It's been a quiet week around here. Just doing the usual weekly activities: play group at the park, visiting friends, story time at the library, and gym class. Here are a couple of cute pictures I took yesterday of Alanna having fun with her balloon.

My Dad made the local headlines today. Congrats on your well earned retirement Dad!

We returned from the Raftery family reunion in Bodega Bay yesterday. There were about 35 adults from all over the US. We stayed in homes overlooking the bay (Bodega Harbour). Three of Justin's first cousins also had babies born in 2005; we all stayed in the house together, along with Aunt Sheila (Sherry's sister) and Uncle Blair. There were 4 toddlers running around, Alanna, Casey, Landen, and Jillian. Casey also has a little brother, Patrick who is 10 months old. You can imagine that the house was very lively! The kids had a lot of fun playing together and it was nice getting to spend time with the cousins. Our house was the main gathering place for meals, so we were able to socialize with everyone else while the little ones were napping or after bedtime.

View from the deck of our house

In the morning, after breakfast we all went down to the beach together. The kids had a great time playing in the sand. There were also incredible tide pools. I have never seen so many starfish in the wild, they were beautiful. Alanna is still talking about the ocean and starfish.

On the way to the beach (from left: John, Jillian, Erica, Alanna, Sheila, Casey, Jen, and Landen)

Playing in the sand

Looking at starfish

Our family

Little A at the beach

Waving to Daddy

Click here if you'd like to see more photos from the reunion

It's my sister's 23rd birthday

Happy birthday Mel! Hope you have wonderful day.
Love you lots!

Our trip to New York

We're back from NY. Before I start the detailed summary, I have to share the highlight of Alanna's trip. For those of you that don't know, Alanna LOVES buses. Not sure why, but she does. You can imagine how exciting it was for her to discover the bus stop outside her bedroom window in Aunt Mickey's apartment. She spent a large portion of the trip standing on a stool, watching for buses. She had a good view from the kitchen window too.

Details, details...

We flew out Thursday afternoon with my Dad. We spent the entire flight keeping Alanna entertained, lots of reading, playing, and walking down the aisle. Flying with a toddler is certainly not relaxing! I think Justin walked across more than a few states.

We arrived in the Bronx around midnight and went to bed. The next morning Dad went to Long Island to play bridge with Uncle Russ. Justin, Alanna, and I visited with Aunt Mickey and Grandma Sylvia. After Alanna's nap we went to play at the park, she loved running through the water fountain. That evening we had dinner with Cousin Gary, Suzanne, and Shawn.

Saturday morning, after going to the park with Cousin Gary, we welcomed the arrival of my Mom. She came over to Aunt Mickey's to visit. That afternoon, Justin and I walked down to the train and headed to Manhattan. We met my friends John, Nicole, Dan, Rachel, and Rachel's boyfriend Jim for dinner in Greenwich Village. We had a wonderful time catching up. After dinner we went to a Belgian beer lounge near NYU called Vol de Nuit. We stayed over at Aunt Nancy's rather than trekking back to the Bronx.

Sunday morning we had brunch with Aunt Carol, Uncle Rog, Kristen, Uncle Russ, and Karen. It was so much fun catching up. That evening we picked up Cousin Susan at the train station and headed to Arthur Ave (Little Italy of the Bronx) for Aunt Nance's birthday dinner. It was really nice getting to celebrate her 55th together. Happy Birthday Nance!

Monday morning we headed up to Westchester (the county where I grew up) to visit with the Egglestons. That afternoon, Justin, Dad, and I went to Riverdale to pick up Kosher deli for dinner. Yum!!! Of course we also had to stop at the bakery to get some rugelach and black and white cookies to take home. We had dinner at Aunt Mickey's house with Nance, Grandma, Cousin Suzanne, and my parents.

Our flight departed at 9:00a yesterday, so we got up at 5:15 to go to the airport. As you can imagine, we were exhausted by the time we got home yesterday. It was worth it!

I've unpacked and am almost done with the laundry. Now it's time to prepare for our next trip up north for the Raftery family reunion (Justin's maternal grandmother's family). Busy week for E, J, and A!!!

Looking for buses with Aunt Mickey

Aunt Mickey and Alanna

Four generations - Erica, Alanna, Sylvia, and Ellen

Aunt Carol and Mom

Uncle Roger

Cousin Kristen, Karen, and Uncle Russ

Dinner for Aunt Nance's birthday at Emilia's restaurant

Cheers!

Aunt Nancy and Erica

Visit with the Eggleston family

Family picture

Justin and Alanna at the Eggleston's

New sunglasses from Lenore

Barry and Erica in Riverdale

Justin and Alanna at Aunt Mickey's

We got home from the "Big Apple" this afternoon. We had a nice time visiting with family and friends. Alanna is definitely missing Aunt Mickey, she keeps asking for her. We're all exhausted since we had to get up at 5:15 am (EST) to get to the airport. Alanna is already in bed and Justin and I will crash once he gets home from his music lesson (in about 15 minutes).

I'll discuss our trip in more detail tomorrow. Good night!

I decided to take Alanna to get her hair cut today. I trimmed it in the past, but was too worried that I'd botch up right before our trip to NY and the family reunion next week in Bodega. We went to Balloon Cuts in San Jose. It is designed especially for little kids, she got to sit in a hot pink jeep (her choice) while a women cut her hair. She was very upset when I took her out of the jeep to leave. She started to cry and said "car again," for about 5 minutes.

Last week my friend Dan (from Somers) called saying that he would be in town for business on Thursday and Friday. He travels all over the country for work, and FINALLY they sent him to San Jose, yeah! Friday afternoon, Alanna and I picked Dan up downtown and went to Santana Row. I introduced him to pearl tea drinks and then we chatted and watched Alanna have fun on the play structure. We headed back to our place for dinner. It was really great getting to visit and catch up.


Yesterday afternoon Courtney and Aaron came down to visit. We always have such a great time with them. We went for a short walk around the neighborhood, ate a yummy dinner (homemade mac n' cheese), and drank delicious wine. What could be better?! Aaron even taught Alanna her first Japanese word, "yatta," which means "all right!"

It's hard to believe that we're off to the big apple at the end of the week. I'm excited to see family and friends. Let's just hope the plane ride goes smoothly!