Christmas 2010

It was Marisa's turn this year to top the tree. She still needs my help to get all the way to the top and straight. Christmas Eve was spent at our neighbors house after church eating a nice dinner and getting the kids all excited for Santa. Marisa and Connor awoke early, although Connor wouldn't go downstairs by himself for fear that Santa was still there. Marisa lost her front tooth the night before so she was very excited to see that both the Tooth Fairy and Santa had visited the same night! We then spent a nice, albeit rainy day with Grandpa and Grandma Leary and Uncle Colin.

Marisa and Natalia

Marisa's best friend at school, Natalia had a nice day together last week just before Christmas. They made some pottery and played at a park and at our house.

Christmas Tree Hunting

We picked out our Christmas tree today. We got the best of the lot and the kids had fun running around in the jungle of trees.

Monterrey Aquarium

Otters, eels, sea dragons, starfish, jellyfish, sharks and much more. Marisa and Connor spent a cold rainy day at the Monterrey Aquarium with JT Kennedy looking at all the sea creatures and getting to touch and feel all the cool stuff in the tide pool.

Thanksgiving

Lots of food, family and football on Thanksgiving. Dad and I taught Marisa how to throw a spiral out in the front yard. We kept the kids entertained between football games by playing outside and playing board games. Hope everyone had a great holiday.

The Boys

The boys know how to be boys! Playing basketball before bed and diving all over mommy''s furniture. We love the overall look on Tyler - here he is forcing a smile after a mild tantrum!

San Francisco in November

What a great day in San Francisco! We went to Golden Gate park to a great area! We met my mother and Colin for a nice hamburger lunch and then played in the sun. I even got in a nice nap on the bench!

October 2010

Here are a couple of recent activities we did as a family. We purchased some pumpkins at a local pumpkin patch, where there was a pony ride and an animal farm. I took Marisa and Connor to a Combot Event with Grandpa Leary and Uncle Colin. The kids loved the fast moving robots, flying pieces of steel and some even had flamethrowers. The picture above is one of the smaller robots.

Halloween 2010

Two pirates, a monkey, Woody and Jessie left our house Halloween night and came back with tons of candy and some great stories. We went out with a big group of neighbors, the dads asked each house for a score update of the World Series and the moms took pictures and tried to corral all the kids.

Movie Night

The kids crawled in the big bed and watched a movie with all their animal friends last night. The movie of choice was a Mickey Mouse special.

Vineman 70.3 - Professional Videos

Here is the finish line video from the Vineman.

And the swim finish from the Vineman.

Tidepools

The last weekend before school we went to some tidepools near Santa Cruz. We timed our trip just right as the high tide was just leaving. The kids loved it, we saw oysters, clams, crabs, starfish and sea anenomes. As you can see from the last picture Connor and I got a little too close to the edge as a big wave came rolling in. Needless to say I protected my son, but needed a change of clothes afterwards!

First Day of School

We have a first grader! Marisa started school in Mrs. Forester's class last Monday. She was so proud as evidence by the first picture. She quickly met up with her friends and has been talking non stop about all the new cool things that first graders can do that kindergardeners can't. I included one picture of all the kids and Susan on one of the last days before school.

Roadrunners

First soccer game! Marisa was very excited. She picked out her own number, it's 48. I asked her why of all the numbers she wanted that one and she said it was the biggest. Out of all the uniforms it was the highest number. For the most part the girls all ran in a pack surrounding the ball, but occasionally the ball would pop out and every now and then Marisa would get a good kick into the ball. She told me next game she wantts to dribble it six times without anyone else. Why six - because that's how old she is!

Yosemite July 2010

We went to Yosemite for a long weekend with some friends of ours (the D'Acquistos) a few weeks ago. We'll post some more pictures shortly, but here are a few. We hiked both Yosemite Falls and Vernal Falls. The kids did great climbing both trails and navigating all kinds of rocks, logs and hills. We even encountered a bear (from a distance) and many, many squirrels.