Houston.....we have a problem !

OK - I think this is the longest I have EVER been away from my blog :((((I am sooo sad I have not posted any first day school pics or any art postings. my super sad mac has been getting some TLC at the "genius bar". It is FINALLY ready for pick up but we are out of town - so I should be back to normal sometime next week. (fingers crossed)

xoxo
anna

one last good day of summer.....

Yowzers! my witty bitty boy starts school (1st grade) come monday. He can't be more excited - he was ready to go like last month! Since it's the central valley - and it's august - we are still hitting the 100 degree marks daily. Therefore the few days that we have been back were spent poolside. Here's a random water shot.....


Here's enzo fired up for some splashes... While Q and Marz jump in to make big splashes... enzo tries to bit them..... that's why he's a border collie.......

We really did keep up the school activities all summer..... here's proof for recess.... blue hopscotch feet :)

Lastly, I'm sad to report that Marcel came down with a bad case of "the spots". Q (dr. Zerlin - our ear doctor) rushed him to the hospital for surgery (no joke). The only cure was a quick removal that caused his patient to squeal. He's had plenty of practice squealing ALL summer..... just ask our neighbors.

Nothing a quick kiss won't heal - ahhhhh - i love my boys!!

Even though, I am sooo excited to get Q back to school for a little "quiet" time (at the grocery store....) There's part of me that's truly wants to hold on and send him back to kindergarten...... I can't believe how tall he is and how much he's learning. I'm proud to be his mommy. And I'm even proud when he wants to pretend to be my mommy.....


He is dressed in my clothes - he even put on burt's bees lip sloob
- I promise y'all that I button up my shirt (unlike Q) when I go out in public :)

Visit to my hometown.......

So our summer vacation continues..... phew - 3 weeks away from home can really get you out of sorts. We made it back to BAKo..... School starts in 4 short days!!! What? Where did the time go?? AHHHHHH 1st grade here we come!!!
First day back to Gilroy - we visited the Monterrey bay Aquarium...... (with uncle lawrence)

this is a fish I have never seen before. We usually go to the MBA about once a year..... crazy looking fish aye? I still have NO IDEA what kind of fish this is.... it is part of the "DEEP SEA" exhibit.

The jellies are ALWAYS my favorite exhibit! I was experimenting with my camera and got this fun pic of a diagram of a jellyfish.

We visited Law at his new pad..... he lives in capitola... super sweet spot. OH the luck of LAW.....he can literally walk to is favorite surfing spot.. pleasure point!

next day we went to Gilroy Gardens. A very interesting amusement park of younger kids with a botanical twist.....

frtewld (Q put his two cents in on mommie's blog...) This tree is called a CIRCUS Tree. It really has an arch shaped into it. I believe it's two trees graphed into one giant arch! There are tons of cool things like this scattered thru out the park. ALL the rides are fashioned after vegetables and fruits.... you gotta check my link out....

Cool guys........

Riding on the swan peddle boat with Uncle Law. Marcel and I got a big duckie..... just like the little yellow rubber duckie but human size......

Here uncle Law took a picture of himself. I gave him the camera for a while and said "go to it....." found this after I downloaded the pictures.... I love it!

Went to see North Swell live.... in san jose (blank club) Went to Sonia's killer pad for the night too!

Back to Gilroy Gardens this time with NANA!! Giant Garlic ride. Did I mention that Gilroy is Garlic Capital of the world??

Marz stole the camera from my bag... took this pic of Nana - cute huh?

Last day visiting the north bay...... we went to RIO DEL MAR my mom's local favorite beach :) Mine too........ This is a sand castle community the boys made with nana (can you say planned community?) Oh there was a giant volcano in the middle of it all - courtesy of Marcel's recent visit to Vossil Valls (fossil falls) they are totally into volcanos......

Last pic is of my crazy..... laid face down in the sand - was blowing out sand for days..... he's a nut! Ok you might notice the different colored words embedded in my text - try clicking on them to take you somewhere different..... I recommend the north swell or gilroy gardens link...... ALSO the pics seem small but you can click on them to enlarge the image :)

xoxo
annie bunannie
(my gilroy name)

FAMATHON 2008

Famathon in Mammoth :) aka.... Mammathon or famma mamma

Famathon is an all family event. Every other year, it's a get together with four friends and their families. The friends grew up together thru elementary school and have managed to stay friends... now that they are 30 something :) (so they have been friends for 20 some odd years...) I'm not one of the original friends.... as I have married into the group. I'm so happy I did because it seems that all the wives get along just as well as the original four....

here's the first picture..... our mascot. Jerry The guys are all dead-heads. They grew up going to dead shows and combined have been to goodness knows how many .. Anyhow - Jerry makes famathon every time..... Our first famathon was on the Oregon Coast in 2006. The Rydmans were sorely missed (2006) but soooooooo glad that they made this famathon with a 11 week baby in tow!
For us it's a 5 hour drive to mammoth... so we made a few pit stops (to make it like an 8 hr drive.... it happens when you have two kids..)
Fossil Falls ... or as Q says...... Vossil Valls......

It's some volcanic action that a river cut thru thousands of years ago.... (I married a geologist - which is AWESOME for road trips.... I get the full story on the lay of the land) Although I am translating to a lay-woman's perspective, as I don't remember all the Mesozoic speak :)

Here we have a 4000 year old living tree. The tree is NOT dead... yes I said living. They are located in the white mountains (eastern sierra's) and are known to be some of the oldest living trees in the world! We completed a ONE mile HIKE with the boys... at 10,000 feet!! So proud of them!

We also tent camped for the first time - with the boys!

Are we there yet? All the little one cared about was playing with tanner and eva :)


SOOOOOO - we took a fire truck ride thru town.... got to hear the siren and try on all the equipment. Met some of the local crew members before they got called off to a local fire.... (yikes - see the last picture)




OK - this is a dinner cruise on Lake Mary. It was beautiful plus it was Jack-a-baby's first boat ride :)

Last night we camped at Lake Mary and ate some smore smore's.....

Day before we left..... there was fire in the mountains not far from town..... it spread the next day .....hope it can get contained before reaching town??? yikes!



We missed the Knicker-Quagliata Family very dearly but we are looking forward to planning the next famathon 2010!! WOW

we are off to Gilroy for another week of family adventures with nana and tio lawlaw before school starts....... post those pics - next week -