Visit to the Aquarium

Our friends Melody and Charlotte let us tag along on their membership to the California Academy of Sciences. This is one place that is not too advanced for a one-year-old. The aquarium is so interesting to little ones that it just grabs their attention. However, Jack and Charlotte did have very different observation styles: Jack wanted to sit and look at one tank the whole time, Charlotte wanted to visit every tank in less than 5 minutes by running from one to the next.

They had some great tanks that the babies could get right next to.

 Man he loved those penguins. He was so frustrated during the penguin feeding show because he wanted to charge the glass and get a better view.

 Watching the penguins swim.

Jack loves making this face like an "O" and he does it all of the time. He's showing me his favorite fishes.

 In the tunnel of fish were there were sharks. What a fun day. There was so much we didn't even get to look at so we'll have to go back soon.

Whole Strawberries

He loves to gnaw on these things and he stores the leaves in his checks until I fish them out. He's a little raccoon. Also, he's such a picky eater that strawberries are one of the only foods he wants these days.

Squeeze!

Baby loves to put his hands together and squeeze intensely. This is not something we showed him how to do. He's so silly sometimes. Also, he was trying on his new shoes, so that's why he's sporting footwear with his diaper (which is really thick because he's about to go to bed).

Sweet Sleepers

Who wouldn't want to wake up to this?

Easter!

Easter in Santa Rosa was beautiful and we split the day between the Barrett's and the Gieseke's. The pictures pretty much speak for themselves on this one.

Beautiful Easter morning table with baskets full of goodies. We had the best waffles ever! Jackson's first Easter basket had toys like his own remote control.

 An Easter outfit from Uncle and Auntie. Kisses please!

  The Barrett crew

 

 Auntie had to go to work, but gave Jackson a checkup before she went. Papa and Jackson enjoyed using their "pointers" all weekend to point at stuff, mainly fans, which are Jackson's favorite thing to look at. He'll also throw up his pointer if you sing "This Little Light of Mine"

 

At the Gieseke house for lunch, the competition was fierce for the 2 best play things: the door and the dog bowl

 They try to look innocent, but some tears were shed as the hair-pulling started.

 Finally a mediator stepped in, Uncle Jimmy the cop.

Old Car, Newer Car

It's true, I got into a car accident, and it was technically my fault since I rear-ended someone. Jack was in the car too, but didn't even react because it really was that minor. It was one of those weird situations where traffic stopped in an instant and the lady in front of me partially switched lanes to not hit the car in front of her, so I didn't see that traffic was stopped until I was right on top of the whole mess. Pretty low impact and minor damage overall, but we soon learned that it doesn't take much to "total" a 1996 Avalon. Here's the poor car the last time I saw her, busted headlight and grill lost somewhere on El Camino, but running great otherwise. The insurance company toed her off and gave us check for way more than we thought she was worth for some reason.

After "sharing" a car for a week (meaning either Jack and I dropped Dan off at work at 6am or I was carless all day) we decided it was time to go big...in size. After re-reading one thrashed copy of the latest Consumer Reports magazine 18 million times, we decided that a mini-van was the next car for us. The search process was annoying, but ultimately we found what we were dreaming of, the 2006 low mileage Toyota Sienna in a color that wasn't gold (sorry old car, but I can't do anymore gold for a while).

 Driving the van for a few weeks has got me hooked on the space and convenience and hopefully I won't have to go back to a Sedan anytime soon.

 Jack and I enjoying the sweet new ride.

Sharks Home Game

Danny and I got a much needed night out just the two of us. We went to the Sharks game (this was before the playoffs) and it was weird to be without our son for an evening. Unfortunately I was coming down with a cold and was pooped out by the middle of the 1st period, but it was still nice to be out on a Monday night eating nachos and watching the Sharks woop the Kings 6-1. Hoping that the Sharks can clinch tonight!

 
I'm realizing how behind I am on blogging since that was 2 colds ago for our family. We're just coming back to the surface from our most recent cold/flu and it was a biggie. I was delirious for several days with a fever and just laid on the floor and let Jackson crawl around me and hope that he didn't do anything that would require me to get up. Dan came home "early" (earlier than 7pm!) several nights and really took over the house for a few days. He's an awesome homemaker when it comes down to it. I'm lucky!