Oakland Zoo and Train Town

My Mom has been wanting to take Shane to the zoo for a long time, so I finally had a day off of work when we could go to the Oakland Zoo and avoid the crowds. Our first attempt at visiting a zoo last year didn't go well...it was LA, it smelled and it was 102 degrees and just awful! This trip was so much better! There were hardly any people there and Shane was much more into the animals this time. We made it through the entire zoo and then got to ride the train and carousel. I was really impressed with how nice the Oakland Zoo was. I haven't been since I was a little kid and will definitely be taking Shane here again soon.

We watched the camels spit for a while.

Dancing in the meerkat tunnel

Shane thought the frogs were really cool

My little turtle

We got to see the new exhibit with emus and wallaroos! They were literally just a couple feet from us on the train. It was so cool, but I wasn't expecting it and didn't have my camera ready.
Heading out on the train with Grandma.

Shane and Mommy on the train

Shane was pretty bummed that the carousel was the only ride he was big enough to go on, but he still loved it!

Shane and I also went to Train Town this week, just the two of us! I had been wanting to take him for a long time and the weather was beautiful, so we just decided to go spur of the moment. He absolutely LOVED the trains! We went around a couple of times and he would point out the little animals and waterfalls and told me that it looked "just like Bambi"...whatever that means! I guess it reminded him of being in the forest. He kept saying it over and over and the people next to us thought he was so cute!

We started feeding the little goats, but of course he had to feed the big ones too.

This was the first time I let him ride all by himself...he felt like such a big boy!

Fun Stuff

One of Shane's many Easter gifts was a t-ball set and baseball glove. We finally got to test it out at the park and he was very excited to play the "hitting game". He can hit the ball pretty good, but unfortunately he has a short fuse and gets frustrated very easily. After he saw Daddy hit the ball up in the air, he wanted to hit it up in the air, but usually it just rolls on the ground a few feet. Also, the glove (although tiny to all of us) is still way too big for his little hand and he was tired of that pretty quickly. My friend has a son playing t-ball and his games are near our house so I am hoping to take him to watch soon so he can see how the game is really played. Since we don't watch sports in our house he doesn't really get the whole idea of it yet. But he is so cute trying!




Grandma went to Texas for a bowling tournament right after Easter. She brought Shane back a real pair of cowboy boots! He wasn't very excited about them at first, but he has grown to LOVE them! Now he wants them almost every morning right when he wakes up. He even came out of his room the other night wearing nothing but the boots. It was pretty darn cute, but I won't post the naked pics on here :) You can't see the boots very well, but here he is in full cowboy get-up!



I am very excited to attempt camping with Shane for the first time this year! We have a big tent with a tiny tent that attaches to it, so I got out the tiny one to show him. He thought it was the coolest thing ever! He calls it the "kitty house" of course and wanted to go to sleep in it. I bought him a toddler size blow up bed which he also loves and wishes I would leave out for him to play on every day. Let's hope he is still as excited when he REALLY needs to use it for sleeping!



To sum up this funny little post, here are the pictures I received on my phone at work today. Ryan took Shane out for pizza and they had a fake mustache machine! I am thinking he might need to be one of the Mario Bros for Halloween this year!! Too funny!

Happy Face

Sad Face

Scary Face

Cheese Face

Easter 2010

Easter was kind of a last minute event for us this year. Ryan's best friend passed away unexpectedly and his services were the day before Easter. Shane and I colored eggs together before the services on Saturday, but he wasn't as into it as I thought he would be. He didn't like the smell of the vinegar used in the colored dyes and wouldn't even come near the table! I had also bought him these fun little paint rollers to color the eggs with, but that was still a little too hard for him to do so he gave up pretty quickly and I colored most of them myself. It also rained on Easter this year, so we had to improvise and did our Easter Egg Hunt upstairs at Grandma's house. Shane was still sooo excited! He would point out every egg to us and wanted to make sure we saw it before he would put it in his basket.

Of course he had to line up all of his eggs.

Then I thought he would really be excited about helping us crack all the hard boiled eggs to make deviled eggs, but as soon as the first one was done he totally freaked out! He cried hysterically and wanted us to fix his egg! After that he wouldn't let the eggs leave his side. Grandma hid the eggs for him again upstairs three more times and he thought it was so much fun! Then Grandma was nice enough to let Ryan and I go to the movies to see Clash of the Titans in 3D while Shane napped. We found out that he insisted on having the eggs right next to him during nap time too! He also insisted on having them ride with him in the car on the way home. Then I had to explain to him that Easter was over and after he went to bed that night the eggs would have to go away...surprisingly he was fine with it, but he still played with the plastic eggs for days after until I finally hid them from him. I think next year I might just do plastic eggs so I don't have to worry about him carrying around real eggs all day long!!

Snow Day!

I took Shane to the snow for the very first time! We bought all his snow gear last year, but for many reasons we never made it up to the snow. With the crazy weather and our busy schedule I almost missed our chance again this year, but I was determined! We had a rough week with Ryan's best friend passing away, but I really thought it would do us good to get out and do something fun. We went to Cisco Grove where they have a really cool tubing area, but this time Shane and I just played around in the snow. He got so excited when he caught his first glimpse of snow when we were driving. He kept saying, "I see SNOW Mommy!!" He could barely wait to get his gear on before he climbed the snow in the parking lot.


Then we had to climb up a long snow covered road to find a spot to sled and play. It wouldn't have been so bad except that poor Shane was having a really hard time moving in his snow gear and insisted I carried him after the first few minutes. Since it was just the two of us I had to carry him and the sled uphill in the snow. I sure got my workout that day! It was soo worth it though! We did all four things he wanted to do:

1. Make a snowman

2. Go sledding
(he refused to wear his sunglasses even though it was super sunny)



3. Throw snowballs at Mommy (his favorite part!)



4. Make snow angels

We really wished Daddy could have come too, but we understood. It meant for a lot of pictures like this though:


A nice lady did offer to take a video of us sledding down together and it made Shane very happy! We hoped to go their again the next weekend, but we found out that was the last weekend the tubing area was open. At least we know of a great spot to go to next year!!

March Madness

March was a very busy month for us! We started off by going "exploring" at Crane Creek Regional Park with Emily and Brandon. It was a gorgeous day and I was so glad to get out and enjoy nature. Of course it had rained recently and the trails were a bit muddy so it was hard to bring the stroller, but I knew we would need it at some point. Shane walked most of the time, but we could never get very far without him needing to stand on a rock or check out a flower and try to splash in the puddles. We had a picnic lunch, threw rocks in the creek, and saw birds nesting in the trees. It was wonderful.



Then the next weekend Ryan and I got a VACATION! Shane stayed with Grandma and we flew to Las Vegas for 3 nights to celebrate our friend Andy's 30th birthday. We got to dress up, eat at nice restaurants, stay out late, and gamble...long story short: we spent WAY too much money!

Parking lot with a view

Dinner at the Venetian

Tao nightclub with Cory

YUMMY birthday dinner at CraftSteak

Our only time out on the strip during the day

Shane was very excited to see us...and his lollipop!

The next weekend one of my best friends from high school flew out with baby Charlie for a visit. We did brunch at our house with a couple other friends from high school. It was so good to see everyone and their kids! Unfortunately I was too busy running around being hostess to get any pics of Charlie while he was awake other than this one of him and Lennon. He was the cutest little guy...so smiley and sweet. I can't wait for Amber to move back home to CA so our boys can grow up together!!








The next weekend was our friend Daya's 3rd birthday! Shane really gets into the birthday spirit and was so excited to go. They had a huge jumpy house with a slide which we had never seen before. Everyone knows how tiny Shane is and he has always been intimidated by the jumpy houses as he gets knocked over so easily, but after me going in with him and down the slide once or twice he was on his own and LOVING IT! He had so much fun and was such a good boy. I almost hated making him leave!!

They all waited very patiently for cake!

He insisted on wearing the birthday hat over his other hat!

We also missed Grevin's 1st birthday party while we were in Las Vegas, so we also had a little play date with him to give him his presents. Shane wasn't too sure about having a "baby" in his house, but we walked to the park and they got along just fine. Shane really wanted to sing happy birthday and blow out candles so we improvised and did brownies with ice cream and sang and he got to help blow out the candle. Happy 1st Birthday, Grevin!!

Growing Up

My little boy is growing up! We started potty training this month and he is doing really well! We started using a sticker chart, which was very exciting for the first couple weeks, but we were constantly telling him to go potty. He has no problem going pee in the potty, but the other part we haven't convinced him to do yet. I've tried bribing him with chocolate lollipops and new toys and games, but still no luck. He tells me, "It's too hard Mommy!" I'm sure he will do it when he is ready, but it would be soo nice to be done with the pull-ups and diapers! At least he has moved on to telling us when he needs to use the potty and has even gone all on his own. When he goes without us reminding him he gets an M&M, but this kid is too smart! Once he went potty 3 times in 10 minutes just to get the M&Ms!!

Here he is with his full sticker chart!
(The blank rows are the 3 days when he was at Grandma's)

His reward was getting to make cookies "all by myself!"

He also moved on to drinking out of a big boy glass with his meals.
We are so proud of him! He hardly ever spills :)

Another first...his first painting!!
It quickly turned into his first finger painting!

We don't have too much more to report for February...other than that Ryan and I got to enjoy a lovely Valentine's Day cocktail party at Jackie's house. You know I just LOVE an excuse to dress up!