Gilroy Gardens

I finally had a free moment to sit down and post pictures from our Gilroy Gradens day trip with our friends. We had a "bring your friends day" with our season pass a couple of weeks ago. We were thrilled to go with Jessica, Emily and Sam. The girls are the bestest of friends! It is very cute to watch them interact with each other.

One of the big reasons I LOVE Gilroy Gardens is because everyone can ride everything. The boys loved every ride!

The water area was a lot of fun for Carter but Aubrey wasn't feeling it much. She was playing a little and then the poor girl slipped and bumped her head. She felt better after the train ride and the yummy M&M's Jessica had for her. What a life saver. (Thank You!)

Not only could the boys go on rides with us they could also go on this adorable gold fish ride all by themselves. They are getting so big!

The girls spinning around and around!

We ended our fabulous day with a yummy lolly pop!

It was a day filled with wonderful memories.

Introducing the newest member of the family....

Flippy!!!!

Aubrey was very excited to get her very own new pet, Flippy! We went Friday night to the pet store and Aubrey picked out a very colorful beta fish. We are excited for her to have her very own pet and learn about taking care of something. She is doing great reminding us to feed him and turn the light on and off. It was fun picking out all the tank decorations as you can see everything is pink!

Summer Fun and Someting so yummy!

On Thursday I took the kids to our local science museum. We had a blast playing in the tumble time area and checking all the new exhibits out.

Saturday Aubrey and I went to Michael's for there kid craft day and Aubrey made this adorable book worm pencil holder.

On Sunday we had our good friends over for dinner and Aubrey and Carter played all night with Carrie. They got a long so well it was amazing!

Saturday morning I made a recipe that I found on-line.

Nutella Pastry Pockets.

www.endlesssimmer.com/2011/04/21/easter-brunch-heroics-nutella-pastry-pockets/

They were awesome and really easy. They reminded me off a pastry I had in France so long ago.

Everyone loved them as you can see:

Apples, apples and more apples

Our apple tree is outstanding this year. Two years ago we had a great apple year and then last year we didn't get a one but this year I would have to say maybe close to 100 apples and they are good size. The birds and bugs got a few but we have been able to pick lots and enjoy fresh apples with our lunches and some yummy desserts.

Aubry and I made apple bread the other day and it was fabulous! We also made apple crisp for Sunday night dessert.

Carter's 15 Months

Carter is sure growing up!

Carter turned 15 months a couple of weeks ago and we had his appointment last week. He is doing great and growing fast. He weighs 24lbs. 4oz. and 32.5 inches. He is in the 50% for his weight and 75% for his height. The doctor was very happy with progress. Carter is everywhere!! He hardly ever sits down. He runs, climbs and is in everything. He started saying "Deu-cie" (for our dog Deuce) a couple of weeks ago which is very cute. He also started to making car noises when he plays with his trucks, which is all the time. Tonight he was blowing on his food! It's crazy all the things they pick up so fast. Carter is till a GREAT sleeper. He is still taking two naps and sleeps all night long. We are so lucky to have Carter in our family he brightens all of our days.

Bay Area

Last weekend we had the opportunity to do go on a family trip to the Bay Area. Spencer took some time off work and we were excited to get on the road and get out there early for a long weekend. Well just as we were getting on the 205 we got a flat tire! Poor Spencer had to change the flat on the side of a very busy interstate on a hill in 90 degree weather. It was not fun to say the least. He even pulled his poor back out. He was able to put the spare on and we made it to a tire store in Dublin. We had to wait almost two hours which as all of you know can be a challenge with two kids and a dog in the heat. We ended up going on a walk while we waited and found a yummy yogurt place and an awesome park. The play structure and swings were perfect for our little ones and it even was fenced off so Deuce could run around. So even though it was bad luck and a huge inconvenience we manged to have a nice afternoon together.

Spencer's brother and family were visiting from Utah. We hadn't seen them for over 6 years so it was a nice treat to catch up and meet our newest great nephew, Kenny Jr.

It's hard to believe that Spencer's nephew is older then him and is married now and having his own children. I love that Spencer has such a big family. This picture is of Craig (Spencer's oldest brother), dad and Spencer:

We went on a day trip with mom and dad to the Oakland Zoo. We had a wonderful time. Aubrey has been asking me every day to go to the zoo. She loved all the animals and kid activities. They had so many fun things to check out and play on. Carter also had a great time pointing at all the animals. He also loved climbing on the huge spider web.

Aubrey LOVED the lily pads.

The petting zoo was a big hit with Aubrey. She followed all the sheep around and was sad when they climbed up on the rocks. Carter on the other hand kept his distance.

We found this cool stream of water that Aubrey enjoyed soaking her feet into to cool off. After being there for about 5 minutes that whole stream was filled with kids enjoying the cold water.

The rides were a lot of fun. Carter was very serious when riding on the carousel.

Aubrey had fun getting to pick out a different animal every ride and picking her orange car.

After an awesome day at the zoo we headed over to my sisters. We went out to dinner with my sister and Aunt Pat. We also went to my favorite store Ikea.

We went out to San Fransisco and had a fun lunch at the Rainforest Cafe.

Carter LOVED the turtle that was by our table. He either was pointing or waving to it the entire time we were eating.

After lunch we walked around Pier 39. You would never have known that it was almost the middle of August in San Fransisco, it was like 60 degrees.

We then came home and the kids enjoyed their new Ikea toys.

It was a great weekend. It is so nice that we can do these small getaways every now and again. We are so blessed to be close to our families and are able to visit all our old stomping grounds back in Hayward so often.