves to get his help too.

 Cute buns!

 My boys enjoying a nice ride at Costco.

 Ethan loves to take bike rides all year round. This time, he learned all about making wishes.

 Take a deep breath.

 And blow!

 Ethan also learned how to button his shirts all by himself!

 Lincoln is cruising around on all fours this month.

 Lincoln packs in the food like nothing else, he must be getting ready to GROW!

A day in SF

To be fair, it was really only an evening in SF. We started out the late afternoon after the boys had their naps and after John got home from work. We took BART into the city.

 First item on the agenda is to see the trolley cars. Ethan is completely obsessed. He loves to see the bus around our hometown that he calls the trolley bus. The real deal was even more exciting.

 I am just completely obsessed with this cutie. It's a good thing he loves his Ergo Baby.

 The Trolley car comes into view!

 I mostly just wanted you to see my sweet boots. My sister got a whale of a steal on Amazon and I got to buy her cast offs! Merry Late Christmas to me!

 We went down to the pier and got to watch all the huge boats.

 And more importantly, follow the train tracks we discovered there.

 Alcatraz even looked beautiful.

 Ethan found a loving pair of seals to take a rest on.

 Then we ended the evening at, where else? Ghiradelli! We really need to do this more often!

New Years at the Beach House

Immediately after returning home from ID for Christmas, we headed down to the beach house with our friends. While there we had a fantastic bike ride.

 John doesn't look too thrilled about riding his new bike. It might be because I gave him a sound thrashing for not buckling his straps on his helmet. Ahem. Attempting to ride his bike without first buckling his helmet. Safety first, my love.

 Teri is a power horse for riding with both Riley and Ethan in the trailer. Those kids get heavy!

 And of course we had to let our friend enjoy our favorite park. How many pictures do I ahve exactly of the red roller slide?

 April is taking one for the team in helping Jackson down the slide, obviously.

 I wish, I WISH, I knew what this conversation was about. Please submit your own caption here.

 Playing, as it turns out, is a lot of hard work.

The fantastic bridge.

 See? Lincoln had a workout.

 We spent lots of time at the beach house also getting our groove on with Rock Band.

 Playing some "friendly" games of Settlers too.

 Janelle rocked us all with her mad skilz on the guitar. I think she must spend the majority of nap times perfecting the art of Rock band.

 We know how to bring in the new year with style.

 Do you think we apcked enough people in the beach house. I't sa good things these boys aren't afraid to get cozy, eh?

 What would a beach house trip be, without a visit to the tide pools?

 Ethan instructed everyone in the fine art of "squish the things."

 Everyone got to enjoy the tide pools.

 Ethan found his own starfish!

 We were extremely fortunate to have low tide at the same time as "optimal colors" time with the camera.

 Thank you everyone who was able to come, the Jacobs, Rossi's, Dolls, Lees and Evans! Glad you aren't scared to take a risk on a packed house!