Birthday Party Part 1

Today we celebrated Allison's 3rd birthday (a little early) with my parents and Dallas relatvies at Buca di Beppo.  Even though they are only an hour away I dont get to see my little cousins very often so it was a treat for all of us.  Allison loved the attention, especially when the waiters sang to her.  She touched every frosting flower on her princess cake and tried to put her face right in it.  Besides a helium balloon almost as big as she is, Allison also got a halloween costume (Rapunzel), a Rapunzel doll and lots of art supplies.  I'm so excited to celebrate with my big girl, and we still have her real birthday and party with her friends.  

Cake!

 

Opening presents

walking out with her cousins

lots of arts and crafts supplies

At home with her Rapunzel doll

Stress Relief Jars

completed jar

Tonight we have "Meet the Teacher" at Allison's preschool.  I know several of the girls from her class last year will be returning and should be in the same class together.

before assembling

 

Last year I made pampering jars for a start of the year teacher gift.  To change it up this year I've made "Stress Relieft Jars".  I know this age can be stressful as kids are working on their independence and potty training seems to bring out the worst in all of us.

love allison on the top

I used quart size jars, filled them with some stress relief bath salts, some relaxing lotion, bubble wrap tied up in a bow and a handful of chocolates. I got my inspiration on pinterest, the original link is: http://www.u-createcrafts.com/2013/02/craft-it-forward-stress-relief-gifts.html 

San Francisco Highlights part 2

Flowers at the farmers market

Saturday morning we rode the street car to the farmers market.  Then to the hop on hop off tour bus.  Ours broke down right after we crossed the Golden Gate Bridge so we got to do that twice.  We spent the afternoon walking around little Italy and seeing the painted ladies.

Sunday we picked up the rent car, drove around some cute neighborhoods and went down the curvy part of Lombard street.  Then across the bridge to Sausalito for lunch and window shopping.  We got in two wineries before the end of the day in Napa - Duckhorn for a tasting (for everyone not me) and a tour and tasting at Jarvis.  Tapas for dinner in Napa.  

On Lombard Street

Monday morning we drove the Silverado trail then a champagne tasting at Domaine Carneros then off to the airport.

Domaine Carneros

What Cathy and Stacey drank

What I drank - yummy but not champagne

Sam Francisco Highlights Part 1

View of the city from Alcatraz

Watching the sea lions at the pier

Thursday we explored Union Square and Chinatown.  Friday we rode the cable car to breakfast at Ghirardelli then walked around Fisherman's Wharf.

So much chocolate 

We saw the sea lions, the musee mechanique and all the tourist areas.  After lunch at Fog Harbor we spent the afternoon at Alcatraz - thankfully Cathy booked tickets early, the soonest they had tickets available was 11 days out.  Dinner at Boudin with the requisite sourdough bread bowl.

Crab and corn bisque in a sourdough breadbowl

Sourdough bread animals - almost too cute to eat

Happy Birthday Brooklyn

Saturday we helped celebrate Brooklyn's 4th birthday at her Little Mermaid party.  We could hardly get the kids out of the pool they were having such a good time. Brooklyn and Allison even had matching Ariel swimsuits (total coincidence) - so precious.

Towards the end the girls ganged up on Kevin giving him tickles and splashes.  He was a good sport about it.

Safe

We are now the owners of a gun safe.  A couple friends came over after church to help Kevin unload it.  We originally planned to put it in our closet but decided the closet was small enough as it is without giving up a chunk of it for the safe.  This isn't the ideal solution but so far it's the best one we've come up with.

Saturday at the Zoo

To avoid the worst of the heat we were at the zoo when it opened at 10, ad got a front row parking spot.  We saw flamingos nesting then walked through the reptile house where Allison got to touch a Mexican burrowing python.  The big hit of the day wasn't the new baby elephant (although I really enjoyed that) but feeding the birds.  For a dollar you can buy a Popsicle stick with birdseed and feed the cockatiels.  Least time we did it was a trip later in the day ad the birds weren't hungry.  This time we were one of the first people to go through and had 3 birds trying to eat at once.