apple hill

We went to Apple Hill earlier than usual this year since Jens has had to do a lot of travel to China. Emma got to ride her first pony and tractor. Ok, well the tractor wasn't moving, but the pony did!

santa cruz

We had a fun visit with Oma and Opa while they were in California. It was so neat to see Emma recognize them even though she doesn't get to see them often. We try to do a video chat with them every week and apparently it works! She was so excited to see them.

We spent a fun day at the Santa Cruz pier. Emma got to feed the seagulls and pigeons. It was also her first experience with sea lions.

california state fair

Emma's 2nd annual trip to the California State Fair in Sacramento. SO much more fun with her this year! Of course it makes a difference being almost 1 1/2 years old already. My parents went and we also met Sara, Joey and Addison there.

Family picture on the golden bear.

The petting zoo, always a big hit. A goat tried to eat the back of her shirt!

Is your mama a llama?

Checking out the big sturgeon with Daddy.

Must keep clean hands.

Keeping cool and eating delicious food. That's why we go to the State Fair, right?

Seriously wish I had someone pushing me around in a stroller.

Yummy ice cream for Addison.

Emma finally passed out in the air conditioned exhibit halls. Unfortunately that means she missed the carnival area, but there is always next year!

week in roseville

Sorry it's been so long. Really, where does the time go?

In August Emma and I spent a week in Roseville while Jens was in China for work. Emma just loves hanging out with her Grandma and Grandpa everyday. We were lucky enough to even see Steve and meet his new girlfriend.

First, we went to see Great-Grandma Takahashi.


When we came back to Grandma and Grandpa's house, Emma got to play with her new toys from Grandma. She got a fun picnic bench and pull toy puppy dog . . .

. . . a cute tea set . . .

. . . and a baby doll.

Emma swam every night with Grandma.

Went to visit Great-Grandma Kuntz and Great-Aunt Pam. She loved Buddy more than he loved her :)

I know some of you will be wondering about Steve's girlfriend. This is Uncle Steve with Heather. She is really great. Both of them spent two nights with us in Roseville. Lots of fun. Emma really liked her too.


More fun in the pool. It was H-O-T the last part of the week, but actually pretty cool at the beginning. Doesn't matter, the weather, Emma still gets in the water.

Of course we got to spend time with my best friend Sara and her daughter Addison.

Excessive cuteness.

Poking her baby doll's eyes out. It's one of those dolls whose eyelids blink depending on how you hold her. She was quite fascinated.

More to come. State Fair and Santa Cruz visit with Oma and Opa.

mo-tor-cy-cle

Aiden looooves motorcycles. His grandparents got him a fun little baby sized one and he brought it over to take Emma for a ride.

Aiden really is quite the sweetheart to share his mommy's lap with Emma!

ready for school

Grandma and Grandpa bought Emma this backpack for the camping trip and she just loves to wear it around the house. It was kind of scary to see her looking like she was ready to leave for school. Seriously. Kids grow up so fast, thank goodness not THAT fast!

The first time we put it on her we only put about 1 pound of weight it in and she couldn't do anything but walk backwards because it was pulling her back! We need to work on her carrying capacity if we are ever going to take her backpacking! :)

visit with hardy

Emma was so lucky she got to spend an entire day hanging out with Hardy. This is Jens's childhood friend Ricky's little boy. He's just a few weeks younger than Emma and what a cutie! We all wish we could see them more often.

"evil eye"

Emma likes to make me laugh while she's eating by blinking her eyes at me. I started trying to get her to scrunch up her eyebrows by scrunching up my eyebrows to her. It's almost scary the way she does it. I call it the "evil eye". Jens hates it. It's so bizarre because she'll just be an angel one moment, the next it's scary face.

sorta funny bear story

The last night of our stay we had a bear visit. We had heard rumors of people seeing them DURING THE DAY(!) wandering through campsites. It was in the evening after 9pm. I was in the tent with Emma and had just finished nursing her. She was sleeping and I was just laying there beside her. I heard what I thought was someone trying to quietly walk up to the tent, or somewhere around there. Cosmo was growling at something. Then I hear Jens say, "Cosmo, go get it" and then Cosmo took off running and then Jens saying, "COSMO NO!" and "COSMO, COME!" Then I hear Cosmo yelp and cry out. Then I'm on my feet screaming "Oh my God, oh my God!" I grab Emma (who sleeps through this entire thing, btw) and am at the tent door. Cosmo has come back and I'm shaking thinking he just got mauled by a bear. I have no shoes on and Jens tells me to get over to the campfire and bring his headlamp. I get to the campfire, and there is NO ONE THERE. I thought everyone else had taken off running. Apparently it was last call at the toilet. We checked Cosmo out and he was fine. Thank GOD for the e-collar. His yelp was Jens zapping him so he would come back. Jens hadn't meant to sick Cosmo on the bear, he thought it was me sneaking up behind him. Yikes!

first camping trip

Warning, lots of photos!

We did it. We braved a camping trip with babies. There was a total of 5 couples. Four couples had 1 child, and one couple had 2. This was everyone's first camping trip with their children. It was WONDERFUL! We stayed for 3 nights, along with my best friend and her husband and daughter. The rest of the families stayed 2 nights. Jens was convinced we were crazy to stay 3 nights. He kept asking me, "You do know that we are staying 3 nights?" I'm SO glad we did, it was just the right amount of time.

We camped at Sugar Pine Point at Lake Tahoe. Beautiful campsites and lots of shade. The days were perfect in the 80's and nights were cold, probably in the 40's. Lots of bundling up, especially in the morning.

I got to catch up on my celebrity trash, it was wonderful. Cosmo was on his e-collar the entire time, he did great!

Emma loooved playing with all the kids. She slept fairly well and even took a nap during the day.

Playing with her buddy Aiden.

"How am I supposed to get down from this rock?"

Families photo. From left to right - Me, Emma and Jens - Jennine, Aiden and Mark - Sara, Addison and Joey - Angie, Rick and Ashlynn.

I think Emma tired of being dirty and sitting in the dirt. She used other peoples' chairs and even enjoyed sitting on our laps. I guess she decided it was easier to just sit on Cosmo's head and enjoy her snack. It lasted a whole minute before Cosmo couldn't take it anymore.


What's hilarious about this picture is that Cosmo isn't blinking, he actually closed his eyes and thought he was going to get to go back to sleep on Emma. She was very upset about being pinned down!

This is how we spent the days. Joey brought his remote control cars (which the kids loved too) . . .

. . . and the (other) kids dug in the dirt . . .

. . . ok, and ATE some dirt . . .

After bath time in the evening, the kids decided to play in our tent for a bit.

Trying to get a fun family shot, Jens made Cosmo climb up on this crooked tree. Hard to get a good picture when the "kids" keep moving!


See ya all same time next year! :)

serious sweatiness

As most of you know, we live in California with NO air conditioning. Taking a nap and waking up sweaty, is a regular occurence around here in the summer. Well, it didn't help that I forgot to take her "sweat" bands off. I had to wake Emma up to leave for her music class. I was hoping to catch her asleep with her purse on her arm, but no luck.