San Francisco Zoo!

This last Friday we decided to take the girls to the San Francisco zoo. Gracie loves animals and we thought she was finally at an age that she would enjoy it.

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Hailee thought this lion was great but Gracie didn't like this...

Happy Hailee!

Mommy and Hailee

Gracie and Mommy when we first got to the zoo

Hailee mostly rode in the stroller the whole time.

Daddy and Gracie

Gracie kept pointing at different animals and saying things like "whoa!" and
"pretty". She also enjoyed pointing out every bird she saw, anything that looked like a bug, and every body of water there.

It was a fun day and a really great little trip for all of us.

Beach Day!

Today we went to the beach! Because the weather here is usually on the colder side and foggy, and when it's not, we're usually busy with school or work, we actually had not been to the beach since before Hailee was born! But today, the weather was beautiful and HOT! So even though Justin was at work, I couldn't pass up such gorgeous weather. So I packed the girls and all their stuff up and we went and played at the beach for a little while. Justin was able to drive over on a break and see us.

The girls loved it and Hailee definitely enjoyed her first time at the beach! I can't believe she is 7 months old tomorrow, we live right across from it, and this was her first time at the beach. If we can just have more of this weather we will go more often!







Gracie and her skirt blowing up! haha

Hailee's first day at the beach!

Me and my girls

This is such a cute picture. It reminds me of one of me and Jacob when we were little.

Fun Family Day! (April 4th, 2009)

It was beautiful weather today so we were out all day! First we went to Old Time Days in Monterey (some kind of fair) where we ate good food and the girls enjoyed looking at everything. I can't even remember how many people stopped us the whole time to tell us we had the cutest kids ever. Can't say I don't agree... lol

Afterwards we went driving through Carmel Valley. We were looking for some roads that we could just go sight seeing and get lost on in the mountains. We found a perfect one!

We drove on this beautiful winding road taking pictures while Grace looked out the window and said "Pretty!" and "Ooh!" on every sharp turn. We had a wonderful time and these are some of the pictures from the day. My girls are getting sooo big!

Rollin' in the Stroller!

Just for fun!

She's sooo smiley!! She just smiles all the time.

We got Grace a bubble machine that makes like 10,000 bubbles a minute! LOTS of fun!

When I told her to smile for the camera today, this is what she did. She is also showing you guys her favorite shoes.

Gracie kissing Hailee. Aww...

I'm not sure what kind of face this is that Hailee is making but it's cute.

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This is Gracie today. She is 20 months old! I told her to smile but this was the look I got. She wasn't very amused at the moment.

Grace was showing Hailee her baby. Grace is really into playing mommy lately.

Justin fell asleep holding Hailee while I was cleaning the house. They were both completely out!

This smile here is the reason she is known as "Happy Hailee" at daycare. You can't help but smile when she smiles like this.

For some reason, this picture reminds me of one I saw of myself when I was this age. I have to agree.... she does look A LOT like her mommy :-)

2009!

Ok so I've been terrible at updating this lately. But can you blame me? Honestly... I have 2 kids under the age of 2 and I'm a full time Nursing student in my last semester of Nursing school. Let's face it, I'm busy. But I guess now is as good of time as any to introduce Hailee to the blog. She's 5 months old now so she's not exactly brand new to the family, but that's how long it has been since I've updated this. Also, new pictures of Grace.

Even though I am busy, I'm in no way complaining. I have to say that I absolutely love my life. Sure, it's hard sometimes. But I have so much to be thankful for! Just look!

Hailee posing for the camera. She was 3 months old here.

She's such a beautiful baby!

Daddy styled Gracie's hair in the tub. Her hair is nothing like mine. She has this beautiful blonde super straight hair.

Justin and Grace definitely have a special bond. She adores him and when I come home after they've spent a day together, she usually knows some new cute little thing to do... like saying "thank you" or "please" or helping to unload the dishwasher. He's always teaching her something new and they already have a very special daddy-daughter bond.

This was one of our Christmas pictures taken out at Lover's Point in Monterey, CA. Hailee was 3 months old here too. I need to upload some more recent pictures, but I'll get to that soon. As of right now, Hailee is definitely a mama's girl. That may just be because she relies on me for food, but for right now, I'm her favorite person to be with (and I love that!). She's a sweet baby and smiles all the time!

So this is it for the update right now but I will be posting more. I now have a working computer again so that helps!
Love,

Amanda

Jacob in San Francisco

Jacob pulled into port in San Francisco July 23rd after 6 weeks of sailing on the U.S. Coast Guard ship, the Eagle. So since we are only about an hour south of San Fran, we went up there and spent 2 days with him. Justin hadn't seen him in over a year and Grace and I had last seen him in December. We had a blast spending time with him! On the 2nd day he got to take us on the Eagle and give us a tour. It was a beautiful day and the ship was really awesome. It was cool getting to see where he has been for the summer. I think Justin wanted to go too. Here are some pictures of us while we were touring the Eagle. The worst part of the trip was saying goodbye to Jake and not knowing when the next time will be that we see him :(

















The ship













Grace hanging out by the "captain's coffin" (I think that's what Jake called it... forgive me if I got that wrong)




























All of us on the Eagle













Grace and Uncle Jake on the Eagle













Pretty cool huh?
















The Bay Bridge as seen from the Eagle