Fun with Grandma and Taylor

My Mom's friend Dawn had a party for her little girl Payton's birthday and invited Garrett and Gannon. They love parties and the rides at Applegate Park so I knew they would have a blast and they did!!! Riding the rides, hanging out with Grandma and Taylor, and mostly their face painting.  They both decided to have a spiderman web painted around their eyes. They were so cute and sad when they had to wash their faces. 

Daddy Date

Dave, Garrett, and Gannon headed to Modesto to watch the Modesto Nuts play ball.  With school starting and being crazy busy, I decided to stay home and use the time to get some work done.  Garrett and Gannon had a great time hanging out with Daddy and watching baseball.  Notice Garrett is still wearing his Yankee hat - Daddy is still trying to get the Angels hat on and it's just not working!

Golden Gate Bridge

After the Exploratorium we took the 5 mile - 1 hour drive! to the Golden Gate Bridge.  I really don't know the exact distance, but it's not that far, and boy did it feel like the longest drive ever!  Perfect in a way so Gannon could take a little nap, traffic on a holiday weekend was crazy.  We lucked out and got a really good parking spot, loaded the boys up and took the short little walk on to the bridge.  As you can see it was foggy and a little chilly, but Garrett and Gannon were SO excited to see the "real" Golden Gate Bridge.  Garrett made a quick connection from his puzzle and loved the bridge.  It was so crowded that we only walked to the first lookout and started to walk back to the car.  Both boys were very upset by this!  "Go back Mommy" is all we heard. 

Wanting to get the boys in a picture with the bridge we found this stump and Garrett would have nothing to do with it.  I really think the older he gets his fear of heights comes out more.  The stump was on the edge of a small cliff so Garrett wouldn't get close to it.  Mr. No Fear, Gannon, of course could have cared less and jumped right up for his shot!  Garrett watching him very closely and ready to yell at us to get him if he made any sudden movement!  Funny to watch his expressions.  All in all they loved the bridge. 

We Love to Explore

With our love to explore and to have the boys explore what better place to visit than the Exploratorium!  

This summer we bought a new floor sized puzzle for Garrett and we explained where we live based on the icons on the State of California - the Golden Gate Bridge.  So Labor Day weekend we asked Garrett if he would like to go see the big bridge.  Of course he answered yes!  We decided to visit the exloratorium because the boys would love to touch and play with all the gadgets and Dave had never been. It was fun to watch the boys get excited and make things out of the different exhibits.  Each fascinated by their own choices.

Both loved the magnet station.  Not far from the entrance it was hard to pull them away after playing for a bit.  Trying to explain to them that there are lots of other things to see. 

Gannon listening to sounds of the world.

Both loving to bang and make music!

Garrett mainly interested in the bubbles

The various sized chairs - he looks so little in this gigantic chair.

And Garrett looks so big (and starting to get grouchy for lunch!!)

This little machine was a HUGE hit with both boys.  A rope that is controlled by a handle that goes up into the sky.  

 And the most fun of all - Dave drinking water from a toilet!!!

Another highlight was the artist making custom paint for the kids in whatever color they wanted!  Gannon picked red and Garrett of course wanted purple!!!

And finally the crazy room!  Boy was it crazy... kids running around bouncing off the walls!

Ribs!!!

Anyone that knows my Uncle Bob knows he cooks dang good!  Dave started asking one day when "party" season was at my Aunt and Uncle's because he was craving my Uncle's ribs!  I told him now for a few months.  I was talking to my Aunt a few days later about canning and mentioned that we needed to bring out some ribs for Uncle Bob to cook up for us.  She mentioned that they had bought a bunch at the store because the store had mismarked them and they were super cheat (but still good!)  Dave was so lucky that the next weekend we were invited to come enjoy some good cooking. 

When my Uncle called Dave was in the shower so I told Gannon to go tell him we were going to have ribs tonight.  Gannon ran to the bathroom and could barely repeat back what I had said, but it was clear enough to hear "ribs".  All day Garrett and  Gannon talked about going to eat ribs!  It was so cute.  Garrett and Gannon are as much a fan of the ribs now as Dave.  I swear they both ate more than me. Keep lovin Uncle Bob's ribs!!!

It's always so fun to hang out at my Aunt and Uncle's with my cousins and all their kids, reminds me of all the fun times our family had growing up.  Finally our kids are old enough to not have to watch like a hawk and let them go play and they actually will, with the older kids.  Until Gannon comes out with a hair full of white mouse in his hair from Allison and a pair of scissors in his hand!!!  Okay, so we still need to watch them a little closer than we obviously were!  But, hey they had lots of fun.

First Day of School

This year the boys started at a new school, Merced Montessori.  Garrett attends the big school and right next door Gannon goes to the little school.  They were both VERY excited to start on Monday morning.  I thought Garrett would have a hard time since he has been at Gateway since he was three months old, but he did  quite well...for the first day!  Gannon I knew would just determine his mood off of Garrett's so he was good too. 

Day 2 was a lot harder.  They knew school meant a day without Mommy and Daddy and after being home for the summer with both of us it was a little harder.  All in all they love it and are doing very well. 

Family Trip

What we'll call a serious of unfortunate events took place leaving a ticket available for the Giants game that my parents and Taylor had planned to attend.  Taylor called and asked if I'd be interested ingoing.  Sure, I'd love a day in the city and to spend some time with the parentals!  It was a fun trip.   I can't remember the last time we did something with just the four of us.  Taylor and I rode like little kids in the backseat and watched a movie on the way up.  We went to the afternoon game, the weather was great, headed back to the hotel changed and headed to dinner.  We decided on Joe's Crab Shack for dinner and drinks.  It's so fun that Taylor can enjoy a nice adult beverage with the rest of us! 

The best part of the night was watching Taylor trying to hail a cab - when the car wasn't even a cab!!!