Visitors

I meant to write and post this last week to celebrate her birthday, but I couldn't get my act together.  So this is a happy belated birthday post.  What am I talking about?

Well, at the end of July we had a visitor - Aunt Brianna hung out with us for about a week visiting from New York.  Her birthday was last Friday.

While here, she and Dave were out most of the time enjoying their time together and catching as much baseball as humanly possible (they went to Dave's softball game, a Giants/Dodger game and an A's game).  When she was home with us we weren't thinking and didn't take very many pictures.  She did take off for the weekend to hang out with some friends in San Francisco.  I mean when you're in your early 20s that is totally the thing to do!

So better late than never - I get this post written and we managed to take a few pictures.

The picture above is from the night before she left.
The picture below is the night she left and gave Drew several presents.

 

 The hat is a reversible Spider-man/Batman mix and the other toy totally mesmerized him.

The night she left she treated us to dinner and we had to walk off all the food we ate.  It's been a while since we had a visitor from Dave's family and he was soaking up every minute of it.

Happy Birthday Daddy!

Earlier this month we celebrated Dave's birthday - I can't believe I'm married to an almost 40 year old! (Technically we have a few more years, but he's really pushing it). 

Dave had a better offer earlier in the day so we went out for a late family dinner to Outback and came home for some dessert - these killer cake/cookies. 

What's a birthday without a little song and candle to blow out - we couldn't put all the candles out for fear we'd burn the house down.

And of course we had to have a "toast" to another year!

Patriotic Picnic

At the end of July we hung out with our church congregation at a Patriotic Picnic at one member's ranch in the local hills.  They started doing this a year or two ago, and we finally cleared our schedules so we could go - and boy are we glad we did!  It was fantastic.

After parking we saw the barns with the horses, the sand volleyball courts, the bocce ball court.  We decided to see what sort of fun we could get into up at the top of the hill where the house was along with all the other activities.

First ride up the hill we hitchhiked a ride in a golf cart... second time it was a hay ride!

 

That's Drew's Sunday School/Church girlfriend.  They're two peas in a pod.  Ironically they both have dads with the same name and they're sports nuts (one likes that orange and black team, the other bleeds Dodger Blue) but we won't name names.

After the hayride the boys wanted to go back down the hill and try to see what fun things they could find.  Drew fed the horses.  We tried earlier to ride a horse in the barn but while waiting our turn one of the girls (around 7 or 8) was thrown from a spooked horse.  We decided to skip horseback riding that day.  The girl was fine just a little freaked out.

 The horses were really friendly.  This one asked if there was anything on his nose.

While the boys were hanging with the animals, I was doing some line dancing.  I never do it anymore since no one else is into country music and Dave thinks that line dancing is too "white".

Even Uncle Sam came to the party!

Dave added a few items to his attire.  Drew's Sunday School teacher had the vest, someone let Dave borrow the hat and beard - the pants, socks and medal are his. 

Olympics - My Little Patriot

I have to admit, normally Sports 24-7 in the house would drive me bonkers, but with the Olympics this year it's different.  First it's pretty cool - minus the fact Dave is sucking up all the memory in the DVR with round the clock recording.  Second, now that Drew can read he enthusiastically cheers for Team USA - or if they're not in the sport we're watching whatever flag/letters he likes.

Now that he reads so well, he knows what the teams are if their uniform says the full country - and he's starting to get used to the 3-letter abbreviations like ESP for Spain.  And if they have a race bib - he reads their last name and really belts out his cheers.

We seriously have a patriot!

I think I might actually miss the Olympics when it concludes this weekend.  It really is awesome to see just how into it Drew is.  He likes to "practice" in the living room as well.

His favorite sports: Synchronized Diving (because they do flips), Gymnastics (because they do flips), Wrestling, White Water Canoeing...

I leave you with a "funny" from yesterday.  On our way to school here was the conversation we had:

Drew: Mommy, if armpit farting were an Olympic event, Lucas and I would win gold.
Me: (knowing something or someone was behind this convo) Who told you that?
Drew: Mrs. Jonelle (one of the preschool teachers)

Another Year Older, and Definitely Wiser

A little more than a week ago I celebrated my birthday and I decided I wanted to go to my parent's house for a "party".  Mind you it was my guilt-free way to mooch a day at their pool.

It was the best birthday "party" I've had in a long time!  We were joined by some family and their friends for an afternoon of swimming, drinking, dinner and dessert!  I was too busy having fun that we didn't appear to take any pictures throughout the day...

While things after eating cake get a little fuzzy thanks to some lemoncello Matt and I shared, I do remember this cake was delicious... with strawberries in the middle. YUM!

Some of the oldest and youngest of the group couldn't hang with the party animals (mainly Matt and I)

GrampC and Adrina needed a "Nap"

Matt was quite brave after a bottle of lemoncello which followed an afternoon of beer, champagne cocktails and wine.  I spared you all the picture of Matt mooning us.... (I didn't remember anything about that picture until downloading them!  YIKES).

Seriously, though it was a great birthday.  Drama free.  And I got some great gifts - including Dave resetting a ring given to me by my Grandma for my 25th birthday (a stone fell out).  Thanks for the memories!    No thanks for the two day hangover that followed...

Sweep!

Just had to share... those that know us know we're a Dodger Family.  And by "we" I mean Dave and Drew, but me by marriage.  I'm a Twins Fan all the way - but have to be a "Dodger" too in order to stay married.  (You have no idea how difficult Dave would be if you liked anything but Dodgers...)

Well on Saturday we had my brother and sister-in-law over for a little friendly rivalry - Dodgers vs. Giants for game two of the series.

Rana made these cute (and yummy) desserts in an attempt to stir up a little more competition...

The result, that game ended 10-0 in the favor of the Dodgers.  And Sunday it was another win.  I do believe that would make a SWEEP!

Dave kindly sent my brother a text to rub it in...

Matt didn't take too kindly to that picture....

Around the World Party

Last weekend we finally had a formal get together with our neighbors in a progressive Around the World Party.  Dave and I came up with the idea with one of our other neighbors a few months ago and just roped the others into doing it with us.  Turns out it was a big hit - we're already planning our next themed party.

Well despite this being an around the world party - we only managed to get pictures starting at our house which was the 3rd stop in the "tour" (I didn't want to carry the camera around).

We started across the way with Drew's friend's mom's place... with Bloody Mary's and a Egg casserole.  She had a great spread and we sat out front for people watching and so the kids could ride things through the front yard.

Then we went next door to our other neighbor's for a Mediterranean spread and the best drink ever - Sgroppino, an Italian cocktail.  It was so good I'm making it this weekend with my family.  But we enjoyed appetizers in her backyard before heading to our house for Dave's famous tacos and  Kick Ass Margaritas (that's what they were called at the restaurant he worked at in Santa Monica).

That's when things started to get a bit rowdy....

Yes, feeling "happy" Julie and I start singing on our ladle mic

Our neighbor Lisa is holding the newest addition to the neighborhood... (the baby's family was stop #4)

Lisa joins Julie and I for our great serenade for the "audience"

After embarrassing ourselves plenty, we headed back across the way for stop #4, Vietnamese food with Vietnamese beer (which is really good I might add).  The kids were having a great time running through their house (they have 5 kids... 2 full-time, 3 on weekends).

After eating so much all day, we started to get restless and needed a walk. Someone suggested heading over to the pool....

 Our neigbhor Joe with Christopher (his next door neighbor and Drew's buddy).  I have no clue who the kid is in the background, but he is friends with Joe's family

Drew and Christopher... enjoying their cupcakes.

The temptation to just put their feet in got too great... everyone was soaked!

So if you can't beat 'em, join 'em!  All the boys went in fully clothed.

We've thrown out a few more themed party ideas... I think a 70's party is next on the radar.