Spencer gets ready to travel

Spencer is getting excited about our big trip next week.... Nancy's family reunion on Mission Beach in San Diego followed by Jon's wedding in Martha's Vineyard. He points at these places on his map while he eats breakfast, he talks about seeing Nani, Nai Nai, and Uncle Jon, talks all the time about "airplane in the sky," and loves wearing his new crocodile backpack.

Click below for a video of Spencer parading around the living room in his travel gear:


Click here for more photos of the Spencer and Tyler...

Visit from Morgan and Samantha

Ryan's step-brother, Morgan, drove up from San Diego to spend a weekend in the Bay Area. We had a great time meeting his girlfriend Samantha, launghing at Spencer calling out his own food order to our waiter, riding the little train in Central Park, making "cucumber" egg bagel sandwiches (using zucchinis), and hanging out in our backyard.


Spencer had a blast playing with Uncle Morgan in Central Park. The highlight was going for a ride on the little train. Morgan was a good sport, cramming himself into a space meant for toddlers. :)


Thanks for visitng us - we hope you'll come back again soon!!!

Click here for a slideshow....

BFF

Now that Tyler is sitting up a little better, our two boys often spend time hanging out in Spencer's big-boy bed. Here are some cute shots Eunice took of Spencer and Tyler...

Ahoy, Matey!

Another afternoon spent engrossed in Mega Blocks - this time making "big boats."


Putting the finishing touches on his boat.


Ahoy, Matey!

Casini Ranch Camping

Tyler's first camping trip! Our community group decided to get away for a weekend at Casini Ranch, a great family-oriented campground right on the banks of the Russian River in Sonoma.



We didn't have the most auspicious beginning.... a 5 hour traffic-filled ride through San Francisco and across the Golden Gate bridge. A rest stop at the Petaluma outlets, however, gave us a second wind and we pulled into Casini Ranch to find that Tom and Amber had already set up camp and started dinner. They let us borrow their two-room tent which was big enough to fit the Nichols and Canadas, with room to spare for a nursing chair for Eunice... Let the camping begin!

When you're camping with 10 kids, you don't have much on your agenda other than watching everyone run around. Highlights of our day included watching Spencer build dirt castles with the girls, towing Spencer and Theo around the campsite in a wagon with buckets on their heads, lots of time playing on the swings and slides of the playground across the street from our campsite, and a trip down to the river bank to play in the river. We also enjoyed a surprise visit from Adam, Rachel, Todd, Chico, and Michelle, who were in the area hiking (we put Adam and Rachel to work in the inflatable kayak, towing the rest of us around the river in our inner tubes as the afternoon fog rolled in). At night we enjoyed a hay ride in the back of a tractor around the campsite, s'mores around the campfire, and a hilarious bedtime routine of brushing teeth in our huge tent.

The one downer of the weekend was Gaby falling into the campfire. She ended up being fine, but definitely gave us a good scare. Spencer still tells the story best: he pantomimes Gaby falling, says that her mommy and daddy were scared, and makes the noises of the fire truck and ambulance that came to make sure everything was OK. Gaby's a tough cookie - burned in a campfire one day, off to a big European adventure a couple days later.

Tyler loved his first camping trip - the fresh air helped him to sleep his first 8 hour stretch in the great outdoors. He's going to be ready to join the Nichols boys (Ryan, Adam, and Spencer) on a backpacking trip out in the Sierras in no time.

Click here for a slideshow...

Tyler Meets Mom's Colleagues

Eunice's former colleague, Cindy Consenzo, was back in town from Seattle for a few days and wanted to be introduced to the newest member of the Nichols family. They met up, along with Janet, in San Mateo for a yummy brunch at Nini's.


Tyler couldn't be happier getting so much attention from the ladies. :)

Birthday Message to Po Po

Spencer has been excited about Po Po's birthday for quite some time now. This morning when he woke up, I told him it was finally time to sing "Happy Birthday" to grandma. Click the play button below to hear Spencer's special message to Po Po.

Afternoon with Tyler in the Backyard

Tyler is almost 3 months old now. Each day, he has longer and longer stretches of alertness, filled with lots of smiles and cooing.


One of his favorite spots to hang out on a warm afternoon is underneath the big tree in our backyard.


Checking out the roses along our fence...


Life doesn't get much better than this!

Click here for more photos of Tyler's afternoon in our backyard.

Spencer's First Sleep Over

In an effort to help our friends Phil and Nikki celebrate their 8th anniversary in style, we offered to watch Gaby for the weekend so they could get away for a romantic overnight stay at Cavallo Point in Sausalito.


As we suspected, Gaby was no trouble at all - in fact, she provided non-stop entertainment for Spencer the entire time. They spent most of Saturday afternoon playing with a pile of rocks in our backyard - making "sweetie pies," "coffee," and "banana cake."


At the end of the evening, we threw them into the bathtub to clean off the impressive amount of dirt caked on to their faces. In fair turnaround, Gaby pooped in the tub, requiring us to do a full-blown disinfection of the kids, our bathroom, and the bath toys. (Click here for a hilarious post describing Phil and Nikki's traumatic experience with Spencer the last time they babysat him.) Finally, diapers and pajamas were put on, the kids romped around a little longer, Ryan read a few bedtime stories, and by 9pm, Spencer and Gaby were fast asleep, just a few feet away from one another. Tyler fell asleep shortly thereafter and we had a nice, quiet evening with 3 kids in the house. Sunday went equally smoothly... We'll probably kick ourselves later for saying this, but based on our experience this weekend, we'd be happy to watch Gaby any time. :)

Click here for a slide show and videos.