Mark & Mandy

A few weeks ago (been a bit lazy on posting) we took a trip back to the Bay Area. Mark and I both had work and decided it was time for the Bean to see our old stomping ground. We were lucky enough to stay with Scott, Julie, Niko and Sumo which was great since they were kitted out with all of the baby gear. Julie also graciously offered to watch Elsie while we were at work (AMAZING!!).

I am definitely a neurotic mom so most of the time I am with Scott I feel nervous in my tummy – is he going to drop Niko?, should Niko be swinging that high? – but it is really good for me. The process usually goes: me verbalizing my concerns – Scott and Mark telling me I am crazy, Mark imitating Scott’s behavior with Eslie to add more nerves to my tummy, Julie listening to me and nodding (secretly feeling the same) and finally me seeing Niko and Elsie love it.  Little by little progress is made!

I got my first dose when we arrived and headed to the park:

[youtube]http://youtube.com/watch?v=IyuD2SiQm_Y[/youtube]

Elsie loved it! She also tried out the little rocking zebra.

Niko was very generous with all of his toys

On Sunday, Scott and Julie hosted cocktails and drinks so we could have a chance to see a few people … of course we didn’t get very many photos but I did capture this one: It was cute to see how times have changed

Monday through Wednesday Elsie spent the day with Julie and Niko – she had so much fun. We have no idea how Julie managed two babies (SUPA-Star!) but we were so thankful!

Thanks Scott, Jul, Niko and Sumo for taking us in!! We had a wonderful time!!

I am a reader of a blog called babygadget (along with a whole host of other baby, design, party blogs) which highlights the new cool must haves for babies and parents. I constantly find packages at my door and then I am embarrassed to tell Mark. Two days ago I received a package of Mini-tissues and I was pretty impressed. I made my first product documentary on my new flip camera … yes you can tell its my first since I clearly don’t know how to hold the camera and show the product. Elsie gave her $.02 at the end.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G2rvJ036BtY[/youtube]

Thanks to google reader I am extremely efficient at locating and buying items …. SCARY!!

We headed up to the mountains this past weekend for our first ski trip with the Spruills. We headed up Friday afternoon to avoid the predicted snow … no such luck…

Fortunately the roads were just slightly wet and the traffic was minimal. We loaded the car with everything we needed (except my phone charger and my laptop powercable – its funny how my packing strategy has changed with the miniature, I seem to always have her gear, but not my own). Jess and the girls were an hour behind us and when they arrived we had some dinner and play time.

We had a babysitter come to watch Elsie and Sophie while we skied – so after a good night sleep we headed out to the lift … it was snowing as we headed up the mountain…

and it continued to snow all day. We used our flip camera (thanks chloe!!) to give a mountain update:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p766nboNWgk[/youtube]

I realized that my lack of exercise did not help my skiing stamena …

but boy is my new ski outfit cute!!  I decided to call it a ski day around 2:30 and headed for drinks. We cooked a yummy dinner, had some delicious drinks and headed for bed – expecting to wake up with sore legs (yup, we predicted correctly!). We woke up to snow and decided to forgo the snow romping with the girls to get on the road … roads were snow packed and visibility was so so but we made it home in 3 hours – in time to get all of our holiday gear put away.

Mark is already planning our next getaway!

I am pretty sure the geese were having a convention on the 4th fairway – maybe they didn’t get the word that the caucus was in Iowa.

Honk if you love OBAMA!

we went out for new years dinner with Heidi and Jason (who recently moved to Colorado – right down the street!) at the GreenBriar Inn. We had a 6 course menu complete with champagne and some yummy wine! It was a great adults night out!

Here we are all dressed up

We got elsie some baubles for New Years …

She preferred to chew them instead of wear them

we have a wirey head massager thingy called the tingler – elsie loves it.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R_wzaymwESg[/youtube]