Ouch, I Won! - May 29

The Wind Festival. A very "San Ramon" thing to do, if you ask me. People probably come from all over just to experience the San Ramon Art and Wind Festival, I'm sure. Me being from San Ramon, it always seems like just one of those things you do over the Memorial Day weekend. It doesn't really interest me that much anymore but more importantly my wife and Chloe really seem to enjoy it, so we make a point to go and we have for the last 4 years. Chloe, of course likes the rides but she also likes seeing the kites and Heather, well she just likes to walk the shops so it's a win, win. This year, San Ramon is building this new "City Hall" building which used to be the parking lot and basketball courts adjacent to the baseball fields so things were a little more crammed in this year in whatever space was still available. I didn't see all of the little kiddie rides they usually have but perhaps it's because Chloe is now a gigantic, huge, super tall 5 year old and she wants to do the bigger stuff now. Funniest moment for me was she wanted to go on the gigantic slide thing(which she did last year by herself, no fear). She gets to the top and they line them up 3 wide and send them down the slide. Chloe has her arms crossed like they told her and she FLIES down this thing but really fast on the last section. She had this scared look on her face but then when she hit bottom she jumped up like a lighting bolt and proclaimed "I WON I WON!!" lol. That's my Daughter, she has the "racing gene" in her blood. =)

She also(willingly) had her face painted which may not sound like a big deal but I vividly remember the first time we did that at the wind festival. She was super excited to have it done and then she IMMEDIATELY cried that she wanted us to take it off and we had no way of doing so. She melted down all the way to the car until we could get a wet wipe to rub her cheek clean. GOOD TIMES!! lol.

Have a great weekend, folks~

-B

I Love Taking Pictures! - May 22

By now Chloe has become completely acustomed to having her picture taken. Of course she sees me taking photos all the time and she liked to always look at the photos etc but this week she finally decided out of the blue it was time for her to TAKE some pictures. I waste no time putting thousands of dollars of equipment in the hands of a 5 year old and before we know it, she is off and clicking.

Just kidding the camera she using is not really worth that much(but I still use it all the time so breaking it would not be ideal). So I dug through my stuff and found a camera strap I knew Chloe would love(thanks Tiffany!). =) Chloe went all around the house, inside and out, taking pictures of basically everything. Her favorite subject as you might imagine was the dog. The dog appears to hate having her picture taken. Don't tell Chloe.

Just a few photos of this weeks adventure, have a great holiday weekend and enjoy!
-B

This week on Sunday was Mother's day so I just wanted to give a shout out to all the mom's out there. Thanks for being so great, what would be without you? (probably stinky and hungry among other things..) Hopefully you had a nice day. =)

Beyond that I would say it has been a typical week around here with the exception of some crumby weather and the fact that our little pup Penny seems to have contracted "kennel cough". That is something all dogs are typically vaccinated for(and Penny has been) but apparently similar to a flu there are many different strains..? Who knows but on Monday she was doing this weird couching/retching thing and then she would spit up some junk. We took her to the vet where they threw some medicing in a bottle and charged us a hundred bucks and sent us on our way. She's doing much better now but man what a weird thing. Can't have a full house of healthy inhabitants it would seem. LOL.

Just a few pics of the C monster and Lil Miss Penny. Have a great weekend~

-B

Teacher For The Day! - May 8

The follow up post from last week has arrived. Last Friday was a big day for Chloe.

HUGE.

She has been waiting patiently for her turn to be the "teacher for the day" in her class. I don't know exactly what made her choose this, but she INSISTED on teaching the class about dolphins. She had it all figured out. She had her "dolphin shirt" which she would wear, and her dolphin stuffed animal..aaaaaand that's it. She worked it out with her teacher that they would read a book about dolphins and have the class do an art project where they would cut out a dolphin and color it in. She got to wear the teacher apron and she was very serious about doing a good job on the whole ordeal. =) I'm not exaggerating because I'm her dad but she did so great and she LOVED being in the spotlight and teaching to the class. If she turns out to be a teacher as an adult, I would not be a bit surprised.

The 2nd best part of that day was that they were going to finally have their "taco party" which all the kids have been talking about all week. The kids helped prepare the cheese, avocados(+ lime & lemon for guacamole) and other condiments and after a formal invitation to the other class, we dined on (vegetarian) tacos during their free choice time. I made quesodillas for the kids that didn't want tacos but I think mostly kids just ate both. It was really neat to see the kids so excited about something and get to be there for the payoff. That, and I was supposed to be "snack parent" that day so as I told Teacher Sarah..as far as the kids know I BROUGHT THE BEST SNACK OF THE ENTIRE YEAR!!!!!! HAHAHA! Good luck following that one up on Tuesday. =)

Have a great weekend, folks.
-B

Uno De Mayo - May 1

So if you need to know anything about Heather and I, it's that we love Mexican food. We could probably eat it every day if we could but at the very least we do have it a few times a month...or maybe every week(but who can keep track). =P I am friends with someone that actually owns a Taqueria in Dublin and I have been going there for years and slowly have been exposing Chloe to it the last few years. Chloe has gone from barely touching a quesadilla to chomping down and entire bean/cheese/rice burrito.

#PROUDDAD lol.

Anyway, at school they read this book called "Dragons Love Tacos" and all the kids now are interested in making/eating Tacos and they have decided they will be having a "taco party" today at school. Because I will be working, I will bring my camera and snap some photos of the sure-to-be chaos of 30 preschool kids making tacos. The kids are also taking turns being "teacher for the day" where they all get to choose something to teach to the class and Chloe's turn is (today) Friday so I will also get some photos of that. This week I just am going to post a photo I took on Wednesday of Chloe being..well, Chloe while we had lunch at my friends Taqueria. She has also been showing interest in eating "mild" salsa however she doesn't care for the texture of actual tomatoes so...we're working on it! Have a great weekend, folks~

-B

Because Why Not - Apr 24

Sometimes you just gotta put on a dress and take some pictures. I'll take the pictures..not that interested in wearing the dress but hopefully you knew that. =) Chloe's missing lower teeth have almost found their way all the way in again but she still looks super different to me. People tell me all the time that they look at their kids all day long but it's not until I photograph them that they actually see how different they look and you simply can't see it otherwise. I have come to find that to be true with Chloe as well as I compare photos of her from just months or even weeks ago but I digress. We have been watching older home movies of Chloe which seems funny to say because she's only 5 but to see her when she's just barely 2 is like the cutest thing in the world. I am literally so happy that we have been taking movies of her and our lives as she grows up and yes is a PAIN to constantly be making DVDs so we can watch them but it is already proven to me to be SO WORTH IT. Have a great weekend, folks~

-B

Penny Girl - Apr 17

As quickly as it began, it ended. I'm talking about spring break of course. This week Chloe re-joins the world at school again and things attempt to get back to normal..at least until summer vacation hits in a few months. EEK.

The week flew by without us even noticing it happened but the weather has been nice and this crazy dog(and kid) just wants to be outside all the time so don't think they haven't noticed. I figured we would give a little update on Miss Penny girl as she is now not so little anymore, lol. Still a medium size dog (I guess) now weighing about 26 pounds and getting taller/longer all the time it seems. She seems huge to us although when we take her to these weekly "puppy social" events, she is still one of the smallest dogs there in the "medium sized" catergory. They estimated she might probably be another 10 or so lbs at full grown while I keep hoping she will just stay the size she is. I guess I feel the same way about Chloe sometimes but we all know how that's turning out. =p

Have a great weekend, folks!
-B