Daddy we miss you! Safe travels

I am helping you save money

"I am helping you save money this weekend as you won't be spending money on gas with all the homework" Yes, that is what my summer school teacher said... The same one who when I mentioned that three hours of homework a night after a nightly two hour class is quite a lot with work and a daughter responded your daughter will look up to you. You are setting a good example for her. 8 classes left.

No more dollies at school

We came home with a new contract... no more dollies or toys from home allowed at school as they were creating issues with the kids that did and didn't bring their dollies.

So the other night as we were delaying I mean talking before bedtime K brought up the fact we couldn't bring all our babies to school.. We went in to the standard baby conversation... I want a baby sister, when I was really little I was in your stomach? how did I get there? was I really little?

At some point in the conversation K came up with the solution... I will put my dolly in my tummy. G won't see my dolly because it will be in my tummy.... (You can imagine the laughter.)

Today K asked to bring her dolly stroller to school. Technically it is not her dolly.... unfortunately Mommy said no and we settled on taking our baby of the morning into the car where Mommy would spend the rest of the day with the baby at work. We are often assigned babies to take to the gym, to work, to school... you name it Mommy and Daddy have a dolly with us.

"Mommy, I know how I am a superstar"

K spent part of the weekend with Gma S as T and I had a couple dinners with friends... one in Los Gatos with our friends S&R... and one in the city with our friends C&M. Both dinners were really nice and I had another fantastic meal at Town Hall. Consistently great food. We also went to a little place called Cosmopolitan for drinks... and you guessed it a million cosmos and beer on tap (doesn't get any better for the four of us)... I tried the yummy raspberry one. We also met up with my cousin who was in town from the East Coast and finally returned to the market again. Two weeks back to back after being gone for weeks... Most likely our last visit for a while as Daddy is leaving on Saturday and we are all meeting in NYC in a few weeks.

British Open

This morning T and K went down to watch the open.... Here is what I heard as I tried to get the last few moments of sleep...

T: Come on let's go watch the open
K: Ok
T: Let's go
K: How about we watch Dora instead
T: No way, we are watching the open

As Daddy was leaving he turned off the tv...
K: Why did you turn off the tv?
T I am going to work
K: But I am still watching the Open

Now Mommy is left to watch the Open (very excited)
K: Look there is Sergio
M: I like Sergio
K: Where is Tiger
M: He has an owwie on his knee
K: I do too, look at my owwie (covered with a dora bandaid)
M: Yes, I see
K: yeeeeeeeeeeeeeah, good shot, oh he didn't make it in the hole, but it was a good shot
M: Umm yes
K: he made it in yyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhh
M: We know who your Daddy is...

Just Mommy and Daddy again

After a day in Half Moon Bay, Stanford another day in Burlingame our guests have gone home. K asked this morning if they would ever come back... because when they did she would share her kettle corn with them... So now it is back to the three of us at least for a week or so before Daddy heads off to Europe for work and we get girl time all the time for two weeks! Should be fun. We also couldn't end the weekend without one more dolly so now we are the proud new owners of another Anna from this very cute shop, Baby Couture in Burlingame... I am thinking we can shop for K there everyday, I am not sure our budget allows it... Anyway now we are putting the house back together and just enjoying being three.

Blue baby came home

Blue baby stayed on at the hotel spa in Colorado and apparently decided to extend his stay while the rest of the family went home.... we didn't realize this until we came home and his sister pink baby was looking for him. Luckily the Ritz staff found the baby and helped get him back on an airplane to us... He rang our doorbell on 4th of July morning and we found him in a box in K's wagon.... Here is the reunion... (K decided he spent most of his time away from us eating roasted marshmallows, hiking mountains and going swimming)

4th of July parade

Family pics

Fun

K loved the 4th of July parade this year especially having the little leg power necessary to ride a tricycle all the way through the neighborhood with S... We had a really fun 4th of July dinner with friends and family. Everyone got to try K's pizza which she helped Daddy make... Unfortunately we ended up missing fireworks entirely as we all got caught up chatting away with dessert and yummy wine...

Saturday was a super girly day.... All the girls headed to the outlets, downtown Carmel and our traditional spa day at Pebble Beach. We finished our night with drinks at The Lodge so our guests could soak in the 17 mile drive views before ending the girly day at Passion Fish, in Pacific Grove.

On Sunday we all went over to Santa Cruz for breakfast, some time on the beach, downtown adventuring and a stop in LG for K's favorite water fountains. Amazing that we don't have enough time to do all the things that are here. K is loving having all our guests and will be bummed when it returns to just the mommy and daddy show.

Aunt S and C

Aunt S and C are visiting us from England and so we took them to the city yesterday... after a pool time and mellow house lounging on Saturday. Unfortunately we forgot to look at the paper or calendar before we left and ran into the pride parade.... Madness, but of course an extra bonus to show the visitors... The rest of the day was spent following the two girls with pounds in their wallets around Union Square stopping for very brief snacks and coffees until finally the shops closed and we went to Cafe de la Presse for dinner... (Not to worry I managed to buy a pair of Kate Spade shoes in the process.) K was a champ with the day and we snuck her over to the bookstore, up and down on the elevator at the St Francis...talk about a great kiddie ride and for runs through Union Square throughout the day... She fell asleep to everyone singing her bedtime songs in the car as we left well after 9pm.



On Sat K and I hit up Burlingame where we met K & J for park time, stores and the purhcase of a beautiful new wagon.... We pulled our dollies around until mid afternoon when it became an outdoor wagon so that the rest of our neighborhood friends could enjoy it. K has been loving her friends and playing till 8:30 whenever possible.

Aspen and water fountains, baths, fathers day hikes and our favorite... swings!!!!!!

Trying our first marshmallow

hike photos

We are back

NYC rocked as always... favorites like Madison, SoHo, NoLita, West Village, Meatpacking, Central Park, the Upper West Side and new things like getting a haircut there, seeing paparazzi and tourists stalk Kate Hudson as she lives next door to my favorite breakfast place (she did come out at the end... very beautiful and allowed my afternoon tea adventure return to normal), staying at the Waldorf Astoria and the Hotel Gansevoolt which has one of the best rooftop bars I have ever been to and awesome sales... Prada and Chloe both had 45 -50 off sales although I am still debating all the things I want versus I need at Prada.. Thankfully there is a store in SF. The trip was really really great and still keeps NYC as one of the top three places in the world for me.

We took a family holiday with some friends, a long weekend to Vail and Aspen. K was so excited to be in the mountains... T went golfing one day and so the girls hit Edwards and K checked out the hotel pool, kids area and swings talking up every one... Funnily enough one of the tops folks from the White House was also at the hotel so there was secret service everywhere. K tried to chat up the secret service who seemed a lot less interested in her... We visited some of the villages around Vail and took a day trip to Aspen. The last time we were there K was 3 months and it was raining so hard we missed most of the town. This time the weather was much better and so we got to explore the town a lot better, had lunch outside and K ran through the water fountains. We took the scenic route over and it was stunning to see the mountains and snow... Really beautiful. We went on a hike with K that ended up being a lot more intense than we expected 1.5 miles straight up hill on almost all rock formations... luckily K loved loved it and the waterfall and freshwater lake with trout at the top was well worth it. Since K walked most of a mile she fell asleep on the way back and Daddy had to carry her down... pics to be posted later to show you just how impressive this really was!! K saw a rock garden yesterday and asked to go hiking....

K discovered chewing gum on the trip and strawberry ice cream with sprinkles... She is in love. We also let her pick her standard one trip special treat... we now have a very very bright rhinestoney, pink and purple unicorn named Aspen... He is umm bright!

All in all a great family trip minus the fact that airport security stole my never used bumble and bumble leave in conditioner because of the liquid laws. I accidently forgot to pack it... Lucky for all of us there was no leave in conditioner on the flight from Denver to SJC and don't we all just feel safer!!! I am still fuming... I know it isn't obvious.

We are now gearing up for T's sis and niece who are visiting us from the UK arriving on Sat...

Happy Fathers Day

Fathers Day weekend was loads of fun... we decided to go for a hike on the trail near our house with an end destination of coffee... K and Daddy pretended to see tigers and elephants on the hike, gathered sticks and explored while Gma S and Mommy wandered behind... K and Mommy also left Daddy for the afternoon to watch the open. We walked into town for volleyball at a park with swing time (translation... hitting a beach ball with K's dora tennis racket) a bookstore adventure and a couple errands... In the evening K hung with Gma S as we went up to the city for dinner with friends. A great fathers day although overall a super hectic weekend..

Daddy and K are solo from tomorrow on as I am heading to NYC... of course super excited before we all meet for a family holiday in Vail... Poor Daddy is having to take the stroller, car seat, golf clubs and all of our luggage for the flight out.... luckily he will have a few rounds of golf as soon as I arrive. K has requested five presents this time... the shopping will begin soon enough.

mommy milk

Last week Daddy and K were looking at a book on cow and horse mommies and their babies. Daddy explained that everyone has milk from their mommy's when they are very little.... Even K had milk from her mommy... K's response... you mean when mommy was a cow... Ouch! Daddy pointed out I was still mommy even when I was nursing... K didn't like that and so she asked if it was when I was a horse... Knowing K she would be thrilled to have Mommy be a horse.

Today K wanted to play doctor... I was the doctor, k was the mommy and I was looking at her babies... so I am inspecting the babies, asking how they are sleeping and eating... apparently K said the babies tell her they want to stay up for five minutes and she tells them they can only stay up for four minutes. And guess what they do it... No wonder K is a great mommy.. Anyway so we are talking about them eating cereal when she brings up the fact that they eat mommy milk... hoping to avoid the conversation I just say oh and move along.... well K continues on to say they only like mommy milk... not daddy milk. Trying not to laugh I move on to tummy time for the dollies...

Watching kitties

This morning when I dropped off K to school we saw some of the neighborhood kitties walking around... we decided to take a moment to watch them and giggle at all the silly things they were doing. Listening to her giggle is definitely one of the best parts of my day.

My other favorite moment was last night... somehow I have a minor flu and so K in an effort to make me feel better ran upstairs and grabbed books for us to read together... she read books to me and told everyone that we all had to be careful because Mommy was sick. This morning when she found out I was still sick she came over and rubbed me and told me that it would be ok and I would feel better soon. She is really concerned and very sweet.

The rest of the weekend was awesome. On Fri Ang came up and we went to her mom's 60th bday party... on Saturday we celebrated my bday with a coupley day in the city where T took me to Eat's for my favorite fruit crepes, followed by adventuring in the Fillmore and lunch at Cafe Balboa, coffee at BlueBottle and exploring in the Marina. Gma C covered for us and spent the day with K while Gma S made an awesome bday dinner... PMoGi in true mogi fashion found and made incredible presents including a beautiful book filled with all our recent travel adventures. We are adding to the book... soon I hope. Sunday was filled with an octopus balloon, fun meals with friends and lots of market cherries and apricots.

Some cute comments

Mommy... lip gloss makes my lips look cute... See my lips, aren't they cute!

When I am older Mommy I will drive and you can sit in that seat (the passenger seat)

K: I want to stay in a hotel.
M: You do.
K: Yes, I want to go on an airplane
M: Where do you want to go
K: Hawaii like N (N is on holiday this week and K is missing her... everyday is N back? is she back? Why is she gone for sooo long.

After yesterday's conversation of wanting a holiday when it came up again today I mentioned we were going to stay in a hotel as we are heading to Vail in a couple of weeks.
K: at the ocean
M: No, in the mountains
K: Do they have hotels in the mountains
M: Yes
K: Can we go now?
Ok, we know who she takes after...

Three presents please

Yesterday I spent the day with my family and so K hung with Daddy and Gma C doing all her favorites... farmers market, bookstore and yummy coffee shop whipped creams. As I was leaving we talked about how many presents she wants.. Whenever I go away for a trip I always come home with little and sometimes bigger treats... So yesterday K requested her standard three presents. I made it home just before bedtime and of course outside of delaying bedtime we checked out our presents.. a glass with cherries on it (we had our first glass of milk in it this morning in addition to more cherries... we love cherries) an accordian (which we took to bed and Crash our awesome horse held for us when we finally stopped playing with it and closed our eyes) and a little handmade cloth ball (which we practiced throwing and catching with Daddy before he took off for work this morning). All three little treats were giant hits. K requested to take them to school, but luckily we compromised on a kitty instead.

The day with my family was lots of fun. We went back to Berkeley for coffee, campus time, shopping, Ici, Rockridge, 4th street and of course the rose gardens... All lots of fun and great quality time. pics coming soon...

On Saturday T and I took advantage of Gma C's visit and went to Santa Cruz for a shopping golf day with S&R. We love our golf and shopping days, but they are always too long for K unless they are a weekend trip. We also made it out for a nice beach walk and breakfast as a couple... also awesome.

One of my favorite moments of the weekend was run and seek. K calls hide and seek run and seek and so we love playing as a family in teams... almost as much fun as gathering stuffed animals, hats and other pieces of clothing in teams and making sure the other team (normally it is daddy against mommy and K) doesn't get the prized possessions. It is so cute and leaves everyone laughing.