Happy Birthday Baby Boy!

We love you - Every Day All The Time No Matter What

Diaper Date Night

LOVED going to the movies last night - Diaper Date Night $7 for adults, kids under 4 free. We traveled about 25 minutes South (which in the bay is "a lot" but in our hometown would be no big deal at all for some kind of event...here we're greedy like "why doesn't our city offer this?") to a private cinema chain that offers family movie days (12:30 showings) and date nights (7pm showings)  I also now belong to a yahoo group that votes on what movie we want to see next...so cool. We had dinner at home, put CC in his pj's and drove down to watch The Time Traveler's Wife, a bit of a snooze but definitely got better in the middle-end. I almost made it through the movie without crying but the last 10 minutes got me :) Definitely interesting enough for me to have English Teacher discussion questions afterwards - which I'd love to propose for anyone interested after seeing this flick...won't post them now as I can't stand spoilers!

It was great to be in a theater so considerate of family needs: a) soft lighting during the film b) baby friendly sound levels. It was also a good experience to be surrounded by other families and be reminded how good we have it with our little guy.  The movie was full of parents/babies bouncing in the aisle, squeals & cries to be quieted by parents with neighbors who understood, blankets and toys on the floor for amusement.  It was especially good to know that my husband enjoyed himself - despite the chick flick title- and is looking forward to our next diaper date night :)

San Diego

Beautiful weather in San Diego (as always!) and it was great to see Tio Coco who is entering his final year at UCSD :)

Here are some pics from the SD Zoo - I didn't appreciate it fully until we tried the SF Zoo (what a dump!) LOVE THIS PLACE...almost as much as Charlie.

My boy sure loves his pack....what a sweet face.

On the tour bus with the boys...great idea credited to Julian. This time we were able to see a bunch of stuff we didn't see the first time and because we got on the last bus it was getting dark and more animals were waking up!

In the hotel lobby

Date Night in Santa Monica

Jose took us out to Santa Monica for a little night on the town. I kept seeing the Third Street Promenade on the local tourist/hotel channel and had been wanting to check it out for some time-it's super cute! Here are some pics from our walk down to the pier...

Roxbury Park, Beverly Hills

We stayed in century city and I went looking for a playground online to take CC to while Jose was at work.  Jose suggested a park he'd seen in passing off of olympic - that tip led me to roxbury park, super close by. Don't be fooled, though it's on the edge of Bev. Hills it was no scene from 90210! Not that B.H. can't be super fab - it certainly can be, but this place was something you'd find in small town America - except for the metered parking! That's right, had to bust out the quarters so my boy could play!

In front of the rose patch

He was so excited - he "drove" his cart all over :)

My boy loves his swing - he stayed in it for a new record of almost 30 mins! The tiny baby next to him fell asleep in the swing.

Play time @ The Hammond's New House

Our friends Jeff & Heather

post root beer float sample, courtesy of Mrs. Hammond...

playing outside with Dad...

Travel last week to LA & San Diego

So I'm wayyy behind on blogging - I've been concentrating on getting more settled in the house, entertaining friends in our new backyard, and chasing my boy who - in the last couple of days has gone to 3-4 steps to walking down the hall! Unbelievable!  Here are some photos/memories from our trip last week to So. Cal. We tagged along on a business trip with Jose which we hadn't done for nearly 4 months! Needless to say travel with Charlie has evolved again - well, never stops evolving.  The plane rides to LA and back from San Diego went pretty considering he used to sleep the whole time previously. The trip out we just concentrated on keeping him entertained - it was so stimulating with all the people, brochures in the back seat pockets, the windows, the peanut packs....he pooped himself out and fell asleep on the decent. On the trip home he was already pooped and slept a good portion of the flight :)  Since I feel it's really important to let him get down on the ground and "do this thing" every day (he's much happier) we packed his wagon and let him "drive" for long stretches down the hotel floor hallway and in the lobby. (In San Diego the lobby is extra grande and there is a side carpeted "pavillon" where we hung out a few times :)

Driving in the San Diego lobby...

The flight out to LA - double fisting the cell phones just like Daddy :)