Easter in San Diego

In the whirlwind that is an infant's first year of life, it seems that holidays, gatherings, trips, etc. have been the easiest way for me to put a little time stamp in my brain of what Connor was able to do and when.  At Thanksgiving he was just learning to rollover, at Christmas he was sitting up by himself (mostly), and by Easter he was army crawling himself into more trouble than should be humanly possible.  He continues to understand more and more each day, and one of his main points of focus seems to be figuring out what he's not supposed to touch and wanting nothing more than to bang/smack/splash at each of these items.  I guess we all have to begin understanding where boundaries are and how firm these boundaries hold.  

So, for Easter weekend we packed up the car and struck out down the 405 and 5 to visit the Means family.  We arrived on Friday night, enjoyed a quiet night in, and then on Saturday began the fun.  After Connor's first nap on Saturday morning we headed to the San Diego Zoo.  I don't think any of us had been in 10 or 15 years, so this was going to be a treat for us and not just Connor.  With the wonderful weather we weren't the only ones with the idea for a zoo day, but we were pleasantly surprised with how big and spread out the zoo seemed to be.  Connor got to see monkeys, hippos, fish, birds, rhinos, camels, giraffes, warthogs and a pacing jaguar.  You could tell that he understood that these animals were alive, and in the case of the jaguar, that they were something to be a little nervous about.  We all had a great day at the zoo and we all bought season passes, so I am sure that there will be more zoo days as the summer wears on.

On Sunday morning Connor got to experience his first Easter egg hunt.  Although the hiding wasn't particularly devious, Connor loved discovering the brightly colored eggs and the Cheerios that were hidden inside.  A little later in the morning the Means clan (Gammer, Jim & Lark, Branden & Genevieve with RJ & Clementine, and Greg) all arrived for Easter Brunch.  We all sat out in the backyard and enjoyed the sunshine.  Connor got to spend some good time with Gammer, he enjoyed seeing his cousins for the first time since Christmas, and he even got to put on the ridiculous bunny ears that Nana had bought him.  When Connor, RJ and Clem were all on the floor together Connor was very curious and showed that he still has a little to learn about the term gentle, but I am sure in another 6 months they'll be climbing all over each other.  

It was a great weekend, too short as always, but nice to be able to see all the family.  

Beach Day

This weekend marked the annual weekend in Southern California where the weather is absolutely amazing and the rest of the country is furious that they have decided to live elsewhere.  Based on the wonderful weather and a text from Kristen on Saturday afternoon, we decided that Sunday afternoon would be Connor's first trip to the beach.  On Sunday morning we assembled our beach gear (I remember this in the past being a simple backpack with a towel and a football; we now have towels, umbrellas, tents, more towels, snacks, sippy cups, etc)  After his 11am bottle we headed to Hermosa Beach to meet up with Kristen, Tony, Odyssey, Harper, Mike and Jessica.  Connor got decked out in all his beach gear and was ready to hit the sand.  After hanging out on the towels for a little while we took Connor down to the water and watched the waves crash.  He thought that Mom running and getting her ankles wet was hysterical, thought the waves crashing was pretty cool, and was definitely curious about what the funny feeling stuff between his toes was.  He did not however, in any way, shape or form, enjoy cold ocean water running over his feet.  We'll need to remember that for next time.  We spent about 2 hours hanging out with everyone down at the beach and it was a great afternoon.  We can't wait for more summer days like this, and maybe next time the water will be a little bit warmer.

January/Februarty

In January Connor got his first major cold, Bronchiolitis.  He had to take medicine via a nebulizer, which wasn’t that much fun at first (even though the mask looked like a cool monster).  Then mom and dad discovered kid you tube videos, and medicine time went much smoother after that.  We had a few people over for Superbowl.  Connor was very well behaved, loved playing with all the visitors, and rooted for the Patriots who lost (Mom was rooting for the Giants – Yay!).  Connor’s favorite part of the Superbowl was the dance party that happened at half time.  We celebrated Kim’s birthday at Kim and Fredy’s house in mid-February.  Connor has perfected the art of going to bed wherever we might be on the weekend, waking up around 10 or 11 to drive home, and then falling right back to sleep in his own crib once we get there.  I know – we’re very lucky.  Connor met his cousin Anuhea last week, as well as visited with Allyn, Alane, and Grandma.  Then we spent a day in Pasadena with Sara’s college roommates Tristan & Tim, Becky & Dennis, and their son Oliver.  On President’s day, Sara took Connor to the LA zoo with Gretchen and Tyler and another mom from her mommy group.  We were able to spend a day with Gee Gee (Izu) in Lake Forest this weekend.  We also saw Great Aunt Cheryl and Gee Gee Norene.  Connor started scooting/crawling this week and his biggest motivators are the camera and mom’s iphone.  We can’t wait for what the next few months have in store. 

The Holidays

Ok, we're playing a little catch up. We realized that we have neglected the blog for a few months now ... oops!  So, here it goes.  We spent the Thanksgiving holiday with Sara's family in Longview, Washington.  Auntie Lala came from New York, and we got to see Gee Gee (Great Grandma Patton), Great Aunt Katie, Great Uncle Richard, Cousin Aidan, Great Uncle John, Carol, Grandma, and Grandpa).  It was beautiful in Washington.  We had fantastic food and celebrated Grandma Joni's 60th Birthday!  In December, Connor visited Santa and participated in his school's Christmas pageant where he was dressed as a hippopotomus and danced to "I Want a Hippopotomus for Christmas" on stage for all of the parents.  Then we spent Christmas in San Diego at Nana and Papa's and Connor saw the entire Mean's clan (including his cousin's RJ and Clementine) as well as many of the Enoch's family!  We spent "Second Christmas" in Lake Forest wtih Lara, Grandma, Grandpa, and Gee Gee (Great Grandma Izu).  Connor got 2 teeth over the holidays.  We rang in New Year's Eve in Santa Barbara with Chris, Jill, Lara, Kelly and Luke, while Connor spent time with Grandma, Granpa and Great Aunt Cheryl in Thousand Oaks.  We celebrated New Years day with the Izu family partaking in the traditional Ozoni Soup for lunch as well as Lollipop Chicken and Finger Jello.