labor day weekend

Maddy always expects to be entertained.  She thinks the weekends are for doing things and staying at home relaxing is just not acceptable.  She works hard all week at preschool and looks forward to Friday, her favorite day. She constantly asks, "What are we doing this weekend?" And on Saturdays and Sundays, she'll ask, "What are we doing in the morning?  What are we doing after my nap?"  This girl is always go, go, go.  So, for Labor Day weekend we had a few activities lined up.  On Saturday, we drove down to the Santa Cruz mountains to Roaring Camp where we rode an old steam train through the forest.  On Sunday, we took a nice long bike ride around Alameda in the morning and visited Scott and Barbara in San Francisco in the afternoon (pictures of that in another post).  And lastly, No holiday weekend would be complete without a visit to Auntie Rachel's nail shop, Zaza, for a little miss mani-pedi.  We did that on Monday morning. 

And here's the mani-pedi (with sparkles):

miami beach

We visited Miami Beach for a quick layover on our way to Panama.  We literally had one day there.  We woke up early, rented bikes, toured the town, had lunch beachside, grabbed a drink at The Raleigh hotel, and later met an old friend for a traditional Cuban dinner.  Most of my pictures on my regular camera were ruined, but I managed to take this one with my phone and instagramed it.  We decided that we'll come back for a longer stay with Maddy.

reduce reuse recycle

This mask gives new meaning to the word "reuse."  Maddy's school wanted to demonstrate to the children that we can reuse items instead of just throwing them away.  It's a great concept, but I'm not sure if Jello boxes were intended to be reused as masks.  To Maddy, it made perfect sense.  For me, it was hilarious (which accounts for the frown on Maddy's face...I couldn't stop laughing at her....I mean, c'mon, there's garbage on her face).  

the 4th (of july, that is)

Better late than never, right?  I don't know how I managed to forget to post the Fourth of July photos, but I'm making up for the lack of posts this summer now.  For the Fourth, the fam went to the Oakland Hills to a half-constructed house overlooking the entire bay and San Francisco.  Yes, it was a half-constructed house.  Dion's brother has been building a house for the past two years and it has yet to be completed.  He decided to have a BBQ and invite everyone over to enjoy the incredible views.  So what if we were eating on sub-floor surrounded by studs?  The BBQ was delicious and there were sparklers for the kids.  We stayed up way past Maddy's bedtime to see the fireworks displays around the Bay Area; Maddy couldn't get enough.  

panama

The trip to Panama was great.  Unfortunately, I don't have the pictures to show for it.  I'm not quite sure how it happened, but the settings on my camera caused most of the pictures to appear as though they were overexposed.  Now, I'm no photography expert, but can you overexpose a digital photo?  Doesn't that only happen with actual film?  Anyway, most of our photos were ruined, but I've managed find a few that were better than the rest.  Here are a few photos from Bocas del Toro, Panama.   (Oh, did I mention that Maddy dropped the camera a few days before the vaca?).

Bocas is a ramshackle tiny town on a tiny island.  The first few photos are of the town and the beachy photos were taken at Starfish Beach on the other side of the island.  Bocas is filled with backpackers and there are no big hotels.  It was rustic and I'm glad we saw it before the big hotels come in and ruin it.

mid-july

Here we are in mid-July, smack dab in the middle of summer.  It hasn't really felt like summer; I guess because we've only had a few warm days and we haven't yet gone on our summer vacation.  I haven't been posting lately, but that's not to say that Maddy hasn't been busy.  During the last week of June, she was off from school and she took a nice trip down to Legoland with Amah and Apa.  She also went to the San Diego Zoo, Safari Park, and Sea World.  We've mostly been doing the regular summer things; going to the park, attending Saturday morning ballet classes; getting ice cream cones, going to the pool and hanging out at home. 

On our way out the door to work/school recently, Maddy got a hold of my cell phone and took these shots of each one of us, including herself (she tried to get one of Baxter, but he kept running away):

sand sculpture contest

We rode our bikes to Crown Beach where they were holding their annual sand sculpture contest.  Maddy wanted to take her shoes off and wade in the water.  Daddy was wearing regular shoes so, much to my dismay, I had to follow her in.  I love looking at the bay and living near it, but I am horrified to actually touch the water, even with my feet.  It was low tide so the mud was exposed and it was looking rather yucky, but Maddy didn't care.  She was having a blast, so I tried not to let it bother me. 

Maddy was so inspired by the sculptures that she wanted to make one of her own.

filoli (local beauty, part two)

Grandma is in town for the weekend and we wanted to take her somewhere low key and special.  I've had Filoli on my to-do list and this weekend was the perfect opportunity to visit.  Filoli did not disappoint.  The weather was beautiful, the grounds were gorgeous, and best of all, Maddy behaved throughout the entire two hour tour of the house and gardens.  She was so good, in fact, that daddy treated her to an afternoon at the pool afterward.

Filoli, built in 1917, used to be a private residence but became part of the National Trust for Historic Preservation when it was donated in 1975.  Nestled in the hills of Woodside on the Peninsula, Filoli is open to the public to view its extensive gardens and the first floor of the home.  To learn more about Filoli, visit their website here.

local beauty

Last weekend, on Memorial Day, we wanted to do something special, but not too involved.  We missed the Golden Gate Bridge's 75th birthday bash the day before (too crowded, fireworks were too late), but we managed to cross the bridge to wish it a belated birthday.  Then, we proceeded to go to the Marin headlands to visit Point Bonita's lighthouse.  We crossed through a tunnel and then a mini foot bridge to get to the active lighthouse.  The picture of Maddy with the bird was taken in Sausalito after we had lunch.  He ate right out of her hand.  

    

ballet shoes

Daddy:  "I have bowel issues."
Maddy:  "Daddy, why do you have ballet shoes?"

travel

These are some random photos of just a few of the places where I have been (photos I took).  I am only posting them so that I can pin them onto Pinterest.  I'm unaware of a better way to do this!

birthday/santa cruz/mother's day

Saturday was daddy's birthday, so we headed out to Santa Cruz.  It was supposed to be a nice sunny day in the mid-70s, instead it was a cold cloudy day in the low 60s.  Brrr!  Kids don't feel cold anyway.  Sunday was mother's day so we spent the day at a BBQ with the fam.