4th of July Festivities - Pt. 1 of 2

We had so much fun this past 4th of July - and of course that means pictures galore. Rather than posting them all in one blog, I will separate them, giving you double your pleasure.

First up - the Danville Parade.

Since Dave and I moved back up to the Bay Area five years ago, we've come to the Danville Town Parade held every 4th of July. According to their website, it attracts up to 40,000 visitors (which is pretty good since the town has a population of a little more than 43,000 people).

There were 12 of us who all sat together this year - Drew and I, Grammy & GrampC, The Berta four, and the Nejib 4. Daddy was home sick, VERY reluctantly.

We all met at my friend Lisa's house, who lives within walking distance of the spot she and I camped out for the day before. (It's serious business, this Danville parade. If you want pristine parade route "parking" you need to get there plenty early to save your seats.)

Drew was happy getting towed to the parade...


And here's the wagon brigade headed from Lisa's house to the parade route.

From L-R: Emily, Lisa, Troy, Stephanie, Trevor (pulling the cooler up ahead), Drew, GrampC, Grammy (not picture Mason, Brian, & Mike who were all using the potty one last time).

Here we are curbside just before the parade starts...


And one of the creatures in the parade had his sights set on Drew...




















And last but not least, my favorite picture from the day.


Up next - the remainder of our day. Pool parties, BBQ & Fireworks.

Videos Galore

To hold you over until I get the pictures off the camera of our July 4th fun, you'll have videos galore to enjoy. These are a few things we captured over the past week.

First up - Drew's Rendition of Head Shoulders Knees and Toes (taken Thursday).



Next up - Droopy Drawers. This was courtesy an impromptu plunge into Grammy & GrampC's pool with his diaper still on.



Finally - we have a short film starring two of the cutest cousins ever.

This Land is Your Land...

Happy 4th of July to all of our friends and family! We hope you are enjoying your holiday with parades, BBQ's, family and fireworks. While we're busy enjoying ours and making new memories, I wanted to share a few pictures from last 4th of July - where we enjoyed a local town parade. Oh, Drew was 9 Months old for those that may have started throwing a few back already and don't want to do the math...



Expect to see much of the same from this year's parade. New pictures will be posted Monday.

Once you Pop, You Can't Stop

You know the old Pringles slogan - "once you pop you can't stop". Drew proved that to be true Wednesday night. It's not anything new that he likes to eat junk food like chips, but he popped the top and he couldn't stop.

He ate probably a quarter of the can himself, and LOVED holding the can. In fact when it was almost empty he tried to drink from it!

Problem is, all the little crumbs came out of the can and all over my living room floor. Thanks a lot kiddo!




Who says it's too early to teach your kids to clean up after themselves? So we pulled the dustbuster out, and let him clean up the mess...

He did a pretty good job with it too. Perhaps Daddy needed to help a bit, but not bad for a rookie.

I Love LA....

This post is overdue, I was under the weather for a few days making this post a few days late. Better late than never right?

This past weekend we took a roadtrip to LA - despite the fact Drew was still running a 100-degree fever. We had a hotel room, we pre-paid for, and didn't want to miss out on that or quality time with Tata and Abuela. They haven't seen him since Thanksgiving.

The only rule we set was that Tata & Abuela had to visit us. We didn't want Drew to get any other kids sick, which could happen if we went to their house, which usually leads to family coming over to see us. There are simply too many little kids in the family and we didn't want to expose them to Drew, not to mention Drew's immune system is totally shot right now, so we didn't want him to catch anything else.

So Saturday afternoon, Tata & Abuela showed up at the hotel, and we managed to walk around a nearby swap meet until the heat started to get to Drew. After a quick bite to eat it was back to the room for Drew's nap.

Apparently he woke up on the wrong side of the bed, and he was quite the sourpuss for about 30-45 minutes. All he wanted to do.. go swimming. Daddy said no because the pool was crowded... boy the tantrums he was throwing.....

We finally found peace and relief in the lobby... where you ask...


that's right the lobby stairs! Drew and I walked up and down these suckers about 40 times.. seriously. Daddy of course comes at the end when the tantrum is over and done.

After deliberating about what to do next we finally decided on Knott's Berry Farm and walking around the shops. I've never been, so it sounded like a fun thing to do. It ended up being PERFECT. Drew was behaving fairly well except he wasn't in the mood to shop for jams or jellies. His favorite shop.. the Peanuts and Sports store. Oh, and the Chicken Restaurant...


The next day was spent primarily shopping so Daddy could find some Dodger T-Shirts.. as if he doesn't have enough Dodger gear. But whatever. Drew on the otherhand was working pimpmobile driving skills...

Oh and yes, that would be his first official jersey... sporting the Dodger gear. So the shopping trip wasn't only about Daddy.

Q-Tip Fascination

It appears my kid has a fetish for Q-Tips or what he sometimes calls "Q-bip" or "bip".

For several months now, every morning when he strolls into our bathroom as we're showering and getting ready for the day, he spots the Q-tip dispenser located on the back of the toilet, and asks for his "Q-bip". So to avoid a meltdown, we hand him one or two (what is a wasted q-tip anyway).

He then happily strolls through the house twirling it between his fingers. Occasionally he'll try and put them in his ears or even ours, but then like clockwork, he bends it in half. At that point he throws it into the "dirty" otherwise known to us adults as the garbage.

So what is the fascination with Q-tips anyway? Who knows, but they make Drew happy on a daily basis and it's a cheap toy. Silly little boy.

Sunday Randomness

We're having a wonderful time visiting with Tata & Abuela in Los Angeles. I'll have updates on the trip later this week. However, I figured I'd share a few pictures taken over the past week and a half.

Drew is really into going to play outside. When we go out back he really enjoys playing with the sidewalk chalk. Sometimes he draws, but more likely you'll spot him rolling the chalk back and forth.

This past week while Drew was sick with a raging fever he spent much of his time simply in his diaper. Anything to cool him off. At one point on Wednesday (the day we saw that 105-degree fever) I found him hiding alongside the TV.


Quite an odd place to play with your toys.. perhaps the fever made him do it?

Speaking of fevers, today is the first day since last Sunday he has been 100% fever-free! Yay. He's still a little hoarse, has a cough that won't quit, and talks like his throat still hurts. But his appetite is definitely back and the fevers are gone. What more could a mother want?