Milestone Birthday for our boy

Our sweet boy is 5!!! It is very hard for me to believe that it has been 5 years since this amazing boy has joined our lives. And since then, he has given us so much joy and amazement each passing day. He is such a gentle, sensitive and thoughtful guy. He loves everything that we do and truly appreciates everything that he experiences. He makes me so proud of him for so many things...like how he can memorize anything just by listening to it once (books, songs, etc), how he learned how to read at age 4 and how he can name Dave's songs in the first 2 notes. But most of all, I am so proud that he's been the best big brother and truly loves and adores his sister. I am so grateful that I get to witness that every day.

SLC Trip

We surprised our good friend Craig and helped him celebrate his big 40th birthday. We drove to Salt Lake and he was shocked to see us at his front door! It was a weekend filled with fun times with good friends, and very little sleep. We can't wait for them to come back home!!!

Enjoying the Beautiful Fall

Halloween 2010

While everyone were busy with costumes and such for Halloween, my family was busy doing this:

I've had some not so nice comments about how we don't "let" our kids celebrate Halloween. I don't particularly care about Halloween and neither do my husband. This year, I tried to talk Aden into doing the whole Halloween thing. Just to feel like we're "normal". He was not buying it. He didn't want to dress up. He said he didn't want to be anyone, just Aden. I was so proud of him, of not caring what others do and just doing what feels right to him. We made a family decision to enjoy one more year of not celebrating Halloween. So, off to the beach we went. And frankly, no amount of sugar can ever top this sweet treat. I'm glad my kids agree....for now.

Pumpkin Patch

Very warm Fall day

I always take advantage of the nice warm weather when I know that it will not last. I LOVE taking trips downtown with the kids. We have our favorite spots...and this day was full of fun stuff for us to do. Lunch at the park, playground, riding the Streetcar and an impromptu stop at the water park.

Day Trip to the beach

The last week in September, I relunctantly drove back to the beach in the middle of the week to pick-up Darin's jet ski for it's trek to Lake Havasu. I wasn't particularly excited about driving there with the kids, since I've NEVER driven to the beach with the kids by myself. It was amazing to realize that, since we go to the beach a lot! Luckily, Karly & her troops were able to meet us there to hang out for the day. We knew it was going to be a nice day, but we were pleasantly surprised when we got there and it was in the mid-70s! For the coast, that is very warm weather. We had an amazing time, had lunch at the Pelican and let the kids play on the beach. It was such a nice day and a nice treat for us!

River Camping

Towards the end of summer, Darin & I promised each other that we will have to go camping the next nice weekend after the Surfslam event. Darin was really looking forward to going boat camping out on the Columbia River...the spot where I've gone for a few years with friends way back when I was very young adult. So I was a bit skeptical about going back out there in such different circumstances...having kids and being a responsible adult! But my husband, being a very motivated and determined guy that he is, persisted and assured me that it will be a fun weekend. And sure enough, as soon as we got to the parking lot and backed the boat into the water, I realized that I was worried about nothing.

Aden literally spent the entire day in the water. It was so shallow that he can walk through the water, from the boat to the beach and he was totally having a blast! Kadence was a little bit under the weather which was a bummer but she was still able to join in on the fun. It was such a fun weekend, we're looking forward to going back there next year!

Surfslam 2010

What an awesome time we had at the annual Blowsion Surfslam event. The weather was absolutely gorgeous - better than any summer day! As expected, we were very busy with the competition schedule and all; we are so grateful that my sister was able to come with us this year and help out with the kids! She is such a trooper and such a great support for us. The kids just loved spending the time with her.

The best part is how Darin did so well. There were so many obstacles he had to deal with leading up to this event that it made me even prouder that he placed 4th overall! This is such a great accomplishment especially since this is only the second time he has ridden his new ski! He is such an amazing competitor and we are all so proud of all of his accomplishments. He will definitely always be #1 in our eyes!

DMB (mini) Tour

We did a road trip to California to see a couple of Dave shows. We went with Beth & Kenny, (without the kiddos!) and had an amazing time. It was like a trip down memory lane. We haven't gone to a Dave show with them in 5 years! Such a different kind of show-going experience for us. Instead of camping, we decided to stay in hotels since we're going to 2 different cities in 2 nights to see a show. It was the first weekend for us to be away from the kids, thanks to my mom & sister who took very good care of them. We missed them terribly, but it was also nice to be kid-free for a few days. We went golfing, swimming, strolled at the Fisherman's Wharf in SF, and of course, had a blast at the concerts. I already made D promise that we will go to atleast 4 shows in 2012...and I promised Aden that he'll see Dave again.

Special Treat

Favorite Past time

Lots of good memories from this summer...I love that both kids so enjoys being outdoors. Just a simple picnic lunch at a park brings lots of fun to our days...

Playground Fun

Our house is so close to a few parks, but our neighborhood hang-out is so handy for us...even on summer days, it's usually not packed at all. The kids enjoy playing there so much and the little miss has been such a dare-devil that she will go up and down toy structures all by herself and LOVES going down slides, if you can't tell just by looking at these pictures.