Sonoma, CA

Last full day in California= a day trip to Sonoma. As soon as Kelli got out of work we headed to Sonoma with the plan of seeing 3 different wineries.  We started off at Arrowood trialing Chardonnays, Merlot's and a Syrah or two!   Now, you might be thinking that bringing Caelin along to wine country doesn't put us at the top of the list for parents of the year.  However- Erin had volunteered to be not only the designated driver but also the designated baby entertainer!  And to make her life a little easier, Arrowood had a trunk full of toys for kids to play with- so I guess we weren't the first to bring along a kiddo!  Next up was Sebastiani.  We started with a tour here, however the incredible uniformed tour guide drove us 'taste' early.  We cut out of the tour and sat at the picnic tables enjoying a flight of 10 wines.  Last on the wine tour was XXX.  A much smaller flight than the first 2 stops (only 3 to try) however they did serve the 3 with a much needed cheese and fruit platter!  On the way back, we stopped by Kelli's brothers house to meet Miss Stella and to also pick up a bottle of Shane wine (Kelli's brothers label).  Stella and Caelin played for a little while then we headed out to dinner before heading back to Berkeley.  Such a wonderful week, can't thank Erin and Kelli enough for being such great hosts!
                                                                          Arrowood

Playing with Erin and Kelli at Arrowood

Trying on Kelli's huge sunglasses!

Waving to everyone at Sebastiani's

The smirk is b/c she does not like the grass.  She tried to scoot with her feet off the ground!

The crew at Sebastiani's

Last stop...

Welcome to Alcatrez!

Another great day! Took a boat trip to Alcatrez today and then walked around the island and toured the penitentiary grounds for most of the day. Caelin slept through most of the tour but woke up just in time for a quick pic behind bars! Had a nice lunch at Boudin's (known for sourdough bread) on the water and got a close up of the hundreds of seals that chill out daily at the wharf. After walking around for a bit, we headed towards the Golden Gate bridge. A bit windy but we managed to walk across half of the bridge before turning back! And to end the day, we had the best pizza from a place called the Cheeseboard. They only make 1 type of vegetarian pizza each day. Today's pie: tomatoes, garlic, onions, herbs and mozzarella!!

Alcatrez

Hanging out with mommy and Erin

Watch out Capone, I'm one tough cookie!

Caelin...not following the rules!

Watching the seals

A sleepy bug crosses the Golden Gate with Mum!

Family photo...unfortunately Caels slept through the bridge!

It's official....

...Caelin is walking!

Berkeley and San Francisco!

After a nice long day of flying, we finally made it to SF. Once we arrived in Berkeley, Caelin made herself right at home, checking out all of the fun toys in the living room to play with. Kelli's niece Stella was nice enough to let us borrow her toys as well as a car seat and packnplay for our visit. Day 1 was super relaxing- grabbed burgers in the 'gourmet ghetto' then played a few heated rounds of Banagrams before heading to bed.

On Day 2, we had 2 items on the agenda- Cable Cars and Ghiradelli Chocolate! We drove into the city and hopped on a cable car to get a quick look at San Francisco. The weather was perfect, so we got off at Fisherman's Wharf and walked out on the piers and all around. After all that walking, we headed to Ghiradelli Square for an ice cream. Caelin opted for a strawberry frappe...maybe babies don't get cold-eye (aka brain freeze) but she sucked that frappe back as fast as she could. Every time Chatham tried to take it to share with her, Caelin grabbed it right back. Wonder where she got the love of ice cream from?

Hanging out in the square

Loving her mum's strawberry frappe!

Fisherman's Wharf

Cable car ride

Caelin's reading chair

Leaving, on a jet plane....

After a few hours (ha-ha) of resting up after the marathon, we jumped a plane to head to San Francisco to visit Erin and Kelli.  Caelin fell asleep shortly after taking off and dozed in and out of sleep the majority of the trip there.  When she was awake, she scooted up the aisle a few times to say hello to everyone, then happily sat in our laps and sang songs to anyone who would listen! 

Ready for take off!

I call the window seat!

A great day for a run!!!

Today was a big day for Mum.  For the past 6 months, she has been training hard everyday to get ready to run the 114th Boston Marathon.  On Friday night, Kellie joined us for a Team NECC dinner in Boston, which to our surprise was a selection of our favorite menu items from Bertucci's!  After filling up on pasta and pizza, Coach Leon gave a pep talk and then announced that Chatham had the most (89) donations.  She, and another runner who had the most amount of donations ($12, 000) received finish line passes.  We were super excited because that meant rather than fighting the crowds, Caelin, Bailey, Kara and I could sit in the VIP bleacher section and get an up close view of Chatham crossing the finish line. 

On to the day itself....Grampa Flynn, Alvine, Aiden, Brett and Anna arrived first with signs and pompoms and clappers to cheer Chat on!  Soon after we got to mile 3 (which is less than a mile from our house) Kara and Bailey joined us.  We found a great spot and once the second wave started to come through we all looked through the crowds for Chatham.  As we were all staring up the hill at the runners, she appeared coming from the other direction!  Oops- we told her we would be on the other side so she had to eek through the crowd of runners to cross over to us!  We cheered her back on her way and screamed that we would see her at the finish line!

Next up...trucking the little 1 yr olds to Beantown!  Kara gave a pretty good run down of our adventure getting to the VIP line.  All I can say is it felt like we were on the Amazing Race.  Looking for clues as to how to get from point A (on one side of the street) to point B (directly across the street) without crossing!  We managed to get there just in time though and caught Chatham's attention right as she was about to cross.  Caelin had just woken up so we clapped and cheered and then met up with her right after the finish.  And so...26.2 miles later, Chatham crossed the finish line and accomplished an incredible feat of running a marathon- we are so proud of you!!

It's Go-Time!

Nice job Mum!!

Caelin supporting #23332 and Team NECC!

Run Mum Run!

The latest and greatest...

Food: Thanks to a great idea at daycare (Reese, Emmett and Caelin take turns bringing lunch to school every week) Caelin has started to try some new foods. Browned ground turkey, spinach mashed potatoes, broccoli bites, french toast, green beans (not a fan), cheesy orzo and banana muffins (to celebrate E's birthday) have made the menu in the past 2 weeks! Trading up who makes lunch has been a great idea, helps with thinking up new things to try and makes getting ready a little easier on days we don't have to pack a lunch! Thanks Reese and Emmett- Caelin loves the breakfast club and now lunch bunch with you both!

Movin' & Groovin': Well the scoot continues to be the main source of transportation for Caels, however she is pulling herself up on everything, letting go and proudly displaying her ability to stand along. And if the right person is in the room (i.e. either of her favorite moms) she will steadily and happily walk across the room to get to us! Oh and bouncing along the couch (and I mean on the couch) watching out the window has become a favorite too!

Look who's talking: Mama, baba (bottle), dada (dogs), heh (help), more, toe-ah (toes), Hi, yeah-yeah (pointing at something she wants), aww- none (all done) and uh-oh seem to be the most consistently heard and (in context) words we hear on a daily basis. All done and Uh-oh are by far Caelin's favorites this week. She will take a sip of milk, then toss the bottle aside and say "Aww None". It's super cute! And anytime she or one of us drops anything she lets us know with a loud " Uh-Oh". She shakes her head for No but doesn't say it just yet....I think we'd be ok if she held off on that one!!!
C can climb in and out of her chair!!

Receptive id of body parts...So far she has: Head, shoulders, toes, belly and honk-honk (nose)!

Hanging out with Kellie!

Playing with Makenna & the zebra!

April Fools!

Well, April Fools was weeks ago but Caelin's quirky sense of humor has just started to come out.  Every day seems to be something new- this age is definately a favorite!  Some of the funny things she likes to do these days....rather than push the clack clack alligator, she like to stand backwards on the alligator mouths and dance, dive bombing into her chair, get on the zebra backwards and squeeze into spots which we thought we successfully baby proofed (i.e. we turned all the end table around and she somehow manages to squeeze between them and the couch, turn them around and empy their contents!  It is fun to watch her explore and get into everything! 
                          No Hands!!

Scoots real fast and crashes in...pretty funny to watch!

I think I can, head bonk...try again....success!

                                              What do you mean I shouldn' stand on it like this?

Yup, I'm still here!

Gove to love 'em!

What would spring be without a few dozen boxes of girl scout cookies?!?! that's right- a FEW DOZEN!  Well we found out this year what it would be like and only had a few boxes.  Unlike years past, where we would buy a ridiculous number of boxes (I believe the winning # is around 22), we stuck to only a few of the favorites this year.  Then, just when we thought we were done, my good friend Megan surprised me with a birthday box of thin mints!  Right about the same time, Caelin got a new teeshirt that said "I'm a smart cookie" with the girl scout logo on it.  So we had a few cookies and no doubt about it, Caelin liked the cookies!
                             "Im a smart cookie!"

Look closely, she has some seriously long locks growing in....in the back that is!

Last, she enjoyed a thin mint!

Next, she tried to eat as many as Mommy likes to eat...

Then she cried when she couldn't open it herself...

First, she found the box...

Happy Easter!

Peeps, jelly beans, reeses eggs and a bite of a boston creme donut....not a bad way to start off on Easter!  After a sugary start, Kellie joined us and we headed into visit Patty for an early lunch and a nice walk outside.  We then headed to Nanny Morra's for dinner.  Caelin enjoyed playing with lil cuz Bailey and then big cuz's Mikey and Carolyn.  After chatting with cuz Jess about college next year and hanging on the porch with all the cuz', aunts, uncles and Nanny, Caelin finally took a quick nap.  She snoozed through dessert but she sure did enjoy the ham for dinner!  Thank-you Nanny Morra for a wonderful Easter dinner!!

Happy Easter everyone!

These 2 are too quick to get a pic!

Hooray!!

Head Bonks!

Sportin' her Easter bonnet!

Her orange egg...

Here, there and everywhere!

Since turning 1, it seems like Caelin is all over the place!  One minute shes standing at the door, next she is trying to climb the stairs.  If you blink, she's in the kitchen talking to the dogs. 'One eye on' is house rule....and Caelin's new roomie (Aunt Kellie) has been a great 3rd set of eyes to keep track of our little bug!  The bug has been working hard on her walking and when motivated (e.g. cheese, paci, or just one of her moms) she will walk up to 10ft on her own.  Its super cute to watch, slow and steady but she gets there.  We will get a video up soon so you can see!  Here are a few pic's of Caelin in and around the house....

Yes! My 2 bottom teeth are 1/2way in!

Taking a break while running along the couch

enjoying an afternoon nap...

Favorite hangout spot!