More of San Fran

Looking at the boats at one of the piers.

Do not feed me! The seagulls liked to get up close and personal.

Alcatraz from the piers.

Some sea lions chilling. There were only about a dozen, usually there are too many to count.

Outside Ripley's Believe it or Not store. N thought it was pretty cool to watch this guy.

Muir Woods

M in front of a Huge Red Wood.
Daddy telling them how to tell a tree's age. This one was REALLY old.

Really tall trees...the blue at the bottom are people to give you some perspective.

N rode in style and loved it.

Some Weekend Adventures-Muir Woods Part 2

Next to a giant Red Wood at Muir Park. Don't ask me why M is making that face ;)
Walking on the train through the park. We ended up getting a National Park Pass, so if you come to visit expect to visit Muir Woods...bring some sneakers!

Inside one of the fallen trees.

M inside a fallen tree.

On one of the bridges that goes through the park. The park is very tranquil and these pictures don't do it justice as far as how green and lush it is. The air also just seemed cleaner too.

Chess Anyone?

So Daddy taught M to play chess last year and this year it is J's turn to learn how to play. M is helping him learn in hopes to earn a belt loop for cub scouts as well. I don't play, and really have no desire to learn, but the boys seem to have fun and have been requesting to play a lot lately...maybe having the TV, video games and computer taken away this week has something to do with it. If anyone has any tips to make picking up toys more fun let me know...otherwise they will be spending more time playing chess ;p

And the Winner is....

Final Tiger Cub heat. M's is the red car.

And the winner is...Red!


M watching the races.

Claiming his car!

So yesterday we got to go test out the car that daddy and M have been working on for the past week. After the first attempt, he flipped off the side and they had to redo the heat, M's class was in the top 3 cars for his Tiger cubs group. He ended up taking his division and was put up there with the big boys for the pack top car. Due to the fact that M actually made 90% of his car we are quite happy with his 4th place finish. He received a 1st place medal for his win in the Tiger cub group and was anxious to put it on his uniform.

USS Hornet

So daddy and M got to spend a night on the USS Hornet, a decommissioned aircraft carrier that now resides at Alameda, CA as a museum. This was a cub scout outing that I signed them up for while J was gone and thought it would be a great adventure for the two of them. I later found out that the USS Hornet is reported to be one of the most haunted warships, but the boys said they didn't encounter anything unusual.

USS Hornet (More Pics)

Our Little Cub Scout

So this is the first year that M could be in cub scouts and he is really loving it. He is busy earning beads, patches and belt loops. J and him are actually gone right now for an overnight sleep over on the USS Hornet. I am eager to hear how it went, hopefully he had a great time and didn't freeze too much last night. I am also excited to have J back to take him to all the activities, it would be an understatement to say that it gets a little hectic with three little boys to attend a weekly hands on meeting. Hopefully J remembered to take some pictures so that I can see what all they got to do and share it with you as well.

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year to all our friends and family, I hope that you all have a wonderful 2010! Bright and early, maybe more early then bright ;), I should be loading the boys up and heading over to pick up J from his "trip". It did get delayed a little, but we will get to spend the last of the boys winter vacation days with daddy...truly the best Christmas gift.

Christmas Morning Pictures!

The kids let me sleep in till 7am this morning, and even paused long enough to take some pictures of them pre-gift opening. The big red sacks were from J's mom and the boys opened them up last night so that Santa could put their presents in them...easier to divide the presents up. N got some lil' people that had magically never got unpacked from the NJ to CA move and no one was the wiser ;)

Thank you to all our family and friends that thought of us this holiday season. The boys are busy playing and testing everything out!

Some More Christmas Morning Pictures

I think it was the year of the books. J's mom always sends a ton of books since she is an English teacher and then M has "tested" out of his 1st grade reading and has been put into the Accelerated Reading program.

I hope Santa was good to all our friends and family and I will be waiting for my special present that will be flying home on the 31st...assuming there hasn't been any changes to the schedule.

Merry Christmas!

The packages and cards have been arriving by the truck load it seems and the boys have been hovering around the tree in anticipation of the fury of gift opening. Most of our family cards have been sent out, just waiting on confirming a couple of addresses to have it finally finished. I continue trying to keep N from completely tearing the Christmas Tree apart. The boys have been home from school since the 18th, and are going stir crazy from the lack of activities, even the marathon of Star Wars movies isn't holding their attention. I am hoping the Santa did ok this year and will bring some relief to their boredom. I hope all our family and friends have a wonderful Christmas. It won't quite be the same this year as "J" is gone on one of his long "trips" and won't be home until New Years Eve...hopefully nothing delays that arrival! I did get the boys to sit down and take some nice pictures in front of the tree this year....enjoy!

The Tooth Fairy!

So M lost his first tooth yesterday right before bed. He had been complaining earlier in the day that his tooth was hurting him, I wiggled it a little and told him not to worry about it. Well that night he was eating--well what else but an apple. It popped right out and stuck in the apple. He was supper excited and said it didn't hurt one bit. So we cleaned it up a bit and dug out his tooth fairy bear for the great tooth fairy to come. She took the tooth and deposited $1.50 (is that the going rate?) in quarters. Today he said that the other lower front tooth is lose, I expect by tomorrow night it will be turned in for some more money. So I have one losing teeth and another teething, it comes full circle. I will say that the one losing his teeth is much happier about the whole situation!

Happy Birthday Big Boy J!

Opening up some of his presents. J and M were super excited to see that he got Lego Rockband for the Wii. They love to watch J play the big boy versions, now they have songs more like what is on their Kidz Bop CDs.

Opening another requested gift, a new digital camera. He got one last year as well, but it was not very well made and didn't survive a week. The Fischerprice one seems more durable.

He has been REALLY wanting to get this Yoda stuffie from Target for a REALLY long time. He has been sleeping with him and carrying him around the house for the past couple of days.

A quick family picture.

Trying to blow out his trick candles...boy those things a smokey!