our first visitors...Matt, Courtnee and Isaiah!

 Matt (my little bro), Courtnee and Isaiah were a big hit with our kids and the neighborhood kids :)

the family on Stanford Campus

In front of the famous "Palm Drive" on Campus (the red flowers are in the shape of the Stanford "S")

Helping Isaiah roll down the hill on campus

 This little man is such an amazing talker and also really loves his fire trucks! We had a great time getting to know his fun personality and finding tunnels everywhere we went :)

 the bell tower

 creative Courtnee helping Zanna in her quest for accessories 

 we went out for pizza at "Pizza My Heart" on University and then found one of our favorite places...Red Mango--Matt got the parfait and it was the bomb

This is "The Manstad" from Ikea and we are loving it!! Our living room is quite small, so instead of pulling out the Aero bed (because it won't fit) when guests come we can now pull out our couch and it works beautifully.  It even has a huge storage compartment under the chaise for all the bedding.  The best thing about this couch-turned-bed is that we can all watch a movie very comfortably and we love hanging out as a family on it too...a fun new addition to the francis fam!

We ventured to see some of the famous Redwood Trees in the area and found some beauties at Henry Cowell State Park The tallest tree in the park is about 285 feet tall, and about 16 feet wide. The oldest trees in the park are about 1400 to 1800 years old.  

It's hard to capture how amazing these trees are!

After the redwoods we headed down to Monterey and hung out for a while at Dennis the Menace Park.  It has GREAT slides, a huge locomotive to climb on, a maze, rock climbing wall and is just an awesome park right across the street from the ocean.

 Mia loved the park too and played with Dad in her jammies since she had a huge blowout right as we pulled up :)

 On Saturday morning we woke up early (for us) and "hiked the dish" to help Matt and Courtnee feel like real Palo Altans. 

 then it was off to soccer for the little lady-- her first game of the season and it was finished off by nothing less than orange wedges and juice boxes

 We then headed into San Francisco where we rode our first Trolley... we weren't holding sourdough baguettes and hanging off the side, but maybe next time

 When we got off nobody was paying so Courtnee asked if we needed to pay and the guy said, "um...yeah, just if you want to."  We didn't really want to but it was a little awkward to just walk away so we gave the guy our money, but could have saved $20!  

 We saw the sea lions at Pier 39

 Rode the Carousel

 and introduced Matt and Court to Trish's Mini donuts-- a MUST HAVE if you ever visit Pier 39.  They are mini bites of goodness, hot off the conveyer, sprinkled with cinnamon and sugar-- we get them everytime!

If you don't believe just read the reviews http://www.yelp.com/biz/trishs-mini-donuts-san-francisco-3

On Sunday we had a yummy dinner at home, walked to the park and then watched a movie (altogether on the The MANSTAD with plenty of room) and just had a great time hanging out.

Thanks for coming to see us guys--we love you and your little man!!!

New, New, New

So, I have been out of touch with the land of blog and its inhabitants for some time now and have missed catching up with all ya'll!  I hope that summer treated everyone well...I just realized that I didn't blog about any of our pre-california summer adventures--hopefully I will get to that someday because we sure had a blast with family and friends on our way out here to CA. 

Our life out here is filled with so many NEW things...it's a little overwhelming to move across the country and have almost everything you've known for the last 3 years change, but we are adjusting and doing well in the land of sunny days and cool nights! 

Here are all the NEW things we are experiencing out here...

NEW baby in her cute NEW bunny towel with her name on it....so cute!(thanks again Kelly!)

NEW friends!

Both of our adjacent neighbors have great kids to play with and it sometimes feels just like one big house as the kids go back and forth and here and there....we are very grateful for our wonderful new neighbors!

This was the night before we moved from our apt. to the house we are in now... the kids were at our friend's house (thank you again Rebecca!) and so Mia enjoyed dinner with Mom and Dad...she loved her lettuce and great conversation :)

NEW bumbo seat...she's so-so about it and doesn't last too long in it, but she looks cute :)

NEW friendship...Mia loves having James around and always gives him the biggest smiles!

NEW School!
The kids started school on August 24th and so far really like it at Barron Park.   James' teacher, Mr. Morris, loves to use music in the classroom and starts the day with songs on his guitar.  James has started using the phrase "doing my personal best"  and I love it. Mr. Morris said he was gregarious the first day and is doing great.
Zanna's teacher, Mrs. Fortune, is a very kind lady with great penmanship :) Zanna got to be the first Star of the Day and came home with a poster all about her favorite things that kids asked her about.  We hung it in her room and she loves it!
The school is very open and inviting to parents and families and I am hoping to help in the classrooms when I can work out handoff schedule with Dave and little Mia.  We love walking or biking to school (it is 0.9 miles away) and look forward to cereal Thursdays where the kids get served cereal, Chocolate Cheerios being the favorite, before school--love it! James has half days until November so going to the school 3 times a day is a little much, especially since Mia is always getting whisked away from a nap, but we are grateful to have such a great place to learn and play. 

Zanna- age 6, first day of 1st Grade

Jameson- age 5, first day of Kindergarten

 

Room 3--Mr. Morris' class

NEW job for Davey!
 I don't have a pic from the hospital, but these are the new scrubs he is sporting these days and he is  LOVING only working 8 shifts a month!! The rest of his days are filled with Ultrasound scan shifts, lectures etc. but he has never been home this much in 7 years and it is SO NICE!
The Hospital and Campus of Stanford are so BEAUTIFUL and we love walking around up there and hope to get to some games this year.

                                                                                   

 New Park!!

We have a little park right around the corner from our house and there are many, many more around town--we are still figuring out our favorites.

New Swing for the Meester...she didn't really love it 

New trick!
Zanna has been working on monkey bars all summer and can finally do it...phew! it's been a little exhausting.

New CAR!
Dave flew out to Utah at the end of August and bought this 2010 GMC Terrain and drove it home the next day.  He was pretty excited about the upgrade from the 1997  blue/green Nissan Altima that we've been driving since we got married 9 years ago.  We also LOVE the fact that we have a NEW hose now at this little house and can wash our cars-- it's a feeling of freedom!

New TOYS!

Mia is just starting to be able to hold toys and sometimes she even gets them into her mouth! Usually she just looks really uncoordinated as the toy flopps around her face or falls to the ground, but she is getting a little better everyday.  She loved her first ride in the bike trailer and we are excited to get riding around here-- it is all people do here in Palo Alto!

So, there you go. I will post some more pics of our new little house with the new, large TV (Dave got a little excited at Best Buy) and other furnishings sometime soon.  We are grateful to be Californians for now and are in the process of deciding what to do next year already...slow down life!!!!

babies are great entertainment...

lazy post

i've been too lazy/busy to blog and do facebook, but I thought I would put the link to some pictures I just put up on Facebook. We are moving AGAIN this next week...long story....but will hopefully be settled in a couple of weeks! Life has been pretty wild the last couple of weeks but we are making lemonade out of lemons here in Cali! Enjoy the pics :)

(click here)

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=257715&id=525285419&l=bd7c78b83c

here are some older ones: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=251655&id=525285419&l=94757f467f