Jude's 1st Birthday at the Monterey Bay Aquarium

We have been staying at Jesse's brothers house and he has a fish tank, well, Jude LOVES it. So for his birthday we took him to the Monterey Bay Aquarium and he loved it. If you have never been there you have to go, just don't read the propaganda about the fishing industry :)

The Kelp Forest:

Leopard Shark:

Giant Octopus: You aren't aloud to use flash in the aquarium, but so many people were while they were taking pictures of this guy. He was angry and waving his arms all around. 

Touch Pool:

Tide Pool simulator:

Rainbow Trout:

The Jellies are mine and Jesse's favorite exhibit. 

Penguins:

Jude and I inside the bubble. A penguin pooped right in front of us. It was really disgusting.

Our little clam: They have this awesome kids section where you can let them loose and get all their energy out. It was really cool. There is a special section for the younger kids that has a water bed so you can make it "wave". Jude had a lot of fun on it, unfortunately we have no pictures of it. There were just so many kids to keep an eye on.

And the newest exhibit: "The Secret Lives of Seahorses"

Apparently the dads carry the babies in their bellies, not the moms:

The Tuna tank: I heard that they can swim up to 50 mph. The Tuna's behind Jude and Jesse are the small ones, it's hard to photograph to scale, but these fish are really big and there were even bigger ones. 

a side note: watching your husband and son playing together is the best thing...period. 

We went to Toys R Us today to get Jude some stuff for his birthday....and they celebrated with us. They gave him a balloon (one of his favorite things) and a crown, then they all said Happy Birthday as we left the store. It was so cute! 

So I gave Jude three little bites of some chocolate cake last night....he went insane. He was crawling around shaking his head and laughing. He was also making a "mmmmm" noise and rolling around on the bed. It was adorable. I didn't think that small amount of cake would effect him so much. He's going to go bonkers for his carrot cake on his birthday. 

Jude had his first Sunday school experience last night. He did really well, and when we came to pick him up after church he pretty much ran to the door saying "Maaaaaaa Maaaaaa", it was so cute. The ladies that watched him said he was the happiest baby they have ever seen. I was a proud mother, since these are the things you want to hear about your kid. It was also nice to sit through a whole church service. And church was good. Jonny Power taught from Acts 3, it was a real eye opener into who God is and for us to not make him into what is convenience for us. I came away from church optimistic and wanting more. 

In other news our friends the Manuele's (they did my maternity pictures) are opening a coffee shop on Thursday (hopefully!). They bought Caffe Luna and are turning into Sally Loo's. When you are in SLO, you should check it out. 

Catch Up!

Here is a little bit of what we have been up to. It's mostly pictures of Jude. 

A few weeks ago in the midst of Jesse working ridiculous hours Jude and I came up to visit and help if we could. Jude had a good time riding around on Dada's back.

The week after that my mom came to play. Jude loves his Grandma Soo Soo, and swinging. The combination of the two is a thrill for him. He is cracking up almost the whole time. 


The day before Easter Jesse and I headed up to Atascadero to house sit for the owner of the screen printing business and owner of Mobley's Skateshop..Austin Miller. He has an amazing house, pictures are coming...

Anyway, our families came up on Easter to do the normal Easter things. This is Jude and Nana Cathe in the jacuzzi (kid approved temperature of course), the pool was about 47 degrees since it would get so cold at night. But the days were beautiful. 

Before dinner (which was eaten at the outside dinner table..awesome) Jude hunted for some eggs. As you can see Jesse and I hid them well. :) Here is Grandma Soo Soo and Jude trying to steal her wine. 
The first egg found...
and that was all...
standing....
being goofy (like usual)...


Before we left I wanted to make sure I got some pictures of the gorgeous place so I can share them with you. This is the view from the guest house (above the garage), below is the pool.
This is right next to the pool area and sneak peak at the pond. The plants growing on the fence are apple trees. This picture doesn't do them justice..they were beautiful. 
Going down from the pool area..this is the back of the main house. The table with the green umbrella is where we had Easter dinner.
Cindy...
The outdoors fire place. We took our family photo there and I made smores the last night. The coldest night. Oh and this house would be perfect for a wedding. The parking area is huge and has strands of light going over it, and then the ceremony would be in front of this fire place...I want to get married again. 
Some of the beautiful gardens, I am a fan of haphazard gardening. I like it to look natural. I guess I really like all gardens really. I can't wait to have one of my own. 
Veggie garden. There isn't much growing in here, just some chives, strawberries and lemons. 
This is the gate down to the pond...
The pond. With many turtles, tad poles,  birds and ducks. 

The side gate going to the front of the house, behind me is a grassy area with an oak tree...it's right next to the fireplace and another good place for a ceremony. 
The front of the house. 
The view from the front of the house. Left to right: basketball/tennis court, putting green and the trampoline (Jude's favorite thing, I think he likes it more than swinging).
View of the house from the other side. The guest house is above the garage. 
Basketball/Tennis court...
Mama Kitty. I don't know her real name, I just called her Mama Kitty cause she had kittens the Friday before we got there. She was an awesome cat, and Jude loved petting her. 
These are some of her babies...I had counted 7. The orange one is my favorite and I have no idea why the one of the right is on it's back...I promise he is ok. Their eyes started opening the day before we left. 
Anyway, that is my last couple weeks in a nutshell. It is nice to be home even though that place is so wonderful. 

Weekends with Dada are the best..

So not much has been going on around here to blog about. Jesse has been working a lot and we have really just been trying to enjoy the small amount of time we have to be together. So here are some update pictures....

Jude LOVES bath time. This is his rinse cup...
yelling...
being silly and trying to hide from me and the camera...
this is his favorite blanket (this thing goes everywhere with us) it was also his uncle Nates when he was a baby...
one of Jude's other favorite things, swinging...
and now, his first sandwich: wheat bread, turkey, swiss, avocado and olives. he ate the whole thing and only got one small smudge of avocado on his shirt, of course it was all over his face and hands...





then we went and sat by the creek...