Exploring San Francisco

We had a little bit of time to explore San Francisco while we were in town for Christian and Caitlin's wedding. We crossed the Bay Bridge, then the Golden Gate and then ended up in Sausalito. Great time to just hang out with the four of us!

At the waterfront in Sausalito.

Marilynn being a ham with downtown San Fran in the background. I was so worried she was going to fall back off the wall and into the Bay!

Nice family shot with the Golden Gate bridge in the background.

And, this is the full family with my mom, Marilynn, my aunt Inger (who flew in from Norway for the occasion), Ken, Erika and my dad. We stayed at a hotel right on the Berkeley Marina

Uncle Chicken's Wedding in Broccoli

The day finally arrived for my brother Christian's wedding in Berkeley (also known as Uncle Chicken's wedding in Broccoli, according to Marilynn). Marilynn was quite the adorable Flower Girl and everything went very smoothly. Congrats Christian! Welcome to the family, Caitlin!

Marilynn loved dressing up and being a flower girl and almost loved the cake just as much.

The full wedding party in all their glory.

Erika hit the bottle a bit early, and this one didn't have milk in it. I doubly love this picture because you can see Marilynn dancing with my mom in the background.

Marilynn was looking a bit worried before the ceremony, but she at least was able to make it down the aisle (and then promptly went running to daddy about 5 minutes into the ceremony).

The girls chowed down at the wedding!

Erika with her namesake, Erik Nilsen (her Da-Da).

And one blurry photo of Ken, because I couldn't find any other shots of him from the wedding. Sorry, babe.

Life on the Farm

During our trip to Lake Chelan, we found this cute little family-run farm with a u-pick veggie garden, a petting zoo and pumpkin patch. Marilynn was a little scared of the farm animals, but loved the veggies. Erika (of course) walked right up to the horses, cows, chickens, etc. We came back with tomatoes, beans, squash and a few pumpkins. All set for Halloween!

So, this is where beans come from . . .

Tomatoes galore!

Beautiful farm, and we were the only ones there (next to the farmers, of course)

This was the closest Marilynn would get to a horse.

Postcards From Lake Chelan

We just got back from an amazing four days in sunny Lake Chelan for one last summer hurrah. We went with our good friends Mike and Sandra (Marilynn's godparents), Jim and Cheryl and Matt. We rented a boat on Saturday and had a ton of fun tubing and splashing around in the water. It took all I had to keep Erika from jumping into the lake - she's quite the dare devil!

View from our balcony - Ken picked one amazing place for us to stay - complete with a spa and swimming pool and within walking distance of the town and the lake.

Friends for Life

Abby and Marilynn - January 2006


Abby and Marilynn - September 2009


Ever since Marilynn was born, she and Abby have always had a special attachment to each other. Abby can do no wrong in Marilynn's eyes, and it's just so adorable to watch them. They can go months without seeing each other, and they just pick up right where they left off. I think Marilynn's favorite part of the Fair yesterday was Abby.

Evergreen State Fair

On this very lovely rainy Labor Day, we headed out to the Evergreen State Fair with the Marvelous Meseroll clan. The girls had a blast checking out the animals, riding the rides, eating their weight in sugar and getting to play with their friends Levi and Abby. And yes, Ken searched long and far and found got some pretty good Texas BBQ and I even nibbled on a snow cone (and a funnel cake). Shhhhh. Love the fair.

My little farmer girl. She couldn't reach the pedals, but she loved sitting on it and steering the wheel around.

You can take the girls out of Texas, but you can't take Texas out of the girls (for you, Maw-Maw).

Erika got a worried look on her face when we told her where chicken nuggets come from.

Look at that "fowl" look on our faces. ha, ha, ha!

Blued Eyed Girl

Can I just say that I have the cutest kid ever??

Biker Babe

Marilynn reached a major milestone this week and I am slowly but surely realizing that my kids won't stay babies forever. Marilynn got her first big-girl bike, and I'm just in shock that she can ride all the way to McDonald's with no help at all. So proud of her and so fearful that it's going to be no time before she's driving off in a car.