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.

23 months old

Gabriela has grown so much in the last month, it's unbelievable.  Here are some tidbits from her achievements over the last month:

Gabriela's counting: One-two-four-five-six-number-eight-nine-ten-uno!
    Uno-dos-cuatro-cinco-seis-siete-ocho-seven-eight-nine-ten!

Gabriela LOVES washing her hands/hates having anything on them and constantly asks to have them washed "Ah-wah- neese"  She also wants to brush her teeth three or four times a day, and insists that anyone nearby do the same.

said, "WHOA, BABY!" the other night at dinner

learned how to blow her nose independently and asks to do so when it's time, "I wanna blow nose"

Knows her name is Gabriela Grover, Says Daddy's name is Daddy Lane Grover and mommy is Mommy Elena Grover

Started playing catch and holds her hands up ready to catch the ball.  "I wanna throw ball, mommy" When I throw the ball and she doesn't catch it, she says "mommy, no do that!"  When Daddy throws it and she doesn't catch the ball, she says "so close!"

Stops whatever she is doing if she thinks I'm hurt to ask, "mommy, kay?"

successfully learned how to blow bubbles and reminds herself "not in-dah mouth" when her bubble wand gets temptingly close.

says, "whoopies" whenever she drops something.

Gabriela is getting very independent and insistent when it comes to some things like putting on her jammies, washing her hands, or going down the stairs, saying "it's Lah-Lah's turn" or "no, I do it mah-self!"

 We are still working on things like sharing and potty training.  Loving every moment of seeing this little princess grow up into a big girl.

Beau's Kindergarten Celebration

 

On Tuesday we went to Beau's Kindergarten Celebration.  This is his classroom.  Miss Savage thanked all the parents and then talked about each of the students.  She said Beau has a gentle spirit. 

 

The kids all sang a couple songs. They were the sweetest thing.  And then Miss Savage made all the parents (and even one auntie) cry with slideshows of photos set to tear jerker music. I now know I'm going to be an absolute disaster when I go to these kinds of functions for my own kiddo.

 

Proud Mama 

During the program, Gabriela waved and yelled, "Hi, BEAU!!!"  She also ran up to him and gave him a giant hug after it was over. It melted my heart. 

 

Meliss and her boys

 

Gabriela also enjoyed the potluck.  Her favorites were desserts!  She gobbled down the jello jigglers and here she is with a cupcake in one hand and a brownie in the other.  That's our girl!

 

Beau and Miss Savage

  

We are proud of Beau and all his hard work, and so happy we were invited to celebrate his accomplishments.  Way to go, Beau!

 

And, p.s.  how did we end up with such a big girl all of a sudden?!?  Here she is, running through the playground. 

Popsicles and Sprinklers

Summer is here!  Gabriela enjoyed a popsicle in the sunshine.  Glad I had the forethought to take all her clothes off first!  

This is as close to the sprinklers as Gabriela got.  She's so dainty!

No, Ladybug!

Tonight Gabriela was being a good little helper, helping me shell peas from the veggie box for Lane's delicious feta cheese pasta.  She had her own bowl, would shell the peas, put some in the bowl but mostly eat them, and then ask for another one.

I got up from the table for just a moment when I heard Gabriela sternly saying, "NO, Ladybug!!!!"  She had picked up her bowl of peas, positioned it very close to her chest, away from the table, and shouting, "These MY peas!! No, Ladybug!"  I looked over, and a fly had landed on the other end of the table.

 Guess she liked those peas, and she wasn't willing to share them!

Berry Picking at Nana's

 

We went to Nana's house today to pick cherries and ollalieberries.  Baby Caetlin came out to help. Nothing like freshly picked fruit. yum!

 

This is how Gabriela picked cherries.  Move them from the big basket of already picked cherries to a smaller kid-sized basket.

 

And this is how she picked the berries. Actually, I would pick berries, put them in her basket, and she'd just chow down on them.

 

See?

Here are my berries, Nana! Gabriela actually picking some berries. Baby Caetlin tasted berries for the first time. She obviously is a big fan. 

Mina was a fan of berries and ice cream.  These berries are out of this world.  As soon as we were done picking them, my mom and I made a pie.  We are having trouble waiting until after dinner to eat it.  One of the many (many) benefits of moving back home, or as Noal says the West Coast Best Coast.