It's Time!!

*****Warning****. This story may be somewhat graphic in nature and could possibly offend those who don't like to read stories about loss of body fluids and solids.

Summer will officially be 2 1/2 years old in 2 weeks. It was made clear to me today that it is definitely time to get her potty trained. I fed the kids a nice big breakfast and then we took Abby for a loooong walk...a full hour. When we got home the kids wanted to play in the backyard. This is usually a good thing because they explore while I get stuff done around the house. I looked out to check on them and I could see a pair of legs in the corner of the yard with pants down to the ankles. Trouble!! I ran out to find that Summer had taken off her diaper and pulled down her pants and had gone to the bathroom in the dirt. She took one look at me and said, "I went poo poo in the dirt like Abby (our dog)." Ben couldn't believe his eyes and was actually speechless. We had a long discussion about where we go to the bathroom and then I put her in big girl underwear and set the timer for 30 minute increments. Let the fun begin!!!!

As a side note, thank goodness my good friend has 2 kids the same age as mine. We met up at the park later in the day and Summer was quick to tell her, "we don't go poo poo in the dirt, we go poo poo in the toilet." Good to know she was listening.....

Stickers

Summer loves stickers. She loves to put them on the top of her hands ....as many as will fit. The other day she wanted to decorate her arms so I let her. She was in heaven!

After we drop Ben off at preschool Summer and I take Abby for a walk or jog. She can actually last in the stroller for close to an hour but I know it's time to head home when she starts chucking her books onto the street.

San Francisco

Brian and I went to the Bay Area for Brian's after Christmas Holiday Party. We spent the first night in a really nice Bed & Breakfast in the Palo Alto area. We were spoiled with a great dinner with many courses. I thought I was going to burst yet I still found room for the chocolate molten cake with vanilla bean ice cream....mmmmmm....

The next day we headed to San Francisco. We walked through some of the different neighborhoods and then went to a matinee....it was great to enjoy some "kid free" time together. Next we checked into the Mark Hopkins Intercontinental Hotel on Nob Hill.

This is the view from our room:

The hotel has a place called Top of the Mark, were we headed for a drink and a great view of the city. Below is just a picture of me in our hotel room:

We had dinner in Cole Valley at EOS and just had a great time. The next morning we checked out and headed to Golden Gate Park. Here I am waiting for Brian to pick me up.

As a side note, we could have paid $50 to park our car at the valet in the hotel. But we are way too conservative (cheap....but really, $50 seems pretty steep for overnight parking!) and Brian made it a personal challenge to find parking on the street. And we lucked out! We found a "nectar spot" a block away.

Golden Gate Park

We spent a large part of the 2nd day in Golden Gate park. We went to the convservatory of flowers, which was really cool. It was closed most of the time we lived in San Francisco so it was fun to go check it out. We also just walked all through the park, checked out our wedding spot, etc. It was a lot of fun.

It felt like you were in the jungle in some areas of the conservatory!

They had a train exhibit with minitures of all the famous buildings in San Francisco.

They also had little ponds inside the building, which was pretty neat.

Flowers and Plants

These are all just some of the cool plants and flowers inside the conservatory.

Daddy Time

What could be more fun than playing with dad? Especially when he's pretending to be a horse.

Abby

This is where I keep the kids when I need a break......just kidding! The kids love to play with Abby and think it's soooo fun to go in her crate with her. Ben loves to follow Abby all around the yard and into the bushes. I think Abby enjoys the company for the most part. Except when Ben brings out the water gun and sprays her with it. That's definitely her least favorite part.

BBQ at the Beach

We spent another late afternoon/early evening at Huntington Beach. Summer loves chips....I think even more than chocolate (she's a daddy's girl, what can I say?). So she was trying to feed her beloved chips to the seagulls. Thankfully they would only get so close and would fly away when she reached toward them. Sandy chips.....yum.
Chasing the birds.

This is the reason we pay so much money to live here:

Of course the warm weather in January is another good reason too. We had a fun time making roasted hotdogs and s'mores. Summer likes to throw sand so that makes it tricky but if we give her a "sand throwing" area she seems to do fine....

Ben is just happy setting the marshmallow's on fire. He also loved his hotdog and lemonade.