Thursday, February 5, 2009
Sunday, February 1, 2009
Saturday, October 18, 2008
Fall
Fall weather is here, there is a chill in the air and the leaves are falling off the trees. Life is moving along at the usual pace around here.
Ciara started Kindergarten in September and is settling in to her new lifestyle very well. There are remodeeling the school so they are in a temporary location now, which is closer for us. Ron walks her to school everyday for an 8.30 start. There are 3 Kindergarten classes altogether, she is in Mr. Coleman's class, we do not here much about what happens in the classroom but more about her bathroom breaks, eating in the school cafeteria and recess. She is enjoying a new sense of independence, especially that there is no "mommy" to say no to cookies and chocolate milk for lunch at the cafeteria. We are trying to restrict too much cafeteria food, hopefully the novelty will wear off soon. School gets out at 1.30, she goes to the after school care program run by the city. they pick her up, they go swimming 3 days a week and do all sorts of activities including getting some homework done, it is great.
My mom "Grandma Joan" and sister "Auntie Aileen" were also here for a week in Sept. We had a really nice week with them, we went bowling for the first time with the girls, Fiona was funny, she could barely lift the bowling bowl and it took about 5 mins to make it down the alley, by time it got there it had no momentum to knock a bowl over. Fiona and Ciara also had a trip out for lunch and a movie and Ciara got to go get her nails done with Auntie Aileen. One of the days Aileen and I ran/walked from Fishermans wharf in SF to Sausilto, it is 8 miles, our route took is along the water to the Golden Gate Bridge over the bridge and down to Sausilto. We were very proud of ourselves as we did it faster than we expected (1 hr 40 mins). We met my Mom in Sausilto had lunch and took the ferry back. We are going to try amd make that an annual thing and and beat our time, but my brother kindly reminded us that might be hard to do as we are getting older.
The kids are starting to get excited about Halloween but their Daddy is even more excited and has started to get his props ready for Halloween. That is about it for what has been going on around here..
Ciara started Kindergarten in September and is settling in to her new lifestyle very well. There are remodeeling the school so they are in a temporary location now, which is closer for us. Ron walks her to school everyday for an 8.30 start. There are 3 Kindergarten classes altogether, she is in Mr. Coleman's class, we do not here much about what happens in the classroom but more about her bathroom breaks, eating in the school cafeteria and recess. She is enjoying a new sense of independence, especially that there is no "mommy" to say no to cookies and chocolate milk for lunch at the cafeteria. We are trying to restrict too much cafeteria food, hopefully the novelty will wear off soon. School gets out at 1.30, she goes to the after school care program run by the city. they pick her up, they go swimming 3 days a week and do all sorts of activities including getting some homework done, it is great.
My mom "Grandma Joan" and sister "Auntie Aileen" were also here for a week in Sept. We had a really nice week with them, we went bowling for the first time with the girls, Fiona was funny, she could barely lift the bowling bowl and it took about 5 mins to make it down the alley, by time it got there it had no momentum to knock a bowl over. Fiona and Ciara also had a trip out for lunch and a movie and Ciara got to go get her nails done with Auntie Aileen. One of the days Aileen and I ran/walked from Fishermans wharf in SF to Sausilto, it is 8 miles, our route took is along the water to the Golden Gate Bridge over the bridge and down to Sausilto. We were very proud of ourselves as we did it faster than we expected (1 hr 40 mins). We met my Mom in Sausilto had lunch and took the ferry back. We are going to try amd make that an annual thing and and beat our time, but my brother kindly reminded us that might be hard to do as we are getting older.
The kids are starting to get excited about Halloween but their Daddy is even more excited and has started to get his props ready for Halloween. That is about it for what has been going on around here..
Sunday, August 31, 2008
End of Summer
I cannot believe the whole summer has gone by and we have not managed to post once, so I will just give a brief summary of some of the things we did ( some I cannot remember).
The end of July we took a camping trip to the Calveras Big Tree State Park with 3 other families all of whom have girls around Ciara's age. It was our first camping trip with all 3 girls, but they all did great and showed they were capable of roughing it for a few days. We spent one day swimming in a lake close to the campsite and another day swimming in the river and just hanging out and relaxing in general. The kids all got on great together and we hardly saw them the whole time, with the exception of Tara, she was too little to run with the gang.
Early August brought Grandma Trish and Grandpa Ron to visit, we had a really nice visit them, we almost gave Grandpa Ron a heart attack when we forced him to drive through downtown San Francisco on our way to the Bay Area Discovery Museum over in the Marin headlands but it gave him some stories to tell about this visit.
On August 15 Fiona celebrated her 3rd birthday and thinks she has officially joined the "big girls club". I took the day off and she got to hang out with just me, she graciously allowed Ciara to join us to go see Kung Fu Panda, it was her first trip to a movie theater and she was more interested in the bag of popcorn ( which took her the whole movie to eat) than the actually movie.
We just spent this past week renting a cabin at Sorensens resort in Hope Valley, approx half hour south of Lake Tahoe. The scenary around us was beautiful and made for a very relaxing time. We went swimming in a natural hot springs pool, spent time just playing by the river close to the cabins and we spent one day at the beach by Lake Tahoe. We also brought the kids for a little horse ride which was fun. We went on little mini hikes and played games and everyone was well worn out by night time, we actually got to sleep in some mornings ( that was a highlight for me). It was a really nice trip and we are hoping to go back in the winter time to play in the snow.
I am going to post some random pictures from the summer, most are from the Sorensons trip as that was really the only time we took the camera out.
The end of July we took a camping trip to the Calveras Big Tree State Park with 3 other families all of whom have girls around Ciara's age. It was our first camping trip with all 3 girls, but they all did great and showed they were capable of roughing it for a few days. We spent one day swimming in a lake close to the campsite and another day swimming in the river and just hanging out and relaxing in general. The kids all got on great together and we hardly saw them the whole time, with the exception of Tara, she was too little to run with the gang.
Early August brought Grandma Trish and Grandpa Ron to visit, we had a really nice visit them, we almost gave Grandpa Ron a heart attack when we forced him to drive through downtown San Francisco on our way to the Bay Area Discovery Museum over in the Marin headlands but it gave him some stories to tell about this visit.
On August 15 Fiona celebrated her 3rd birthday and thinks she has officially joined the "big girls club". I took the day off and she got to hang out with just me, she graciously allowed Ciara to join us to go see Kung Fu Panda, it was her first trip to a movie theater and she was more interested in the bag of popcorn ( which took her the whole movie to eat) than the actually movie.
We just spent this past week renting a cabin at Sorensens resort in Hope Valley, approx half hour south of Lake Tahoe. The scenary around us was beautiful and made for a very relaxing time. We went swimming in a natural hot springs pool, spent time just playing by the river close to the cabins and we spent one day at the beach by Lake Tahoe. We also brought the kids for a little horse ride which was fun. We went on little mini hikes and played games and everyone was well worn out by night time, we actually got to sleep in some mornings ( that was a highlight for me). It was a really nice trip and we are hoping to go back in the winter time to play in the snow.
I am going to post some random pictures from the summer, most are from the Sorensons trip as that was really the only time we took the camera out.
Tuesday, July 15, 2008
We had a busy start to July. Grandma Roxie and Grandpa Dan arrived on July 3 from Maui. On July 4th we had a lazy day, bbq'd in the back yard before heading into San Francisco to see the fireworks. It was a very cloudy night and all we could see was colored clouds but getting all kids and adults on Bart and around the city at night was half the adventure. Tues was Ciara's and my birthday. Ron and I took the day off and Ciara got to stay home from school. First on the agenda was to get Ciara's ear's pierced. She has been begging to get it done for almost year now and Ron decided he would provide moral support and get his ear pierced too...Ron went first by which time Ciara had lost her nerve and was hiding at the back of the store. She had to be held down, we looked like awful parents but I was done with the begging for pierced ears, it was going to happen. After that we went and had lunch and then Ciara, I and Grandma went to see the new Pixar movie WALL.E, and a little shopping after that. A good birthday was had by all. Debbe and Jim were also in town this week so it has been busy, everyone just doing a lot of hanging out. At the weekend Ron and I got to escape, Dan and Roxie very kindly offered to babysit for a night. Luckily we were able to get a reservation for some spa treatments and a night in Napa, it was so relaxing and so nice just to get away, I do not think we were even missed at home the girls were having such a good time with Grandma and Grandpa. Dan and Roxie left this morning and I think Tara misses them the most, she was a bit out of sorts tonight. So it is just us again........
Friday, July 4, 2008
Ciara's Pre-School Graduation
Well it's been a while since we've updated the Blog. Busy as usual. Ciara graduated from preschool last week and we've posted a video that i took of the ceremony. Ciara is getting so big. Really turning into a young lady. Grandma Roxie and Grandpa Dan are here for the next 10 days. We are hoping to see some fireworks tonight. Summer has begun here in the Bay Area and the weather is geting nice so we are playing outside more.....YEAAYYY. Ciara and Marie's Birthday is Tuesday and a big day is planned. Ciara and Daddy are going to get their ears pierced :-) and then lunch and a movie. We'll post an update on the birthdays. So that's it for now. Don't forget to check out the Video and Pics of the kids
Tuesday, May 6, 2008
Disneyland Trip
It has been almost 2 weeks since our trip to Disneyland and I am just now getting around to getting some photos up. We did a package deal and flew from Oakland to Orange County with all 3 kids, my 2 brothers Diarmuid and John and a friend of their's Mark in tow. For once the adults out numbered the kids which helped a lot. We stayed in a hotel about 2 blocks walk from the park entrance which was also nice as only Tara was in the stroller.
We spent the first afternoon, Tues, in the California adventure park where Ron and I eager to avail of our extra help and do some thrill rides for a change hoped on the river raft ride first, got soaked and spent the rest of the evening drying out, it was fun though. Needless to say nobody else did that ride that night. I think everyone enjoyed the Elevator ride the most, Ciara is exactly 40 inches and was able to go on most of the thrill type rides. That one was her first experience and she came off it with such a shocked look on her face I thought she would never go on a ride again but she proved me very wrong, she became quite the thrill seeker.
Next day we spent the whole day in Disneyland, it was just a really nice time, it was not that crowded and the wait time on most of the rides was only 5 to 10 minutes, except for the Finding Nemo ride,it was a submarine type ride with a 3D view from the submarine windows of Memo and friens, that one is new and we waited about 30 mins, it was worth the wait though to see Fiona's reaction, I think she really belives she was down there in the ocean with Nemo.
The next day the boys left us and headed to LA for the day to some sight seeing there, we did some more of the young kid friendly rides that day, took in some shows, some princesses and spent some time in Toon town.
Before we knew it was Friday, we spent the morning in California adventure getting in some last minute rides and then it was time to head for home.
Back in Emeryville our boys left is one by one, Mark left for Chicago on Sat, Diarmuid left for Ireland on Sun and John left on his travels to Mexico and South America on the following Wed, so it took a while for us to get back to normal and used to just being ourselves again.
We spent the first afternoon, Tues, in the California adventure park where Ron and I eager to avail of our extra help and do some thrill rides for a change hoped on the river raft ride first, got soaked and spent the rest of the evening drying out, it was fun though. Needless to say nobody else did that ride that night. I think everyone enjoyed the Elevator ride the most, Ciara is exactly 40 inches and was able to go on most of the thrill type rides. That one was her first experience and she came off it with such a shocked look on her face I thought she would never go on a ride again but she proved me very wrong, she became quite the thrill seeker.
Next day we spent the whole day in Disneyland, it was just a really nice time, it was not that crowded and the wait time on most of the rides was only 5 to 10 minutes, except for the Finding Nemo ride,it was a submarine type ride with a 3D view from the submarine windows of Memo and friens, that one is new and we waited about 30 mins, it was worth the wait though to see Fiona's reaction, I think she really belives she was down there in the ocean with Nemo.
The next day the boys left us and headed to LA for the day to some sight seeing there, we did some more of the young kid friendly rides that day, took in some shows, some princesses and spent some time in Toon town.
Before we knew it was Friday, we spent the morning in California adventure getting in some last minute rides and then it was time to head for home.
Back in Emeryville our boys left is one by one, Mark left for Chicago on Sat, Diarmuid left for Ireland on Sun and John left on his travels to Mexico and South America on the following Wed, so it took a while for us to get back to normal and used to just being ourselves again.
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