Summer

We've had a busy, busy summer around here as you may be able to tell since we haven't updated our blog even once! Here's a little taste of what we've been up to....

Aiden had a great time on our trip to Lake Nacimiento with friends:

We painted the exterior of the house in one weekend thanks to a ton of help from friends and family. Aiden even got in on the action with O'Wise Grandfather:

Aiden got really into slides this summer; here we are at the playground in Marine World:

Conquering the backyard in his PJs and his super cool frog boots:

Playing with daddy at a few local parks:

Our "super fun" camping trip that sort of flopped and was eventually rained out (but we did have fun while it lasted!):

At the annual Osborn Toss Across Tournament (when did he turn into such a big little boy?!?):

May

May was filled with a lot of not very fun things like the passing of an amzing person and a great family friend, Jody McNees, some unanticipated surgery for Remy to remove a small tumor, and an unexpected visit to the ER followed by a short hospital stay for Erik who turned out to have developed a nasty bacterial infection in his stomach. The good news is that both Remy and Erik are doing just fine now and that May was also filled with some great things like....

A family picnic event at Momma's new work:

heading for the bouncy houses
bouncing with momma

A Memorial Day BBQ:

supervising Zach in the pool
Keira enjoying the freedom of childhood
both Aiden and Zach having a great time sharing Keira's trike

A trip to Napa:

with his precious (which also just happens to be a round rock from the fountain. I guess it's all about perspective, right?)

Having a snack with Daddy
And last but not least, a chance to show Nayana some love:

April

Spaghetti dinner = messy Aiden Sporting his new Disney PJs from Auntie Diane

Getting geared up for the Sharks game (check out my brand newly labeled Marleau jersey - thanks honey!)

Showing off one of his many recent bumps, bruises and cuts to his head. (Why is it always the head?)

Keira having fun on the swing at an impromptu afternoon BBQ

Bravely exploring the backyard and calling out, "Stephanie! Stephanie! I found some poop!" Not that Remy makes it too tough, but good job Keira, way to be on top of it. ;-)

Running around after Keira. Look how tall he's getting!!

March

Aiden had a great time at Keira's Thomas the Train themed 3rd birthday party at the end of March. He particularly LOVED the balloons.

Keira doing a great job of sharing and pulling the balloon down for Aiden to reach:

I thought attaching the balloon to Aiden might stem the constant stream of demands to have a balloon brought to him...
Mostly, it was just comical
The birthday girl blowing out her candles

And eating her cake
Aiden intently coloring
And taking a ride in the cozy coupe while daddy fights to stay awake
We also took our neighbor up on her offer to watch Aiden and went to our first Sharks game of the season with some friends
Special thanks to Auntie Diane for taking all of our March pictures!!

Marine World

We took Aiden to Marine World for the first time last weekend. I had never been either so I wasn't sure what to expect. Man, that place has everything! Kiddie rides, roller coasters, carnival style games, a water park, a food court that backs up to a nice lake and green area, real zoo animals and even a butterfly house and elephant rides (I know - real elephant rides!). And to top in all off, it wasn't even very busy. Needless to say, we all had a really great time. We checked out a lot of the animals and animal shows, had lunch alongside the lake, and Erik & I even took turns whipping through a few empty lines to ride some coasters. Aiden really enjoyed the fact that we bravely let him run around the park out of his stroller. And we really enjoyed the fact that he didn't take it as an opportunity to bolt into a crowd of people, never to be seen again.

Helping daddy push the stroller

Not quite tall enough yet

In the butterfly house

Aiden would point to all of the tigers and cougars etc. and say, "Ctt". We'd say, "That's right, those are BIG cats!"

Catch up, part 2

Another of Aiden's new skills is that he has become an expert at feeding carrots to the girls.

Catch up!

OK, so I'm WAY behind on updating the website, so here's the abbreviated version of the past few months.

Aiden had a great time at Christmas this year and we have tons of adorable photos of him, but since this is the abbreviated version here are two of our very favorites:

pushing his new Caterpillar (which he has now also figured out how to ride all by himself)

and looking very GQ in his hand knit hat and scarf from Aunt Judy

Aiden also had his first birthday and after the holiday hub-bub was past we had a little party for him. With Christmas under his belt he was a real pro at un-wrapping his gifts:

And while he appeared interested in his cake....

...it went downhill rather quickly. Apparently he, like his daddy, isn't a big fan of cake.And last but not least, we can't forgot Aiden's first trip to the ER. Just days after we'd congratulated ourselves for making it through one whole year without any large incident (I know, what were we thinking?), Aiden tripped and whacked his forehead on the corner of the wall. After about 20 seconds he was pretty over the whole thing but the suddenly massive swelling on his forehead had Erik and I immediately packing up for the ER. An hour and a half and $50 later we returned home with a dose of Tylenol, a rather unimpressive bruise and peace of mind.