Sandy

I sometimes wonder how sand ends up all over the car, in Quinn's ear, and in his pockets for weeks at a time.

Bodega Bay

Went to Bodega Bay today to look for whales and poke around. The boys had a great time playing in the sand and mud, they went through two sets of clothes and if you notice in the last picture, almost lost Quinn's shoe in the mud (he is balancing out in the mudflat barefoot waiting for a rescue). We also saw 2 whales heading north and a few sea lions.

Play Time

This is their new favorite pastime, if we leave them alone for 3 minutes and they aren't trying to strangle each other I wonder if they are mad at each other.

Windsor MuckDawgs

Kieran's first year of baseball and first organized sport. He is having a great time on the team although they make the bad news bears look like the '27 Yankees

Dancing Fools

These kids are worrying me a bit.....

Leprechaun Trap

Kieran had to build a Leprechaun trap for school and he devised this contraption, works pretty good, we'll see if he catches any!

Revolutionary War Patriot

Kieran had to dress up "like someone from the past" at school today and decided he wanted to dress up like a soldier in the revolutionary war (he told Jennifer the night before). I would say Jennifer did a good job throwing something together;
School pants=khaki breeches
My old brown socks=leggings
A hand me down shirt from Killan= Blue coat
A modified pirate hat= tri-point hat
Old hankerchief= ascot

Kieran Singing Video Reaction

Kind of a funny video of Quinn and Kieran watching the video of Kieran singing (the video in the last post) (Quinn cracks himself up!)

Kieran singing

A short video of Kieran singing the ABCs in espanol

Kieran Snowboarding (video)

Kieran quickly picked up the basics of snowboarding and was off

Quinn Sledding (video)

Quinn had a great time sledding, just hanging on for dear life

Happy Birthday Jay (video)

Everyone had fun seeing Jay & Delilah, Quinn wouldn't stop giving Jay scribbled drawings and scrap paper for his birthday.

Donner Lake

Went to Donner Lake this weekend to play in the snow, everyone had a great time. I have never seen so much snow in my life, the boys and Charlie loved it.

Tomales Bay

Went to Tomales Bay State Park yesterday, it was a really nice day. The beach there is great for kids since there are no big waves etc. A short hike from where we had a picnic was "Indian Beach" with a couple wood teepees and signs throughout the hike explaining how the indians used to live there. Jennifer and Quinn played a lot of "pooh sticks" (dropping sticks off the bridge and racing them) while Kieran looked for gold/rocks/indian arrowheads. There were dozens of jellyfish floating right next to the shore which was fun for them and dozens more dead on the shore which Quinn had fun kicking back into the water. Also saw hundreds of birds fishing and seals swimming around. Quinn thinks Kieran is hilarious and will laugh in fits at jokes Kieran says, it is pretty funny.

Sugarloaf State Park

Santa gave us a state park pass for Christmas and we used it for the first time today at Sugarloaf. Kieran and Quinn quickly ran down to the river (Kieran looking for gold and gems, Quinn to throw rocks). They spent about an hour building a dam to pool water to better pan for gold (Kieran's idea after watching a gold mining show). They were both quickly soaked but had a great time.

Rain or Shine

We have seen quite a bit of rain lately and some nice sunny days to even it out. I think the boys like playing in puddles more but always whine after since they soon are freezing. After a long day playing in the rain, they had a "TV Dinner" of fondue.

Kieran singing

Kieran's class had a Christmas concert today, here he is singing Santa Claus is coming to town in espanol, you can hear him yelling "No debes gritar" (you better not shout) into the microphone.

Christmas Tree

Here are a few pictures of preparations for Christmas. Kieran & Quinn putting their letters for Santa in the fireplace for Santa (is it weird Quinn wants ice), the boys decorating the tree (great effort but questionable execution, there ended up being about 15 ornaments on 4 branches), Kieran & Quinn w/ Charlie, and a typical ending of them wrestling on the ground (this time wrestling to see who would win, Rudolph (Kieran) or Santa (Quinn).

England November

Jennifer and the boys went to visit her folks in England and all had a great time. Pictures here are of them in the Sherwood Forest with their bow and arrows and their cousin Zach in front of the major oak (where Robin Hood and his merry men slept), in front of the Southwell Minster where we were married (first built in the 7th century), playing hide in seek in the ruins of the Archbishop of York's palace near the minster, Kieran walking down the street from Jennifer's folks house into Southwell and of Kieran and Quinn with their Great "little" Grandmom

Halloween 2010

It was great to have Jay and Delilah up for Halloween, we always love to have them up here and the boys were super excited. Quinn thinks he is a little comedian and will keep going up to Jay saying "Hi Uncle Chris" hoping to get Jay to tickle him. Here are a few pics from yesterday. One of Quinn explaining the art of pumpkin carving to Jay, who couldn't quite understand his instructions and cut off the stem (nothing that superglue can't fix). Jay took over my duties as the Cat and the hat and helped keep them rounded up during the trick-or-treating. As soon as they got back, Quinn tried his best to stake claim to as much of the candy as possible. And for some unknown reason, anytime kids came up to the door for candy Kieran and Quinn would yell "another customer is here: and run to the door to pass out the candy.