3 Already!

Obviously a lot has happened since I last wrote.  Since none of the grandparents can seem to be able to navigate through FB, I am posting pictures for them here.  A lot of my other friends have jumpped ship to other blog sites in fear that xanga may one day close up shop.  I'm too lazy to make the move, so I'll just hope xanga continues!

Here are a few pictures of Josie from the past few months.

We went to our friend Ken and Anna's wedding in San Martin, CA, just an hour and a half drive from our house.  The wedding took place on a beautiful winery connected to a golf course resort. 

At rehearsal

Our Bungalow

Wedding Day

In August, we went to Maui.  It was in part to celebrate our 7 year anniversary and also to relax.  The last time we were in Maui, Josie was 5 months old.  We didn't do much other than stay by our hotel, which was really nice.  Josie had a great time just lounging by the pool.  I see us coming back here again and again.

On October 10, 2009, Josie turned 3!!! I still can't believe my baby is 3 years old.  This year, we had Josie's party at Greenridge Park.  It was great weather and the kids got to run around and play at the playground.  We also hired a puppeteer to come and give a show, which all the kids really loved.

Cousins

Man it's been a long time since I last wrote.  I guess not much has happened.  Josie did start school and we did make a trip to Legoland in San Diego in connection to another work event I had to do, but other than that, not much to report.

This weekend, Josie got to hang out with her favorite cousins Eric and Olivia.  She loves her cousins and ask to see them constantly.  It's a lot of fun watching them grow up and getting along so well.  Josie and Olivia are only 5 weeks apart so I hope they grow up with a close bond.  Here are some pictures of Josie and Olivia as newborns and more recently this weekend.

Josie (2 weeks old) and Olivia (7 weeks old)

Olivia and Josie this weekend (2.5 years old)

Video of Olivia and Josie playing

 Olivia, Eric and Josie making a surprised.... no scared?... face.

Tahoe 2009

Last month, we made two trips to tahoe to reclaim our treasured pastime of snowboarding.  We used to go several times a season and for a few years had a season pass and thoroughly enjoyed it.  Obviously with the birth of Josie, it’s been hard to figure out the logistics to go, until now.  Josie is almost 2 and a half and we decided that it was time we all made a trip.  The first trip was with Jimmy’s sister’s family and Jimmy’s dad.  It was great because grandpa was willing to watch the kids as we enjoyed our time on the mountain.  I was a little shaky and had to relearn for the first 30 minutes, but I eventually got back into the hang of it (like riding a bike). What I wasn’t prepared for was how incredibly sore I would be.  What I learned from this trip is 2 folds…. I am getting OLD and I am really out of shape.  The second trip up to Tahoe was with our friends and their kids.  This time it was more to hang out and less to go crazy on the slopes, and it was a lot of fun.  The kids LOVED playing on the snow, riding a sled, making a snowman and just enjoying playing with each other.  All in all… good times.

Vacation to the Bahamas

Awwww… the warm sun, the relaxing sounds of the waves crashing on the crisp white sand and the pure bliss of doing nothing… all in January when most places in the US are freezing cold.  This was our vacation to Exuma, Bahamas.  But I get ahead of myself. 

I had to attend a work event in Boca Raton, Florida and I thought to myself, why not take Jimmy and Josie with me and from Florida, hop over to one of the many Caribbean islands near by.  Opportunities like this one doesn’t present itself often, and fully knowing, I grabbed it and took advantage. 

So we all went to Boca, and I have to admit as Josie gets older, she is doing much better on a plane.  She could sit and just play with the pamphlets by the seat, or eat some snacks, or watch a dvd.  When she gets tired, she leans on me, grabs her blanket and just drifts off to sleep.  Piece of cake! 

We landed in Miami pretty late at night and luckily I hired a car service to help with our bags and take us on the 45 minute drive to our hotel, Boca Raton Resort and Club.  The hotel is not only gigantic, but it was all very regal as we went through the gates and down the palm tree drive way.  Once inside, the theme continued with cathedral ceilings, lush décor and good service.  After further review of the hotel, we also found that there were so many luxurious amenities as well.  There were interesting rooms to just hang out and enjoy the environment which allowed Josie to run freely as I attended my meetings.  In addition, there were some very famous restaurants within the hotel.  Three most notable ones were Morimoto (the iron chef) restaurant with very modern, cozy atmosphere, Serendipity (dessert restaurant, same as the movie and the one in New York) and Cielo which was a restaurant on top of a tower overlooking all of Boca and has celebrity chef, Chef Ramsey (from Hell’s Kitchen) as their executive chef.  The hotel was definitely an experience, and we are happy to have been able to enjoy it as a family.

After 3 days of Boca, we went back to Miami and took an hour and half flight to Georgetown, Exuma, (the outer Bahamas).  The Exuma islands are part of the chain of 365 islands that form the Bahamas.  This island is very small, so small that you can go from one end of the island to the other in about 30 minutes.  In addition, since the Bahamas is British owned, all driving is done on the left as opposed to the right like the US.  This was a bit odd at first, but we quickly got used to it. 

In Exuma, we pretty much just relaxed and did nothing.  I had specifically rented a house right on the beach in order for us to easily be able to walk a few steps and enjoy the water without planning and lugging things to the beach.  It was well worth it.  However, when we first arrived, the weather was not on our side.  It was super windy and cloudy and we cursed the heavens to make it better.  Luckily by the 3^rd day, God answered our prayers, the clouds parted and sun shined upon us.  To go with the low key theme, we also brought a lot of food from home and at the near by market and made most of our food at home, which is nice when you have an exuberant 2 year old that hates sitting down at restaurants.

On the last day of our stay in Exuma, we rented a boat for a day and explored the smaller islands around us.  The rental people provided us with a map (which seem easy to read on paper, but when you are looking out what just looks like a bunch of land spread around everywhere we really couldn’t read the map) and a few directions and we were off.  At first, the driving was a bit…. uhm, interesting… but within 10 minutes, Jimmy was an old pro and we were off.  We ultimately landed on an island that had a restaurant where we had lunch and hung out.

Ever since Jimmy and I went to Bora Bora for our honeymoon, I have been ruined and spoiled and won’t go in the water unless water is as clear as a swimming pool.  Exuma does not disappoint.  The water is so beautifully clear and blue that just looking at it hypnotizes me and lures me to jump into the water.  The house being right on the water was such a treat, and I have to say, that Exuma is definitely a place I would love to come back to. 

TV addict

Josie watches a lot of TV.  I actually don't mind it as much because it gives me a bit of free time to get ready, make dinner, wash dishes, or whatever I need to do without getting pulled away to participate in a "tea party."  Three reasons I know Josie watches a lot of tv are:
1) she recognizes every TV character at the toy store by name.... even ones I don't know.
2) she sings all these random theme songs all day long
3) she busts out counting in spanish (learned from Dora).

Most parents are worried of their child watching too much tv and zoning out in front of the tube, and worried about possible later affects on their ability to learn.  For me, I feel like she's learned so much from tv.  I read somewhere that there was a study where they followed kids that watched a lot of tv and compared them to kids that watched no tv and found that there were two types of kids that watch tv.  The first types are kids that interact with tv, meaning, kids program that basically speaks to the child and waits for a response.  The second types were kids that do not interact with tv and don't understand that the character is trying to interact with the child.  What this study found was that kids that interacted with tv had higher IQs than kids that watched no tv at all.  Yes yes.. who knows if there are actual truth to this study... but I do know that Josie responds, points and answers the character on tv all the time and for that, she has learned many things that surprise me everyday.

However, not all tv programs are created equal.  I hate the programs where there is no point to the show other than random cartoon characters doing dumb things... shows like spongebob, wow wow woobzie, or yo gabba gabba.. The shows I don't mind Josie watching, as I mentioned above, are shows that interact with Josie and where she can learn interesting things.. shows like Little Einsteins, Dora, Super Why, Sesame Street, and her favorite Pocoyo.

Below are some recent pictures of Josie.  She's gotten so big.

A trip to Fairyland


Day at the Golden Gate Children's Park.... (I don't remember going to all these places when I was a kid)

Some random pictures at home