Spring - Hockey & Vancouver

Sharks vs Canucks - the perfect game to watch together!  We surprised Todd with tickets to a game with the biggest surprise that I invited his best buds and biggest sharks fans, Brian & Mary, to join us.  Of course, I was the only Canucks fan in the group, but I was not alone when we got to the shark tank.  There were tons of canuck fans there.  We taught Lucas how to say "Go Sharks, Go Canucks". It's so funny, but he says "Mommy likes Canucks, Daddy likes Sharks", then I ask who does Lucas like?  shhh..he says "canucks!".  It's been all about hockey these past few months, with the Canucks advancing to the Stanley Cup Championships and losing to Boston Bruins in game 7.  Maybe next year canucks?

We were in Vancouver for Angela & Felix's Wedding in May. Todd could only come for a weekend, while Lucas and I stayed for a couple of weeks.  Lucas loved spending time with his grandparents and they spoiled him silly.  Meanwhile, I took advantage the the babysitting and went out every night.

Milestones with the crew.

In front of the library (also battlestar gallatica location)

Canucks fever everywhere. This is on the sidewalk.

Hosted brunch  - a Mini Highschool reunion

Lucas' favorite things at my brother's house. Bouncy house and a roller coaster.

Cake & Aunty Virginia

Spring Update

Playing catchup...here's what's been going on since my last post...
I celebrated my birthday in April with a fun party at Frjtz, a belgium fries and beer place.  It was perfect since I love fries, Todd loves beer, and we had the back room to ourselves (Lucas & kids could wander around).  Plus, the afternoon was topped off with cupcakes.  Yummy!

Ask any of my friends and they will tell you I havn't missed celebrating my birthday with a party since I was little. It all began with my mom, who loved throwing parties, gift bags, games, treasure hunts, you name it, all through my childhood.  I guess it rubbed off on me too.  I like being with my friends and family on my bday!

Todd continued the celebration by surprising me with a day trip to an unknown location.  First he didn't tell me he was taking the day off work, so when I woke up I was surprised to see him at home.  Then we packed up and just started driving and driving. We started passing factories, like budweiser, and I'm starting to worry about where is he taking us.  Well, i saw the jelly belly sign and knew were were heading there.  He thought since I liked factory assembly lines (don't ask, but I'm fascninated with assembly lines that they show on tv), and candy it would be fun.  Lucas loved all the free samples!

stopped off for lunch and an afternoon margarita

Then dinner he lined up our friends to babysit while we had dinner at our favourite italian restaurant, Stella Alpina.  What a wonderful and thoughtful husband..

Happy Easter! Every year Nana hosts  Easter at her place with a big easter hunt for all the kids.  Last year Lucas was too little and he was napping, so he missed out on the festivities, but this year we was ready to go.  Nana got him a little basket and he watched all his cousins run around frantically picking up easter eggs all over her garden.  Luckily, cousin Ashley helped Lucas find a bunch so that he could put them in his basket.  He was so proud of his little collection. 

On those rainy days, I've been taking Lucas to the Hiller Aviation Musuem.  They have a small toddler area with plane ride ons, a large exhibit of planes and best of all a real 747 where you can go into the cockpit and pretend like you are flying the plane.  We took Todd there one weekend and he loved it - he was the kid that day!  They also were having a big train exhibit (and we know who is obsessed with trains right now), so it was trains, planes and more trains.

Todd and Lucas (his wingman)



We can't forget the Royal Wedding of Prince William and Kate.  I didn't stay up to watch it, but the next day I was fully caught up on the big event.  I was like a little girl watching a fairy tale wedding.

Here we are at Brian aka Sham's birthday party in the park in Sunnyvale.  They are expecting a little one this year and we are so excited for them, so I guess when we saw that he rented a bouncy house for his birthday, he's getting ready to be a dad. 

Happy Birthday Shams!

Todd was so proud of his ribs.



You're Bruins Won it Dad!!!

It took a little prompting from my brother, but beyond the pain of the Canucks loosing, I am enjoying the victory of my late father's Boston Bruins. I know he's smiling down and smiling big on this day of his favorite team's ultimate victory...

My dad grew up playing hockey, first in Worcester, MA, and eventually lettering for MIT in Boston. Much like Vancouver's Sendin twins, he focused on the game and played like a gentleman. He was a defenceman and, like most things he tried, he was good at it.

My earliest memory of enjoying hockey had, of course, nothing to do with the game of hockey and everything to do with my love for dad. My dad's dad, who had moved himself and his wife out from Massachusetts shortly after my birth in California, lived at the French Quarter Apartments in Campbell, California. Along with their common area swimming pool, which was the coolest thing in the world to me at the time, was bested only by the sweet ass "big screen" tv in their common room. At 12, I was impressed by any tv bigger than 25" and this sucker was like 60", projection glory!

It was a rare occasion, but there we were, my dad, grandpa and I, huddled around the "big screen," watching the Bruins play. My dad was hooting and hollering like I had never seen before, and since he was none other than my absolute hero, I was hooting and hollering to match, and then some! The game wore on and hooting died down over time and all that I really remember clearly was that with 30 seconds left in the game, the Bruins were loosing. My dad and grandfather watched in abject defeat... I hated to see my dad unhappy so my 12 year old optimism shouted, "it's ok Dad, they can still win it!" Sure enough, on a lightning fast play, the Bruins tied it up with mere seconds left on the clock! Hooting and hollering ensued in a big, big way! I didn't care less about the Bruins, or hockey in general, but I certainly swelled with pride and joy because my hopes for the Bruins had brought them eventual victory, and that, most importantly, made my dad happy. To this day that smile remains one of the most vivid and joyous memories in my limited list of memories. It cemented my love for hockey to say the least, and brought my father joy to say the most...

Tonight's for you dad and I hope, Hugh hopes and I know that especially Mom hopes that you have an even bigger ass TV up there that you got to watch the game on. And I hope that you were hooting and hollering cuz now that I think about it, I must have heard you. With all of our love Dad, congratulations!!!

-- Todd, Hugh & Mom

San Diego

Over President's day long weekend, we hopped on a plane to San Diego to visit Todd's cousin Ashley and her boyfriend Daniel.  Nana joined us, along with Aunt Robyn and cousin Mackenzie, who drove in for a family weekend together.  We went to the San Diego Zoo, which has the largest collection of animals in the world.  It was my first time there so I was super excited to check it out.  It was my first time feeding a giraffe and being so up close to them.  They have these tongues that are snake like and they wrap them around the cookies I gave them, while drool is coming down - such a strange experience.  Lucas was just so excited to be around the family and all the attractions.  The next day, we really impressed Lucas by taking him to the largest model train exhibit in north america which is located in Balboa Park AND we took him to a train ride afterwards.  He is really into trains - and tells everyone about trains so this was super exciting for him. Todd and I even got a night out together with some friends from the area since we had Nana and Aunt Robyn as babysitters. It was an interesting night since we ended up in a club and then carne asada fries.
Here's a video of Lucas pulling his little suitcase in the airport. He was so proud!

Nana, Mackenzie, Aunt Robyn, Ashley, Lucas and Mommy

New baby hippo

Berliner's at the San Diego Zoo

Look trains! and more trains!

Morning brunch at the beach.