June 15-17: Father's Day Weekend!

Continuing with our summer of fun, we were thrilled to spend the weekend with Grandma, Grandpa, Tia Heather, Tio Jeremias and Cousin Betinho!  We started the weekend by participating in the San Jose Giant's race on Saturday morning.  Grant and I ran the 5K, and Heather ran the 5-Mile race.  We were amazed by Heather's speed, as she completed the race in sub-7:30 miles, and ended up with the 7th best women's time overall!

Since running the race meant that we got free tickets to the San Jose Giant's game that evening, we ventured out during the hottest evening of the year to sit in the bleachers for the minor league game against the Modesto Nuts.  Uncle Gene and Beth even joined us!  Then, we headed over to Rock Bottom Brewery in Campbell for a delicious dinner and belated birthday celebration for Grandma.  Betinho ate the vast majority of Grandma's birthday sundae, but Grandma didn't seem to mind.

On Sunday, we celebrated Father's Day with a yummy breakfast at the house, followed by baseball in the backyard.  Betinho is attending baseball camp one day a week this summer, and he's already proven to be all-star material!  I've never seen a three-year-old hit the ball like he can.  Grandma even took a turn at bat, and she hit a home run!  All the while, Ellie thought that swinging the bat was the most hilarious thing she had ever seen.  Every time we swung the bat, she would break into a belly-laugh!

  

Betinho next practiced his "superhero" powers by riding his tricycle around with awesome speed while wearing Ellie's Giant's cape.

And Grant's Father's Day would not have been complete without watching the U.S. Open with his little girl in his arms.  What a great weekend!

June 8-13, 2012: Summer is Here!

We are only mid-way into June, and we have been ENJOYING summer.  And since we have teachers in the family, summer off means that Ellie gets a lot of visitors!

First, Betsy and Mike spent five days with us for a fantastic long weekend full of sports in the City.  Thank you to Betsy for photographing all of our fun!  On Saturday, we attended a Giant's game at the fabulous AT&T Park.  It had to have been the most beautiful day of the year in San Francisco!

 

Then, on Tuesday, we attended the U.S. Open practice round at Olympic Club in San Francisco.  We were lucky to have our friend Lisa's law firm get us tickets to the event, along with passes to enter a great hospitality tent full of yummy food.  It was fun to see players up close working on their shots.  And, as you can tell, we were blessed with another gorgeous day in the City.

The long weekend flew by.  Ellie sure enjoyed time with her Grammy and Grandpa!

Ellie's 6 Month Photo Shoot!

When Ellie turned 6 months old, we decided to capture the moment by taking family photos, and photos of Ellie, at the great Foothills Park in Palo Alto.  We couldn't be more thrilled with how they turned out!  Enjoy.

June 5, 2012: We have a crawler!

June 5 was a big occasion:  our little girl became mobile!  This video was the very first bit of crawling that we saw from her.  Overnight, she improved tenfold, and she has been cruising around ever since!  Gone are the days of me getting ready for work with ease.

Grant was thrilled that the "carrot" that got her to start moving was an iPhone. We are sure to have two tech gurus living in the house!

June 4, 2012: Eight Months Old!

That's right!  Our little Ellie girl is a whopping eight months old!  Is it possible that every single day with little girl just gets more and more fun?!?!  She kills me with her cuteness.  This month, Ellie's biggest developmental leap has been the discovery of her booming voice.  This girl is loud!  She loves "telling stories" and chiming in on conversations.  She screams, squeals, grunts, and yells "dadadadada."  Needless to say, Grant is in heaven with the "dada" bit!  I am still working on getting her to nail down the "mmm" sound.

Since being back to work, it has been hard not to have as much time to get together with the group of incredible mamas and babies that I met during my maternity leave.  We were happy to change that this weekend by hosting a BBQ.  Is there anything cuter than all of these little buddies spending an afternoon together?  I don't think so!  Since 2011 appears to have been the year of boys, it's Ellie and Madi amongst six cute little heartthrobs.  We are going to have to watch out for this little girl come the teenage years!