A visit with Brian and Matt

Friday night two of Doug's oldest friends flew in for a visit.

After Emma was asleep (and after a few beers) the guys decided to take the rhino for a ride around the neighborhood.

Then Saturday afternoon we went tail-gating for the WSU vs. SDSU game and met up with more cougar fans.

Anne, Douggie, Brix, Probst, then ? and ? followed by Matt way in the back, then Hiro and ? in the grey and finally Brian.

The ? guys I only met briefly so forgive me.

The first half of the game was great, but unfortunately the 2nd half was not so great.

Despite the disappointing loss, we still had a great time.

Today we headed to the Safari park (formerly the Wild Animal Park) with Brian and Harvey.

Then back to the house for nap time.

Emma wanted to make sure that Harvey was nice and cozy with her tiny doll blanket and her teddy bear. She is so thoughtful.

Brian just caught his flight home, but Harvey will be sticking around for a couple more days.

We have had a fun weekend with some really good friends.

A big thank you to Tía Lizzy, Tío Omar and JuJu for letting Emma stay the night with them while we were at the game.

Park of the week #12

This evening we went to Mountain View Park in Escondido.

I hadn't been there in years, so it was fun to explore it with Doug and Emma.

Picnic time!

Pros: Newer playground equipment

Big kid and little kid play structures

Lots of open space and lots of shade

Cons: Not many picnic tables or benches

One slide was broken and boarded off

The bathrooms are way across the park from the playground

Overall we really liked this park and had a great evening out.

In the works.

I have had Douggie hard at work on some new projects around here.

Two fun things made from...

these lovely rustic pallets.

Douggie working on our new shelf.

I can't wait for you to see it when it is all done.

Here is part of Emma's outdoor kid table.

Still looking for the perfect legs to go with the pallet table top.

I am trying to re-use/recycle things to use for the legs.

I have a few ideas up my sleeve but haven't found the perfect fit just yet.

Shout out to Omar for getting us the pallets!

Keep you posted as we finish the projects.

Park of the week #11

Our park this week was Buelow Park in San Marcos.

It was a fun little park, but at times the play area was a bit crowded.

It has a a sprayground, but it was already turned off for the evening by the time we got there.

Finally... there was nobody on the big structure, so Emma made a run for it.

She tried it with all of the big kids on it earlier, but they were a bit too aggressive for her liking.

She was so brave and went down the really long slide.

Papa and Abuelita joined us for our park trip and picnic dinner.

Pros: The ice cream truck stops right in front of the park

A fun assortment of big and small play structures

It had bathrooms and a spray ground, we didn't use either, but nice to know they have them

Cons: It was kind of noisy with the Sprinter right behind it

Lots of picnic tables but only a couple covered with a shade structure

More of a neighborhood park. A couple neighborhood kids were a bit territorial

Celebrating Nate!

We have a lot to celebrate with Nate, (my cousin Richard's oldest son).

He just turned 21, was just married and just enlisted in the Army Reserves.

Sunday afternoon the guys took Nate on a brewery tour at Stone.

They had a great time from what I hear.

After the tour we all met up at Connie and Richard's house.

The boys played Texas Hold 'em all night.

And of course drank beers they bought on the tour.

And they had a request, they wanted breakfast for dinner. A little drinking makes you have the funniest cravings.

French toast, hash browns, bacon and yummy blueberry pancakes.

We had such a fun time and we are so proud of Nathan!

Happy Birthday JuJu!

Today our little JuJu is 6!

We went to his super fun birthday party on Saturday night.

Emma decorated his gift with Super Mario Brothers stickers.

He is pretty obsessed with everything Super Mario.

I can't believe this little guy is 6 years old.

He has the funniest personality, asks the most random questions, likes his routines, hates store brand chocolate in his chocolate milk, only like waffles the way his mommy makes them and loves to read.

We love every little bit of this kid!

We hope you have a great Birthday today!!!

Daddy is so proud!

Cougar football Saturdays have started.

First thing this morning Douggie turned on ESPN and looked for the Cougar flag.

Then he pulled out Emma's WSU cheer leading dress and her pom poms.

Then came the photo shoot.

Daddy sure is proud of his little WSU fan!

Park of the week #10

Our park of the week was Civic Center park in San Marcos.

It is a tiny park, but we made our visit there an adventure.

We rode the train (Sprinter) there.

Emma loved walking through the tunnel to and from the park.

Pros: We had the whole park to ourselves

They have a sand volleyball court and a half basketball court

The play ground was perfect for Emma's age

It was a fun little walk from the sprinter station

Lots of benches and tables for such a small park

Cons: There aren't any bathrooms. You have to walk to the community center to go potty.

Only 1 small play structure. Was fine for us since we were the only ones there.

There wasn't a ton of shade during the evening. The play ground was covered, but the surrounding tables were in the sun.

We had a lot of fun on our park adventure this week. We loved riding the train there and enjoyed the walk to and from the station.

This little park would be fun to go and visit again. Maybe next time a trip to the library on site might be fun to add in.