Berryessa Art and Wine Festival

We were invited along by the girls to go to the Berryessa Art and Wine Festival which was a lot of fun! Of course, Luke likes to be surrounded by his ladies and this was right up his alley. He does really well saying "cheese" for pictures, but does get disappointed when there is no cheese promptly presented to him.

Since he was done being in the stroller, I let him run around for a while, which usually results in a lot of chasing and crying, as he cannot run everywhere he wants to run. But there is a simple solution: "the swing!" Grab that kid by the hands and swing him all around - works like magic everytime.

*Thanks Lindy for the great photos!

Family

At our friend's surprise 30th birthday, the whole family was invited to celebrate. We all trooped down the driveway to hide in cars and our good friend Anny snapped this picture. So often it is one of us taking the other's picture with Luke, it was nice to see all of us together. This is so Luke: hair in a faux-hawk, big high steps and the two of us holding on for dear life so he doesn't go running down the hill in faceplant style. I love seeing our little family of three doing what we always do. There is beauty in the everyday.

Yum Yum!

I've always wanted to visit Coronado Island, but had never been, even though we visit San Diego frequently. Finally, finally - we did!

We went to Hotel Coronado where the Ice Cream Shop was quickly found. Granted, it wasn't warm and sunny, but that doesn't keep a toddler from his ice cream!

Luke had never had ice cream before and the worker threw in extra sprinkles for him. Obviously, he LOVED it! ** As seen on his chocolate-ly face.

Father and Son

One of the most enjoyable moments of motherhood is watching the relationship between father and son. Luke looks so much like Todd, it's silly and they just adore each other. On our way back from Vegas, Luke spent all of breakfast ducking into Todd for hugs. They are two peas in a pod!

Easter in San Diego

For Spring Break, we packed up the family in a minivan (how suburban!) and jetted down to San Diego for a vacation. We were all in desperate need of a break and couldn't be happier to have Grammie Linda invite us down. The weather was beautiful on Easter and we dressed Luke up in his little Easter duds to hunt for eggs. Dissapointingly, he wasn't all that into it. He wanted the first egg he saw and wasn't willing to drop in into the duckie Easter basket Grammie got for him.

Luke is such a outdoors kid. All he wants to do is run. Open any door and he is like a moth to a flame. He can run around outside all day. We know that the minute, he's old enough, he'll be in some sort of sports - just to get all the energy out!

Vegas Baby!

On the first day in Las Vegas, we discovered the Lied Children's Musuem and thought it would be a great place to let Luke run around and play. He hadn't been to the Children's Discovery Museum in Downtown SJ in a while, so I made the mistake of putting him in the "baby" area. He was completely over that. He toppled right out and ran off to the big kids area. He loved being able to run around, and everyone laughed at the three adults running after him.

I do wish the water zone would have been a bit lower. We had to hold him up and practically turn him upsidedown to get to the water. Because of the that, the water area wasn't too exciting for him.

Mostly. Luke enjoyed running after the other kids and yelling "HI!HI!HI!" The other kids didn't know what to do, but the parents all laughed. He was just so excited!

Much to Todd's excitement, they had a kid's mechanic area where the kids could work on "cars." Luke, of course, loved the tires. Those tires were HEAVY, but he kept lifting them and dropping them, lifting them and dropping them.

Playtime at Vasona

With the weather being so terrible and cold lately, it was a blessing to have a gorgeous Saturday! We decided that morning that if the weather stayed so nice, we would have to take Luke to the park to play. Luckily, it also happened to be Shea-bee's 4th birthday (so soon??? ack!) and joined the family at Vasona to play for a bit.

Luke yelled "Hi! Hi!" to every single kid who ran passed him. It was a gattling gun of hellos, which was adorable. He spent some quality time on the swings and loved sliding down the slide alone. Well, mostly alone. (hands were still held!)

He had a rough time traversing uneven ground - he managed with the tanbark, but the grass was pitted and uncut and the poor kid just kept falling. And we discovered that Luke is still not a fan of touching grass, which made it difficult for him to get up.

Oh those blue, blue eyes. Every so often, I can catch a quick picture of them, but usually he's running around so quickly, I don't have a chance. But there they are, already searching for what to chase after next.

Luke is now understanding the "hug" - though more often than not, he won't actually follow through when you ask him to hug someone. He's way too independent for that. Many times he'll run straight for you, like he's going to hug you, then laugh and turn at the last minute. Sheesh. But we were all impressed when he actually returned a hug! Normally Luke would push away and run, but he didn't - impressive!