San Diego Zoo

Parker getting some shots of the orangutans 

At the elephant exhibit. Jared was sporting a pretty full-on beard at this point; I kind of miss it, it was handsome :) I think he stuck with it so long in a pact with Parker to get him to stop sucking his thumb (it worked!).

Taking a drink break in the shade--it was a hot, sunny day

Can you spot Grandpa Niki in the background?

Pushing the stroller and riding in the stroller was fun for each

We waited in line to see the pandas--luckily, you can actually get a really great view of them once you get in.

Parker captured a good shot with his camera.

Riding on the sky tram. Parker was pretty nervous about going on this (I didn't feel all that great about it, either, so I can't blame him), but as soon as it took off, he exclaimed, "Hey! This is really fun!" and then loved every minute of it.

Mariner I and Mariner II

We all couldn't resist the critter pics

 It's about time that I posted some pictures from Parker's birthday trip to the San Diego Zoo! They have been nagging me for weeks now :) Thanks to Dee and Niki, we were able to spend the day at the zoo with them and Nate, Lisa, and Alex. We got Parker his own camera for his birthday, and he spent a lot of time during the day diligently working at getting great shots and videos of the animals. We walked and walked all over, hopped on the tram here and there, and had a nice long lunch (where we caught sight of zoo keepers walking a cheetah on a leash along with its doggie buddy--who knew??). We even rode the sky tram back across the zoo at the end of the day--somehow, I got on the tram with all of the kiddos, luckily we all ended up feeling good and happy about the tram ride and made it back down to land safe and sound. It was a long, full, fun day, hopefully one that Parker will always remember as the day that we celebrated him turning five!!

Parker's Garden

Dee came up last week to help Parker implement a garden plan that he designed while playing at her house (it's hard not to be inspired by her garden, even for an almost-five year-old!). She arrived bearing all sorts of gifts, from lots of succulents to a hanging basket to a birdhouse and a solar light-up dragonfly. They spent the afternoon placing his plants and rocks just right in his own spot in the back yard. He is really proud of it, and it looks great! Then Dee spent the rest of the afternoon pulling both of the boys around the back yard in her garden wagon--both boys loved it so much that they fought over whose turn it was! Luckily, Levi became distracted by the hose, although his curiosity got the best of him when he turned it and pointed it directly in his face so he could get a closer look...

Bon Voyage to Dee and Collen!

Dee and Collen were leaving from San Diego for a cruise to Hawaii on the same day that we went for a family outing in the Bay. So we just had to drive the fishing boat down to the cruise ship docks to wish them a Bon Voyage before they crossed the ocean. We made a few cell phone calls trying to get ahold of Dee, in the hopes that we could wave goodbye, and luckily enough she and Collen were able to step out on their deck and see us and we all had a good wave before we headed home and they headed to Hawaii! It was pretty cool, and it's pretty ridiculous that I'm just now getting around to posting these photos, considering that they are already back from their trip! 

Thanksgiving 2011

I hope everyone had a very Happy Thanksgiving! We spent the last few days down in San Diego, enjoying time with family and a big, bustling meal at Dee and Niki's house on Thanksgiving Day. The kids came home exhausted today, and both took long naps to recover from so much activity. We've had leftovers twice already, and have enough dessert in the fridge to last another week :) Thank you to Dee and Niki for all of their efforts and hard work, and for hosting such a lovely party in their home for all of us.

Dee modeling my first sewing project

Levi experiencing his first turkey coma--he literally fell asleep in his high chair at dinner! Too funny. He kept falling asleep in the strangest of places the whole time--maybe all of the new people and places tired him out?

Parker and Mimi

Alex treated us all to a musical performance

Parker was so busy running around with the other kids all afternoon that I was barely able to snap any photos of him. Here is one of the few. For some reason, he kept giving me this look whenever I saw him. Oh, how I wish I knew what really goes through that head of his.

Levi really bonded with his straw cup 

Dessert time--Jared and I compared notes, and apparently this was Round One for dessert for Parker--neither of us are sure how he snuck a Round Two in. I tried my best to micromanage his dessert intake, but I guess he slipped some by me...on a side note, Rainbow Fish accompanied him throughout the day. Maybe dessert Round Two was Rainbow's idea...

Levi peeking in on the guys watching the football game in the "Men's Room"

Grayson was really into this Pokemon book...he kept showing me different pages and having me take pictures of them...

Back Yard Progress

Major progress has been made in the back yard! Some of the changes are small and might not be noticed by many, but other changes are much bigger. Dee and Lisa have been a huge help with weeding, pulling out plants, trimming back the neighbor's encroaching jungle, chopping down the bottle brush tree, and putting a layer of stain on the entire fence surrounding the yard--I never could have accomplished any of these things without their help. I've also cleaned and repainted all of the metal outdoor furniture (and the chiminea), rearranged things, reduced a lot of the potted plants, and cleaned up the potting bench. We are about halfway done building the new paver wall for the planting bed along the back of the house, then we can start planting a nice garden in there. There are lots of other backyard jobs lined up in the dreams pipeline, we'll see what we can get to before we run out of steam! 

Yard Work, Yard Work, Everywhere!

Parker being goofy as always

Levi LOVES playing in dirt! 

Jared beginning the process of building a planter bed wall

Dee in the midst of cutting down the bottle brush tree--it's finally gone!!

Parker working hard in his role as "supervisor"

The last month or so has found us inspired to clean up and improve our front and back yards, and thanks to Dee and Lisa's help, we've made a ton of progress! It's been fun getting into gardening and home improvement projects again, spending time dreaming about possibilities and spending nap times trying to get as much done as I can before Levi wakes up! So many more projects ahead...we're already enjoying meals out on the patio again now that it's nice and clean.

Sailing With Niki and Dee

We are really excited to share all of our fun experiences on Prudence with friends and family, so we were happy to have Dee and Niki join us for a Saturday afternoon sail. It was a bit windier than we would have liked for a casual family day out, so we experimented with sailing with only the jib, which worked out fine. We saw some dolphins, Niki took the helm, Dee snuggled with Parker, and then we enjoyed a delicious bottle of Navarrouge once we returned to the dock. The only thing that was missing was a lovely steak dinner and dessert in the cockpit to top it all off! Next time!! 

Point Loma Lighthouse

We went for a great walk around the Point Loma Light House at Cabrillo National Monument in San Diego with Dee and Niki last weekend. The weather was a little chilly, but the views from the point out there of San Diego, the harbor, and the ocean are incredible. Parker did a pretty good job on the walk (he's never been much of a "hiker"), with only a few complaints about hunger along the way; Levi slept in the front pack almost the whole time. Parker held onto a magnifying glass the whole way, although he's still figuring out how to actually use it :)