Little Man turns 1

Parker turned 1 on July 3. I cannot believe how fast the time went. He's our little bundle of joy- and he continues to make us laugh and we lay in bed at night after he's been asleep for a few hours, looking a pictures and videos of him on our phones. oooing and awing over him and his cuteness. We're obsessed. But, I think that's how it supposed to be!?

Benicia does a 3rd of july parade every year and I've been going for as long as I can remember- we thought it only fitting that since we live in the area now, that Parker start this tradition too

 He couldn't believe he's already 1!! :)

    This is the only thing in the whole parade that really caught Parker's attention

 We were getting desperate for him to stay in his stroller and not get out and crawl all over the gross cement- so he had his first "dum-dum". It did the trick!

 Fourth of July we went to a pool/BBQ and they had rented this awesome slide bouncy house- this is my hubby bouncin down! (There were no serious injuries, although this picture looks like there will be)

 Cousins Mack and Parker fought over some pool toys, and had fun together working on their tans :)

Sunglasses

Parker loves sunglasses. He leaves them on and gets bugged when they fall off- I guess he needs his own pair!

Chocolate Mousse Crunch Cake

(My cake I made Brett & my dad for fathers day)

I tried a new recipe this fathers day. It was delicious! The heath bar chopped up gives it a nice toffee crunch, and the smooth chocolate mousse is so yummy I could eat a whole bowl by myself. (And it would also be a great dessert by itself) Then the chocolate ganache poured over top is rich and creamy and delicious. 

Try it! Who cares about looking good in a bathing suit this summer?? Waaaaay over rated. Eating delicious chocolate desserts is where it's at. 

Recipe:  http://www.ourbestbites.com/2010/03/chocolate-mousse-crunch-cake/

Escaping at Target

It was impossible to browse Target today, or even look at anything for 30 seconds for that matter, while little man was plotting and attempting to escape the cart!

Boy, does he keep me busy!

 As worn out as he makes me, he always makes up for it with his sweet side! He's been especially sweet and keeping me good company while Brett's been away on business for a couple days!

Lately in instagram

Vacation!

 

For Brett's work we had to go to Santa Barbara and we had to stay in the four seasons- it was difficult, but we managed. :) It was a fun little get-a-way. My mom watched Parker- and we set off for a weekend of fun! (And the first time we'd been alone in 10 months!)

On our way down to Santa Barbara- beautiful drive

Welcome to the Four Seasons, Santa Barbara!

 

Sadly, I didn't take any pictures of our room or the hotel, but I did take a picture of the cool bath tub faucet in our room!

The decor at the hotel was very pretty, like an old spanish theme. with tiles, and lots of wood and heavy drapery. 

The view right across from the hotel

We decided to go to the zoo the first day we were there. It's not as big as the Oakland or SF zoo, but it was really fun, just Brett & I walking around enjoying time together and the animals!

Here is a leopard and 

big scary gorilla at the

zoo!!

Morning runs on this beautiful beach that is right across from the four seasons

we ate delicious food. This restaurant was right on the beach, it was so pretty. We felt really spoiled :) 

 When we first got to the restaurant we had some time to kill, so we explored the beach and found some cool things tide-pooling (seriously one of my favorite all time activities) and we found this dead crab. I know I look strangely happy and freakishly smiley about the dead crab- but hey, it was just a crab right?? plus i set it out on a rock for a bird to come and eat, so really I did the environment a favor- one more fed seagull. Your welcome world.

Then we jet-skid later that day. Brett was so happy. I was happy too, when I wasn't scared.

Across from the four seasons there is a club, with a pool and gym and you can go and swim and stuff, so we lounged one day and enjoyed the awesome view

This guy yelled at me after I took the picture to give him money to "support the arts"- then he got mad at me when I didn't. So I gave $$ to a nicer homeless guy.

My handsome man down on the pier, where we enjoyed ginormous ice cream cones shortly after this.

We got pedicures and he loved it. He's still commenting on how shiny his toenails are.

I got eyelash extensions while we were down in Santa Barbara. They are really fun!!

We did a whale watching tour that was awesome. We saw tons of whales- we had a lot of fun. (After I took motion sickness medicine and after Brett threw up off the side of the boat 3 times) I guess we're more weak-sauce then we thought.

Although we did happen to go sailing one day with some people from Brett's work. It was really fun and we learned a lot about sailing!

 

We enjoyed/gorged on A LOT of good food this weekend. Sadly, these oysters were not good. Even with cocktail sauce and horse radish loaded on I just couldn't get over the gross texture. Sorry to waste them, we felt bad so we tried to convince the busboy to eat them, but he declined for some strange reason. (I mean, I eat food from strangers every change I get, what was his problem?) :)

Two of my all time most favorite foods in this world is french onion soup and a good cooked steak. 

I was in heaven at Lucky's steak house. 

 A little vase of macaroons and chocolates brett's boss sent us. So delicious!

It was gone in about 2 minutes. I'm sure Brett got a bite or two...

 Delicious pizza with arugula and prosciutto. And butterscotch pudding for dessert. So good.

As much fun as this weekend was, nothing compared to our excitement to come home and see our little boy. We sure missed him. He looks older and has 2 teeth on top now! He's becoming a big boy, make it stop!