Sunday, February 15, 2009

Some misc pictures

Kyle the fox!

Kyle in a flower box. I think they were gonna post him someplace :)

Karina sleeping with "chocolate" (the doggy)... how cute is that?


Candy Cane Heaven!

49ers Warpaint! Hut Hut!!

"What can I cook for you sir?"

posted by Shaun S @ 3:50 PM 0 comments

Arias party



Another birthday party... this time it was a "drop off party" - the parents dropped the kids at our friends house and they dealt with everything while the adults had a break. Nice. So me and Kyle went to the park to play in the sun, Karina was at the party and Nat was at work. Kyle had a great time :)



posted by Shaun S @ 3:45 PM 0 comments

The Russiand Are Coming!!!!!



Well, the Russian, singular :) Natalia's good friend Olga came to visit us and another of her friends who lives a couple hours from here. She came to us for a few days over New Year which was really nice (as was the nice vodka she brought me!). We picked her up from Oakland train station on the foggiest night ever! We managed to get a bit lost too but all ended well and we had a great few days.




We took a few trips - to the shopping mall, to Sausalio (again, foggy and cold - not ideal really) and also to the Golden Gate Observation Point atop the hills to the West side of the highway - which is on the way to the Pacific coast and has some rather magnificent views as you can see. Amazing that we have been here over 2 years and this was the first time we'd done this trip, and its 1 minute off the highway!

posted by Shaun S @ 3:37 PM 0 comments

Skating



Taking advantage of my time off work we took the family to the Ice Rink for Karinas first time on the ice... we had no idea how that would go - in fact we expected she'd fall over and immediately decide thats not for her. Quite the opposite, she loved it and by the time we left she had become really quite good at it - sometimes managing to skate unaided. We're very proud of her, hopefully we will find time to go on a more regular basis as she seemed to have a lot fo fun. The rink itself is themed on "Snoopy" - the cartoons of the famous Charls M Schulz who, it turns out, was from the area. Funny how I grew up watching Charlie Brown cartoons and now we live right in the area they were originally created! Theres a museum to his work too, we'll take a look in there next time.


Kyle, however, hated the ice and didnt even put on his skates, so Daddy had to return both the boys skates, get a refud, and watch. Bored. For an hour :(




posted by Shaun S @ 3:27 PM 0 comments

Boxing Day

...was really just a continuation of Christmas Day - we went to our friends house down the street with the kids, continued to drink and eat and make merry - and boy did the kids make merry - madness... 4 over-sugared children let to run riot by 4 over-alcoholed adults. Bliss :)

posted by Shaun S @ 3:25 PM 0 comments

Its Christmas!

A nice Christmas this year, especially for the kids, only let down by being so far from England... but we struggled on, the copious amounts of beer, wine and English choccies I managed to accumulate definately helped take the edge off :) We put quite a lot of effort into the tree (we bought a real one for once!) and decorations this year and it felt really nice, despite being a bit of a last minute affair due to the proximity of all the birthdays etc. Kyle had a blast as you can see... probably because it was the first time he "got it". Next year - England here we come :)




posted by Shaun S @ 3:20 PM 0 comments

Lucas Christmas party

This was the first year we had attended the works Christmas Party and it was pretty awesome (not least of which because Natalie drove therefore Daddy had a little drinkie!). They hired out a large warehouse / events center downtown SF and themed it kind of like a fairground. There were all manner of side stalls you'd see at a fair - Donkey Derby, hoop throwing, darts, etc etc - with a variety of prizes from plastic light sabres (as you can imagine, many Star Wars epic battles were re-enacted that evening!) to stuffed doggies... we managed to bag 3 each for the kids. They even had a full sezed Waltzer-style ride in the middle of teh room, really fun after 10 pints!

posted by Shaun S @ 3:15 PM 0 comments

Breakfast with Santa

As we did last year, we attended the Breakfast With Santa party again but this time it was at the local restaurant, Applebees, and was a much better / more organized affair! Pancakes, bacon and sausage for everyone, Santa was there, entertainments for the kids (balloon sculptors, clowns, a local choir of carol singers, magicians etc). All in all a very nice morning with all proceeds going to charity. And there was even a little something for Dad - see picture below... the owner of the restaurant turned out to have been a San Francisco 49ers player and was a coach when they won one of their super bowls in the early 80s! So - check it out - the closest I'll come to owning a Super Bowl Ring! (As you can see, Karina was very impressed!)






posted by Shaun S @ 3:08 PM 0 comments


Of course, after Karina and Kyles birthday, the birhday season kicked into full force as per last year but this time - worse. As Karina is now at Kindergarden - more friends = more parties, and more presents to buy of course! Her good friend Sophie was next - a princess themed party. Kyle was the only "Prince"!! Still, he had a wail of a time on the bouncy castle :)

posted by Shaun S @ 3:05 PM 0 comments