The Rest of the Story…Part 2

Happy New Year!

For New Year’s Eve we kept it pretty calm. We went up to my brother Brian’s house, who lives about two blocks away from my parents. He and his wife Karen were having a few of their friends over along with Debbie and I and my other brothers. Here is a picture of all the girls together (Sophie was asleep in her pack and play by this point).

There were the usual festivities with food and drinks (you can guess how many from the pictures below).

My mom volunteered to keep an eye on Sophie, so we brought her back down to my parents house around 11 o’clock, tucked her in to her crib there, and then headed back up the street to ring in the new year!

Jill and Rich

We went over to visit Jill and Rich in their new apartment on New Year’s Day.  We spent most of the afternoon just haning out, having lunch and playing the Wii (yes, they got a Wii for Christmas too!)  And Jill finally convinced Debbie to sign up for Facebook, so if you’re one of them you can go look her up now.

Taking Down the Tree

Finally it was time to say goodbye to Christmas and take down the tree.   Here Sophie shows us how to inspect the lights for wear and tear.

Here I demonstrate the use of the traditional yuletide tree-lopers to help take down the tree.

Aunt Iris and Uncle Bill

On January 3, we went to visit Debbie’s Aunt Iris and Uncle Bill, who live in Massachusetts as well.  Her cousin Miriam and her husband Nate were there as well.  We went over there for dinner, and hung out for as long as we could until Sophie needed to get some sleep.

Here Sophie shows us how she does yoga.

And shows off her musical talent.

Visiting with Camille

My mother’s friend Camille came over to visit with Sophie for a little while.  She brought Sophie the cutest little stuffed pig, who Sophie still loves to cuddle with to this day.

Visiting with Tiffany

We also went to visit Debbie’s friend Tiffany.  She and Debbie used to teach together in California before Debbie moved to Japan.  She now lives in Massachusetts and has four kids. We spent the afternoon hanging out and learning about the chaos having four kids leads to!

Debbie shows off how her light saber skills have developed, thanks to her training with Luke.

And here is the whole gang.

Aunt Claire and Aunt Elaine

My Aunt Claire and Aunt Elaine came over to say goodbye to Sophie before we headed out of town.

Heading Home

Finally, after two weeks away from San Diego, it was time to head home. Here we are putting Sophie into her box so we can ship her home.

Unfortunately, we didn’t have enough stamps, so we had to take her on the plane with us. Here we are waiting in Logan Airport for our flight.

And here we are on the plane. Sophie is excited because she has just spotted some passengers she can spend the next three hours annoying.

We stopped over in Chicago, and here Debbie and Sophie pose in front of the dinosaur skeleton inside the terminal.

Here we are on the moving sidewalk between terminals.

Some shots from our flight to San Diego.

Finally we made it home and could let Sophie out of her suitcase.

Well, that’s it for our trip to Boston. Thanks for your patience in waiting for me to get this all posted.  Happy New Year!

Here is a link to the full album:

2008-12-26 Christmas Week

The Rest of the Story…Part One

After getting back from Vermont, we spent the rest of our trip running around visiting friends and family.  I’ve grouped them all into a couple of posts.

Visiting Stephen and Amy

My brother Stephen and his wife Amy live about an hour north of my parents.  We spent a couple of nights staying with them.  Here we are having lunch at a barbecue restaurant near their house.

Sophie poses with Stephen’s new name sign.

We forgot to bring the pack and play for Sophie to sleep in, but luckily Stephen could provide alternate sleeping arrangements:

Visiting with Leanne

My friend Leanne grew up in the house across the street from my parents, so we’ve been friends forever. She still lives in Massachusetts, although not across the street anymore. We’ve tried to get together the last couple of times I’ve gone home, but for one reason or another it hasn’t worked out. Finally this year the stars aligned and she came over with her daughters Hannah and Meghan. Here are some pictures of them meeting Sophie.

Playing in the Snow

We got a pretty good snowstorm while we were there. Although this wasn’t Sophie’s first time playing in the snow, we did have to put the pink bunny suit back on her and roll her around in the snow for a while.

More to come in Part Two….

Here is a link to the full album:

2008-12-26 Christmas Week

Road Trip to Vermont

After all of the Christmas parties were over, we hopped in the car and headed to Vermont so that Sophie could meet her great-grandparents.  They live with my Aunt Denise and Uncle Charlie in Burlington Vermont. which is about a 4 to 5 hour drive from my parents house.

We stopped for lunch at the Seven Barrel Brewery on the NH/VT border.  Here Sophie and I pose with the security guard.

Finally we arrived in Burlington and Sophie met her great-grandparents.

And Aunt Denise.

Sophie did manage to get a smile out of Grampy.

Here’s a picture of the whole gang.

Sophie liked Grammy’s earrings.

Sophie and Auntie read a book together.

Sophie gives Auntie’s doll a kiss.

We also spent some time going through old photos while we were there. Here’s Aunt Denise and me:

And here’s Brian and me.

And here’s proof that I was born:

We also looked through some of my grandmother’s old recipes. I love the ingredients (lots of lard) and directions on some of these (quick oven?).

Finally, some shots from the scenic ride home.

And, as always, my girls sleeping in the back seat.

Here’s a link to the full album:

2008-12-29 Vermont

Family Christmas Party

On the Sunday after Christmas, we all headed off to a family Christmas party.  My Mother’s family has been having some form of this party every year since the 1920’s.  It’s usually held on the Sunday between Christmas and New Year’s and they usually rent a hall or function room to hold it in.

Here are some pics of the family:

There were several activities to keep the kids entertained, including that New England classic – the pinata!

And what Christmas party would be complete without a visit from Santa!

Finally, a family portrait:

Here’s a link to the full album:

2008-12-28 Family Party

Merry Christmas!

Ok, I know the title of this post is “Merry Christmas” but I have one last set of Hanukkah pictures to share.  On December 21st, we went over to Cousin Judy’s house to celebrate the actual beginning of Hanukkah.  Here Sophie models her “My First Hanukkah” bib.

Here we all are gathered around to light the menorah.

The next morning was our last morning at home before leaving for Boston, so we had our own little family Christmas morning. It looks like Santa came and filled up our stockings!

Finally it was time to get on the plane to visit Nana and Grampy. We managed to escape just in time, as you can see by the rain outside.

We had a layover in Denver, and since Sophie had been cooped up for a few hours she needed to stretch her legs. So, as much as it pained us, we let her crawl around a bit. (Builds up the immune system, right?)

Finally we arrived in Boston. And what’s the first thing we did you ask? Give Sophie a bath of course!

Sophie wasted no time exploring Nana and Grampy’s house, since she is a bit more mobile than the last time we were here. Her favorite game was to open up Nana’s dish towel drawer and empty all of the towels onto the floor.

Finally Christmas Eve arrived. Here Sophie models the new Santa hat that Auntie Erin got for her.

Sophie also got a present from Nana – The Night Before Christmas. Traditionally Nana reads this story to all the kids on Christmas Eve, and this year Sophie got to be part of the fun.

Finally everyone was off to bed. And since everyone was good this year Santa came by and dropped off some presents. Here Sophie checks out what she got in her stocking.

Looks like Santa knows who Sophie’s favorite team is.

Are these all for me?!?

Which one should I open first?

After opening the presents and having a little breakfast, we hopped in the car and headed over to Uncle Brian and Aunt Karen’s house for the afternoon.

Uncle Stephen and Aunt Amy were there too.

After opening more presents and eating more food, we ended the afternoon playing guitar hero, since apparently everyone but us got a wii for Christmas this year.

Finally, after a long exhausting day our little peanut drifted off to sleep. (Ok maybe not “drifted”. Maybe “cried hysterically until we let her sleep in our bed.” But either way it’s a cute picture!)

I hope everyone had a Merry Christmas. More details on what we did the rest of the time in Boston will be included in upcoming posts.

Here is a link to the full album with lots more pictures and details:

2008-12-25 Christmas

Our new favorite park

Welcome to my first mobile blog post. Today after swim class, Sophie and I decided to go exploring. We found this really cool little park overlooking lake Miramar. It’s tiny (only six parking spaces) but it’s got tables and swings and slides, etc.

But the best part is the view. It overlooks the lake, and you can see all the way to the San Diego skyline, Point Loma and the Pacific Ocean. On a clear day you could see Tijuana.

Sophie had a great time and discovered she likes the swings again (she was a little afraid of them for a while).

Hopefully I can post the pictures from my phone, but if not I’ll add them later.

Happy Hanukkah!

Since Hanukkah didn’t start until after we were planning on leaving town, we decided to celebrate it early. So we invited Niki, Rick, Courtney and Luke over for latkes and the lighting of the menorah. (I have recently discovered that donuts (sufganiot) are a traditional Hanukkah food. Where were the donuts?!?!?)

Anyway…to back up a little, we started the weekend at a Christmas party given by our friends Holger and Siobhan (We met them through our friends Kandice and Mike who were there too.) They have a new baby as well, so there were quite a few kids at the party.

Here’s a picture of Siobhan and Mike holding the kids.

Kandice shares her pretzels.

Sophie wears her new Christmas outfit (Thanks Nana!)

The next day we spent most of the day baking treats to give out as gifts. We made cookies and chocolate peanut butter balls. (Of course after we finished dipping the peanut butter balls, we had to run around finding other things to dip in the leftover chocolate!)

Finally, back to the latke making.

Courtney tries her hand at feeding Sophie.

The whole gang at the dinner table.

Debbie lights the menorah and explains the meaning of Hanukkah to us.

Hanukkah Harry stopped by and left some presents for the kids.

Aunt Niki reads the kids a bedtime story.

Sophie hanging out with the Christmas mouse.

Sophie checks out her stocking…nothing yet!

Finally another bedtime story from Mom.

Thanks everyone for helping us celebrate!

Here is a link to the full album:

2008-12-14 Hannukah

Photo Shoot – Behind the Scenes

A few weeks ago I posted some pictures from our Hanumas card photo session.  I wanted to share some “behind the scenes” photos that I took that day.

Here Sophie models one of the alternate outfits under consideration.

Here the ladies relax in their shades before the shoot begins.

Some nice shots with the sun setting in the background.

Finally here is a photo of Debbie and Sophie with our photographer Michelle.

If anyone is looking for a great photographer in the San Diego area, we think she’s great! Check out her web site here.

Miscellaneous December

Here’s a bunch of random stuff from December.

Sophie and I went out to lunch with some of my former co-workers.  Here’s a photo of Jen holding Sophie.  This would be a nice photo if it didn’t look like Sophie was stoned and giving her the finger!

Sophie has a little snack.

Bathtime!

Sophie likes to ride on my shoulders. She hasn’t quite learned to hold on by herself yet!

Sophie really likes her booster seat that attaches to the table.

Sophie does yoga.

We had lunch with our friends Shannon and Dave and their daughter Julia.

And finally, just to bug my wife, a photo of Sophie hanging out in her diaper.

Here’s a link to the full album:

2008-12-09 December Misc

Sophie Turns 9 (Months)

On December 8th we took Sophie in to the doctor for her 9 month checkup.  Everything checked out great!  She is 17 pounds and 28 1/2 inches long, which is tracking right on schedule.

Here she is posing on the table at the doctor’s office.