Thursday, October 25, 2012

Lake Tahoe

This is long overdue. Life is just busy, isn't it?

In late August Andy and I took an early 5 year anniversary trip to Lake Tahoe (sans Austin). Thank you to Grandma and Grandpa for watching him while we were gone - I'm pretty sure he had more fun with them than he does with us at home!

I had never been to Tahoe, but Andy grew up going in the summers when he was a kid and loved it. It was on my California Bucket List so it seemed like a great choice. We debated between Santa Barbara and Tahoe, but clearly Tahoe won.

I'm so glad we picked Tahoe - it was BEAUTIFUL and a perfect mix of active and relaxing and it was the right time of year to go. The weather was perfect. Sunny and warm during the day and a little chilly at night.

We roughed it at the Ritz at Northstar for the week. One good thing about a hubby who travels A LOT is points - we very rarely have to pay for a hotel or flights, and this was one of those trips. Thank you Marriott points for a lovely vacation!
Ritz Carlton - Lake Tahoe
We drove up on Saturday morning bright and early. The drive is about 10 hours from San Diego but we took the back roads past Mammoth and through the mountains so it wasn't bad. It was also nice to have car time to chat without the runt. We love him to death, but its definitely nice to have one on one time with each other.

For our memory and a for your info if you ever want to visit, here was our itinerary. There is SO MUCH more to do, but we didn't have a ton of time. We plan to go back and stay longer next summer with Austin. Its definitely a family friendly place. Our hotel even allows dogs - we could have brought the Dexter Dog.

Saturday night - lounge by the pool, Dinner at GarWoods, smores by the fire at the hotel (a nightly tradition)
View from our room

GarWoods
Sunday - Breakfast at Fire Sign Cafe (a must!), hike DL Bliss State Park and Vikingsholm Castle, then back to the hotel for pool time. Dinner at Manzanita at the hotel, then took the gondola down to Northstar Village to explore.

Lighthouse at DL Bliss 
Balancing Rock
Monday - Shopping in Tahoe City, then amazing bike ride from Squaw Valley to Sunnyside for lunch. We rented bikes in the Squaw Valley Village and rode beside the Truckee River. It was 14 miles round trip - mostly downhill the way there, which meant lots of uphill on the way back...yikes!
Truckee River
Lunch at Sunnyside
Tuesday - Hike Rubicon trail at DL Bliss (Andy wanted to relive his childhood). We packed a picnic lunch, then drove all the way around the lake to check it out after our hike. Now that I've seen the whole lake, I'm glad we stayed on the North California side. I wasn't as impressed with the south side.  Then back to the hotel for another late afternoon poolside session and our last Tahoe dinner at Christy Hill.
View from my favorite chair probably with a mojito in hand.

Wednesday - Up early to drive home!

Next time, we definitely want to try more hikes, bike from Squaw to Sunnyside again, paddleboard, go to the beach, and the list goes on.... We kept saying how we could stay there for a month or two in the summer and never run out of things to do!

Wednesday, October 24, 2012

Pumpkin Patch

Here are a few pics from our trip to the pumpkin patch last night. We didn't get a good family pic, but it was a fun evening activity. Austin loved watching the hot air balloons launch from the parking lot. They are HUGE up close. He also thinks the pumpkins are balls and enjoyed saying "ball' all night long. 

Tuesday, October 23, 2012

Family Party and Real Birthday

I'm a little late documenting this, but better late than never....

My mom (Grannie) was here for Austin's real birthday. It was so fun to have her here! Grandpa was supposed to come too, but he is retiring in a few short weeks so needed to stay back and tie things up at work. On a non birthday note...Andy is counting down the days until Dad retires so he can beg him to come help with car projects. Lord, help me!

On Wednesday we woke up, ate breakfast and let Austin open a few special gifts. He got his first BMW at age one -- thanks Grandpa and Grannie! He's going to be really disappointed when his 16th birthday rolls around and he gets a hand me down car and not a new BMW!

While Austin took his morning nap, we started getting things ready for dinner and his family birthday party that night. Post nap, we packed up and headed out for Del Mar. We ate lunch at the Stratford Court Cafe then wandered down to Powerhouse Park to look at the beach and birds (or birrs as Austin says).

A highlight of the afternoon, besides the fact that it was Austin's birthday, was running into Sharla Lukefahr at lunch. Sharla is one of our best Texas friend's mom. She lives in Houston, but they have a house in San Diego, so it wasn't totally crazy to see her here, but it was definitely random and a fun surprise. We love her (and her whole family) so it was so happy to see her!
After lunch, we headed home for afternoon nap time and then spent a little time playing outside with friends.
=
We had family over for dinner and cake and let Austin stay up WAY past his bed time!! He got to open more great presents from GranJan, GranDude, Uncle Chris, Aunt Steph and Riley, but we apparently forgot to take pictures :( Another highlight of the evening was skyping with Auntie Robin while everyone was here. It would have been better if she was here in person, but modern technology is pretty great.

It was a great 1st birthday and he really did get to celebrate all week long!

Tuesday, October 16, 2012

Austin's 1st Birthday Party

We spent several days celebrating Austin's birthday. My mom (Grannie) flew to San Diego on Monday to spend the week with us and took half the week off of work so we could play and get ready for his birthday party.

On his real birthday (Wednesday) we had a family dinner/party with just us, my mom, GranJan and Grandude, Aunt Step, Uncle Chris and Cousin Riley. So glad they could come!!
On Saturday, we had a red truck themed party at GranJan and GranDude's for Austin's friends.

Here are a few pictures from his Saturday party. Will post pictures from his family party in a separate post!


Monday, October 15, 2012

12 Months!!

Austin Thomas, you are ONE!! What a great year its been!! Yes, the first three months are very exhausting like everyone warns...but this has definitely been the best year of our lives so far. Its a blessing and a privilege to be your parents and we love you to pieces!

See, I have hair! Its just so blonde that I look bald from far away!
We had your 1 year doctor appointment today and you are right on track. The 3 shots weren't fun, but its always nice to hear that you are doing well developmentally.
Height: 2' 6" (54%)
Weight: 19lb 8 oz (22%)

You are still wearing size 4 diapers and you wear 12 month clothes. Your 9 month pants still fit because your waist is so tiny, but you are definitely in 12-18 month pajamas and mostly 12 month shirts.

You have 3.5 teeth. The two bottom ones have been in since May or so and you have one giant front top tooth and the other top tooth is about halfway in.
Giant top tooth!
You still love to laugh and smile and are really into giving hugs and kisses lately. You will hug all of your neighbor friends everyday and you've even started to hug your stuffed animals.
Grannie taught you to do "cheers". If we say cheers, you stick your face out and wait for us to touch our forehead to yours - so cute!
Mexican food with your buddy, Knox!
Your favorite thing to do is to ride around the 'hood in your "auto" (aka your blue car). You point at the door and say "door auto," which means "lets go outside and ride in my auto."
Enjoying your auto on a Friday afternoon
You say a handful of words now: ball, door, auto, agua(water), dog, mama, dada, bird, balloon(sounds like ball). You recognize a lot more than that, but those are your favorites to say out loud.

First pair of shoes
You aren't walking yet, but you can stand alone for 15-20 seconds and you push your auto and your push cart all over the house and the street all day long. Soon....(but seriously no rush, buddy)! I can tell you are ready to be a big kid. When we play out on the street, you watch the big kids and try to push your cart after them.
Hanging with Jackson at Barnes and Noble
With the fun always comes a few hard days...this month you had a fever for about 2 days (so sad) which we think may have been very mild hand foot and mouth (don't worry friends, we quarantined ourselves). Your dad was also out of town 2 weekends in a row, so we were home alone all week and all weekend, which makes for a tired mama. You are also getting more independent and are starting to pitch little fits when you don't get what you want.
Hanging with Dr. Rogers in Little Italy
Your daily routine is pretty much the same as its been for the last few months:

6:45/7 - Wake and get milk right away. We just switched to whole milk yesterday and sippy cups today, so no more formula or bottles. We usually lay in bed for 30 minutes or so and play songs on the iPad while you drink your milk. Your favorite is B-I-N-G-O because of the dog. You can also tap and start the songs all by yourself. Scary how easy apple makes it for kids!

8- Breakfast - toast, yogurt, fruit, whole wheat pancakes

9:30-11 Nap - On weekdays after your nap, you and Jessi usually hang with your friend Jackson and eat lunch out, go to the park or the bookstore and take a walk. On weekends, we try to get out and do something fun during this time.

Noon - Lunch - noodles, leftovers (chicken, meat), bread and cheese, fruit, peas/carrots, packet of applesauce, cheerios, etc.

1/1:30 - 8oz whole milk again

2-3:30 - Nap. Unless you decide to boycott this one which happens at least once a week.

4:00 - Water and a small snack if needed. This is when we usually go out and hang with the neighborhood kids until dinner time.

5/5:30 - Dinner (similar food as lunch)

6:30 - Bath/Winddown/ More Milk

7/7:30 Bedtime

As always, we cannot wait to continue to watch you grow and develop. We wish time would slow down just a little bit, but I know that is every parent's wish.
Hanging in bed with Mama