The Oakland Zoo

 

Theresa and her family came to visit Gabriela and me over the weekend for a visit to the Oakland Zoo.  I was so happy to have them, especially since it's just been Gabriela and me the past few days.  

We saw so many different kinds of apes - gibbons, baboons, tamarins, chimpanzees, and more.  This was perfect because Gabriela is having a monkey birthday party next month. She just loves monkeys!

  

The zoo has a cute kids area that Andrew and Gabriela explored while we had snacks  Andrew pretended to be a giant tortoise, Gabriela sat on a frog, and then they went down tree slides together.

 

Gabriela and Auntie Theresa walking on the lily pads  

We just happened to get to the baboon area as they were prepping for their lunch.  After they all ran out to enjoy their mid-day feast, Gabriela started asking for "more monkeys out of the window".  

 

We were so excited to see giraffes.  There aren't any giraffes at the national zoo!  Gabriela loved them. She talked about their long necks and how her neck is short.  She also noticed two giraffes kissing. so sweet. 

 Then we saw Andrew's favorite, the meerkats.  This was obviously the best photo from the meerkat shoot.  I was amazed because we didn't make a big deal of them to Gabriela and we've never read books or watched movies about meerkats before.  But later that day, she randomly said "meerkat. Auntie Teesa, Andrew, Bobby running in the stroller. That my stroller!" And yes, we saw the meerkats with Auntie Theresa and Andrew, and we were sharing the stroller with cousin Andrew and Bobby was running with Andrew in the stroller, and Gabriela pointed out that it was her stroller. She's been telling us long stories for months. I'm so glad I can finally understand what she's saying!

Anyway, we skipped out on the rides and the train because it was hot and the kids were getting really tired. We'll just have to do that when we return to the zoo. I was thrilled to discover that it was FREE since we are members of the National Zoo.  Hurray! We will be coming back very often.

Grover gets a Time Out

Gabriela has been getting timeouts recently for not listening to us when we ask her to do (or not to do) certain things.  We have been telling her how important it is to listen to her mommy and daddy.  Apparently, Gabriela understands because she gave Grover a time-out yesterday.  She put him on time-out and then got down to his eye level and said very slowly and clearly, "Grover, Listen to Lah-Lah. Listen to Gabi-Lah-Lah"

Cousin Time

 

The kids all played outside yesterday while we prepared Fakesgiving dinner.  Check out all these cutie pies!

 

Baby Caetlin is such a big girl, she stands up all by herself.  Did I mention she's adorable?  

Christianne was so sweet with all the little kids. She played outside with them and they all had a blast! 

Andrew in the tunnel.

 

Nana had a great idea to give the kids all ice cream cones. I love how Mina's ice cream goes all the way to her elbow. It was sure hot and they really enjoyed the treat - see for yourself:

 

Andrew asked Christianne if she wanted to trade cones with him, when he saw hers was much bigger than his. At least he asked, Gabriela came up to me, gave me her cone, and took mine. She's a big fan of the ice cream cone.

A visit with Christianne

We're so lucky, Christianne came to California for a trip, and was able to spend a few days with our family!  She cried when she saw every one, so sweet.  All the kids adore Christianne.  Gabriela got a little confused and started calling her Auntie Kristie.  I can't believe Christianne is taller than me!!!

Since we were all together, we HAD to have Fakesgiving Dinner again.  Sorry, I was too busy to take pictures.  But we feasted on Parsley Sage Chicken Breasts, mashed potatoes, butternut squash risotto, fresh green bean casserole, stuffing, sweet potatoes, tossed green salad, and pumpkin cheesecake and brownies for dessert.

We can't wait to see Christianne again soon.

Gilroy Gardens

 

Lane's parents invited us to Gilroy Gardens for the day on Monday. We had such a nice visit with them.  

  

We let Gabriela drive on the car ride.  Check it out, it looks like she has road rage, already!

 

Hi Grandma and Grandpa

 

Gabriela and Grandpa

 

Gabriela enjoyed the balloon ride again.  See her waving to the people in the next booth? 

 

And then she got the fabulous idea of holding her hands up in the air from them.  Auntie Theresa and Andrew met us there too. 

 

Check out those wild folks in the booth next to us :)

 

The kids changed into their bathing suits to check out the sprinklers.  Gabriela didn't get very close.

 

Andrew, on the other hand, was all over those sprinklers.  

The kids went on these cute little cars next.  I was so proud of Gabriela for riding in a car all by herself. She loved it so much, she rode it TWICE in a row. What a big girl.

 

Then the kids rode the fire trucks together.  For the first half of the ride, Gabriela was looking around all confused.  Finally, she said, "I wanna wheel!" Next time around Gabriela and Andrew switched places so she could drive.  She didn't even touch the wheel for a while.  So, Andrew leaned as far forward as he could and yelled, "DRIVE" And the NEXT time, because yes, they rode the fire trucks three times in a row, they each rode their own truck.  

Then it was ice cream time.  Thanks, Grandpa and Grandma! After ice cream, Gabriela announced, "I wanna ride a fire truck" so we went back for three more rounds of fire truck rides. Thank goodness there were no lines that day! 

 

Thanks for taking the picture, Auntie Theresa :) And thanks for a great visit and dinner Grandma and Grandpa.  We had a wonderful time!

Father's Day Weekend

We came down to Gilroy to spend some time with our dads for Father's Day weekend.  While I took a lot of pictures, I didn't capture any of us with our dads - what was I thinking?!?  We're still in town, so there's still time.  We're having a fun-filled family weekend.  

Before we came down from Oakland, Gabriela presented her daddy with her hand-made Father's Day card.  On Father's Day morning, she told Daddy "Happy Father's Day" all by herself. And his special present is on the way.

 

Lane with the girls.  On Saturday Lane and Tim took the girls to the park. They had a blast. The next morning, Gabriela woke up and said "Mina? Uncle Time? Park?" 

Nana gave Gabriela and Mina manicures and pedicures.  This was a total hit.   

Silly Cousin Time

 

Then we saw a ginormous bird, likely a hawk, stopped at my dad's pool. He seemed to be trying to figure out how to get a drink without falling in.  Check him out as he took off!

 

We spent some time at Grandma and Grandpa's house.  Gabriela helped pick some veggies and then chowed down on berries picked right from the vines.  

 

She made herself comfortable in Grandpa's backyard, as you can see.  They have a table and chairs that are just her size!

 

Gabriela ran around outside like crazy with Auntie Kristie and then enjoyed a cousin bath with Baby Caetlin.  Aren't these girls cuties?

 

We are having more adventures in Gilroy.  To be continued.