Avila Beach Day 3 - Pismo Beach & Morro Bay

On Tuesday morning we figured we needed to get out of the hotel during the morning or else we would go crazy held hostage with a 15 month old. We decided to head to Pismo Beach and to the Splash Cafe for some of their famous clam chowder.
We walked around, but there wasn't much that caught our attention, except a cute Oscar the Grouch t-shirt that we ended up buying for Ethan. I don't think we got any pictures of him in it unfortunately.

After enjoying our bread bowls of chowder we headed to Morro Bay to take a look at the shops and whatever else we could find. On the way there Ethan fell asleep. He was so tired that we couldn't wake him. We opened all the car doors and talked to him but he just kept sleeping.

Here's a video of him while he was sleeping:

Finally as we were driving away from the aquarium he woke up. We turned the car around and took him into the small aquarium. There were seals to feed and lots of fish to see. The seals were very loud which scared Ethan.

Not a great picture, but proof that I was there.

Later that evening my parents and grandma arrived at the hotel. Ethan had fun playing with Great-Grandma.


I've heard that Ethan looks a lot like I did at 15 months.
It was a long day driving around, but we had fun. Ethan slept in the car really well as you can see from the video.

Avila Beach Days 1 & 2

We had such a great time on our vacation to Avila Beach, near San Luis Obispo, a week ago.
We took a 5 hour car ride and Ethan did very well considering we only stopped twice. He still wasn't walking so we stopped mainly to eat. He watched Finding Nemo for the 1st time in the backseat.
There was sunshine and wind when we got to the hotel, but it felt great outside. We were in pants and t-shirts all week even though it was in the 60's. We even braved the pool a couple times, which Ethan loved.
By the time we checked into the hotel we had to run out to buy groceries and get Ethan back to eat his dinner and get him to bed. His bedtime during our vacation was about 830 or 9pm, when it's usually 8pm. He had his own "bedroom", the bathroom. It was the quietest and darkest room to be in considering we were in a studio.

Ethan with his walker on our 1st day at Avila Beach.

Photos from our room:




We had a gorgeous view of the pool & the ocean. My dad set the whole trip up and made sure to get us the best view.
On the 2nd day of our trip we headed to Solvang to walk around and look through some shops. It took us 20 minutes to find a parking spot, we walked around for an hour, had some ice cream and left. It wasn't what we thought it would be.





Ethan was great in the car when we went on little trips throughout the week. He took short naps and jabbered to himself.
More posts to come.

And he's walking...

The day finally came on Monday when Ethan decided it was time to get up and walk. He took a couple steps from Ken to me and was so proud of himself. I'm very excited that he's walking but it's also a reminder that he's one step closer to not being a baby anymore. A little bittersweet.
Last night we caught this video of him walking.


He usually is so happy when he walks but not last night. All he wanted was Daddy to hold him. We'll try to get a better video of him walking as he gets to be a better walker.

Now I can say that he walked about the same time as I did...15 months! It seemed like an eternity waiting for it, but now that it's here I guess we'll be doing a lot of running.

CF Great Strides Walk

We didn't quite make it to our $5,000 goal, but we got pretty close with $4255. Ken was the #7 top walker and Team Ethan ranked #4 out of top teams!!! We are very proud of how much support our team got from our family and friends.
This year the new family I'm working for all came to walk, my neighbor and her family, my parents, my college friend and her friend, my niece, my brother in law and Ken's parents. I hope I didn't forget anyone. The walk was 3 miles to places around the State Capitol and took a little over an hour.



Thanks again to everyone who participated and to everyone who donated. The Sacramento Chapter raised over $144,000 this year!

If you give a boy a box...

...he'll probably play with it for hours.

Mother's Day

I know I'm almost a month late, but I was waiting for some extra photos to get to me.
For Mother's Day this year with my family we celebrated with my parents and my sister's family. We were excited to have a new family member at the party, baby Judah, my newest nephew.
The guys planned the whole thing. We ate tri tip and burgers and had a really good dessert, a chocolate mint cake. Everyone passed around Judah, my nieces played upstairs and Ethan tried to get into whatever he could downstairs. He loves my parents house since they only have a gate at the end of the stairs. He can roam freely, which he doesn't get to do at home.



Ken with baby Judah.


Nana & Ethan

We had a great time hanging out with the Schwiesow's. What a busy May we had. More posts to come. I need to get caught up.

A year ago today...

...we were being released from the hospital after a 5 day stay. Ethan had brochialitis. It was Mother's Day and we spent most of the day in the hospital. Thankfully we were released about 2pm and able to spent the afternoon with my family. What a memory for my 1st Mother's Day.
Today we are thankful that we have made it a year without any hospitalizations!