The month of May was rainy, wet, cold, and rainy….but we managed to get a lot of fun in regardless! Matt drove to Chico for his first Century bike ride with his dad. Tristan and I hung back at home, played around the house, and “furnished” his new playhouse we just got the week before. Since dad was out of town, I had to attempt some minor assembly on the stools that we got for when he has his friends over for lunch. They will want to eat inside the playhouse, of course. Since I know how to use a screwdriver, and read directions, it turned out to be a non-event. The stools were put together and we spent the rest of the afternoon cooking hotdogs (pretend), and eating hamburgers (pretend). It’s nice to finally have something in the backyard for Tristan to play with, because we all like being outside! Matt and his dad completed the ride and enjoyed their time together, too. I see many more father-son rides in the future!
The following weekend was Mother’s Day weekend. I took gremmie to get a pedicure and to lunch on Saturday, and Sunday Matt and Tristan took me to Murphy’s to do some wine tasting and visit Ironstone. We haven’t been there in a couple years, so it was fun to go back and let Tristan run around and take pictures. We sat and ate our picnic lunch by the really nice play structure in the middle of town. After a little bit of walking around (the weather wasn’t cooperating) we headed home for a nice dinner to top off the day.
I took a day off during the week for some much needed “girl-time” with Bronwyn and Jodi. We saw a Cirque de Soleil show in Sacramento, then had a nice dinner downtown. It was a lot of fun – just wish we could do it more often! We were looking for something to do that was semi-local one weekend, and decided to check out the Lindsay Wildlife Museum in Lafayette. We packed another picnic lunch and headed out in the morning. The museum turned out to be a pretty neat place. It rescues animals and rehabilitates them, then they live in the museum and have good care taken of them the remainder of their lives. Usually these are birds that have been found injured that can’t survive on their own in the wild anymore. But there was also an Opossum, several reptiles, and a little fox. They had a “petting” time, which was with a little rabbit. At first Tristan just wanted to sit and look at the rabbit, but when I went up to pet it, he wanted to come too. after we learned about all the animals and saw some pretty neat owls, hawks, and a bald eagle, we got our lunch and ate at the park. It was one of the sunnier days that month, and it was nice to be outside!
Among all of the little field trips we took were other fun and special events: Jessica’s Confirmation, Annual Ride of Silence, Stockton Ports game, and Matt’s 1st Triathlon (Sprint). There were several birthdays this month, too: Laurene’s 20th, Jordan, and Uncle Bryan.
As I write this, it’s about 95 degrees out. Definite change from last month. Summer arrived in a hurry – but we’re not complaining!!
Yes, folks. I am WAY behind on the monthly updates. But this is why I have a website, and not a blog! I try to do my best to upload the pictures each month, which I think I do a pretty good job at. So it seems my last update was the first of January, which means I have a good 4 months to take care of – right. now. (Luckily, I did start these updates a couple months ago, but never got around to posting them J)
January & February – New Year, New Fun, New York!
January just started off a really busy work month. Getting back into the swing of things after the holidays is always challenging, but necessary!! We celebrated cousin Samantha and Uncle Mark’s birthdays this month, and Matt and I were able to have lunch and catch a movie on the MLK holiday (thanks Grammie!). At the end of the month Matt had training for work in New Jersey. At the last minute, I made flight reservations and hitched along with him! It wasn’t the best time weather-wise to be traveling to the East Coast, since they were having the worst snow and ice storms of the decade there, but this isn’t an opportunity that comes along often, so I HAD to take advantage of it!
We left on Sunday morning and spent the entire day flying. Eventually ending up in Newark, NJ. Since I would be on my own having fun in New York while Matt was having “fun” training in New Jersey, I decided to take a guided tour which would show me all the “tourist-y” things I would want to see, and cover a lot of ground in one day. I only had 2 days to spend in the city, so I figured this was a good decision. It was actually the BEST decision, because I saw so much more than I would have been able to on my own. The tour guide was great, the weather was sunny but freezing (in the 20’s), and I learned so much I was overwhelmed. That night, Matt met me for dinner in New York. We decided to try a nice Italian restaurant recommended by my tour guide. Everything is made fresh, and they usually require reservations, except on Monday nights – bingo! We waited for a short time, then were seated. The food was delicious and authentic, and we definitely left there full and warm. Shortly after taking our picture in Times Square, and showing Matt the original Soup Kitchen from the show Seinfeld, we headed back to New Jersey. The following day it was raining, but I decided to head into New York anyway. The trip into New York entailed a cab ride to the New Brunswick train station, and an hour long train ride to Penn Station, New York. I intended to make my way on foot to some museums around Central Park, but it didn’t end up that way. I ducked into stores along the way down 5th Avenue, and made a stop to go inside St. Patrick’s Cathedral (only saw the outside on my tour), and the day just kind of got away from me. Since I would need to catch a 3:30am(ET) cab ride to the airport the next morning, I thought it best to head back to the hotel, have dinner with Matt, and get some sleep. I will spare you the details of my travel day from Newark to San Diego (2.5 hours on the tarmac, anyone), needless to say it was a LONG day. But it was a great trip! I know that I want to go back again, but for more than 2 days, and maybe when the weather is warmer! J
We both arrived home late the night of March 3rd. I had flown in from San Diego (work meeting) and Matt from Newark. Where was Tristan during all of this? Grammie and Poppa, and Grandma and Grandpa split the time watching him. He got to have a sleepover at Grammie and Poppa’s for a couple nights, and a haircut; and stayed at our with Grandma and Grandpa, and got to make trips to Costco for samples and shopping.
The month of February was pretty quiet, spending days here and there visiting with friends, having lunches and dinners to catch up after the hectic holidays. This was nice, because man, March was a doosie!
P.S. Happy Birthday to Uncle Rob!
March Madness – Ware Style
Bronwyn had been wanting to take some family photos of us for quite some time, but we were really waiting for the weather to be better. We tentatively planned to go to Old Town Sacramento on the first weekend in March, playing the exact day by ear because of weather. We decided that Saturday would be the best day, and it was beautiful! The sun was out and it was mild – perfect day for walking around with the paparazzi following you. She took some great pictures that we will forever look back on and love. The following weekend was Jodi’s 30th birthday – and we celebrated! Jodi and I have been friends since 2nd grade (with a minor lapse in communication until last year). We really picked back up where we left off, and I’m so happy we did. Now I know why we spend almost every waking hour together as kids, and every weekend at each other’s house. Anyway, the two of us enjoyed a pedicure and lunch on her actual birthday, with wine tasting the following day with a group of her best girls. It was a lot of fun!!
Just a day after that, I went up to Sacramento and had a night out with Bronwyn. I had a meeting up there on Tuesday, so I stayed the night and we went out for dinner and drinks – just us girls! Haven’t done that in a while, and it was a lot of fun. That same week was St. Patrick’s Day, and Grammie’s birthday. I hosted St. Patrick’s Day at my house this year, having the annual fare, and of course our dear friend John Rebstock came over. It’s not St. Patrick’s Day without him! The next day we left for L.A. – the L.A. Marathon, to be exact!!
Matt had been training hard for this marathon, and he was bound to do great. We decided to drive down on Friday and make a weekend of it. Friday and Saturday – perfect weather. We got there, walked around outside the hotel, then met my friend and co-worker Dolores and her husband for dinner at LA Live. Dolores was also running the marathon. It was fun to hear her and Matt talk about the marathon, while her husband and I talked about how we could never run a marathon and how great it was they were doing this. The next day was race packet pickup day, so we headed to Dodger Stadium to do that, then had lunch and hung around the hotel some more. Now it’s Sunday morning – and it’s about to start the craziest storm day of the weekend. Matt got up and caught a cab to the stadium where the race would begin. Meanwhile, Tristan and I got a little more sleep and then packed everything up to head to Santa Monica where the race ended. As soon as we got on the road – the downpour started. And it didn’t stop. Ever. I found a parking garage as close as I could to where the race ended, and Tristan and I headed for Starbucks. It was early on a Sunday morning, so even though we were in a prime shopping area of Santa Monica, nothing opened until 11am. Ugh. The Starbucks was packed with tons of people hanging out, waiting for their runner. Since it was pouring rain, and the only place that was open at that hour, naturally everyone was there. Starbucks was connected to Barnes and Noble, which opened at 9am, and you better believe as soon as the doors opened we were in the kids book area. We hung out there for as long as we possibly could, then headed to the area where the finish line was. There was a mall there, albeit not the “indoor” mall I was hoping for, but we made due. Meanwhile – I was just trying to imagine what the runners were feeling (besides soaking wet). When I thought it was about the time Matt would be finishing, we headed over to the “family waiting area.” Now, this was supposed to be the place where you could go to meet your runner. It was supposed to be organized by last name (alphabetically). And you’d think since it was a monsoon out, there would be shelter for not only the families waiting, but the runners who might be waiting as well. NOT a chance. The “W” sign was laying on the ground, surrounded by a huge puddle, and everyone who was waiting was packed under the one pop-up tent they had available. I had no idea what I was going to do. There wasn’t any room for us under there, although some very nice people moved over so I could squeeze Tristan’s stroller under the shelter (poor guy had no idea what was going on, but he was a really good boy this entire time). Not more than 5 minutes later – I peeked my head out, and up walks Matt!!! I couldn’t believe it. We could have possibly been standing there for hours or more – and got SO lucky. Poor Matt was soaking wet, but in good spirits. Like he said, it was so ridiculous you just had to laugh. So we immediately took off to the car, rested for a bit, then were on our way home – in the worst storm ever. All in all, it was a fun weekend – and Matt did great, finishing in just over 3 hours 30 minutes!
We had lots of birthday’s to celebrate this month, with two kid parties in the same weekend! Madison turned 6 with a jumpy house and piñatas, and Delaney turned 5 with pizza, and outside playing with the kids. Other birthdays this month were Curt and Great Grandma Luis who turned 93!
Which brings us to – APRIL!
A few more lunches and dinners with friends – Jodi (who I see all the time) and Alana (my long lost friend), and a BBQ with the Brunacini’s at our house on a warm and windy Saturday! We also had Cousin Jessica’s 16th birthday party and Caleb’s bowling party. Lot’s of parties, lots of good times with friends, and LOTS of pictures to prove it!
Easter was at the end of the month, and Tristan was old enough to do all the fun Easter festivities this year. We dyed eggs in the backyard, with the cheapest egg dye I could find (could have been way more fun had I gotten the “good” egg dye kit, for like $1 more…) but we still had fun, and I think next year will be even better. The Easter Bunny came and left a basket filled with goodies and he hid the eggs on the front porch since the weather was pretty wet/drizzly/misty outside. Tristan had fun hunting all the eggs and putting them in his basket. Later that afternoon we went to Grammie and Poppa’s for dinner and more egg hunting with his cousins. I think Tristan scored the most eggs!
I think the highlight of the month was the purchase of a hand-me-down playhouse (thank you Jodi’s friend!) that Tristan absolutely loves. I really think it’s cool. We have it on our back patio where I can see him playing as I’m fixing dinner in the kitchen, and since I like to sit out and enjoy the sunshine, now he has something to do while I’m out there. I think it will be a fun thing for a few years!
Ok! So now you are all caught up! Of course, aside from all these formal items on the calendar, Matt is busy training for his next marathon and triathlon, we are both working hard, and in between all of this, having the most fun we can!
Ok, so I fibbed. I wasn't able to keep up, again! But here I am - making up for it in one big entry.
September was relatively low key. We got A LOT of Mr. & Mrs. Sayegh time in, however. Our good friends Cindy and Rob got married on September 11th in a little spot called Sveadal. This is a place right outside San Jose, and it was such a unique and fun place to have a wedding! It's somewhere Rob's family has been going for years. I'm not sure you would know about this place, otherwise. We were so happy to be there watching Cindy and Rob become Dr. & Mrs. Sayegh, and had a TON of fun. You might have been able to tell from the pictures. :) We also got to spend more time with them at the end of the month when Matt ran the 5k for Susan G. Komen. After Matt finished (a very slow 20 minutes...) we met the Sayegh's for brunch and then walked along the pier.
It seems like we did so much more, and I'm sure we did. I think I was so busy I forgot to write it all in the calendar. There were a few birthday's in September: Grandpa Ware, Cousin Tiffany, and Bayliss!!
Moving on to October. Matt did yet another run in SF. This one was the Bridge to Bridge 10k and went from the Bay to the Golden Gate Bridge. Tristan and I didn't make it to this one. It was pretty early in the morning, and REALLY cold that day. Matt did great, and of course all of these "small" runs were training for his FULL Marathon at the end of October. During October we also visited the Sacramento Zoo, Bronwyn and I attended an event at the Crocker Galleria in Sacramento and celebrated her birthday (which we may have had too much fun doing...), Tristan went on his first official field trip to Smith Farm, where he picked out the perfect pumpkin (which we did not carve, but are using for Fall/Thanksgiving decoration :), attended a baby shower for Krysti's 2nd baby (Chloe), celebrated Uncle John's 40th birthday, and of course the marathon and Halloween in the same day!! ALL of this while both Matt and I were busy at work, him up early making trades and taking care of clients, and me planning for an enormous work conference.
At the end of the month I left for 4 days to work a conference in Long Beach. During this time Matt and Tristan hung out, celebrated Poppa's birthday, ate junk food (not really) and enjoyed their guy time. Although I missed them a ton, I knew everyone was in good hands while I was away. The weekend after I returned from Long Beach was the marathon and Halloween weekend! We took Tristan out to Matt's office for some practice trick-or-treating, and then had some lunch at Tomatina.
Saturday was a rest day, since we were going to be up before the roosters on Sunday the 31st. 4:30am, the alarm goes off, we all get out of bed, jump in the car, and we're off to San Jose! The race officially started at 7am, so we found the start line, Tristan and I took our spot so we could get some sweet pre-race photos, and maybe some of Matt running past the start line. Well, I was able to get some good shots, but apparently Tristan saw Matt run by, and I didn't! I only know this because at one point after all the runners started going past, Tristan started to cry and said "Daaaad!!!" I just thought he was a little spooked by all the people, but later Matt told me he waved at Tristan, and well, I was taking pictures of a bunch of random strangers. Ah well. So Tristan and I went and had some breakfast, walked around (for 4 hours) and waited for Matt to cross the finish line. Just so happens Tristan fell asleep right before Matt finished the race. I guess we're even!
We weren't sure Tristan (or Matt) would make it to trick-or-treating later that evening, but they did! I made us a nice dinner and we headed over to the Falk's just in time to start the candy hunt. Tristan wasn't sure what to do, but he followed all the other kids, and sometimes he would let out a "roar!" for the people. He was a lion - duh! He got a fair amount of candy, which he hasn't eaten much of. It disapeared somehow.....hmmm....
In any event, it was a great way to end the month. Oh, I guess you might be wondering how Matt finished in the marathon? In just under 4 hours, which is FAN-tastic for a first marathoner (so I hear).
Until next month!
Now that September is almost over, I guess I better do my update for July and August! Ok, ok...I know I've been slacking, but it's been a really busy summer - and at least I uploaded all 562 photos we took during those months!
Here's a quick rundown of what we did. I will get back to my "normal" updates for September (hopefully).
JULY
AUGUST
On top of all of this, work has been crazy busy for both Matt and I (seminars, meetings, conferences, etc.). I also moved my office to Pleasanton from Walnut Creek, which was a rather large adjustment since I have worked at the same location in Walnut Creek most of my professional career (almost 10 years).
Tristan is growing like a weed and keeping us on our toes! He is so much fun to play with and watch learn new things (short update on Tristan on his page).
Check back in a couple weeks for the September update!
We had a fairly busy month, filled with fun and sun (finally)! We spent a lot of time celebrating birthdays, holidays, and just plain ol’ BBQ’ing with good friends and family. Here’s a quick rundown of the festivities:
Things we did:
· Liebo’s 40th Birthday Shindig
· Dinner with the family for Mother’s Day
o Uncle Rob brought a craft – tie dying our own t-shirts!
· BBQ in Sacramento with the Brunacini’s
· Ride of Silence to remember our good friend John Greaves
· http://www.ktvu.com/news/23615503/detail.html
· Matt travels to New Jersey (with a visit to New York) for a week of training
o He got his own photo album on the site!
· LOTS, and LOTS of park time for Memorial Weekend
Happy Birthday to:
· Elisa, Laurene, Cindy, Shannyn, Uncle Bryan, and Jordan!
Among all of these things, we took a lot of walks, worked on our tans, got a new car, and just plain had a good time! So much coming up in June – really looking forward to the fun and craziness of it all. Keeps life very interesting!! Until then…..
So here it was, April. It was either going to be the month my best friend found out she was moving to Albuquerque, or was staying in CA. There was a really good chance the Brunacini’s would be moving far, far away from us, so I took the liberty of planning a “last hoorah” – Bronwyn and I going to the Sacramento Kings game! To make a really long story short, I was able to score some originally GREAT tickets, VIP passes for dinner and drinks before the game, and ended up with some end court, under the hoop, floor seats! Needless to say, we were so excited we hardly watched the game. We took a ton of pictures, “people watched,” and drank and ate our way through the game. The remainder of the evening consisted of dirty Martini’s, mozzarella sticks, and house alarms going off, with police responding (all of this may or may not have happened). Yes, it was a late night, but one that will never be forgotten. J Turns out, they aren’t moving after all – so it was a “staying in Sacramento” celebration! Still a great reason for girls night out!
This was the first year Tristan would be able to hunt Easter eggs on his own…..it’s just too bad it decided to rain on Easter Sunday! But the Easter Bunny showed up at Grammie and Poppa’s anyway, and hid the eggs inside. Tristan had a lot of fun walking around the house finding his “green” eggs. I think it helped that we practiced with last year’s eggs and basket earlier that morning at home. I had to prepare him, just in case there was a “lightening round” of hunting like there was last year. I think since the bunny was limited to egg hiding indoors, running would have been a bad idea. Maybe next year.
Another first for Tristan – bowling! That’s right, at the bowling alley! It was Caleb’s 3rd birthday, and it was a bowling party. Who knew they had all these nifty inventions for the littlest kids to be able to “bowl?” I knew about bumpers, but now they have these rail-type-things that you line up, set the ball on, and the little guys just push the ball and away it goes! Tristan didn’t have a nap the morning of this party, so he wasn’t in the BEST mood. But he did well considering the circumstances. Luckily, he really liked his bowling mate, Justin. Justin was really helpful, wanting Tristan to get strikes every time.
Toward the end of the month, we decided to take Tristan to Santa Cruz for the first time. The weather had been very nice lately, so a day at the beach sounded like the perfect thing to do! I packed us a nice picnic lunch, towels, extra clothes to change into after getting wet on the beach – ALL of the things you would expect to need for a day in Santa Cruz. Well, turns out we really didn’t need any of that (minus the food). Tristan did not like the beach at all, and the closer we got to the water, the more upset he got. We weren’t quite sure what he disliked: the sand, the water, the noise, too cold, etc. So, day on the beach with food and a kite, mom getting a tan; strike one! So off we went, carrying him and all our stuff back up to the boardwalk. We found a nice table and had some lunch. Tristan enjoyed his lunch, of course. We put him in the stroller and started to walk the boardwalk, watching the people on the rides, on our way to the “little kid” section, where we thought he would want to try. Nope. He wanted no part of it. He didn’t want to get out of the stroller, and eventually, just started turning his head to the side when we tried to coax him out. He did start to show some mild interest in one ride though, the Pepsi “train.” It was a simple, just a little train that went along a freeform track a couple times. Matt was able to peel him out of the stroller to go buy tickets, I stood in line with him, and then we were on. He loved it! Ok, we thought, let’s try another. The next two rides he hated: one he had to rid on by himself, and the other was the Merry-Go-Round. He didn’t like either one of them, and I actually had to pull him off the horse while the ride was still going because he wanted off immediately. And that my friends, was our day in Santa Cruz! Although Tristan was pretty overwhelmed, and it seemed like we had a horrible time, it was actually a lot of fun and mostly enjoyable. It is definitely a challenge trying to figure out Tristan’s likes and dislikes, since he definitely has them as a 17 month old.
In between all of this, we took a lot of walks, went to the park with Jodi and Ella, had a visit from Grandma and Grandpa, and enjoyed our mostly sunny month together! On to May!
Did I mention, “rain”?
New Year’s Day was filled with relaxing. We had all been off of work for the last 2 weeks, and it was definitely going to be tough going back. We had Grammie and Poppa over for a nice dinner, something pork, of course. That was what Great Grandma Brentwood said always brought good luck – pork on New Year’s Day. So, we had to follow tradition!
Although it was a busy month – it didn’t really feel like it. We got plenty of resting and family time in, and Matt and I actually got to watch an entire “new release” movie on Sunday afternoon during Tristan’s naptime.
Oh yeah, about the rain….boy did we get a lot of it this month! I think it probably rained for 2 straight weeks. There was flooding, landslides, and yes, even a tornado warning for Brentwood! We were happy to get the rain, and generally we enjoy it, but we were excited to see the sun come out today. We were definitely excited to get some play time in at the park.
Other highlights from this month include:
· Lunch with the Luis clan before Laurene headed back to college in Montana
· John Rebstock’s 70th Birthday Party
· Lunch with Grammie, Aunt Jean, and Auntie Lisa
· Cousin Samantha’s 14th Birthday
· Dinner with the Moore’s at our house
· Uncle Mark’s Birthday
· Lots of play time with the Falk’s
I think I forgot to mention mine and Bronwyn’s day in Sacramento, without the kids! We planned to get coffee, go to a book sale, and then lunch. Well, after getting coffee, we took a lovely drive around/through/past Sacramento, missing our exit several times (ie: we got lost). We eventually made it to all the places we wanted to go, but not without a funny story, as usual. Let’s just say, the lunch and glass of wine were needed by the time we made it there! Love ya, Bronwyn!!
Hope the beginning of everyone’s New Year has been great – ours sure was! Looking forward to what lies ahead in 2010!
Love,
The Ware’s
We started off December with Tristan’s 1 year checkup with Dr. Tracy. Doc said everything looked great and Tristan was a very healthy, growing little boy. Well, little did we know, Tristan would get sick 4 days later – with croup. It was a regular old Tuesday, got up for work, got Tristan ready to go to Laurie’s and dropped him off at the usual time. Around noon, my phone rang at work – it was Laurie. Tristan had a 102.4 temperature and was not doing well. Grammie picked him up and took him to see the doctor to find out he had a virus and the “croup cough”. A couple prescriptions, lots of cuddling on the couch and a day later, he was better almost as fast as he got sick! I only write about this because it was the very first time Tristan got sick in his 1 year of life. Yeah, he’s had a runny nose here and there, but nothing like this….boy are we thankful for a healthy little guy, because that was not fun. And, of course, mom and dad got sick too, but the old folks don’t recover so quickly. I think I am still trying to get rid of my cough and runny nose…
A week later we were all feeling significantly better and kept our date with Auntie Cindy and Rob to meet up in S.F. to see the big Union Square Christmas tree and have some lunch! It was such a fun trip and I think Tristan really enjoyed running around Union Square on his own. Even if it was cold and wet outside! We had some really yummy lunch at a new (fancy) burger place and even saw the kitties and puppies in the Macy’s display windows! Although, nobody believed me when I told them there were live animals - I soon proved them all wrong. The next day I was off to L.A. for a work meeting and a little bit of fun, too. It was just a one night trip, so I wasn’t away for too long. Besides, the 18th was mine and Matt’s last day of work until the New Year. A much needed break and a great time to get all of our shopping done before the 20th!
This brings us to the beginning of our “holidays”; Christmas dinner at Grammie and Poppa’s with all of the Luis family. We had Mecca (really good Mexican food) and all the kids opened their stockings from Uncle Rob and gifts from the family. On Tuesday, the Brunacini’s came for a visit. Since it was REALLY chilly outside, we just hung out, watched movies and ate Macaroni & Cheese! The kids had fun playing, even if we couldn’t go outside.
A couple days later was Christmas Eve. Every year we go to Grammie and Poppa’s and Uncle Rick, Aunt Penny, Mike and Tiffany come over. We had a really good dinner with prime rib, homemade mac & cheese (not the blue box stuff) and some other accompaniments. We were all so full, but some of us saved room for Grammie’s homemade cheesecake and Poppa’s special coffee! It was nice spending time with the Regelman’s since we really only get to see them once or twice a year.
Christmas Morning – Santa Came!! We all must have been good little boys and girls this year! Tristan decided Christmas morning was a good morning to sleep in a little. He woke up around 6:45am (rather than 5:30am) which was fine by us! When he woke up we all went downstairs and looked around the tree and on the couch. After brewing some coffee, we started to see what had been wrapped up for the last couple of weeks. After opening gifts and giving Hank a treat or two, we ate breakfast and started getting ready for our drive to Graeagle to stay with Grandma and Grandpa for a couple days.
We weren’t sure what to expect from the 4 hour car ride through the Sierra’s on Christmas Day, but it was painless! Tristan slept for a short time, but he was otherwise happy watching the scenery outside the car window. The weather made for nice driving conditions, so it didn’t take us long to get there. When we arrived we had some snacks and opened gifts upstairs by the tree with Grandma, Grandpa and Uncle Bryan. Grandpa and Grandpa made a delicious dinner – chicken cordon bleu, potatoes, green beans and salad. The next day we all went to lunch and then walked around the shops downtown and eventually headed back to the house to play in the snow. This was Tristan’s first time in the snow, so we were interested to see what he thought about it. Overall, he was fine if he was standing or sitting on something, but didn’t like touching it. He really enjoyed watching mom go down the hill in the saucer! After having breakfast and watching snow fall the next morning, we packed up and headed home.
The next few days were spent taking down all of the Christmas decorations and getting the house back to “normal”. We now have to find something new to say good night to since Tristan waved to the tree every night before going to bed. I guess it will be the plant or the couch – until next year!
We didn’t make any plans for NYE, but Grammie came over during the day to watch Tristan while Matt and I saw a movie in Walnut Creek. After the movie we walked to Va De Vi, toasted over a glass of champagne and had a bite to eat. It was a VERY early night for Tristan. He went to bed around 6:45pm, barely making it through dinner! Needless to say, we didn’t make it out of the house that night. But Matt and I managed to make it fun – Pina Coladas and cards until 9pm when we rang in the New Year with the rest of New York! We weren’t going to make it to midnight, so this was the next best thing.
So, tomorrow it’s back to reality: work, eat, sleep, and repeat! Honestly, I think Tristan is wondering when we will be going back so he can go play with his friends at Laurie’s house. We parents are pretty boring after a couple of weeks!
We hope you all enjoyed your holidays (we sure did) and wish you a fabulous 2010!
Love,
The Ware’sWhere do I begin?! We usually have busy, fun-filled months, but that’s putting it lightly for August! My 10 year high school reunion was on August 1st right here in good ‘ol Brentwood (home of the Liberty Lions, of course!). Really, I could have ridden my bike there. I decided to meet up with a couple of old friends beforehand so we could all go together. They also left the husbands at home with the kids. ;) We all ended up having a better time than originally planned and caught up with each other on the last 10 years of life. It was nice to see how we all got older and wiser – well, most of us anyway. The next day we found an AWESOME park down the street from our house. We do have to drive there, but it’s WELL worth the little trip. There are a ton of swings, which none of our community parks have, and several play structures. Best part about it, it’s all covered by these canvas canopies! As you’ve probably seen, Tristan loves the swings. The slides, well, he’s not so interested in those yet. Basically got no reaction out of him, whatsoever. I’m sure when he doesn’t have to go down with mom or dad they will be much more enjoyable and we'll have to pry him off.
The following weekend was the party to send Laurene off to college in Montana. Although we were all sad to see her leave we are excited for her to experience college life! I know you are reading this Laurene: hope you are having fun and we’ll see you soon!! Grandma and Grandpa Ware came for a visit and watched Tristan for the day while Matt and I went to the A’s game with one of his co-workers. It was nice to get out for a day in the sun and it was very relaxing not having to chase a little crawler around – although, we decided we kind of missed it!
Tristan and I had coffee a couple times this month with friends. One morning we drove out to Walnut Creek to see “Auntie” Cindy. Tristan was such a good visitor! He sat and ate his wheat toast while Cindy and I had our coffee and pastry and caught up. There was also a man there with a large St. Bernard dog. Tristan had his eye on it (her) the whole time! Oh, and he enjoyed watching all the little birds hop around and eat the crumbs off the ground. We also had coffee with my childhood friend Jodi (on a different weekend). It was nice getting together with her and meeting Ella, who’s 2 months old!! She’s very cute and well behaved. I think Jodi and I could have sat and talked all day, but the little one’s wouldn’t allow that, naturally. I’m sure there will be more visits with them in the near future!
On the 22nd we all took a little day trip up to Murphys. We haven’t been back there since our wedding 4 years ago, so it was a long overdue visit. Our first stop was Ironstone Vineyards, of course, for some wine tasting and a purchase to go along with our picnic lunch. We hung around there, took some pictures and talked about our wedding day. It was a lot of fun! Afterwards, we got back in the car and drove down to the picnic area. There were a lot of families down there and kids playing in the little creek by the park. Someday I’m sure Tristan will be doing the same thing! We were also able to walk around and see all the new shops and tasting rooms that have opened up over the last few years. We will definitely be planning a trip back there – we didn’t have enough time to see everything. Surprising since it’s just one little street!
The last weekend was spent celebrating! It was my birthday on Friday and Matt and I took the day off. In the morning we took Tristan to his 9 month checkup. He’s a growing boy! You can see all his new stats on his “Tristan” page. The doctor checked him out and was happy with his growth and development. I guess we are doing a good job as parents so far! After his appointment we got a bagel and smoothie and headed out to Walnut Creek for some window shopping and lunch. That evening Tristan and Matt hung out together (went to bed) while Grammie and I drove to Manteca for my cousin Tiffany's bachelorette get together. It was fun seeing all of her friends and family sitting around, telling stories about Tiffany and playing games. The following night some of the girls went to Tahoe, which I wasn't able to make, but I heard it was a lot of fun!
Saturday I went up to Sacramento to visit with 9 month pregnant Bronwyn. We went to one of our favorite places lately, the Just Between Friends consignment sale. This one was in Sacramento, but we've also gone to one in Roseville. It's where other mom's sell all of their very gently used baby items. It's always a lot of fun and you get so much for your money!! I also brought home a bunch of clothes that Tristan can wear this winter, compliments of some of Bronwyn's friends that have boys. Needless to say, Tristan's closet is packed full of clothes now! We are ready for winter....kind of! After the sale we grabbed In-n-Out for lunch and visited for the remainder of the afternoon. As I type, I'm still waiting for her to call me with the news she's in labor! Everyone is hoping it's soon - especially her!
Sunday I spent the day doing things around the house since I hadn't had much time the beginning of the weekend. Then we headed to Skippolini's for our annual birthday celebration - mine and Wendy's birthday are both at the end of August, so this is a tradition we've started in recent years. Who can pass up a reason for pizza?!
I supposed that's the end of this month's update. We are definitely keeping busy and September will be no exception! We hope this message finds you all well.
Hi Everyone,
I have decided to enter a photo taken of Tristan into a contest sponsored by Aaron Brothers. Please go to the site listed below and rate my photo! The more ratings and votes I get, the better my chances are of being chosen for the top 10. Feel free to share and thanks for your votes!!
-----------------
Your entry for Show Us Your America has been approved! Click the link below
to go to the gallery. Be sure to add your rating and share the link with
friends. Those with the highest ratings have the best chance at being
selected to the final 10 photographers and final 10 artists to win the
grand prize.
http://showusyouramerica.com/uploads/694
Thanks!
Aaron Brothers
Wow, it’s really hard to believe that I am sending the “July Update”……where is the time going!?
Well, at the start of the month we celebrated the 4th with Grammie and Poppa. We did a little swimming, a lot of eating (naturally) and then went home to listen to the not-so-quiet neighborhood fireworks! Considering they are illegal in our county, you would think there would just be few here and there. Nope! They were all over the place and they went on late into the night. Which was fine, because it gave Hank and me some fireworks to watch in the comfort of our living room while the other boys were sound asleep. The following day we packed a picnic lunch and headed for the hills to pick up our wine at Montevina. When we got there, we did a little tasting and found a table to sit and eat our lunch.
Matt took the following week off, which consisted of hanging out with Tristan for 3 straight days while I went to work. Tristan has become, well, curious to say the least. It’s getting a little more difficult to entertain him and keep him out of trouble! Needless to say, Matt was exhausted by time Thursday rolled around…….which, was our 4 year wedding anniversary! We decided this was the perfect occasion to use a Christmas gift from our good friends that we’d been holding onto for a while. It was a one-night stay at the Les Mars Hotel in Healdsburg, CA (wine country!) as well as dinner at Cyrus Restaurant, which is adjacent to the hotel. This trip was really two-fold; an anniversary celebration and our first overnight stay without Tristan! It ended up being a nice reprieve and we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. We had lunch at a nice little seafood tapas place, Willi’s, where I had my first BBQ oyster. It was tasty! We also did some wine tasting on the square, stopped by a fun old-fashioned candy shop named Powell’s (reminded me of Willy Wonka) for some fudge and truffles and conveniently bypassed the little boutique, Clutch, which as you may have guessed, was an expensive handbag store. Matt said we needed to hurry back for our dinner reservation – or something….meanwhile, back at home, Grammie and Tristan had a great time together! I was a little worried that Tristan wouldn’t sleep through the night, but he did! Although, Grammie didn’t get much sleep since she got up to check on him several times. I told her that’s what the video monitor is for!! All-in-all, it was wonderful and we enjoyed our time as a couple. Although, we spent a majority of it talking about how much we missed our little guy. I guess that’s only natural when you are used to spending so much time with him.
The next couple of weekends were nice and relaxing and we really spent a lot of time at the house cleaning, working on the yards, running errands, etc. Something that is kind of exciting – our Plumeria plant bloomed! I know – we get really excited about these things, only because we have some plants that are YEARS old and have never had a flower on them. Until now! If you aren’t familiar, Plumeria flowers are what you see all over Hawaii. We actually bought a plant in Maui on our honeymoon - it didn’t survive. But, the one we got at the Brentwood Home Depot has flowers on it! We can just pretend like it’s the one from our honeymoon. ;)
At the end of the month we had a couple friends over to visit; the Conti’s, Brunacini’s and Falk’s. We hadn’t seen Ariel and Eileen Conti in at least a year and they had never met Tristan in person! It was really fun to visit with everyone and see all the little kids play together. Not to mention Bronwyn’s growing belly with BBB on the way! One more month – I’m so excited!
Tristan is growing and learning new things every day. You can read more about his developments on his own ‘special’ page!
Hope everyone is well! Until next month……
The month started off with some catch up time for errands, chores around the house and a little bit of relaxing. There’s not many of these weekends, so we took full advantage of it!
The weekend of the 12th we took our first overnight trip up to Grandma and Grandpa’s house in Graeagle for Matt’s birthday and to see Uncle Bryan from Oregon. We enjoyed some pleasant outdoor lunches, a hike and a tasty birthday dinner in a small town named Johnsville. Really, this is a small town, with a population count of 21 (yes, 21) in the year 2000. The restaurant was great though! The people were friendly and the food was delicious! It was so relaxing, Tristan decided it was a nice time to take a nap and let the adults have a peaceful dinner. Getting back to the hike – it was a nice, semi-strenuous 2 mile (or so) hike to a lake. There was still some snow we had to make our way around and the lake was so cold that even Hank was shivering! Didn’t keep him from fetching pinecones and sticks, though. After the hike we went back to the house, showered and Matt and Jen enjoyed some time downtown perusing the shops, getting a cup of coffee and a soft serve cone – while dodging the rain! Overall it was a great trip with odd weather – shorts one minute and thunder and lightning storms the next! I guess that’s typical “mountain” weather!
That next Friday Matt and Jen had a night out without the little guy. They attended Sam’s “surprise” 30th birthday party in San Francisco at Momo’s. I say “surprise” because she found out just after all the invitations were mailed. Sneaky!! It was still a lot of fun with good friends, food and drinks! I think we got home around 11:30 that night, which is quite late for us! Grammie and Poppa watched Tristan while we had our fun. They took him to the Stockton Ports game with Auntie Selena, Uncle Mark and cousin Laurene. All was well until the first loud cheer from the crowd…..but he quickly recovered and enjoyed people watching and taking his picture with Sammie the Seal (Ports Mascot).
Saturday we paid our first visit to the Brentwood Water Park with Auntie Bronwyn and Isabella. It was a nice day, but during the 2 hours we were “swimming” it was overcast. Seems as though this is a usual occurrence when we try to plan some fun in the sun. Somehow, the sun doesn’t quite cooperate – but it was nice and warm, so we still enjoyed our time together with our picnic lunches and beach towels! After swimming, we went back to the house, played a little and then BB and IB were on their way back home to Sacramento. We always enjoy our time with them and wish we could do it more often! PS – 2 more months until BBB (Baby Boy Brunacini) makes his entrance!!
Sunday was Matt’s very first Father’s Day! Jen got up early with Tristan (normally this is Matt’s weekend routine), made coffee and breakfast. We hung out around the house until it was time to go to Grammie and Poppa’s for a BBQ with the family. Tristan got to show off his newest crawling skills and I’m sure everyone was thoroughly impressed how he could quickly make his way from the sitting position to the screen door to laugh at Jack (Grammie’s dog) in an instant!
The following weekend we had breakfast in Lafayette with “Auntie” Cindy and her mom, Barbara. It was nice to catch up since we haven’t seen her in several months. We also got to celebrate another 30th birthday, Anthony’s! Now, there was no question that summer was definitely here in full force. The temperatures reached the low 100’s and this is when we are thankful for good air conditioning (since we don’t have a swimming pool). We got to meet Logan Armstrong for the first time and got to visit with Olivia Falk. The three were all born months apart – Logan in early September, Olivia in late September and Tristan in late November. As you might be able to tell by looking at the pictures, Tristan is bigger than the other two, even though he is at least 2 months younger. Clear indication that Tristan is keeping true to his nickname, ‘Moose’. Maddie and Delaney are definitely the big sisters of the group and are SO cute!
The last Sunday of the month Jen attended Tiffany’s bridal shower in Escalon at a Lavender Farm. The heat was still reaching into the low 100’s and the party was outside. Luckily there was plenty of shade and refreshments. Tristan got to stay home with dad in the nice, cool house. They did the grocery shopping AND made dinner!
Well, if you are still reading, we had a very fun month, as usual. We are thankful to be able to spend time with friends and family, even if it does make for busy times and a really long update! J
The month started off with Tristan’s regular check-up with Dr. Tracy. He said everything is looking great and Tristan is definitely a healthy growing boy!! He had grown exactly 2 inches longer and weighed in a little over 2 pounds heavier than his last checkup! He is learning and changing so fast – we don’t know where the time is going!!
Tristan attended his first MLB game; the SF Giants v. Colorado Rockies. The day started off rainy, but we ventured out to SF anyway and were glad we did! The rain subsided and the sun even came out! Tristan even got a certificate showing that it was his first baseball game - added to the scrapbook for sure! Oh, and don't ask us who won.....we only went for the hot dogs, drinks and to watch Tristan take it all in. :)
For Mother’s Day weekend we took Grammie and Poppa to the de Young Museum in S.F. It was a really nice day and we were excited to see the Andy Warhol Exhibit they had during that time. We had a really nice time seeing all of the “old” stuff and trying to figure out how some of the “new” stuff made it into the museum. J The following weekend we went to a BBQ at the Greaves’ house. Tristan had a lot of fun watching all of the older kids swim…..so much fun he wouldn’t fall asleep. He ended up staying awake the entire time, until about 10:30pm when we finally headed for home. What a late night it was for him! And, to think he would have slept through the night after that – nope!
Tristan went on his first camping trip to Stonyford for Memorial Weekend. We weren’t quite sure how we were going to get ALL of the Ware’s there (including Hank), but we managed to pile everyone into the Civic, as well as all of our stuff! The weather was very nice. Not hot, but not cold….and not rainy, like last year! We were able to get some swimming in (well, Hank got to swim) and Tristan got to put his toes in the water, which he wasn’t too excited about. I guess snow runoff water isn’t his thing. Tristan loved watching the little kids ride their motorcycles around and around the campsite. Overall, it was a successful trip!!
The month ended with LOTS of parties! First, cousin Jordan’s 10th birthday party, then mom’s friend Tish’s housewarming party, and to round off the weekend, cousin Laurene’s 18 th birthday/HS Graduation party where Tristan got to splash his feet in the swimming pool! This was much more enjoyable than the camping “swimming hole”. Oh, and Jen was able to get her Mother’s Day pedicure with Grammie and Auntie Wendy in during the last weekend, too (courtesy of Uncle Rob).
Tristan is still going to Laurie’s for daycare during the week and loving it! There are little kids there for him to watch and play with. I can definitely see he’s taken more of an interest in other kids since he’s been going there, which is great.
Jen got her early birthday present (yes, very early) – a new Nikon camera. As if there weren’t hundreds of pictures being taken already, there will be many, many more being taken now!! Look for a link to high resolution pictures saved on an external site, if you are interested in perusing.
Well, that’s the update for May! No slowing down in June……stay tuned!
Side Note: Happy Birthday to Uncle Bryan who lives up in Oregon, “Auntie” Cindy in S.F., and “Auntie” Shan in L.A.!! Sorry we couldn’t be there to celebrate in person, but we hope it was wonderful!
As you can see, it’s been a while since I have updated all of you on the “Ware Happenings”……it’s been a busy couple of months, so here it goes:
March was kicked off with a candle party at Rachelle’s house. This was the first (and probably last) candle party for Tristan. He had a great time smelling all of the candles (while he slept)! The middle of the month was full of celebrations. Birthday’s included: Grandma Luis (91!), Curt, Maddie and Grammie! We had a fun day of breakfast and shopping with Grammie to “celebrate” and also had the family over for tasty “build your own” sundae night. Let’s not forget about St. Patrick’s Day – Tristan wore his green! The end of the month was bittersweet as I returned to work on March 31st. Lucky for us, Tristan is going to a wonderful babysitter by the name of Laurie. She takes excellent care of him and I can tell he loves it there – he comes home exhausted from playing all day with the other little ones. Grammie is also helping out a lot in the afternoon’s and will be watching him all day on Monday’s and Friday’s next month!
April was definitely a fun-filled month. We had 2 weekends in a row of birthday parties. First with Jessica turning 14 and then Caleb’s 2nd birthday. Tristan got to see his first petting zoo at Caleb’s party. There were a lot of fun animals there; rabbits, ducks, goats (Will & Grace), a pot bellied pig, little chicks and a few other animals. He wasn’t quite sure what to make of them, but was definitely interested! Another first for Tristan was the annual Easter Egg Hunt and Grammie’s house. We found our 8 “assigned eggs” and 5 bonus eggs!! Thanks to cousin Jordan for sharing a couple of his with Tristan….he found the most. J The following weekend we drove out to Modesto to look for Bridesmaid dresses with cousin Tiffany. Tristan had a lot of fun watching the girls get dressed up, and looking at himself in the big mirrors. The month ended with two fun “boys only” days. Dad took the day off on Friday to hang out and they also spent Saturday together while I went to visit Auntie Bronwyn up in Sacramento. By the way, Auntie Bronwyn is having a boy in September……another new friend to play with!
Let me not forget to mention – Spring officially arrived in April. While we had a few days of rain, we also had a nice stretch of warm (90-degree) weather. Currently, it’s true California weather: nice one day, cold the next. I’m sure the system will work out all of the kinks soon in preparation for Summer.
Tristan’s Accomplishments:
Rolling over (and over, and over….)
Started giggling and now has some full on laughing moments
Sitting up with some help – like in his POD chair
Screaming! (discovering his voice)
Chatting a lot – especially first thing after he wakes up
He is working REALLY hard to crawl. I anticipate that will happen over the next couple of weeks.
Has discovered his furry friend Hank and loves to watch him run back and forth. Soon they will be chasing each other!
Whew!! That was quite an update. Hope all is well with you and don’t forget to check out the new pictures and videos!
Jen, Matt, Tristan & Hank!
I can't believe February has already come and gone!! It was another busy month with lots of visiting with friends and family.
It all started with our annual Super Bowl party at a friend’s house. Always a good time with old friends, food and, of course, football! Then we had a couple of lunch dates. We got together with family friend John Rebstock at the beginning of the month and Auntie Bronwyn and Isabella a couple of times during the month. We also got to visit with Aunt Jean, Chrissy and Grammie in the middle of the month. We got to see Auntie Bronwyn's new house in Sacramento and meet Auntie Elisa's new little girl, Taylor! Another little friend to play with! And we capped off the month at a birthday celebration for Uncle Rob and lunch with Auntie Cindy.
For Valentine's Day the three of us headed to Walnut Creek for lunch at Il Fornaio. Tristan slept the whole time.....waking up just in time for some window shopping. :) Lunch was enjoyable and hanging out together for the day was nice.
Matt officially finished classes and received his Bachelor’s Degree from Cal State Hayward. Better late than never, they say. Yay, Matt!
We had a not-so-fun thing happen at the house. What we thought was just a small leak in our living room window turned out to be a big leak in the upstairs bedroom window (dripping all the way down). So, the bedroom is torn apart, there's a hole in the outside of the house and everything is getting fixed! Luckily, all under warranty. Whew!
This is my last month at home with the little man. I will be going back to work March 31st. Looking forward to some mental stimulation again, but not looking forward to missing Tristan during the day.
Hope all is well with all of you! Be sure to check out Tristan's page. I learned how to add video clips. Trying to catch all of his little milestones to save and share. And there are plenty of new pictures to see, naturally!
Take care!
Aside from several routine follow-up visits to the doctor and Tristan's first set of immunization shots, January was a fun-filled month!
We took our first trip to the Sacramento Zoo with Auntie Bronwyn and Isabella. The weather couldn't have been better - in the high 60's and sunny! Although Tristan didn't really know what was going on, he was able to experience the noise that was the monkeys (see video on his page).
Later on in that same week Matt took a couple days off of work and we took a trip out to San Francisco. We packed a lunch and headed to the Golden Gate Bridge where we walked the span and back then drove to the Palace of Fine Arts for lunch on the grass. Yet another beautiful day weather wise and we were happy to take advantage of it.
We also attended two birthday parties and had lunch in Walnut Creek with Auntie Cindy and visited with Grandma and Grandpa the last week of the month.
Tristan is growing and changing each day and it's been so fun and exciting to watch!!
I have created a new page for all of the photos - labeled "Lots o' Pictures"
All of the pictures will be on that page for now on! Enjoy!
December was a very busy month for us! It seemed like it flew by with the addition to the family and preparing for Christmas. It was difficult getting out to finish up the holiday shopping, but somehow we got it done!
We had several days of "Christmas", which started on Sunday the 22nd. We went to Grammie and Poppa's for Christmas with aunts, uncles and cousins. That is the night we took all of those great photos in the album "Christmas 2008". Grandma, Grandpa and Uncle Bryan arrived early in the week and then we were all back at Grammie and Poppa's for Christmas Eve. We had a delicious Mecca dinner (for those of you who aren't familiar - The Mecca is the best Mexican food ever) for a change of pace and visited with Uncle Rick, Aunt Penny and Cousin Michael. Christmas Day was fun with presents in the morning, visiting with Cousin Holly, then TWO dinners! We had our first dinner at Auntie Selena's (the best ravioli's) and then back home for dinner with the Ware's.
New Year's Eve was a lot of fun! We had Auntie Bronwyn, Gino and Isabella over for a sleepover! The Falk's also came over to play for a bit before the little one's had to go to bed for the night. We had lots of finger food and Auntie B made baked mac & cheese, which was delish!! The four of us - Bronwyn, Gino, Matt & Myself made it to midnight after keeping ourselves occupied with food and the movie Hancock. Then all turned in for the night around 12:15am after ringing in the New Year (barely).
The holidays were great for us and we hope you all enjoyed yours as well!! Next year should be even MORE fun when Tristan is up and running - literally!
Tristan decided to make his entry into the world on November 25, 2008 (my exact due date)! I had a morning appointment on Monday where the doctor told us that “Nothing was happening”, that same night around 7:00pm, something was definitely “happening”. After having contractions for weeks, I knew that these were much different. With Matt being at school giving a presentation, I called my parents to have them come over. After two hours of timing contractions, I let Matt know that he needed to come home.
We got to the hospital around 10:00pm and when the nurse checked me I was already at 8cm dilated. It was all downhill from there! I delivered him at 5:34am. Did I mention that Robert and Yvonne made the normal 4 ½ hour drive in only 3 ½ hours?! They made it to the hospital by 1:00am.
8 lbs. 9 oz.
20 inches long
We spent one night in the hospital and came home on Wednesday afternoon. Just in time for Turkey Day!! Bryan flew in Wednesday evening and we all had dinner at our house thanks to the grandmothers, they did all of the cooking.
Matt and I are very excited and enjoying every moment with our new little guy!
Happy Holidays to all of you!
Love,
Matt, Jen, Tristan & Hank
Well, October shaped up to be a busier month than we were originally planning. Which is not a bad thing at all!! It started with TIffany and Zach's engagement party in Stockton where I was officially asked to be a bridesmaid in the wedding. I guess that means I have to be skinny by September 2009!! No getting around that!
I also had a couple lunch dates with friends Elisa and Bronwyn, which is always nice. Can't imagine I will have much time in the coming months to be out and about enjoying a nice lunch with friends. :)
In the middle of the month we took a drive to Lockeford where I met Aaron Morris. He took some maternity photos of me that turned out really nice (I think). You can see them in the album on the right. I just happened to pick this random winery in the small town of Lockeford to meet at and it ended up being a great spot with several points of interest to make for some nice photos.
We ended the month on Halloween, of course, at Curt and Rachelle's house. I spent most of the evening as a "princess" holding Olivia, who is one month old now. I did a bit of handing out candy at the Falk house and ate some tasty food, too.
Matt's newest creation is a cabinet that houses our wine refrigerator. Of course, it is gorgeous! You can check it out in the "October" album on the right.
Now we are all playing the waiting game! I only have 3 weeks until my due date, but the doc says Tristan could arrive any day now!! By the time I post the next journal entry, we will have a new little person in our family! Can't wait to introduce him to all of you!
Take care,
Jen & Matt
Hi Everyone,
September was quite a month to remember! It started off with Curt and Matt going on their "last" golf outing of the season in Rio Vista while I celebrated the upcoming arrival of baby Olivia with Rachelle.
My baby shower took place the following weekend at our house. The day began with me and Cindy getting a much needed pedicure in the morning and arriving back at the house just in time for the party to start. Guests started arriving and before I knew it the house was packed with family and friends chatting and eating. It's safe to say that we are pretty set and are ready for Tristan to arrive! Thank you to everyone who came. It was really nice to see some faces that I haven't seen in so long and we feel so fortunate to have family and friends that care about us so much.
The following Monday, which also happened to be the first day of fall, Matt and I took a drive up to Napa to attend a Wine Appreciation class at Joseph Phelps Winery. We learned the importance of the 4 S's - swirl, sniff, sip & spit! Yes, you read correctly - spit. The woman actually condoned spitting the wine out after you swirled it around in your mouth to get the full effect of the wine. Which was good for me, since I couldn't really drink all 6 tastings. After our class we had a picnic lunch overlooking the vineyard. The weather was perfect and it made for a great day!
All in all, September was a great month and we are looking forward to the excitement that October will bring!
Hope all is well with all of you!
P.S. I'm now 32 weeks pregnant....new pictures are posted to the right.
Hi Everyone,
Well, August was a very busy and fun month. The beginning started with baby registry and Robert & Yvonne's move to Graeagle. The middle included a trip to the Sacramento Zoo and lunch with Bronwyn and Isabella. We had a lot of fun seeing the animals and spending time together. Although, I think Isabella was more entertained by the other children at the zoo than the animals themselves. But she seemed happy and didn't complain at all!
The weekend of the 22nd we took a trip up to Graeagle with friends Curt and Rachelle. After a few minor "road blocks" along the way, Matt, Hank and I made it - and in record time, I might add. First stop was the new house so I could get the official tour. We had some lunch, went and unpacked at our "overnight" house and came back to meet Curt and Rachelle for a night of pizza. We ended the night with some home-made cheese fondue - delish. The following morning the boys left the house for their day of golf as Rachelle and I went on our way to the spa for pedicures. Needless to say, after a lot of driving around to find the place, we arrived and the lights were out and the doors locked. Not really what we expected since we made an appointment WELL in advance AND we were the only people scheduled. So, we did some shopping and had a nice lunch instead.
For my birthday Matt sent me flowers, got me some really nice and thoughtful gifts and took me to dinner at Va De Vi - which never dissapoints! It was a great day and I couldn't have asked for more.
The month ended with a birthday celebration with friends and family at good old Skippolini's (the tasty, local pizza joint)! Since mine and my sister-in-law Wendy's birthday's are just a couple of days apart, this has become kind of our new tradition (2 years in a row). And today, the last day of the month, I had "girls day" with Bronwyn. We saw a chick-flick, had lunch, much needed frozen yogurt and some walking around.
Matt spent a lot of time working on my vision of a changing table/bookshelf for the baby's room. He is bringing it in the house and up the stairs as I type. It looks incredible and is probably more well built than anything you could buy at the store. I will post some pictures for you all to see. Now that it's done, I think we have all of the furniture we need for the baby! Other things he made by hand for the room are the letters hanging above the crib and the basket holder. All very nice!!
Well, that's about it for August updates! All I can say is - bring on September and trimester #3!
Hope all is well with everyone!
So, I have reached another milestone - month 6 of pregnancy. As you can see by the "belly pics", I continue to grow! As expected, of course. I can definitely tell he's a happy little guy by all of his kicks and right hooks (or maybe they are "left" hooks?)! Wonder if he will grow up to be a boxer, or a soccer player.....
Last weekend we kept busy cleaning out the garage and making way for more storage. This weekend is the "official" move for Robert and Yvonne up to the new house in Graeagle. Maybe I can get a couple of pictures from them to share with you all. The house is gorgeous and ready to be lived in now. So, with their move comes the need for more storage at our house. So Matt built a shelving unit to get things off the garage floor, which is going to help out a lot!
That's about all for now! Next weekend I am headed to Fairfield to visit with Bronwyn and Isabella. We are going to take a trip to the Sacramento Zoo!! Very excited, since the last time I was at the zoo was when I was a small child. Marine World animals just aren't quite the same.
Take care everyone!!
Last weekend we made our first BIG purchase - the baby crib. Matt spent the rest of the day assembling it (it really only took him a couple hours) and we are really happy with it! He is in the process of building me a shelving unit that holds baskets and will start on a changing table next! You can see pictures on the "Baby Ware" tab.
That's all for now.....hope all is well with all of you!
See the "Baby Ware" page for an important update!!
4th of July weekend was a blast! It all started on Friday with the annual BBQ at Mark & Selena's. Good food and drinks (7-up) and great company. The weather was perfect, in the high 80's, just comfortable enough for enjoying the outdoors.
Saturday we were off to S.F. for dinner at Luna Park in SOMA with friends Shannyn, Cindy and Lindsey (Matt being the only male figure present). The food was awesome! I had risotto with shrimp and Matt had some other fish which he really enjoyed. Not to mention the excellent drinks - beer for Matt, Shirley Temple for Jen. You can most likely read more about our dining experience and the food at Shan's blog on the side bar.....she does excellent dining reviews!
Today is Sunday and we plan on relaxing a little. Tomorrow is the BIG DAY! Time to find out the gender of the little monster! Check back soon for more details on that!
New "Belly Pics" are posted - be sure to check them out!
Hope you all enjoyed your holiday weekend!
June 20, 2008
We actually got some "real" swimming in this weekend! It was the first time Hank ventured off the step and into the poool, with all fours kicking away! After he got the hang of it, he was chasing Matt around the pool and retrieving his ball. Check it out in the "All About Hank" album!
***Caution: Some images may be harmful to your vision (ie: the guy with the horrendous farmer tan and the girl in the bikini) But the dog is adorable!***
June 14, 2008
This weekend was a busy, but very fun one! It all started on Friday when we took a trip to the wine country. We had lunch at Susan's in Sutter Creek and then visited wineries including Young's, Monte Vina, Sabon and of course made the usual stop at our favorite, Toscano.
After some wine tasting we were off to a little town by the name of Fairplay. And when I say little, I mean LITTLE. We had a nice dinner at Boccionato, which is owned by some friends, Sheri and Giovanni.
Saturday, Matt's birthday, was chalk full of shopping, lunch at Va De Vi and then off to golf for Matt.
Oh, and I can't forget to mention, Hank's first "swim" of the season....in his kind-of-chewed-up-pool from last year (if you couldn't tell from the picture above). Still works though!
May 28, 2008
Hi Everyone!
Thanks for checking out our new website. I will make every attempt to keep you all up to date on current happenings in the Ware house.
Currently, Jen is 15 weeks pregnant and getting bigger every week! Stay tuned for upcoming "belly" pics - I'm sure you will all enjoy them!
We took our annual trip to Stonyford for Memorial Weekend. We are usually prepared for 105 degrees of sunshine, but this year got several inches of rain and flooded out of our tent the second night. Lucky for us, mom and dad Ware had a nice cozy camper that we happily took advantage of! Now that's my idea of camping!
Coming up is Matt's birthday - finally 21!
Hope all is well!