Golden Gate Bridge

Besides going to the beach and museum, we also took a little side trip to look at the Golden Gate Bridge. We sure packed a lot in for only a few days. You may notice that the following pictures are in B&W. Well, that's because I got a little frustrated in Photoshop. It's hard trying to get the bridge red but make sure the sky and ocean stay blue. I finally gave up.


The weather was beautiful in SF. And did you notice, no fog in sight!


There were dozens of sailboats throughout the bay. Josh mentioned something about how he'd like to go sailing. Inches away from sinking to my death does not sound appealing. Seriously, doesn't that guy in the picture look like he's going to get eaten by some creature of the sea any moment? Not my idea of a fun time.


From our location we had a great view of Alcatraz. Josh and I still haven't taken a tour of the most secluded prison. It's at the top of our list of things to go do in the bay area (I seriously do have a whole list of things to do)


I heard on the news that they are thinking of building a hotel on the island. Are they crazy? There's another thing I won't be doing!


The following pics were actually taken by my designer/painter/website developer/photographer/husband Josh. Ava was so interested in watching the sailboats. My mom actually had to hold on tight to the little tyke, because she kept wanting to walk off the edge to get closer to the action.


I just love skirts on little girls.


How cute is she? I just want to go give her a big squeeze!


This is totally the way to ride in SF. Each person actually has a little speaker so they can hear what the tour guide is saying. I actually really want to see how those things would take on the steep SF hills.

Dale Chihuly at the De Young

You're probably wondering who the heck is that! And no, he isn't a pirate. His name is Dale Chihuly and he's just the most amazing glass sculpture. Who just happens to be from Washington state...yeah! You may remember my post last month concerning a few of his pieces. Last week they opened an 11 room exhibit at the De Young Museum. So of course, we had to take my mom and go check it out.


The exhibit was way beyond what I expected. We took over 150 pictures just at the exhibit. Don't fret, I'm not going to force you to look at all of the pictures. I paired them down to a bunch of my favs. But if you want to see them all, let me know :)

This is the first piece you see when you enter the Chihuly exhibit. Can you tell which images are a reflection and which are the real deal? This picture doesn't show it, but these pieces were taller than me. I love how he used lighting and reflection to really add some drama.


My mom wanted to make sure to get a picture of the very ornate vase. And I of course obliged. What's one more picture anyways!


Not only does he do glass sculptures, he does sketches too.


Here's Josh admiring the wall of giant glass flowers. Don't you just love how he uses such vibrant colors?


The above picture doesn't show it very well, but each piece was unique. Here is a close up of one of the flowers.


The next room was full of beautiful glass bowls.


What's that? You love this bowl too! I'm thinking it would make a perfect chip and dip bowl. I wonder how much it would cost?


I loved how he paired a modern sculpture with something from nature. The sculpture was more than twice my height. Go big or go home!



I can't believe how many different pieces are in this boat. Can you believe just how detailed each sculpture is? This would take ages to finish all of these pieces. Chihuly must not have any free time.




Now come the pieces that always seem to amaze me...the chandeliers.


I have the perfect place to put this. Now only if my room was bigger and the ceiling were about 20 feet taller.





Josh noticed how the overhead lighting cast a cool shadow on the wall (Just another reason why I love my husband). So of course, I had to take another picture!




Here is another wall full of Chihuly's sketches.


Here's a shot of the girls. You might be asking why the whole picture has a red tint...


...above us was a glass ceiling full of colorful glass sculptures. If you look behind us in the picture above, you can see how the overhead lighting cast beautiful colors all over the walls. You can tell by Ava's expression that she is in awe of its beauty!


This room reminds me of being under the ocean. The people on the side can give you an estimate about how large the pieces actually were.


I hope you enjoyed the walk through of the exhibit. I know Mom and Ava sure did! If I've convinced any of you to go to the exhibit, just let me know, I'll totally tag along with you!


Our little walker can't stay in the stroller forever. She of course wanted to get out to stretch her legs.


After going through the rest of the museum we decided to go the observation deck. Usually summer + San Francisco = FOG. But it must of been our lucky day, because it was a clear as the eye could see. If you look closely you can see the Golden Gate Bridge in the distance. Stay tuned for future posts, because that's where we'll be going next!

Rio Del Mar Beach

Just looking at this picture makes me wish I was there right now. This past weekend my mom flew out to visit. One of the days we decided to head out to Santa Cruz and go to the beach. It's about an hour and a half drive.


Ava and Grandma played the entire time. Which was a nice break for me. Plus, I got to play around with our super cool new camera.


Ava loves the beach. Especially the ocean. She kept my mom busy by having her walk back and forth from the beach to the water.


The weather was really warm that day. So it felt really good to go take a dip in the water. Ava would get all tense, arch her back, and stick out her tummy whenever the water crashed over her legs. But once it was done she would let out a big giggle and want to walk further into the ocean.



If you flip through this next two pictures really fast you can see our little girl waddle back and forth. She is actually getting really good at walking all on her own.



I realized that in most of the pictures, my mom isn't looking at the camera. So here is a cute picture of her smiling.

Some things never change

It may be over a year after the far left picture was taken, but Ava still loves to snuggle with Grandma. This past week we were lucky enough to have my mom fly out for a few days. Josh and I have sadly learned that once you have children, your own parents no longer come out to see you...they come to see their grandchildren. While my mom was out, she was up for doing anything, as long as Ava was along. She even offered to babysit one night so Josh and I could go on a date. But personally, I think she really just wanted to spend some alone time with Ava. We didn't mind! Stay tuned for future updates, because I have loads of pictures to post of our adventures.

I've been tagged...

Thanks to my sister-in-law Ashley, I have been tagged. Shoot! I always have a hard time filling out these surveys. The rules are as follows: List 3 joys, 3 fears, 3 goals, 3 current obsessions, and 3 random surprising facts about yourself. At the end, tag 3 people at the end of your post by leaving their names.

Joys:

1. Being a mom. I have to admit, being a mom isn't easy. But it is those little moments that makes all the hard work totally worth it. Who knew you could have so much fun with a 13 month little girl.
2. My super hot husband (I probably just embarrassed him...sorry honey). Getting married to Josh is the best decision I ever made. Raising Ava together has brought me the greatest joy I have ever known.
   
3. My bed! There is no where else I would rather be than cuddled up in my silky smooth sheets. I could seriously stay there all day...seriously!
   

Fears:

1. Something bad happening to someone I love. I am such a worry wort. But a quote from Quentin L. Cook has really helped me put things in perspective. He says, "Live by faith and not by fear." I'm getting a little bit better, but it doesn't help when your husband rides a train under the bay in earthquake country. Which reminds me that I need to get a 72 hour kit for Josh to take to work.
   
2. Bees. I have never been stung, maybe it's because every time I see a bee I run to the house as fast as I possibly can.
   
3. Spiders. This past week I was driving the car and a grotesque, extremely hairy spider made an appearance above my head. If Ava wasn't in the car, I probably would of lost control of the car. If a spider ever comes near my baby, I will take them down no matter how terrified I am.
   

Goals:

1. Live near family. Our family members are not making this easy since they all live in different cities. You guys could totally make the decision easier if you moved near us!
2. Buy a house. Hopefully we'll accomplish this goal sooner than later. We are accepting donations to the Josh and Korey House Fund :)
   
3. Visit Italy. Romance, Italian food, museums...what's not to love. I think it's every girls dream to visit there one day.
   

Current Obsessions:

1. Photography. Josh and I decided to do our part in helping to stimulate the economy by purchasing a super sweet DSLR camera. I can't believe how great the pictures look. This past Sat. we took 186 pictures. In my defense, my mom was out visiting, so we were touring the city.
   
2. Pioneer Woman. From photography to cooking, this site has got me hooked. I diligently check it everyday...along with 20,000 other people.
3. Reading. I hated reading all through high school. But the Twilight series has really sparked my interest. I never thought the day would come that I would rather read a book than watch tv. If you guys have read any good books, totally tell me about them!
   

Random Surprising Facts:

1. I didn't loose my last baby tooth until I was in 7th grade. And that was only because the dentist pulled the stubborn thing out! I guess my permanent teeth weren't exactly on top of my baby teeth. So they wouldn't push the suckers out.
2. I love mowing the lawn. I used to mow my parent's lawn for free. Even though they would of paid me. I know it just isn't me, I've talked to other people who also find it very relaxing. I also enjoy vacuuming.
3. I drink Fruit Punch Crystal Lite everyday. Dang! That stuff is good.
   

Tag: Kristin (my college roomie...I know way too many Kristins), Saskia, and Morgan

Bad hair day

I guess if Ava has a bad hair day the blame falls squarely on me. Unless she decides to pull out her ponytail holder and then proceed to pull a blanket on and off her head (as pictured below).


Look at those bangs! Hey Ava, it's me your mother. Can you see me?


I don't know if you all can help us with this, but Josh and I still can't decide what color Ava's eyes are. The outer most edges look grayish blue, then they get greener until they are a honey brown. What am I suppose to put on her passport when they ask for eye color?


Out of hundreds of pictures, here is one of Ava FINALLY smiling. Gotta love the summer wardrobe. Little rompers look so darling on little girls!

Ava's got soul

If there is a piano in the room, you will most likely find Ava next to it. She was the happiest little girl once she grew tall enough to reach the keys of on her own. The other day I put the keyboard on the ground so she could play it on her own...and lets be honest, I wanted a few minutes to do a few chores! Ava loves banging on the keys and pushing all the buttons. She just happened to discover a button that plays a song when you push it. Check out Ava grooving to the piano...

We've got a walker

Ava surprised us the other day when she decided to walk over to where I was sitting. It's been a few weeks since and now she is starting to climb up on furniture and anything else that she can hoist herself up on. Good thing she's small for her age because it limits her climbing possibilities!

74

How many M&M's I've eaten this past hour? How many pairs of shoes I own? How many seconds I've had of piece and quiet? Those would all be wrong! 74 is the number of points I got in the game of Scrabble after putting down the word screamer. I must admit, during the game my only goal was to put down a word with at least 4 letters. So when I happened to discover that I could lay down all my tiles, Josh and I were pretty shocked! Did you know if you lay down all your tiles you get an extra 50 points. I ended the game with the highest Bunting total to date...a 269! What's the highest score you've ever gotten at Scrabble?

Beach babes

This past week one of my friends called me up and asked if we would be up to going to the beach. It was a hard decision, I was already planning on cleaning the apartment. Who cares about the apartment! We totally decided to go to the beach!

It was a pretty nice day, but the wind made it feel cooler. Why does it always have to be windy at the beach? Here is Ava longing to go into the water. You can't tell from the picture, but her little friend that came with us is playing in the ocean...Ava's a little envious!


Ava absolutely loved the ocean. We were in a little inlet off of the ocean, so the waves were a lot calmer. So Ava had a blast walking in the waves. She kept squealing with delight and wanting to walk further and further out. The water wasn't actually that cold. Which I'm not used to coming from the Pacific Northwest, where you don't ever go into the ocean!


Here are the girls having a blast playing in the sand. Of course Ava couldn't help herself from trying to eat everything within her reach. Including sand, sticks and even using a shovel to suck up ocean water. This girl keeps me on my toes!


Ava, aka the sand baby! For those who need a quick tip of how to get sand off, use baby powder. Works like a charm and then it makes your baby smell oh so good.


Ava's new favorite trick. This child is going to need a good scrubbing once we get home!


Aren't they adorable?!!! They play so well together. We had so much fun spending the day at the beach. I would choose it over cleaning the apartment anyday! We totally need to go again...soon.