Hiking the Pleasanton Ridge

A few weekends ago we took a quick hike up the Pleasanton Ridge. It was a pretty hike and perfect for what we wanted - not too far from home and not too difficult. Preston hasn't been in the back pack carrier since we first bought it and we weren't quite sure how he would do. Well, we're happy to report that he loved it! In fact, we hiked further than we intended because he was having so much fun. There were plenty of  bikers and people with dogs who passed to keep his attention. Towards the end he had fun bouncing up and down, giggling. I'm not sure if Nate loved that part!

Tilden Park

Recently we made a trip with some buddies to visit Tilden Park in Berekely, CA. It's a large regional nature reserve that has some great activities. We went to visit the Little Farm and Steam Train. The little farm allows you to feed the animals celery or lettuce. We took lettuce, which was fun. You just had to be extra careful about getting your hands out of the way before the aggressive animals gnawed on them. If I were to do it again, I would definitely take celery. There is a lot more distance between where the animal bites and where your hand is!

Preston LOVED the farm. He especially loved watching the mother pig with all her little piglets nursing. They were stinky and Preston kept saying, "Ewww..." while plugging his noise with his hand.  He also braved feeding the animals. If you remember our trip to Tilden park almost a year ago - he was terrified of the animals. This time, though still a little nervous, he actually enjoyed feeding them. We saw goats, roosters, chickens, ducks, geese, rabbits, sheep, and cows. 

After visiting the farm we made our way over to the steam train. It's a real steam powered locomotive that takes you on a 10 minute ride. Preston also enjoyed the ride. He learned to say "steam" and "tunnel"

I know Preston enjoyed the trip because he would talk about it a few times a day the following week.  He would point out the window and say "Choo Choo". Then, he would start going through the list of animals he saw by making their noises. The pig was always followed by an "ewww..." It made me smile to know he was remembering our trip to Tilden Park.

Jelly Belly Factory

Last week Preston and I had outings planned most of the week, which resulted in Nate accusing me that I played all week. It's true - I didn't do the laundry, any cleaning besides the every day stuff or grocery shopping - but I wouldn't call motherhood all "play". Our trip to the jelly belly factory with a few friends was definitely not play - although it should have been.

It was one of those outings where I was glad I went but it really wasn't worth it. Preston was a bit of a pill. I guess I don't blame him - really. The wait to get onto the tour was about 35 minutes waiting in a line and the tour itself was about 30 minutes. Both were way too long for an energetic little boy to be confined. In addition, Preston tends to get a little aggressive when he gets over stimulated and over excited. By the end of the tour I was one flustered mommy and Preston was one cranky boy.

I also made the mistake of trying to take my stroller in hoping Preston would sit in it some of the time. Who was I kidding? My poor friend ended up pushing the empty stroller half the time because I was busy chasing a run away child.

This solo picture we got is a sad one but I guess it fits with the whole trip. Nate told me I shouldn't post it because it's so awful. He told me it looks like American Gothic. Do you see any resemblance? Maybe just Preston?

National Night Out

I had never heard of National Night Out until we moved into our home here. Our HOA tries to promote it by having a social hour with cookies and visits from the firemen and policemen. We knew Preston would love to see the firetruck up close! And, that he did. He had the run of the frietruck for a majority of the time it was at our clubhouse.

A Saturday in the City

Grandma and Grandpa Jacobson and Jennifer came to visit - well, sort of. There was a Subway convention in San Francisco that they were attending so we took advantage of their closeness and went into the city to see them. Preston loved just hanging out on the 2nd floor of the Moscone Center watching the occasional firetrucks go by and the many bikes below. He even stayed with Grandma and Grandpa while Nate, Jenn and I went to walk the trade show floor grabbing whatever freebies looked good to us - baseballs, cookies, spices, and things for our lunch.

After lunch we walked the streets making a stop at the Zeum Merry-Go-Round. We had a blast! Then on to walk around Union Square with a stop in Williams-Sonoma (of course!) and then on to the mall.

The day was full and Preston, who went napless for the day, was calling it quits by 5:00pm.

After looking through pictures from the weekend, I realized we hardly took any. We don't have a single picture to document that Grandma and Jenn were here. We did manage to get Grandpa in the background of a few shots on the Merry-Go-Round.