Zoolights 2010

We recently went to the Zoolights at the Phoenix Zoo during their member preview nights before thanksgiving. I think every other member with kids had the same idea because it was packed. Here, they had an interactive light display that was choreographed to music.








Lauren and Cole were riding in style. Luckily Cole is still too young to worry about looking girly.




One new addition this year was the sled ride on the artificial turf/snow. It looked like a lot of fun although cost extra.

I'm 19 months old today!

Okay I'm not 19 months old today. I was actually 19 months old a week ago but my parents were too busy or something. They had better not forget Xmas is coming in just a few weeks. I'm not sure if you can tell but I got my first bad haircut. My hair got hacked. Luckily I still have my adorable smile and good looks.

Low rider

Lauren took her first bike ride out in the street today. She says she knows how to use the brakes but whenever she was riding downhill, she took her feet off the pedals. Is this the same girl that was afraid of the motorized Barbie jeep?

First accident

Cole got into his first "fight" while riding a tricycle. Cole 0, the Ground 1.

Science fun part duex

Intel had its annual employee day at The Arizona Science Center. The whole family went this time and they had a lot new exhibits that were very child oriented.


Lauren is climbing into the giant heart filled with red blood cells.


Lauren made sure we followed the rules.


Cole is checking out the heart beat drum.


Future doctor?


Cole sliding down the intestinal slide. New meaning for mini pooper.


And what scientific principle is this about?


3 generations answering the question of the week. Maybe lauren will get the arts and craft gene.


Not too bad...

I'm 18 months old today!

Cheese! Enough pictures already. The life of a model must be so hard. I want to be an engineer. My parents are engineers and all they do is go from meeting to meeting talking to people. Now that's the life.

Fisher Price day at the Zoo

The zoo recently had a Fisher Price day where basically they setup tables of toys and let the kids just play with them. What a brilliant way to market your toys as busy parents are always looking for ways to reduce the stress during the holidays. All the parents have to do is sit back and see what toys their kids are playing with and then go and buy that toy come Christmas time. You can see Cole in the orange hat above cruising from table to table.



"Hmm, how can I take this home with me?"



Lauren checking out the Dora guitar.



They even had a race track and a bunch of motorized cars. Unfortunately Lauren was a little scared of the speed and never made it past the starting line. I have a feeling she won't have this problem when she turns 16.



What better way to travel then in your own wagon with a canopy.



Tortoises munching on some nice veggies.





I'm not sure who is enjoying himself more, Lauren or Grandpa?

Spooky spiders

Halloween arrived early at our house. I found this black widow spider by our garage door. You can tell it's a black widow by its distinctive red hour glass. We also had a black widow at our old house.

I'm 17 months old today!

I can't believe I'm another month older. I started in a new school and have begun my Montessori journey. Actually this is the same school that Lauren goes to so it's been a lot of fun riding together to and from school. She loves showing me off to her class like I'm some kind of pet. I've started using real cups so no more sippy cups for me, although for some reason Mom and Dad don't trust me at home just yet. I wonder why....

Road Trip to San Diego

Lauren had a week off from school so we decided to make a road trip to San Diego. Here are some of the cool boulders along I-8.



Here we approach a border patrol checkpoint and this time they seem to have some pretty high tech equipment. My guess is they are running people's license plates but who knows.



Here we stopped at La Jolla to see the seals (you can see them on the rocks). Lauren was very excited to play at the beach and even brought her bucket and toys.



Finally Lauren and Cole got to play in the sand. We went to Torrey Pines State park and only stayed about an hour or two.



All was well until Cole got a bunch of sand in his eyes.



Lauren loves riding the carousel. Cole was more interested in the gems. This carousel is at the seaport village. The carousel in balboa park has the added game of grabbing brass rings and throwing them at a target as you go around. I didn't know they had this but I can't wait till next time.



Cole and Lauren playing a little at Sea World. They needed a break to just run around.



Shamu 1 and Shamu 2



Here Cole is pointing at an airplane. The hotel we stayed at (you can see it in the back) was the Courtyard Marriot at Liberty Station. It's ranked as the #2 hotel in San Diego and consistently gets good reviews. The hotel has plenty of free parking, is close to restaurants, and is extremely clean. Plus it provides endless entertainment for kids as the airplanes fly overhead. :)



Endless entertainment at the Spanish Village Art Center.



One great fresh seafood restaurant we found by accident was Mitch's Seafood at Point Loma. We were checking out another restaurant when a couple said that they had gotten great clam chowder from Mitch's just a bit further down. We decided to check it out and were glad we did. The place is no frills but the food was great.

I'm 16 months old today!

Where to begin this month. First I can now talk. Okay I might be exaggerating a wee bit but I can say Yes, Dadee, Momee, ball, shoes, bubble, uh oh, cat (sounds like ack), and socks. I also have 3 molars which explains all the uncontrollable drooling going on. Another skill I learned is that if I start screaming at night, Daddy will stay in the room with me. He tries to sneak out but all I have to do is just scream and he comes right back in to soothe me. :)

I'm 15 months old today!

I've said my first word, "Yes", this past month. I've also started taking swimming lessons with Mom or Dad and I just love it. Yeeesss!

Backyard pests

Found this snake in our backyard. Most likely harmless except if you are a mouse.


Found this scorpion in our house. The cats got him. :)

July 4th Traditions

As you can probably tell from the photo, we went to our old HOA's July 4th parade and picnic. Here is the event from last year. Although we don't belong to that HOA anymore, we'll probably be visiting the event every year. Luckily for us, we can attend as guests of Grandma Pennie and Grandpa Chuck. :)


Here's Lauren catching some air.


Lauren is waiting patiently for her turn.


"That was it? Even Cole could go down this one!"


"Ah this is more like it. Blue Crush! With a name like that, it had better be good!"


"I wasn't scared. I always close my eyes."

New LowE windows

Right before the summer, we replaced all of our windows and sliding doors with new LowE glass. The picture above was taken after only the top windows were replaced. Notice the green tint on the top windows versus the brownish tint on the ones on the bottom. The LowE glass that we specified was Cardinal 366 using a Superspacer for the spacer technology. For dual pane windows, the thing keeping the panes apart is called a spacer. The spacer can conduct heat so a lot of new windows use what they call a warm edge spacer(a non conducting material). The new windows make a huge difference in the house. I measured up to a 20 degree surface temperature difference between the new LowE and the old bronze tinted windows.


One of our large tempered windows spontaneously shattered the day after being installed. Unfortunately the window proceeded to crack and fall to the ground shortly after this picture was taken.