French Festival

The French Festival took place last weekend at Oak Park - a short stroll from our house. We missed the French Poodle competition again this year but hopefully we'll remember next year...at least Zoe and I were able to enjoy a good Nutella crepe - although it was not as good as Mimene's  :)

First visit to the Eiffel Tower & Maddox wearing his European man shoes.

SO happy she got a parasol.  All the people she ran into with it weren't as happy.



Making friends at the playground.



Shoulder rides with his favorite little man!

And, of course, with his favorite little girl.

Butterflies and Dinosaurs

Another reason why I absolutely love our neighborhood: we are super close to the Santa Barbara Natural History Museum. It's only a short walk through what we refer to as the "squirrel park" (because this place has the fattest squirrels I have ever seen) and we enter through the end of the parking lot. Perfect, right?  The Museum's annual butterfly exhibit is live right now - along with the most awesome dinosaur exhibit!   

My idea is to take a picture here every year with the kids - that gives us a whole year to work on our photography skills ;)

One of these days he will actually face the camera instead of obsessing with his sister's hair.

 

 

 

 A couple of the beautiful butterflies. Zoe had fun finding all the ones listed on the brochure.

Maddox was really interested in them...maybe he wanted to eat one?

The dinosaur exhibit was really well put together.  Many of the dinosaurs were animated and growled (is that right? do dinosaurs 'growl'?) as you walked by, there were excavation sites where you can dig up old fossilized bones and there were also a handful of computerized dinosaur games. 

Zoe was deathly afraid that the Tyrannosaurus Rex was going to eat Maddox. She kept saying"no dinosaurs" for days after. We, being the good parents we are, had to pretend to feed Maddox to dino for the sake of a good picture.

 We can't wait to go back again soon!

Summer Solstice 2012

I just realized that I never posted the pictures from Summer Solstice - way back from June 23rd (yikes!).  This parade is awesome, a true Santa Barbara celebration. It is the largest, single-day arts event in Santa Barbara. We decided to walk downtown with the kids in the stroller this year since it was a perfect warm day and so we can avoid the madness of driving and trying to find a parking spot.  We met our friends Kim and Jen at Carlito's and, after almost 2 hours of waiting for a table, we were finally able to watch the parade from the patio.

Kim pointing everything out to Zoe - serious bonding time :)

 

Maddox 9 Month Stats

Our little man had his 9 month appointment yesterday and was given a clean bill of health!

Here are his latest stats:

Height: 28 inches (40th percentile)
Weight: 20lbs 8oz (50th percentile)

He's not too far off from Zoe at this age.  Just a quarter of an inch taller and 6oz lighter  :)

9 Months!

Happy 9 month birthday, Maddox!

He loves:

• To stand up - especially in his crib
• To crawl around everywhere & pushing the kid chair around to walk
• Baths
  
• Apricots, pears, wheat bread and yogurt
• Peek a boo
• Kisses and tickles
• Zoe

He can't stand:

• Diaper changes on the changing table
• Going down for his second nap - he prefers to talk to his sister instead
  
• Being alone

His likes and dislikes are really not too different from Zoe's at the same age.

Date Night!

It's been a while since I've posted a non-kid post. What can I say, we love doing everything with our kids - they are so much fun :) But Francis and I ventured out last weekend and went to the Ben Harper concert at the Santa Barbara Bowl. I absolutely LOVE this venue!  It was a perfect night for an outdoor concert - it was warm and there was no overcast so we were able to enjoy the view of the coastline from our seats. The picture below does not do it justice.

We ran into just about everyone we knew.  Santa Barbara can be such a small town - love it! 

Jack Johnson surprised the crowd and sang Bob Marley's "High Tide or Low Tide" with Ben Harper.  This was the best duet I've ever heard!



 Can't wait for the Black Keys in October!
 

4th of July!

We started our 4th of July this year by heading to Montecito. We heard that they had a smaller parade around 11:30 (vs. the 1pm parade downtown) and thought the timing was ideal considering the kids' nap times. The parade was only 3 short blocks, a half hour total and ended at Manning Park  - perfect for an almost 3 year old and 9 month old!

Someone loves parades!

Zoe's favorite - the fire engine.

Maddox chilling in his carrier.

Zoe had her face painted for the first time. She really wanted to get this done, she not only waited patiently in line for a half hour without complaining, she also sat very, very still while getting it done.

While waiting in line she noticed the cotton candy vendor right next door and was very adamant about getting a pink one. Look at her happy little face...totally worth the sticky hands and melted sugar all over!

She thinks she's in heaven.

And here's a picture of Maddox waking up after his nap - I didn't take many of him on the 4th and don't want him to feel left out  :)