Adventures with Oscar

The day before we left on our trip to San Diego, we met up with Oscar in the city for an afternoon of fun.  I've mentioned Oscar in previous posts.  He is a good family friend from back home and has been attending Stanford University the past couple years.  We've loved the chance to get together with him whenever our schedules will allow.  It has been so much fun to watch him change and grow while living in the Bay area and the first time being away from home.  We are most importantly proud and excited for him as he's chosen to serve a two year mission for our church and has been called to serve in the Mexico City mission starting at the end of August.  He and his little brother Isaac will both be serving missions over the next couple years (Isaac should be getting his call soon.)  Talk about some serious blessings going to their family!  

We wanted to make sure that we got to see him and hang out before he headed home for the rest of the summer.  We met up with him in San Francisco to take him out to lunch, which he chose the Hard Rock Cafe at Pier 39.  After eating a yummy lunch, we decided to explore the Pier a bit.  Daxton got so excited when he saw the carousel and knowing how sick those things made me, Dallas "jumped" at the opportunity to go in my place.  Oscar, being the sweetheart that he is, joined in the "guy time" festivities.

Daxton sure loves carousels!

After the carousel ride, we wondered down to the waterfront where we looked out at Alcatraz and watched all the sailboats prepping for America's Cup.  We love the city and are going to miss it terribly.

Before leaving, we swung by the sea lions to watch them fight and push each other off into the ocean.  Daxton found them very interesting, especially their loud barking sounds.

Thanks again for meeting up with us Oscar.
It was so good to see you.
We are so proud of you and the decision you've made to go on a mission.  What an exciting two years you're going to have!
We love you and wish you the very best!

Chrissy Field Beach

A couple weeks ago, Daxton and I met up with Lisa and Maddie for an adventurous day in the city.  We've loved all of our adventures with them over the past year they have lived in the bay area.  It's crazy to me that I've know Lisa for over 10 years now.  I'm so grateful for my time in New Zealand and the lasting friendships made there.

Lisa and I thought it would be fun to take the kids to Chrissy Field Beach for a picnic and to play in the sand.  When we arrived though, the lovely San Francisco weather changes had other plans. It was pretty foggy and VERY windy which made for an interesting and sandy picnic.  But as you can tell from the pictures below, the kids still had a blast!

Maddie's smiles are absolutely contagious!

I love her so much and had so much fun getting extra hugs from her at the beach.  Daxton loved watching Maddie play in the sand. You could tell he wanted to walk, but was a bit too nervous to try it off of the blanket.  Gotta love all the different facial expressions from Maddie!

Words can't express how much love I have for this girl.

I've had so many fun and life changing memories with Lisa and I've loved having her so close this past year...now how do I convince Luke to change jobs again and move them to Florida with us at the end of the summer!!???

Exploring the windy sea shore with Alcatraz in the background.

It is so much fun to see these two interact.
They are the best little buddies and make each other laugh all the time.  I love to watch them make faces and play together.
Two peas in a pod, for sure!

Since the weather wasn't as warm as we would have liked, we decided to head over to Pier 39 after our picnic.  It helped to get out of the wind for a bit and the kids loved looking at all the different people and animals.

Can't do Pier 39 without stopping by the smelly sea lions.

The kids loved watching them from the balcony and listening to them bark.

We decided since we were at Pier 39 we might as well hit up the aquarium, since we had a membership.  Daxton continues to LOVE aquariums like his mommy.

Mommy and baby heaven...

Every time we go, I see something new.
I can't wait to teach Daxton all about the animals he is seeing.
It was pretty cool, because they had just fed the starfish when we got there.  I have never seen starfish eat before and it was fascinating to see them up against the tunnel glass.
Gotta love the aquarium!

It was another adventurous and fun outing with Lisa and Maddie!

Thanks again, Ladies!

Walking

A big thank you to my good friend, Michelle, for letting us borrow this amazing toy...

Daxton is in love and will not stop walking around the house!

He's growing up too quickly.

He only walks with assistance, but it won't be long before this little man of ours is running around and causing more mischief.

We love our little one so much.

"Are you watching, mommy?"
I sure am, little man.
And as excited as I am for this new stage, I'm already missing my baby.

Tin Foil Dinners

Although my preference while camping is a comfy bed at the Marriott (thanks for that Daddy) there are many aspects of camping that I enjoy.  One being the roasting of marshmallows and cooking tin foil dinners.  Our neighbors invited us to join them at Brionnes Park, just north of our apartments, for a Friday night adventure.  We had a blast hanging out with everyone and enjoying good food and great company.

Devon took on the reigns as master chef, following the traditions of "Mama Dimond."  While Dallas and I took turns rangling in our crazy, hyper baby.

It will be nice when he can walk on his own and we don't have to worry about him trying to crawl and eat all the dirt and sticks in his path.  We put him in Jane's bouncer for a second, which he thought was super funny.

Love this family!

Annie, Matt and little Jane

Daxton and I have loved hanging out with Annie and Jane.  It is easy to see where Jane gets her smiley and easy personality!

We also love the Davie Family!
Tasha has been Daxton's amazing babysitter for the past few months and helped a ton when I flew home for two different family funerals.  Daxton adores her and we are so excited to meet their new little girl come July.

Liz and Devon

In many ways I feel like I've known Liz forever.

She's been such a blessing in my life the past year and I love her dearly.  What an amazing couple and dear friends!

Devon showing us the proper way to cook tin foil dinners...

The end result...

And of course everyone was patient with me and my need to excessively document everything that happens in our lives...

The girls

Annie, Jane, Tasha, me, and Liz

(plus baby girl Davie!)

The boys

Matt, Tom, Dallas, Daxton, and Devon

And of course we couldn't have a complete evening without the further documenting of Daxton and Jane's relationship...

I'm sure they're going to love all these pictures together as babies at their wedding reception in 25 years!

I'm thinking Daxton might be a bit more interested in Jane than she is with him.  Her fingers were quite interesting!

Smiling cuties

We love our friends and feel so blessed!
What an amazing group of people we are surrounded by.
Thanks for the fun evening, everyone!

Daxton's Lunchdate

It has been so much fun taking Daxton on little play dates.  I fully realize that he is vaguely aware of whom he is actually interacting with, but I figure as much social interaction as possible is a good thing.  It also gives mommy a chance to actually talk with my friends and get out of the house for a bit, which is ALWAYS welcomed in my book!
In the middle of May, my good friend, Annie, and I decided to take our little ones into San Francisco to meet up with our husbands for lunch.  (We may have ulterior motives by wanting to hitch these two in about 25 years!)  Both of our husbands are accountants that work in the financial district in the city, so we thought it would be fun to ride BART in to meet up with them for lunch.  
Both Daxton and Jane were the hit of the train!  Everyone wanted to talk with the gorgeous little couple.  You can tell that they were both super social back...

As much as I love San Francisco, I will NOT miss the elevators at BART stations.  Annie and I were pretty sure the entire inside compartment was drenched in urine and we desperately tried to not touch anything.

Couldn't help but think back to the classic "What about Bob"...

"Baby steps to the elevator!"

It's so much fun to see Daxton's reaction when he sees daddy.  They have such a sweet connection.  I also love all the different facial expressions he makes, especially when he sees strange San Fran characters walk by...

Since it was a Thursday, we all decided to walk down to the farmer's market at the Ferry building.  The food was super yummy and truly authentic, even food snob, Dallas was delighted.

After lunch we chatted, let the kids interact, and then visited daddy's office.  

Here is Jane and Daxton's play time...

Gotta love baby interaction!

We sure do love the Toblers and had such a fun afternoon with them!  Hope we can get together again soon!