San Fran – Babymoon #2
Haven’t heard of the term “Babymoon”? Well, babymoon refers to the last vacation expecting parents take before the baby arrives and thus ending trips with just adults for quite awhile. Our first babymoon was to Toronto to visit friends before Izzy came. This time we went to San Francisco and met up with Michelle and Jim for a weekend, while Izzy spent that time with Paw-Paw and Kong-Kong. This was our first out of state trip that Luke and I have taken without Izzy in 2 years. It was so nice to get away and do things without Izzy in tow for awhile.
Luke and I hit Alcatraz our first night in town. It was an interesting audio tour of the old prison and island with amazing views of the bridges and city. The next day, Michelle, Jim, Luke and I drove to visit the Jelly Belly factory and sampled some of their more interesting flavors like barf, rotten egg, moldy cheese and pencil shavings. We brought a mix of these interesting flavors back to the office to share. We visited a winery on the way back to San Francisco.
Saturday, we all went to the local farmer’s market and sampled some local fair which all looked amazing. Later on, Michelle and I walked through Chinatown while Jim and Luke went to see Apple’s headquarters and one of the Google offices. Sunday we went did the more touristy things like the shopping district and Pier 39. We did a lot of walking up and down steep hills throughout the weekend. I don’t think some of these pictures justify how steep these hills were. Monday we headed home after some long delays and the drive too and from Colorado Springs to pick up Izzy who seemed happy to see us, but sad to leave.
Here are some pictures of our trip along with my most recent belly picture. I think I’m at belly week 27 with 13 weeks left.
Happy 2nd Birthday Izzy!
This year we celebrated Izzy’s birthday in Canada with Luke’s family. Even though there was a TON of snow, we all gathered at Luke’s parents bed and breakfast for a meal, ice cream cake and lots of presents! I think Izzy had a blast opening her many presents and playing with GiGi and grandma and grandpa Knowles. Here’s the birthday girl!
Thanksgiving 2009
We spent Thanksgiving down in Colorado Springs with my parents this year. Mom (”paw-paw” which is grandma in Chinese) cooked a delicious turkey dinner. On Friday, Luke and I said farewell to Izzy for the weekend and headed off to spend a relaxing weekend in Denver. Izzy had tons of fun with “paw-paw” and “kong-kong” (grandfather in Chinese). They had a huge slide in their basement, toys, books and a table with chairs ready for her stay.
Izzy helped around the house by drying and putting away dishes, helping to make the beds, and “doing” laundry. She played herself tired each day in front of a willing audience and didn’t miss her mom and dad one bit!! Luke and I spent our weekend by tackling as much of our Christmas shopping as possible, sleeping in, eating at some great restaurants and relaxing at the spa.
We picked Izzy up on Sunday evening and she fell asleep in the car as soon as we were on the highway. She was exhausted from her weekend of fun with “paw-paw” and “kong-kong”.
Santa Barbara
We spent the last week in Santa Barbara CA. Luke and Jesse went to a conference the first couple days and the rest of the time was spent hanging out with Jim and Michelle in the area. Our hotel overlooked the ocean which was nice, so we spent some time at the beach. We also went downtown and spent a couple hours in Solvang (a dutch town) and toured some wineries. It was a good trip, but I’m glad to be home. I was at the end of my rope yesterday. I wonder when I will actually be able to fully relax on a family vacation… Maybe that will be 10 years from now??
Steamboat Springs
We’re back from our week long summer vacation. Actually we’ve been back for a few days now, I’m just getting around to posting pictures and doing a blog post. We left Fort Collins last Thursday and drove through Rocky Mountain National Park to get to Steamboat Springs. Rocky Mountain National Park was so beautiful and full of wildlife. We saw a whole herd of deer and two moose drinking from a stream. The road we were on took us above tree line to about 11,000 feet in elevation. The mountains were so amazing!
In Steamboat Springs it rained almost everyday we were there. But we did get a chance to do a couple things. Unfortunately it was the beginning of the summer season so not everything was up and running yet, plus it was a little difficult to do things like white water rafting or biking with Izzy along. So we stuck to the easy relaxing things.
There is a waterfall just a short walk from Steamboat that was one highlight from our trip. Another highlight was Strawberry Springs which is a set of natural pools feed by a hot spring. The drive there was nail biting (through steep, dirt roads) but it was worth it. The scenery was breathtaking and definitely a relaxing atmosphere. We also went to the local hot springs complex, which is more like a man made pool but Izzy had fun there.
Here are some pictures from our trip. Click here to view the entire photo album.
Why We Love Colorado
Today we drove through Rocky Mountain National Park on the way to Steamboat Springs and were in awe at the beauty of God’s creation. More pictures to come after we get back.
Memorial Day Weekend
For the holiday weekend we drove down to Colorado Springs to visit with my parents. It seems like all we do when my family gets together is eat! It’s part of our culture…eat good food with great company. So in Chinese tradition we had a delicious home cooked dinner on Saturday evening, then on Sunday went for brunch at the Cheyenne Mountain Resort which has amazing views of the mountain range and finally had a great Thai meal at a new cafe. On Monday we met up with Nate in Boulder for another good Chinese meal and for some shopping at the mall.
Izzy got some more cute dresses made by Grandma Low (one of which is the green dress she’s wearing in the pictures) and a toy dog with a leash that she now drags around the house.
I can’t believe how much Izzy is learning and becoming more of a little girl. She will find her bear, shoes and dog if I ask her where they are and bring them to me. She’ll kiss her stuffed animals and give them a pat on the back. She loves collecting things and putting them into her cart to push around the house. She is always on the go, she won’t sit still unless she’s strapped into something!
Izzy somehow figured out how to turn on Grandpa Low’s computer when he turned it off. Her words include: moma, dada, dogh, cheese, shoes, see, nana (for banana). She’s also doing better at signing and waves hi and bye, signs milk, please, more, all done and eat. Now she’s learning to open doors, so it’s time to do a little more childproofing around the house.
Pictures and Walking
As promised here are our pictures from Seattle, most courtesy of Michelle. Click on the picture to see the entire album.
Tonight Izzy took four steps all on her own! Of course, that was with some motivation and tricking her into thinking that she would be able to grab on to daddy’s hands. After she figured out what we were doing she didn’t want to cooperate any more and would just sit down. Smart girl!
Seattle
Well, last Thursday Izzy and I boarded a plane in the middle of a snowstorm to meet Michelle in Seattle. It was a stressful day of travel because of the snow. Our flight was delayed several times, then we ended up sitting on the plane for a hour before we could take off. Luckily I was able to score an empty seat for Izzy by a nice lady who didn’t mind Izzy playing with her jacket and hitting her every so often.
We spent most of Friday and Saturday walking around Seattle, visiting the Public Market, going to eat really really good seafood and of course visiting the very first Starbucks coffee shop. Sunday we did more walking around then drove around visiting various areas of Seattle including the international district where we had to stop for some amazing authentic Chinese food. On Monday we spent lots of time at the airport. I returned our rental car when Michelle’s flight left, and our flight wasn’t scheduled to leave until 6 hours later. So we did plenty of walking around the airport and even spent some time at the children’s play area there. We finally got home at 3am Tuesday morning.
Now I feel like I need a vacation from our “vacation”. It’s tough having a very active one year old along when you want to sightsee and eat out. Izzy can’t stand being contained in a stroller, car seat, or highchair for more than an hour, so it was hard to really be on vacation because I’m still “on call” all day. Maybe when she’s older she’ll do better traveling, but for now I think I’ll stay close to home…or at least try to get Luke to come along next time.
I don’t have many pictures to post (didn’t have time to take pictures on our adventure), but I’ll post what pictures I do have a little later.
Lions, Tigers and Bears!
Today we spent the day in Denver. It was such a beautiful day. We had a picnic at Denver City Park then spent some time at the Denver Zoo. Izzy had a blast looking at all the different animals and pointing them out for us. It’s so fun seeing things through her eyes! (Click on the picture to see all our pictures from the zoo)
After the zoo we met up with my good friends from the Springs Julie and Alan, and Elisha and Ryan plus their two little girls. We had hung out at a park then had dinner in Denver. It was so good to catch up with them in person. Now if they all only lived closer to us…. =)