Screaming Mimi's

It was ridiculously hot here this past weekend, so on Sunday after a quick stroll through the farmer's market in Sebastopol with our friends Susan and Savannah, Carina and I stopped at Screaming Mimi's ice cream parlor. If you have never been there you MUST go because their ice cream is fantastic! The only bummer is that it's priced by weight, so it can get expensive if you aren't careful. However, I noticed that if you tell them you want a small, they put a tiny scoop of whatever flavor you want and ask, "Is this enough?" When it is nearly 100 degrees outside, no, a tablespoon of coconut sorbet is NOT enough! So then they put a much larger scoop in...you can almost hear them thinking "cha-ching!" Then you have a larger amount than you intended but you don't care because your skin is practically melting off of your body so you aren't thinking clearly. Luckily Carina is still ok with sharing with Mommy so it wasn't too bad. (I just realized I am really starting to sound like Mike if I think the 16 year old ice cream parlor employee is conspiring to load up my ice cream bowl so I have to pay more.) All of the chairs are painted different colors with the names of the flavors on them. I didn't realize Carina sat in a chair that matched the color of her dress, LOL!

She was happy to eat her ice cream with the little sampler spoon! The bowl does look a bit enormous from this angle...did I mention it was REALLY hot? And that it was coconut sorbet? Oh yeah, and strawberry too...

By the way, Carina is now 21 months old! WOW!

Campus Life...

When my parents first moved to their community and began telling me all about the different parties and festivities they have there, I told them that it sounded like my life in the dorms in college! The only thing different is that everyone is of legal drinking age. Whenever we are there, the phone rings frequently with invitations to come over to other peoples "dorms" for drinks/dinners/games. I'll never forget when I was down visiting when I was 8 months pregnant, and their friend invited them over for coffee and pie...at 10 o'clock at night! I was in my pj's ready for bed, and suddenly I was waddling across the street to party! I'm pretty sure I was the only one there without a little "something extra" in my coffee! Now they refer to the community as the "campus", which is totally fitting. Good thing there are no CSA's to write them up...they would be busy :o)

Just like dorm life, there are many different events and activities planned for the residents. Most of these take place at the Lodge (think Student Union). While we were there, one of the events was Karaoke Night (pause for audible groans). Apparently, my Dad is now becoming quite the star! So Carina and I went to cheer him on. My Dad and his friend sang Toby Keith's "I Love this Bar" and they were actually pretty good! Carina kept saying afterward, "Good job Papa! Papa sang karaoke!" Now that we are back at home, nearly every time we say something about Papa, she will say, "Papa sang karaoke...I love this bar!" Not once did we actually talk about the actual song he sang, and she only heard it ONE time. Obviously there is nothing wrong with her hearing!Yes Carina, that was pretty much my reaction when my Dad said he was going to sing!
My Dad (left) and his friend singing-notice the "liquid courage" in my Dad's hand!

I have since learned that my Dad now has 5 songs he sings at karaoke night-they certainly know how to have fun! I can only hope that Mike and I have as great a time when we are retired!(If that ever happens!)

Here are some more pics of our visit. There are people with lots of animals in the surrounding area, so we went to check them out. ("off campus") Thanks again for a great time Mom and Dad! We love you!

Our little Dr. Doolittle talking to the animals
Someone owns a zebra out there! Random, but pretty cool...

Love this one :o)

Happy 1st Birthday Aiden!

Last week Carina and I flew down to So Cal for Aiden's 1st birthday! Aiden is my best friend Jenny's son, and we were very excited to spend his special day with him. However, the day is extra special, because Aiden not only shares his birthday with his dad Jimmy, but also Jimmy's mom Barbara! That's right-Grandma, Daddy, and baby all born on the SAME day! How often does that happen?! So of course this party was a big deal since it was their first birthday all together. Mike wasn't able to go because he was taking a summer school class, so it was just me and the Bean. We barely made our flight out of Oakland due to a traffic accident on the 580: We checked in at 7:53 a.m. and our flight left at 8:10! Luckily there were very nice people who gave me cuts in line, and we ran all the way to the gate. Carina of course didn't really understand that we were late, so while I'm running carrying her she's saying, "Wheee! Go Mommy! Go fast!" As if I needed another reminder of how out of shape I am! Running with a 22 pound kiddo is great cardio.

Once we arrived in Ontario, my parents picked us up and we went out to lunch with my grandma Mimi. Carina used her best manners and Mimi was very impressed ;o)
After that, it was party time! We had a great time celebrating with everyone. Carina enjoyed playing with Aiden's presents, and I enjoyed sneaking a Jello shot with Jenny in the kitchen! Why didn't I think to have those at Carina's first birthday? It's still hard for me to believe that my best friend and I have kids of our own-we've been friends since we were 13! She is such an amazing friend and mommy and I miss her all the time...but if we lived closer to each other the people at Gymboree would probably know us by name, and that would not be so good.

Me & My Bestie (I have always wanted to use that word!)

Bean loves balloons!

The Ballesteros Birthday Trio: Barbara, Jimmy & Aiden


Thanks for such a fun party you guys! Looking forward to next year!

Happy Father's Day!

We had a fun weekend celebrating Father's Day! We went to the San Francisco Zoo on Saturday with tickets we won at the Bid Night auction. Carina LOVED seeing all of the animals. We even got to see a few of the baby animals they have there! Thanks to the nap she took in the car on the way down there, we were able to stay for several hours and didn't miss anything. Carina seemed to like the monkeys, giraffes, and petting the goats in the petting zoo the best.

She was too obsessed with the goat to look at the camera!

I'm pretty sure she would have done this even if it was a real monkey!

Carina saw this and said, "Hi giraffe! What are you doing? Eating the tree?"
Striking a pose with butterfly wings-she's a bit short for the full effect.

Petting a Spider Box Turtle
She ran up to this bird, gave it a hug and said, "I love it!" Our little ham :o)

Sunday morning I made breakfast and we talked to my grandparents in Texas and my parents on Skype. What would we do without web cams? Later Mike went out with "Uncle Neil" to get his unexpected Father's Day present-an iPhone! His Blackberry stopped working, and to make a long story about bad customer service short, he ended up switching to AT&T and getting an iPhone. I think he is in love...we are now referring to it as "THE present", covering any event in which it is customary to give him a gift. I personally think the gift Carina gave him is better-we went to the Pottery Studio in downtown Santa Rosa and she painted a ceramic tile with her hand print on it for him. It turned out really good, and she had a lot of fun making it. Does iPhone have an app for artwork made by your daughter? I don't think so! ;o) Happy Father's Day Mike! You are such a wonderful Daddy and we love you very much!

Book Worm

Here is a video of Carina "reading" a book to Mike before bed. Sorry it's a little dark, and if you feel sleepy it might be because they were sitting in the glider rocking back and forth! We checked this book out from the library and she had it memorized within a week. She amazes us more every day!