A fun summer

Here are some pictures of some fun events we have been up to the last two months.

Joshua and I met Alla, Joyce and Tyler for brunch and then a baby "sprinkle" for the upcoming birth of Alla's baby girl.
The boys eating some grub at Stacks.

Here is the very cute prego Alla enjoying her maternity leave.


Joshua has discovered he loves going to the park. Going through the tunnel is really fun.

We love to practice the walking whenever possible.

Sliding down and jumping up with Daddy is a blast.

Here Joshua is watching the other kids in the water feature and deciding if he is going to join them.

A few weeks ago, we ventured to Redwood City to help Todd and Kevin celebrate their 40th birthdays.

The Gottshalls - Melissa, Joey, Annika and Todd

Joshua and Daddy hanging at the BBQ

One of the highlights of the day was riding around in the wagon. Here Todd's Mom is working up a sweat.

Joshua seemed perfectly happy to ride the afternoon away.

Joshua, Annika and Joey taking a turn.

Yup, still didn't want to get out.

Joshua got a little bored on the drive home, so Daddy forked over his blackberry. So crazy how this kid already knows exactly what to do with it.

He even knows how to express himself rather loudly while on the cell phone.

Joshua continues to practice using his own spoon. Believe it or not, quite a bit does actually make it into the mouth.

Besides, eating by yourself is fun.

On a nice sunny afternoon, the Caughlins and Megan came over for a BBQ. Sadly, I only got this one picture. At least I captured Baby Stella and her mom, Michaela.

Joshua's Grandma came to visit for a few weeks in early August. Joshua had a great time spending time with her.

A couple weeks ago, Dave, Joshua and myself traveled to Las Vegas to see Joshua's Tutu and G.G. I also didn't pull my camera out a lot on this trip.

It all looks perfectly innocent in this picture, but Joshua decided that Daddy needed to walk all over the restaurant with him and that climbing in empty booths was really fun.

Joshua went to go visit his Great-Grammy J.

We use this booster seat when we got out and about such as at coffee houses and places without highchairs. We had brought it in the house for some reason and Joshua decided that he really needed to sit in it and chill.

We finally had Rebecca, Kevin, Jamie and Tim over for a BBQ a couple of weeks ago. The intention had been for everyone to go in the pool. It was just a bit chilly for that. However, we all had a great time hanging out outside, eating some good food and playing some corn hole.

Dave, Joshua, Kevin, Rebecca, Tim and Jamie

Joshua is getting braver and really likes to climb up (with help) into the big chair and rock.

The little ham continues to love the camera

Last Friday, I was able to travel to Belmont to meet Alla's baby Julia. Here Julia is two days old.

She is a beautiful little angel.

Joyce and Tyler joined us at Alla's house for lunch. Mr. T is happily exhibiting his combat crawling. What a cutie.

This Labor Day weekend was a quiet one around the McEwen household. We took several trips to the park including this one on Monday.

Joshua was too busy watching other kids to even notice the camera.

The play structure is getting to be more and more fun as his walking and balance improves.

Joshua is quicking getting the whole walking thing down and proudly struts around the house, with and without his plane.

Avon walk and a visit from the Carlsons

No time like the present to start on a series of catch up blogs.

Megan and I finished our 4th Avon walk on the weekend of July 9 and 10th. We spent Friday night at the Weston on Union Square and rose around 4:30 am to catch the shuttle to the start to the walk. The route was different this year from our previous walks. The good thing about that was that the organizers put a lot of effort into walking more in the city and hitting most every neighborhood. The not so good thing is that they miss marked the route the first day and we actually walked close to 29 miles versus the 26.2 it was supposed to be. Megan and I had a good walk and were pleased that even with our decreased training this time around, our bodies faired pretty well. We completed the 39.3...make that 42 miles and were so glad to be a part of such an important event. The event raised 5.5 million dollars. We met some interesting and inspiring women (and men too) along the way. Great weekend!

Dave and Joshua joined us at the closing ceremony, bringing us flowers and taking both of us home.

Mid July, my friend and college roommate, Wendy came up from southern California with her Mom, Carol, for a visit. It was great to see them both and spend some time together. Unfortunately, Joshua was sick and running fevers during the visit, so we weren't as active as we might have been. However, we did get some nice hang out and catch up time.

Auntie Wendy and Joshua with the present Wendy and Carol brought for him.

Joshua loved his present of trucks that he is able to push and they run down the hall.

The fastest way to make Joshua your friend is to read to him. This kid LOVES books.

On Saturday, we took a picnic to Tilden park and took a nice walk.

On Saturday night, Carol treated Wendy and I to a lovely dinner in Lafayette where we sat outside on the patio at Yankee Pier. Wendy and I both had seared ahi. YUM!

On Sunday morning, we had brunch outside. After brunch, Dave and Joshua stuck their feet in the pool for a bit.

Photo op before Carol and Wendy went on to Monterey.

A smile with Auntie Wendy.

A Fourth of July in Napa

Although it is a few weeks late to post this, I thought I would share some pictures from our lovely weekend away in Napa over the 4th. We are grateful to the Yungs who sent out an email quite a while ago asking friends if anyone would like to join them in spending the 4th at the Weston Napa. We jumped right on making reservations and had a truly great weekend away.

Joshua and Dave hanging out at the pool with Miss Madeline and Jeff (oops, out of the frame)


On Saturday night, we went to a yummy Italian dinner in downtown Napa. We were celebrating Jeff's birthday. Joyce and Jeff got a few minutes to hang out at the table with us while Joyce's Mom had Tyler and Madeline outside.

A family photo. Joshua spent most of the dinner flirting with the waitresses through the opening in the glass wall behind us. I don't know who enjoyed it more, the waitresses or Joshua.

When we got to the Weston and up into our room, we quickly discovered that the crib we had been promised was not there. After calling around a bit, we were told no more cribs were available. Being my mother's daughter, I kept asking what the hotel was going to do to help us and hit the right person. She took great care of us and upgraded us to a one bedroom suite complete with a full kitchen, dining room and two bathrooms. It actually worked out great because there was a nice big bathtub to bathe Joshua in, a fridge and microwave for the first of the morning milk Joshua immediately asks for via sign language as soon as he wakes up, and a living room we could hang out in after putting the monkey to bed in the middle of the big bed with pillows all around and the video monitor on him. Awesome!

I commented to Dave that I wish we could have transported this kitchen to replace our own outdated kitchen at home. :)

The bedroom already covered with our stuff.

The "master" bathroom

The second bathroom

The living room/dining room with a view of the lanai. As you can tell, we were very comfortable. :)

Joshua and Daddy heading back out to the pool.

Joshua happily hung out on my lap watching the other kids for a while after getting out of the pool.

Chillin' with Daddy at the pool.

Hanging out at the Oxbow Market having a Salvadorian lunch. Joshua loved the beef and corn cakes.

On the afternoon of the 4th, we visits a few wineries for a little tasting.

In the late afternoon/evening we headed to the street fair in Napa to grab some dinner and check out the scene.

Three generations hanging together, Joyce, Madeline and Jovita.

Auntie Joyce and Joshua

On Monday, we stopped by the Miner winery for a lovely picnic lunch. This winery is a small family winery. It sits up on a hill in Napa Valley with stunning views. It was really fun as we got one tasting, but were able to take our time and taste the wine while having our picnic on the patio.

Snuggling with my monkey.

Inside the tasting room at Miner. The wines were all really good, but quite pricey.

Our view during lunch.

Joshua and I hung out on the grass outside one of the tasting rooms while Dave checked out the wines. I can't remember the name of this winery, but Dave wasn't impressed, so I guess it doesn't really matter. :)

We had a wonderful summer get away and look forward to going back in the future.