More Anamalz Friends

Jake's grandparents from Alaska sent money for his birthday and told him to get more anamalz, so we did!! Today we got a sheep, lizard, cow, and monkey. Now he has 8 anamalz, total, and there are only 4 remaining to be adopted later. He now has his own zoo!! The other 4 anamalz are elsewhere, but pretty soon they'll all be reunited and have a party together :)
Thank you, Grandma and Grandpa V!!

The monkey is funny -- he likes to hang on Daddy's ear.
Akk!! There's a lizard trying to eat a giant baby's foot!
Remember this ladybug walker thing he got almost 2 weeks ago? Until now he's been unable to do more than just sit on it, but today he started pushing himself backwards while sitting on it!
Look, he moved!

Quiet but fun

It's been a quiet week around here, which we needed after traveling to the Napa Valley. We did do some socializing, which was fun.

Friends came over for dinner on Tuesday night. Mike enjoyed playing with their kids, Austin and Kaitlyn.
Jake was watching Daddy play with other kids. Lately he loves to play with balls -- he'll pick them up and throw them and then chase them around. Even more fun when someone plays with the big red ball with him. It's very cute.

Wednesday evening I played tennis with a good friend of mine. The last time I played tennis was the summer before I was pregnant which translates into a long time ago! It felt really good, though, and I didn't do too badly. We are going to try to play on a regular basis and I will also try to play more with my Dad, too.

Today in Portland it is raining and all 3 of us are nursing very minor colds. We will watch some movies tonight and get well soon in time to have a goodbye celebration on Sunday for friends moving to Texas.

Napa Valley, Part III

Saturday, June 23rd -- wedding! (Apologizing in advance for the many, many pictures in this post... it was so beautiful so I took lots of pictures and had a hard time leaving any out.)

My beautiful mother posing before getting on the bus to take us from the hotel to the wedding.
Enjoying the bus ride... it's not often that Jake gets to enjoy being in a moving vehicle without being in the car seat!
Walking towards the wedding site on the grounds of the vineyard/winery.
We look good! The surroundings were stunning and the weather sunny and HOT.
Jake studies the wedding program booklet.
You can see in this picture that Jake actually has a tie on... so cute!
Chewing on his new anamalz elephant, a birthday gift from the grandparents.
Crawling around during the ceremony...
We tried to get Jake to take a nap during the ceremony, but it didn't happen even though he was sleepy.
I call this the MiB picture... ya know, Men in Black.

Yummy.. eating Veggie Booty on the lawn.
Amy and me.
Amy, Mom, and me.
Amy, me, Mom, and Aunt.
Near where the wedding reception was held... so beautiful.
My two sweet guys.

Me with Mr. Wiggles.

A big, big lawn to crawl on!!
Aunt Amy plays with Jake.

On the dance floor! The band was AWESOME and we all danced and danced. Jake loved it, too! Dad, Mom with Jake, and Amy.

Jake got into it too and started bouncing and dancing as well.
So many pretty pictures...
Great dancers.
Amy and Tyler.
Mom, Dad, Uncle, and Aunt with Jake.
Jake got to dance with so many pretty ladies!
The happy couple, Joe and Adrienne. I grew up with Joe and his family. Our mothers are best friends.
Showing off my pretty dress and red shoes! You can see the pretty wedding cake in the background and I've got some delicious Napa Valley wine in my hand.

Kat, sister of the groom.
Best way to hang on while dancing!
Jake and Mama on the dance floor. We had such a wonderful time. Thank you, Joe and Adrienne and families!

Napa Valley, Part II

Friday's dinner was at Tra Vigne Pizzaria and it was heavenly! The pizzas were freshly made on-site as we were all partying. I even had them make a vegan pizza for Mike, Jake, and myself, and we gobbled it up and requested another. Yummy.

Jake spent the second half of the evening playing and playing with the cue balls. He loved it! We had to watch him and pull him away whenever the players needed to take a shot from that side of the table.

After standing here and playing for awhile, Jake decided to take this particular ball and chase it around on the floor. I followed him VERY closely to ensure that no partygoers stepped on him (particularly since there was lots of very good wine...). He had a blast and everyone at the party just loved him and loved watching him play.

Napa Valley, Part I

On Friday Jake, Mike, and I left for the Napa Valley. We flew into Santa Rosa and went to St. Helena for a wedding of family friends.

Jake is a wonderful traveler (this was his 5th trip flying somewhere). He is modeling his earplugs -- all the legs of our flights were on the small Horizon jets which are LOUD. Nevertheless, he slept well and often while we were flying. We flew from Portland to Seattle then back down south to Santa Rosa. Kind of crazy but it was worth it!
We arrived at the Charles M. Schlutz airport named after the Peanuts comic strip creator.
There we were greeted by Grandpa and a giant Woodstock.
We got to the hotel and after all that time flying, it was time to play! Jake's Grandma and Grandpa had driven down from Portland so they brought these wonderful toys in the car with them (no way would I have packed those in the luggage!). That's Grandma on the left and Aunt Amy on the right. The last time Jake saw his Aunt Amy was in the beginning of April so they were happy to see each other again.
We went swimming at the hotel pool. Jake LOVED it. He swam for about 45 minutes and didn't want to get out! We got some video footage of that which I will post later.
In this picture from left to right... Mike, Jake, Aunt Amy, and Tyler (Amy's wonderful boyfriend).
The Vees :)
Tyler and Amy.
Enjoying the sunshine. Jake also spent a LOT of time playing in the water with Grandpa, but I didn't get a picture of that. We did get video of that, though, so you will get to see Jake splashing like crazy and Grandpa playing with him! I also played with Jake in the water a lot, too. I loved it.
Out of the pool, Grandma helps Jake get warm and dry.
After the pool we all went and got ready for the party that night... post and pictures to come tomorrow.