Bay Area Visit

This past President's Day weekend, we made a quick trip to the Bay Area to visit family (ok, and so I could go see Gomez!).  It was a WONDERFUL weekend.  On Saturday, we spent the day in San Francisco with Peter's mom and brother.  It was a GORGEOUS day!  Blue skies with some patchy clouds, a cool sea breeze, and temps in the high 50s.  We went to the Presidio and spread some of Ezra's ashes there.  Then, we went to Golden Gate Park for a picnic lunch and so the kids could play on the AWESOME playground there.  After that, we drove through the city, first down Lombard Street, then through Union Square and China Town, and then to Coit Tower for some amazing views.  After that, Peter's Mom and brother took the kids back to Antioch and Peter and I met up with some friends for dinner before heading to the Gomez show.  The show was AMAZING.  I absolutely adore Gomez and their concerts are so much fun.  They played 2 sets, 23 songs total.  They are celebrating 15 years as a band with this tour and I am thankful that Peter was willing to make the drive so I could go (they aren't playing any shows in the PNW this time around).  We had a great time.  Since the show wasn't over till 1am (we knew it would be a late night), we stayed the night at a hotel in the city and then Barted back to the East Bay for a family/friend visit day on Sunday.  So many family members and friends came by to visit us and we feel so blessed!  It was awesome to see everyone.  It is always hard to leave after a short, awesome visit in California.  We do miss it a lot......

The long drive back to Portland was uneventful.  The rain greeted us in Medford and stayed with us all the way home.  And now, my husband is another year older and we've put 1500 more miles onto our van.  And some more wonderful memories in our hearts!

*A Day By the Bay*

Golden Gate Bridge (breathtaking!)

Mr. Ez

What's this that is making our eyes so squinty???  Oh, the sun!

 The fam

A Mom and her boys

The kids

Coit Tower

 *Time for Gomez!*

Tom

Olly

Ian, Blackie, and Ben--jammin'

This band is so awesome!

Ben and his amazing voice!

A video of songs.  We recorded them for Alayna.

She is a huge Mez fan.  :)

*A Day with Family and Friends*

Us with Peter's parents

Family!

Kids and grandparents

It was a fantastic weekend!

First Love ♥

In the spirit of Valentine's Day (which Peter and I pretty much ignore) I thought I would embarrass the kids by posting on the blog who their current crushes are.  I think it will be fun to look back on in ten years or so when they really start getting serious about the love thing.

Jeremiah has vehemently expressed that he doesn't like any girls as more than a friend.  However, I have seen some behavior consistent with that of a boy that has a crush but is too embarrassed to admit it so he endlessly torments the girl instead.  The girl I speak of is named Ana.  She is tomboyish, but pretty!  I think he likes her because she likes to do things that the boys do and because she is super nice.  However, Ana is not his first crush--there was a girl named Alyssa in AZ who had his heart for 3 whole grades.

Alayna currently has 2 crushes.  One is on this sandy blond-haired boy named Everett.  He is adorable and it appears he likes her too.  Alayna also has a crush on none other than Ian Ball, one of the singers of my favorite band (Alayna likes their music a lot too): Gomez.  I had to break it to her that not only is Ian older than her Daddy, but that he is also married.  Doesn't faze her.  Aw, to be young and pining over some completely unattainable musician--brings me back to my NKOTB days....



Happy Valentine's Day!