More pictures from SoCal

We arrived home late Tuesday evening after a pretty uneventful flight. The boys did great on the flights home and we were able to secure a free seat for Hudson. Brooks slept the first leg home and Hudson slept half of the second leg. Samba is very happy to have us home!

Trip to the beach

Brooks had fun chasing the seagulls around the beach

We took a trip to the beach yesterday. Ryan and I got to take a spin on the Giant Dipper roller coaster at Belmont Park. It was a fun ride and in great condition for it's age (built in 1925). We ate some fish tacos for lunch and got to see a big Christmas tree decorated with beach balls.

Ryan is out mountain biking with Shaun this morning, so I took the boys for a walk to a nearby park and around the neighborhood. Tomorrow is out big adventure to Legoland...

BIG owie

So, I promised another "exciting" story from vacation. Thursday night when we were cooking dinner at our condo, Brooks had a accident. He had not napped that day and was tired and acting goofy. He was spinning/running around the living area when he ran into the corner of the coffee table. He immediately started crying and Ryan went over to check him out, when he lifted his hand off Brooks' head there was a huge amount of blood and a big cut in the middle of his forehead. We knew we had to take him somewhere to have it looked at because it looked like it needed stitches.

Fortunately Shaun and Carissa were thinking and found a urgent care center for us to go to. We rushed Brooks out to the car and headed out. Brooks fell asleep on the way there and we got right into the urgent care center. A really nice (and excellent with Brooks) physician's assistant saw him. She felt we could take of the gash with some steri strips and "superglue". Brooks was an excellent patient. He didn't cry at all and laid very still for everything. He liked playing peek-a-boo with us when the glue was put on (so it didn't get into his eyes). He fell asleep again on the way home and has been fine ever since.

Having a good time in SoCal

After a looong flight, we made it here. Brooks did great on the plane, Hudson was a little harder to please, but manageable.

On Wednesday, we went to the Model Railroad Museum in Balboa Park. Brooks loved looking at all the trains.


We found a playground, so we had to stop there too.


Brooks cannot stop talking about "Uncle", "Auntie", and "Ady". When we first got here, he was smelling everything. Guess he's not used to smelling nice flowers and eucalyptus in December!

We all took a trip to the San Diego Zoo yesterday. We saw a lot of monkeys, we think it should be renamed the San Diego Monkey Zoo. We did see other animals too. Brooks and Hudson loved looking at them and all the beautiful grounds.
I went to an Asian supermarket and got us some live local lobster and crabs for dinner last night. They were pretty feisty, but they were so yummy! So far we've had Afghani, Mexican, and Salvadoran food. Not sure what we'll try today. I have another interesting story to blog about, but I need to take some pictures to go along with it, so check back later!

LOTS of snow

Mom, I can't go down the slide with all this snow!

We got around 10 inches of snow last night. Church was even canceled this morning! Brooks had fun helping Ryan shovel the driveway. He made a hole in the snow and liked sticking his head in it. He didn't want to come inside.

Pics from the big party

Hudson had quite the party! He seemed to enjoy himself, got a little overwhelmed with the gifts, and liked eating his cupcake.

Trying on a new hat

I'm ready for my cake!!

Hmmm...

Let's eat the frosting first!

Yep, that was pretty yummy!

Happy 1st Birthday Hudson!

It was one year ago today that Hudson finally made his appearance! He has grown into a happy little boy over the past year and it's hard to imagine life without him. He adores his big brother Brooks and is quite the explorer. Happy Birthday Hudson, we love you!

Pics from Turkey Day

Brooks and Great Grandpa

Brooks playing with his second cousin, Griffin.

Brooks and Hudson with Memaw.

2 years ago today...

we held Brooks for the first time. He was 4 months old and we left early on Thanksgiving day to spend the long weekend with him. We are so thankful to have him in our lives! We love you Brooks!

And there's more

As if Hudson wasn't sick enough, he didn't sleep much at all Sunday night and then woke up with a rash Monday morning. Not knowing if it might be a reaction from his medicine, I called the Dr and they wanted me to bring him in. So I took him to the Dr for the 2nd time in 2 business days. Fortunately, I was able to drop Brooks off to play with Maggie while we were there. Our Dr has 2 waiting rooms, a sick and well. But, I had to go to the back door...they make all undiagnosed rashes go there, talk about feeling like an outcast! Anyways, it turns out Hudson has roseola. All kids get it before they turn 2, we think Brooks had it and never got the rash. The rash disappears pretty quickly, the Dr said he'd be better by Turkey day. And she said his ears looked a lot better.

Stupid DVD player

Our just over 1 year old dvd player died this week. It was a big name brand and decided to start turning itself off during playback. Since we don't have cable we watch a lot of dvds. I was pretty mad, because I had just gotten "Amazing Grace" from the library.

So, Ryan went out today and got us a new dvd player for under $40, that's less than a month of cable. I hope it lasts longer than our other one, of course we didn't buy the same brand.

Playing in the tent

Brooks loves to play in his "tent". You know, drape some blankets over furniture and voila, a tent to play in! He likes me to come into the tent and we go night-night. He always wants Hudson to play in the tent too, but Hudson didn't feel up to it today. Brooks seemed a little sad that Hudson didn't feel good enough to play with him today. At least he got to play with Maggie this morning while I was at the dr with Hudson.

Poor Hudson

He has another ear infection, this time in both ears. He had one exactly one month ago. He's doing okay, clingy and whiny, but he does have some moments of happiness.

Peek a boo!

Ugh, I don't feel so good!

Cooties and Peek a Boo

Brooks is really grossed out by Hudson's slobber. This morning Hudson drooled all over a toy that Brooks was playing with and Brooks brought it over to me and wiped it off on my shirt. He seemed really disturbed by it!

Hudson has a new game he plays. He crawls around and then just stops and lays his head down on the floor and won't get up until you say peek a boo. He thinks it's hilarious (it is)!

Weekend update

Saturday night we attended a bonfire/potluck with our new friend, Ying. There was a lot of yummy food (International Friendship gatherings always have the best food!), and it was the perfect night to stay warm around a fire.

Brooks enjoying the open space

Ryan and Ying attempting to play volleyball

Sunday afternoon we went to Gangy and Pop-Pop's house to celebrate Gangy's birthday. The boys had a fun time!

A wink for you!

Yeah, I'm winking at you!

Trip to Memaw and Pawpaw's house

We took a trip to my parent's house this past weekend. The boys had a great time in the country and Ryan was able to do some challenging mountain biking in the Shawnee National Forest.

We even went on a date, to see Dan In Real Life. The movie was funny, better than I was expecting for a "chick flick". We saw some horrible looking previews, I can't remember all the titles, one was about kids let loose in a mall on Christmas Eve, and the only title I can remember is "Love in the Time of Cholera", which just sounds awful from the title. I'm sure "The Painted Veil" was a better cholera movie. The only good preview we saw was for Juno, I mean it has Jason Bateman, Michael Cera, and Rainn Wilson, so it has to be good?!

What else... Hudson has his first tooth, with a second one making it's appearance. The first half of the trip home was fine, they both slept, but the second half had someone crying until the last half hour. At least we found a orchard with some Golden Delicious apples, so I got a peck. Our local orchard in Lafayette was done with apples a couple weeks ago.

Guess who else likes Guatemalan food.....

As you can tell from his face, Hudson loved our meal tonight!

Mmmmm, black beans, tortilla, fried plantains, and rice!

Trip to the Pumpkin Patch

We made a trip to the pumpkin patch on Saturday. We took along Ying, our International Friend from China. Brooks had been so excited about going. He had a great time, he was so excited to see all the pumpkins. We took a hayride out to the actual pumpkin patch where we all picked our pumpkins, except for Hudson, he just got to hang out on my back.

Waiting for the hayride to take off....
Brooks started running to all the pumpkins when we got to the patch.
Hey, I think I want this one!
Ryan helping Brooks get his pumpkin.

Kind of a cool picture I managed to get while randomly shooting.