April 28 trip to see Paw Patrol

Our friends Elizabeth and Suzanne invited us to join them and their daughter Antonia to see Paw Patrol at the Orpheum Theater in San Francisco.  This became a huge adventure, which Auggie's cousins and Ciocia joined (while Mama and Ella had a quite evening in the house).  This was Auggie's first show (he has yet to go to a movie theater) and it was about his favorite cartoon characters.  Needless to say, it was an exciting evening.  For weeks afterwards, Auggie asked when he would be going back to see Paw Patrol again. 

The kids on BART going to SF. This time, Ciocia did not break any ankles.

The brains and motivation behind the whole trip. 

Excited for the show!

Apparently, the boys were absolutely enthralled. 

On the BART train coming back form Paw Patrol

3 Musketeers Swim Party

The weekend after Father's Day, Dziadek helped us host a swim party for Auggie's two closest friends, Maya and Colin, and their families. Needless to say, it was a very exciting day for Auggie. When the kids arrived, Auggie took them by the hands and showed off his "Babcia and Dziadek's" entire house, from the kitchen to the bathrooms.  The pool water was so warm, that all the adults and babies were soon swimming and relaxing.  It was hard to get out into the "cool" 80 degree air.

Father's Day at Dziadek's house

With Babcia and the Parker family on a trip to Poland, the rest of us got together for a fun swim at Dziadek's house on Father's day.  Auggie got to try out some of his new skills from swim lessons and Dziadek and Ella had some bonding time.

June 16: Spontaneously fabulous family trip to Cline and Traintown

By June, Agnieszka was back full time at work and weekends together as a family were again becoming more rare and precious.  On June 16, we decided to take a spontaneous trip to Cline winery in Sonoma (only 45 minutes away!) and visit the nearby Train Town kids amusement park.  It was a wonderful trip!

At Cline, while Agnieszka and Daniel wine tasted, Auggie got to feeds dozens of large koi fish at the pond.  The feeding is a spectacle (see next post) as the koi are quite vigorous in their pursuit of lunch.  The fish food in sold out of a dispenser that takes quarters and Auggie had his first lesson about the value of money because of this.  He was so sad when we ran out of quarters that he promised he would save "all the quarters in the world" for next time we come back to Cline to feed the fish. ("Can we come back tomorrow with Maya and Colin and Evan and Alex?"

We had a lovely lunch of fresh bread and yummy cheese in the Cline garden, while Auggie ran between different ponds trying to use the fish food he found on the floor under the dispenser to feed the turtles. Meanwhile, Ella enjoyed watching the swaying trees and her very happy family.

After Cline, we explored Train Town, which is an old amusement park for little kids. Not only does it have a train, which stops at a minature town with all the important small town buildings (including th "jail"), but also a rollercoaster and some other rides.  Auggie braved both the small ferris wheel (Agnieszka was still very nervous on it) and the rollercoaster ("can we do it again?")  We left happy and tired, with Auggie only wanting to know one thing: "When can we come back here with Maya and Colin and Alex and Evan?"

The day ended with "movie night" at the house. After careful consideration, we choose Wall-E, as Auggie tends to get too scared in most G rated movies.  As soon as Wall-E took off in pursuit of Eve, however, the danger was too much for Auggie to bear.  Fortunately, there's always Paw Patrol.  May Auggie's innocence and sweetness last as long as possible.

Ella is 5 months old!

Ella is 5 months old her smile is absolutely adorable. She is full of giggles.  Favorite activities include smiling at anyone who looks at her, sucking her thumbs, playing on her mat, and going on walks in the carrier or stroller. She continues to sleep beautifully through the night, but has almost completely given up on napping during the day.