Hanging out around the house

I have been a pretty bad blogger and poor picture taker in the past couple of weeks. However, I thought I should post the few pictures I have taken recently.

Joshua is hanging out in his Kickin Coaster (think baby leg press) in the shirt Auntie Joyce and Uncle Jeff got him in Hawaii before any of us knew it was a him. :)

Saturday morning at Panache coffee house. This is the second of our two favorite places. This one has great cherry mochas!

Last Sunday we had a BBQ/pool party. Unfortunately, I didn't take any pictures. :( Auntie Megan, however, remembered to grab the camera as we attempted to take Joshua in the pool for the first time. The water is not heated which felt great to all of us adults. As you can see, Joshua likes his bath water MUCH more than this pool stuff. This was the reaction to just his toes going in it. That is all we tried and called it off. I guess he will like it some day when his is older, or when we finally put a solar heater on it.

Joshua is really growing. I already had to raise the seat on his exersaucer because he has gotten taller. He does love it though, because he gets to stand up.

He loves that he can press a button and play music all by himself.

"This is my Daddy!"

Happy 5th Month Birthday!!

Joshua turned 5 months old last Thursday. It is really hard to believe how fast time is flying. He is smiling and laughing and continues to become much more interactive. He will follow us around the room with his eyes and even seems to have a clue that we are talking to him when we say "Joshua." It is probably the intonation in our voices that makes him look up...if he wants to that is. Joshua definitely knows what he wants and when he wants it. The future looks to be exciting, to say the least!

Joshua's current favorite position

Had to take a picture of some more Gator gear from Daddy.

See, even in the crib watching the mobile, the stomach is preferred.

His outfit is from Grandma and says "I'll sleep when I am good and ready." So true, so true!

On his 5 month Birthday

"Now this is the way to hang in my crib."

All smiles

A much happier boy upright

Joshua getting ready for bed with Daddy and Duck.

On Friday, Joshua and I went to Berkeley to have lunch with my friend, Leanne. Leanne lives in Sacramento and was coming to San Francisco for the weekend, so she stopped to see us. It was really fun to catch up.

On Friday evening, Joshua and I went to Alameda to see an old favorite cover band, Notorious, play a free concert. We met Auntie Megan, Andy, Kelly and the Morgan family, along with many of their friends. It was a lovely evening outside. Joshua is decked out in his Levi's for the occasion.

Heading out the door to Alameda.

At Crab Cove in Alameda with Auntie Megan

Playing on the blanket while listening to 80s music. Life is good!

On Saturday night, Dave, Joshua and I went to Evan Haynes 2nd Birthday party BBQ. Here are the twin McEwen boys.

Abby and Evan

Evan got some great, fun presents

Joshua was intrigued by the other kids moving around the Haynes home.

After bath time on Saturday night, we noticed that the sky was lit up oddly and walked outside as it started to rain. Rain in July is pretty crazy in Northern California. However, it lead to possibly the brightest full double rainbow I have ever seen. Amazing!

It was hard to capture on film, but here are a few attempts.

On Sunday, Dave christened the pool! Finally, we have a full, clean and safe pool. Good thing as it is going to be HOT this week and upcoming weekend.

A Happy 4th of July Weekend

Although we were disappointed to have to postpone our Vegas weekend trip until Labor Day, we had a very fun weekend at home. Dave and I spent part of the day on Friday finishing up cleaning the pool and getting the filter replaced. Finally on Friday afternoon, we started refilling the pool. It looks great and we are very happy we went ahead and drained it. Dave did a great job getting all the water out and cleaning! We are VERY scared of our water bill, but it will still be worth it when Joshua starts getting in the clean water. On Friday evening, John Hickox joined us for the weekend. He is at Stanford for a month taking a course as part of his medical residency. We had a great Indian dinner and caught up on Friday night. John was incredibly easy going with us working around Joshua's inconsisent napping schedule. We had a lot of fun!

John with Joshua (notice Joshua's latest Gator gear)


On Saturday we all went to the Orinda 4th parade. It was a very cute small town parade. There were an amazing amount of people there. John commented that he had never seen more kids in one place. That is Orinda for you. Mostly families and retirees around here.
Joshua taking in the parade after waking from a nap.

Dave and John intently watching the parade.

Joshua was more interested in the people around us than the parade.

This truck had a contestant from the upcoming "Orinda Idol" competition. I don't recommend a trip out this way to see it. ;)

After the parade, we walked up to the Orinda park where there was music, booths and this petting zoo. They advertised goats, ducks and chickens. We wanted to see kids pet a chicken so we stopped by. I stayed out of the crowd with Joshua, but Dave told me there was one chicken who was totally freaked out and just stood shaking. PETA would have been all over this. :)

John "earned his keep" by using the net to skim junk off the top of the pool all weekend. He was also the first to wade into the water.

Daddy and Joshua hanging out.

In the late afternoon, we went to Mike and Michaela's for a wonderful BBQ. It was a fun evening with great food. Poor Joshua was having a bit of a tough night because he is teething. However, all things considered, he was a trooper.

On Sunday we headed out to brunch which ended up being later than expected because Joshua decided to take a >2 hour nap and we weren't about to wake him.

After dropping John back at Stanford, we went to the Gottshalls to meet their twins for the first time. They were born on May 13th. Melissa's due date was actually June 28th. Joey and Annika are doing great despite their early arrival.

Melissa and Annika

Dave, Joshua and Todd

Todd, Jean (Todd's Mom) and Joey

On Sunday evening, we proceeded up the peninsula to have birthday dinner for Jeff Yung. We had a Chinese seafood banquet. It was fun to see everyone.

Mike and Jeanie

A family photo

Jeff (birthday boy), Chris and Laurel

Joyce and Madeline (Beaner, who is due in September, is in the photo too, but got cut out :) )

This is the all Starwood American Express club and everyone wanted their points. :)

Joshua held out very well considering his busy day and weekend. Here he is playing with Daddy's goatee.