Showing posts with label 2011. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 2011. Show all posts

Tuesday, March 13, 2012

Celebrating 2.


Tomorrow is the last day of the omg-not-even-close-to-being-terrible TWO'S.
Seriously, two year olds are the best.

We shall celebrate the last day of being 2 by doing some of your favorite things. We plan on going to Cibo in Sausalito for (coffee &) a muffin. Going to music class. Eating peanut butter and jelly for lunch. Watching Berenstain Bears before nap (a big deal). Having dinner with Grammie & Pops. Picking out new jammies to wear to bed on the last night of being two.

And giving you all the cuddles and smooches we possibly can before you become a 3 year old.
Holy moly.

Friday, August 19, 2011

Isle of Palms

We just got back from another amazing Chao Family summer vacation. This year we spent a week in Isle of Palms, South Carolina. Heaven! It's a beautiful little beach town 15 minutes outside of Charleston. We spent our days by the pool & beach, riding bikes, eating Mimi's delicious home cookin and relaxing! We even got a parents night out thanks to Mimi and Papa watching all 5 grandkids. What a treat. It was so great to spend time with cousins and family we don't get to see nearly enough. Lucca had the best time, and Jackson was super chill as usual. And Rustin and I survived the cross-country flight both ways thanks to these amazing little travelers...
Our pool and view from the house. Stunning.
Lucca collecting seashells along our beach
The bridge into Charleston
Cousins Lucca and Lia and their unplanned matching dresses
Mema! Meeting Jackson for the 1st time. Most special part of the trip
More seashell collecting. We came home with many :)
Evenings were spent playing games. Mema playing Catch Phrase = Priceless
Tanning
Jackson turned 4 months in South Carolina
The BEST dad and uncle
Jackson loved the pool
Vacation is awesomeee
Dolphin Watching... so cool
My husband, the hair model
Lucca reading to Aunt Ashley
Landing at SFO after a long day of traveling
Home Sweet Home!
Thank you Mimi for planning another AMAZING vacation for us all. Wish we were still there!

Wednesday, August 17, 2011

We love you, Sausalito


Our family has called Sausalito home sweet home for the past three years. Our city livin days came to a close shortly after having Lucca and realizing San Francisco was not the ideal environment we wanted to raise our family in. So we headed a wee bit North, crossed the Golden Gate Bridge, and settled into the closest-to-SF-without-actually-living-in-SF-city we could find: sweet & charming Sausalito. We've grown to love it, quirks, tourists, fog and all. But now that our family has expanded again, we've grown out of our home here and are moving further North to get even more space and sunshine.

We have about a month left here in Sausalito and I'm starting to get a little bit nostalgic and sad already. This town will always be super special to us and I hope I'll always hang on to some my favorite memories of this magical little place:

Driving by the elephants downtown, remembering when Lucca was about a year old and would raise her arm and make an elephant sound each and every time we passed those statues. They were "Lucca's elephants" of course.

Passing by the art gallery that has different colors of balloons on their sign every day.

Spending day after day going to the Bay Area Discovery Museum, making the most of our membership. Lucca has the museum memorized.

Throwing rocks into the water by Spinnakers.

The Sushi Ran water fountain that Lucca "washes her hands" in, even on the coldest of days. Same for the Yoga of Sausalito fountain.

Hiking these ridiculous hills, sometimes pushing a stroller while carrying a toddler. Hello, calf muscles.

Family walks to Cibo for lattes & muffins on Saturdays. And Lucca playing with the milk crates with all her buddies while parents sip their coffee.

Taste of Rome breakfast sandwiches -- we were in that rut for a long time

Fire House Pancake Breakfast. Eating pancakes in the firehouse, Lucca wearing a pink firehat and asking the fireman for more bacon. Awesome.

Taking walks along the boats, choosing our favorite ones. This is the best at Christmastime when the boats are decorated for the holidays.

Valeting the car at Poggio's to Lucca's dismay. She cried and cried when the man took our car.

The Sausalito Library. Probably the only library in America that hates kids, but we have fun nonetheless. Puzzles, coloring, blocks and dinosaurs. Wait, a library has books?

The beach! Beach days with our buddies. Standing on the surfboards for hours on end and stealing all the beach balls we can find.

The best Thai food. Arawan. And the girl who picks up Lucca every time we go there, even though Lucca is 2 now and not so light anymore.

Mollie Stones. I'm sure I'm not the only mom who goes and buys groceries so my child can get a balloon right? Every employee knows Lucca by name, and we know all their names. Ahmed spoils Lucca and gives her two balloons each time. Ann is the one who makes the balloons SO BIG that they pop before we make it home, every single time.

Honking at the tourists who go 5 mph in the 45 zone and who stop at all the YIELD signs.

Monday-Wednesday-Friday playtime! We met many of our favorite friends at Sausalito's Adventure Club. So thankful for this.

Taking Lucca on a walk along Bridgeway, 8 months pregnant with Jackson, and dropping my car keys in the gutter on the street. Sausalito Fire Department to the rescue. They saved my keys. My pride? Not so much.

Fourth of July parade. As lame as it was, small town fun indeed.

Picking up Daddy from the ferry, one of our favorite past-times. No daddy could be happier than ours to see his family waiting for him.

The park AKA Lucca's backyard. Robin Sweeney park, we are leaving before you get your remodel. And we are glad about that. We love you just the way you are...old, wooden, metal, sand, dangerous, etc. Soon you will look like every other park, big and bright, all plastic and safe with rubber turf. We loved our old-school park and spent HOURS AND HOURS AND HOURS here. The tire swing, the balance beam, the slides. Drawing Gabba characters and surfboards with chalk on the basketball court. Learning to ride a scooter and a skateboard on this basketball court. Learning to roll in the grass at this park. Picking flowers, climbing trees and hiding in the bushes. So. Many. Memories.

Our house with 21 steps to the front door. This I will not miss.

The list goes on and on. We love this place and have endless memories here. I'm trying not to be sad because I know the next place is full of new memories to be made. We are thankful we had the opportunity to live here in the first place. People come from all over the world to see our little town, and they all leave happy they came. I feel the same way. Sausalito, I'm glad you were a stop on our journey. What an adventure its been.


Sunday, July 31, 2011

Goodbye July

What a month! I can't believe I ever thought I was tired or busy when I just had one child. How easy that seems now! HA. No offense mothers of one baby -- your job is still tough, but just WAIT til you have another one ;) muhahahaha...

We stuck close to home in July and started to find our groove with Lucca & Jackson's schedules. Everyone always tells me to just get through the first year of life with two babes and the rest is golden. But as crazy as it is having two, we realize these are sweet, sweet days, and my mindset is anything but "just getting through this year" and more like trying to soak up each moment of this year. A few favorite moments...

Our beloved park bench. We eat lunch here almost every day. We also read books here.
Jackson listens to the stories too.
Lucca is becoming quite the little artist, which I'm so happy about. We've been doing lots and lots of painting...watercolor, acrylic on canvas, finger painting, you name it. I love watching her be creative. She names every painting, a few of the most recent are "Cowboy" "Boo Boo" "Buddy" "Peedie" and my personal fave... "Crazy Jumping Pirate Bugs"
Unfortunately, I now have a big stack of Lucca's art that I can't seem to part with yet. You may be getting some in the mail soon if you're lucky :)
The bath time ritual is something we so greatly look forward to every day. 7:00 on the dot -- this girl gets in the tub, sometimes with balloons (string of balloon pictured below..ha)
Lucca the Ballerina!
Lucca went to her first ballet class a few weeks ago and I'm not sure she's taken her tutu off since. Which is funny, because we've had 5 tutu's here for the past year but they all the sudden are the coolest thing in the house. Now that she actually realizes they are for dancing she likes them. Just bend be thankful that I did not post a photo of ME wearing one of her tutu's, because yes, that happened.


Lucca LOVES her brother. I have become more than Jackson's mother, I am his bodyguard - from Lucca. The love she has for him is shown in many ways, including squeezing, squishing, squealing, holding, poking, shouting and jumping all over him.
But who is Lucca's #1 fan? Jackson.

Saturday, April 30, 2011

Best Big Sister Ever

Lucca LOVES Jackson. It just melts my little heart to watch her with him. She asks to see him as soon as she wakes up each morning. She smothers him with kisses, hugs, snuggles, etc - and I mean smothers. We have to keep a very close eye on her because the love she has for her "brand new baby brother!" is immense and sometimes pours out by laying right on top of him. Or squeezing him. Or poking his eyes.

I am incredibly thankful Lucca has responded so well to Jackson. During my pregnancy, I would be up in the middle of the night worrying about her, wondering how she would react to a new baby in the house. On her turf. Uninvited. I felt guilty and nervous -- mostly scared that our new baby would change my relationship with Lucca. I was scared she would be mad, and jealous over all of the attention the new baby would require. But thankfully it's the exact opposite. We hear "Can we bring brother? Can I hold brother? Can I touch brother? Can I kiss brother?" And when she isn't asking us these questions, she is squealing with excitement over him. All his noises make her laugh. She likes when he yawns, sneezes, squeaks, toots. And when he cries? "It's okay buddy! What do you need buddy? I think he needs some milk from mommies boobies..."

She loves to love him. Thank you God. We are blessed, and know it. <3

Thursday, April 14, 2011

Sweetest Girl

"Baby brother is SO cute!" she squeals about 10 times a day.

Lucca has been amazing with Jackson so far, we couldn't ask for more. I was nervous about how the queen would respond to a stranger invading her castle (as her pediatrician perfectly put it), but she loves him. She gives him kisses, reads him stories, holds him and tries to give him milk and apple juice. When he's not called "brother" she likes to call him Jack. We know they will have a pretty special relationship and it's been melting my heart to watch it form already.

Best big sister in the world.

Thursday, April 7, 2011

Summer is coming

Reminder...must get this for Lucca.

Friday, March 25, 2011

Little person, big vocab.

I'm a little overdue for a post about Lucca turning 2 and her fun little birthday party, but in the meantime, can I just say how crazy it is having a two-year old in the house? I am constantly caught off guard by hearing these things coming out of my little girls mouth...

"Well, actually..."

"Instead, maybe we can...."

"Daddy will probably share with Lucca..."

"Those cars are going to the store to buy balloons..."

And on and on and on. Pretty cute.




Monday, March 21, 2011

Our Family of 3

We have loved, loved, loved being a little family of three the past two years. Lucca, our first baby, is no longer a baby, and we are getting ready to welcome her brother into our world. We wanted to capture these sweet days just one last time before our family grows.

Here we are, at our favorite park in Pacific Heights, 36 weeks pregnant. I'm excited to tell Lucca the history of these steps we took photos on, which are the very same steps her Daddy and I used to run every night when we were just dating. You know, when we actually had time to work out ;)













Images taken by San Francisco photographer, Kelly Jacikas.

Wednesday, March 2, 2011

Birthday Wish List.

Lucca's 2nd Birthday is right around the corner! March 15 to be exact.

Here's her wish list:
1) an umbrella
2) a pony
3) a purple suitcase
4) a skateboard
5) a pink cupcake

She rules.

Monday, February 14, 2011

XOXO

Happy Valentine's Day, friends!

LOVE,
Lucca (& her sweet feet)
Valentines Day 2011

Thursday, January 20, 2011

Hawaii 2011

BEST Christmas present ever? A surprise trip to Hawaii!

This is how it all began:


And here are some iPhone photos of the best vacation of 2011 so far. More photos to come!












And in case you didn't know? My husband is the best. I am a lucky lady. Lucca is an amazing traveler!!! My parents rule. Hawaii is amazing. Rustin builds a mean sand castle. Lucca prefers swimming in the pool to ocean. If you find yourself in Honolulu, dine at Orchids. And finally, I was not the most pregnant girl on the beach...hallelujah! (Although probably the most pregnant one in a bikini...)