At the Ranch

Well, we may not live on a Ranch, but we sure do like to visit! The week before last (yes it takes me a while to post these things) we had a lovely visit with our friends Cami, Cassidy who is 2 and a half, and Cody who turns one next month, at their Ranch in Livermore. They have a variety of animals that Myles enjoyed tormenting, but his favorites were the goats and kitties. He had a great time running around and riding on Cassidy's tractor, when he wasn't trying to wrestle with poor Cody. Myles just loves to give "big hugs"! It is a beautiful place, and we had a lot of fun!

Last weekend we went to visit the family in Oregon at their Ranch for Dad/Grandpa's birthday. It was a quick weekend, but a fun one Myles had a great time playing with his cousin Gracie, who loves to "babysit" him. She was such a good helper, she played with him and gave him a bath! Such a little mommy :) He also had a great time with Grandpa while running around the Ranch and looking at the Llamas. He stayed with Grandpa while Mommy and Danny went shopping, and then those brave boys took Myles shopping with them while the girls went and got pedicures!! It was a good day. Anyway, I just wanted to share the cute pics, and thank-you everyone for the nice visits, we enjoyed it. We love spending time with family and friends!

Grapes and Pumpkins

Danny and I had the luxury of getting away last weekend to celebrate my birthday (thanks to Grandma!!) so we decided to head up to wine country. We could not have picked a better weekend. The weather was perfect and the scenery was beautiful. Saturday we enjoyed the drive through the vineyards and made a few stops along the way. We did a little shopping in Yountville, and discovered bouchon bakery (YUM!)they have good "nutter butter" cookies, which is a delicious homemade version of it's namesake. We stopped at a winery that was having a blues concert and took a walk along their vineyard and enjoyed the blues and the sunset. Then we headed up to Calistoga and walked along the main street for a while and had a lovely dinner at Brannans. If you are ever up that-a-way you must try that place, it was fabulous!! Then we headed to Santa Rosa where we luckily got the last room at the Hilton. There we no rooms available anywhere! We slept in and ordered room service in true birthday style! Sunday we took a tour of Beringer Winery, which was just beautiful. We got to go through the cellars which are a part of the original winery built in 1877. Part of the movie "A Walk in the Clouds" was filmed on their property, and I got to stand in the very spot that Keanu stood in one of the scenes in the cellar :)We did a little wine tasting too, and got to try some of the "reserve" wines. It was a perfect weekend!

While we were away Myles stayed with Grandma and Grandpa and boy did he get spoiled!Grandma bought him new toys for the occasion, and I think he had a lot of fun playing with Grandma, Grandpa, Auntie Lizzie and Keith. He even got to go to the pumpkin patch He brought home a very cute little pumpkin, just his size. Grandma took some cute pictures which I borrowed to post. He was a happy boy when we got home, so I could tell that he had a good time!

Getting Air

We decided to take a trip to Klamath Falls, OR last weekend to visit Danny's family, and it turned out to be a fun and relaxing weekend. On Friday we had a lovely picnic at the park, and got to spend some quality time with Mimi and Papa (Myles' Great-Grandparents) and spend some time with the whole family at dinner.
Saturday we got up and Lee, Danny's brother, took Danny, his Dad and I to Spencer Creek to go quadding. I started slow at first, since I was a "first-timer" (well, sort of).
We took a trail that lead to an old graveyard dating to as early as the mid 1800's, and then another trail, about 6 miles long, that took us up to a gorgeous high lookout pointAfter we rode back, I was feeling a little bit more brave (after watching the boys do their tricks), and decided to give Amanda's quick little quad a try again. There were some hills and jumps near where we started out and I jumped them a few times and I got air! It was so fun, and I can see why people do it all the time. I wish we had done the jumps earlier! It was a bonus for everyone, as Myles got to spend some bonding time with Nana and Mimi. I know he had fun with both of them!!

The boys rounded out the weekend with some golf, and then we headed home. We stopped on the way at burger king so that Myles could play on the playground (for the first time!) It was a good weekend!!

Fishies!!

We had a fun trip to The Aquarium/Academy of Science in San Francisco yesterday. Grandma is on vacation and wanted to take Myles somewhere fun, spoiled kid that he is ;) We enjoyed looking at the varieties of fish and reptiles.
There were lots of saltwater fish with pretty colors that Myles wanted to grab, fish that glow in the dark, and a HUGE giant bass (makes you want to keep your feet up when swimming in the lake).
They also had a tidepool exhibit which allowed myles to finally touch something, upon which he got excited and tried to pop a seashell in his mouth! The penguin exhibit was the highlight. One of the penguins swam up to the glass right where we were standing and pressed his beak up against the glass like he was giving Myles a kiss. It was so cute

We mostly went for the fish, but there were some other neat exhibits. They had some huge snakes, turtles, frogs, and lizards, and bugs. They also had a section of a 1700 year old redwood tree, you could see all of the rings. I think despite the "man is destroying the earth" agenda, the academy is a pretty cool place. Educational for sure. I want to go back in 2008, they are going to re-open in golden gate park and they are going to have a huge home grown coral reef.!


Ironically enough, our favorite italian restaraunt Buca Di Beppo is right next door (I never even noticed) so we had to go to lunch there. It was wonderful as always! If you havent been there, you must go!

Hot Fun in the Summertime

It's funny how doing all of those summer activities with a one year old brings a renewed sense of excitement. From splashing around in the pool to squirting each other with the hose...it's the simple things that make summer fun!
We started out July at Clearlake to celebrate "Independence weekend". We had fun cruising around on the patio boat, which was just Myles' speed. He even got to drive it! He also had his first swim in the lake which was fun, except he hated the life jacket. Ahhh...those lake weekends full of food, swimming, lounging, and sun. And then crashing at the end of the day!


We took Myles for his second trip to the fair (he slept through the whole thing last year) We had a great time just walking around and looking at the exhibits, the animals, and we discovered a great acapella group. Myles also got to go on his first pony ride! It was pretty funny, he would sit there with a straight face, and then all of a sudden he would squeal with excitement. Oh, and let's not forget the food. Gotta love the fair food. (mmmm...funnel cake)


Thanks to the invitation of Family and friends we have been swimming a lot lately. Myles has become quite the water baby after a brief period of dislike for any water AT ALL! (even the bath!) Glad that's over!
Here's a pic of Myles having a blast in the pool at our friends Anthony and Christiani's house. We had fun swimming and enjoyed some fabulous brazilian BBQ!



So, my blogs are mostly pictures, but hey, a picture is worth a thousand words, right?
We hope that you are having a fabulous summer, despite this crazy heat!!

Welcome!

Hello All! Welcome to the Anderson Family blog spot! (well, at leat the Tracy branch of the Anderson Family) I borrowed the blog idea from a friend, I thought that it was a good way to post the latest Myles updates and pics all in one place. I do not promise to be a good or interesting writer, but I will tell you what I know!! Thanks for stopping by!!