California Vist, Part 2---San Diego Zoo and Thanksgiving

I am way behind with my blog posts---I really intended to get my California posts done BEFORE Christmas.  Well, that obviously did not happen!  So I'd better get my act together here.

On the day before Thanksgiving we went to the San Diego Zoo and in addition to enjoying all the animals, we had another special treat.  Adam and Jessica were in San Diego over Thanksgiving visiting Jess's brother, and so we were able to meet up with them at the Zoo.  This was our first opportunity to meet Charlotte and Grayson, a pair of cuties!  Jess's brother and his two little boys were also with us, so we had quite a procession of strollers as we made our way through the zoo! Here are just a few pictures of the day:

Evan really loved this big stuffed panda! I think he would have loved to take it home.

The kids, the Dad and the Grandpa---sorry it's so dark.

Josie loved the ice cave near the polar bear exhibit.  She got a kick out of popping her head out of the different holes.  We were glad that she came out of the cave on her own so that no one had to crawl in to get her!

This bird statue seemed to be a good place to pose  for a picture. :)

Lunch time for the humans.  Sorry---dark again.

Four little Wiers cousins---Evan, Charlotte, Grayson, and Josie. It was a challenge to catch them all looking at the camera---couldn't manage to get one without Evan's bottle.

A day at the zoo definitely does wear you out!!

I've just realized that I did a very poor job of taking pictures on Thanksgiving Day. We had a wonderful turkey dinner and were able to eat it outdoors!  Unfortunately the only picture I have of our dinner is of Evan in the high chair with someone's empty plate in front of him.

And the only other pictures I got were of Josie and Cheryl making a Thanksgiving craft--a couple of different versions of a Thanksgiving turkey.  Alas---no pictures of the finished products, only of the work in progress.

So that's it for Part 2. I will definitely try to get the next installments(s) done in short order.

By the way---a big Thank You to Rachel for "prettying up" my blog a bit. I'd be completely lost in this world of technology if it weren't for my kids' help.

California Visit, part 1---Evan's Birthday

I decided to break up our California post into smaller "bites" so that it's not such an overwhelming task for me.  So I'm going to start with Evan's 1st Birthday.  Evan turned 1 on Sunday, Nov. 18.  His day started with church (nursery for him) and we had lunch from Panera.  After his nap in the afternoon he opened his presents, with a little help from Josie.

Later in the afternoon some friends came over for pizza and birthday cake. I think there were about 5 families, so there were a lot of kids! I think the adults did still outnumber the kids, but it didn't seem that way. Evan really enjoyed all the giggles of the kids as he was "eating" his cake, so he kind of went into performance mode. That boy really got into his cake!!!

Evan's birthday got extended a bit, because the present from Aunt Abby didn't arrive until a few days after his birthday.  Obviously both Evan and Josie were thrilled that there was another present to open!

And what could be more fun than a drum set???

There he is---the Little Drummer Boy!!!

Watch for part 2 coming soon, hopefully.

Well here goes....

Ever since our family blog mysteriously vanished, I've been thinking that I should just start a blog of my own.  This whole thing is extremely intimidating to me, though. That blog had been started by Matt as a means for all of us to keep in touch. Then when the grandchildren came along, both Matt and Rachel started their own blogs and I was the only one who would still post on the "World of Wiers" blog.  And, granted, I did not post all that often, but I found it to be a nice way to sort of "journal" about our activities, and mostly about our time with our grandkids. So I was EXTREMELY upset to find out several weeks ago that our blog was gone---just gone! I felt like I had lost a part of our family history.  Matt was able to retrieve some of the stuff on it, and I think he has it on his computer or something.  But there didn't seem to be any way to bring the blog back to life. 

So, here goes with my attempt at blogging on my own.  I asked for Bob's help in coming up with a name for it.  Since we are both now enjoying a slower (really??) pace of life in retirement, Bob came up with "Life in the Slow Lane." And who knows?  Maybe he'll even become a contributor to the blog.

I think that my last post on the old blog was about our October trip to Iowa---and shortly after that was when the blog disappeared.  So I haven't been able to post anything about our November trip to California.  That will be my first "real" post.

I expect that this will be quite a learning experience for me.  I hope that I am up to the task!