Flashback to the park

As some of you might remember, I posted a live blog post of Sophie and I visiting a park near our house.  Well, chronologically, I have finally caught up to that point.  So here are some additional photos I took that day.

Here’s a picture of Sophie wearing the t-shirt they gave us at the hospital when she was born (Sharp Hospital). It only took her 11 months to be big enough to wear it!

And here is Sophie playing her favorite game she learned at Nana’s house – empty all of the dishtowels out of the kitchen drawer!

Finally, here is Sophie after she turned into a zombie and tried to eat everybody’s brains.

Here is a link to the full album:

2009-02-10 Miramar Overlook Park

Balboa Park

On February 8th we decided it was too nice a day to stay home, so we packed up the family and headed down to Balboa Park to go exploring.  We didn’t really have a destination in mind, just some aimless wandering.

Our first stop was at the organ pavilion.  They have a free concert every Sunday afternoon, and we just happened to be walking by when the show started, so we stopped to listen for a while.

Sophie had a grand time running up and down the aisles waving at total strangers.

We then wandered over the Laurel Street bridge to the west side of the park.

Here’s the view north from the bridge.

Our next stop were the Lawn Bowling fields. Lawn bowling is just like bocce, only completely different. All the players dress completely in white. They take grapefruit size balls and roll them to the other end of the field, and the closest one to the target wins. The main difference from bocce as far as I can tell is that the balls are somewhat flattened on both sides, so they tend to curve at the end of the roll, breaking left or right.

And, of course, after a long day out exploring, you have to have a bath!

Later that week Sophie and I went walking down at Mission Bay with some of our friends. Here’s Julia and a friend in her stroller.

And here’s Samantha taking a little nap.

And here’s Joan Marie carrying Matthew.

On another day we went walking with Joe and Nicholas at Lake Murray, then went back to Joe’s house to hang out for a while. Here are some pictures of Sophie and Nicholas playing.

And finally, here’s Sophie hanging out at home, making herself comfortable in one of the baskets we keep her toys in.

Here’s a link to the full album:

2009-02-08 Balboa Park

Super Bowl Sunday

On Super Bowl Sunday we headed over to our friend Michelle and Chuck’s house for a little football and food. They have recently moved into a great house in Encinitas and were having a few friends over.

Here Chuck and Sophie get to know each other a little better. As you can see they got about 30 seconds together before Sophie started to freak out in her usual manner with people she doesn’t know.

Here’s Debbie with their cat. (I don’t remember his name offhand, but he literally weighs about 3 ounces!)

Here’s a picture of their daughter Maddie. (The kids were playing in their rooms during the game, it wasn’t a costume party!)

And here’s a picture of Wes in his Buzz Lightyear costume (that’s Michelle in the background).

Sophie had a great time chasing the cat and the big kids around, although she couldn’t quite keep up, since at this point she wasn’t walking independently yet.

Although she had no problem climbing!

Thanks Michelle and Chuck for having us over. It was great seeing you guys again!

Here is a link to the full album:

2009-02-01 Super Bowl

Happy St. Patrick’s Day!

Thanks for the shirt Nana!

Sophie Gets on the Bike

For Christmas this year my brother and sister-in-law Steve and Amy gave us a gift card so we could get a bike seat for Sophie.  I already had the type I wanted in mind, and it finally arrived the last week in January.  It is the kind of seat that attached to the front end of the bike, right behind the handlebars.  I think this is better than the kind that attached to the rear of the bike, because now Sophie can see where we are going instead of looking at my butt all day.

We also went out and bought her a cute little bumblebee bike helmet.  It’s a little big but I think it will get the job done.

So on January 31st, we packed up the bikes and headed over to Lake Miramar to go for a little test ride. Here’s a picture of Sophie and me with the lake behind us.

Here’s a nice shot of all of us.

The next day we went down to Mission Bay for another ride. I think Sophie’s favorite part was watching all the ducks!

Here is a link to the full album:

2009-01-31 Sophie Bike Seat

Wild Animal Park

As many of you know, we have an annual membership to the San Diego Zoo and Wild Animal Park, and we take Sophie to both quite often.  On January 25th we went back to the Wild Animal Park.  We started out by hiking up to the California Condor exhibit, and wandered down through the park past the elephants, lions, tigers and other assorted animals.  Check out the photos below, and there are plenty more in the full album.

2009-01-25 Wild Animal Park

Passport to Kidsville

On January 26th, Sophie and Debbie met up with our friend Kelly and her daughter Mallory at a place called Kidsville.  It’s basically like a kid size town with fake building fronts and lots of toys for the kids to play with.

The germaphobe in me cringes at the whole concept, but the kids seem to love it, so I guess it’s ok.

Here’s a link to the full album:

2009-01-26 Kidsville

Sophie Gets Into Politics

Sophie was very excited for inauguration day.  She sat spellbound in front of the tv for hours, just waiting for the swearing in!

Ok, maybe not, but she’s still cute!

Matthew Turns One

On January 17th our friends Patty and Warren had a party to celebrate their son Matthew’s first birthday. They live about two miles away from us, and decided to have the party at the park which is right down the street from our house. (Keep an eye our for future posts, Sophie’s birthday party will be at the same park!)

Here’s a picture of our little family at the beginning of the party.

Sophie’s friend Addison was there too.

Sophie wasn’t really into the party hats.

Matthew digs into his cake while Patty and Warren watch.

Debbie and Sophie watch while Matthew has his cake.

Sophie wishes Matthew a happy birthday.

The day before the birthday party we met up with our friends Shannon and Dave and their daughter Julia down at Mission Bay to go for a walk and have a little picnic. Here Sophie and I try out her backpack carrier.

Here are Shannon, Dave, Julia and Debbie. You can see the Sea World tower in the background.

And Sophie and her mama having a laugh together.

Here is a link to the full album:

2009-01-19 Matthew Birthday

New Year Randomness

One of the first things we did upon our return from the East Coast was to un-decorate from Hanumas.  Un-decorating is never as exciting as decorating, but Sophie helped make it more fun.  Here Sophie shows us what she would look like if she were a Christmas tree.

Sophie has developed a habit of running her fingers through her hair after eating. Here is an extreme example of her hairstyling skills.

There was one Tuesday after we got back where Sophie had swim class and Debbie had the day off, so she was able to come with us to class and take some pictures.

Our friend Joan-Marie and her son Matthew have joined us for class this session. Here they are in the pool.

On January 14th, we had a beautiful sunny afternoon here in San Diego, so I took Sophie out into our “yard” for a little photo session. She brought out her own camera too so she could take my picture too!

And of course the most fun was when mama came home!

There’s a lot more pictures in the full album, so check them out!

2009-01-14 Sophie Outside