welcome lucy forrest

one week before my official due date our little girl decided to join the forrest family. we weren't quite prepared for her early arrival and made a mad dash to the hospital after dropping william at the neighbors. i'd been laboring at home for about 5 hours without realizing it was labor. if i hadn't needed antibiotics she would have arrived within 30 minutes of our arrival, but they slowed me down and she was officially born on october 2 at 11:24pm. here we are moments after her arrival!

she weighed in at 6 lb 13 oz and 20 inches long. she also came with a head full of dark hair. we named her lucy.

grandma shafer was invaluable help during our first week with two kids. she and big brother william were our first visitors. 

william wasn't too interested in lucy but did hold her with help for a brief moment. he was really interested in the trucks she gave him!

grandpa shafer, aunt katie & uncle kurt also visited us. we love being close to family.

she was even chosen as stanfords baby of the week. we love our little lucy and are thrilled to have her join our family.

summer wrap up

our first summer in california treated us very well. among all our travels we also had lots of local outings. we ventured to various parks in the area at least a couple times a week. one time a 'dig dig' was visiting and william couldn't get close enough.

we also became members of the oakland zoo so we made frequent visits. it was fun to watch williams interest in the animals and exhibits grow each time.

the best thing about california may be being close to family. william loves playing with cousin jacob, especially when it's at grandma and grandpas house and involves water.

near us is an aviation museum we decided to check out one day. william cried lots of tears when we had to leave.

another day we went up to san francisco, over 'the big red bridge', to the bay area discovery museum.

william also has lots of friends his age and we love getting together with them at local attractions. happy hollow and claire are favorites.

and because summer lasts a long time here we went to the beach with claire and jabe on october 1, the day before lucy joined our family.

yeah for summer!

lake tahoe

post labor day the shafer family all gathered for a week in lake tahoe. it was my last summer trip before baby #2. we did a lot of relaxing, game playing, eating, and chasing around little boys. i loved seeing the cousins become close friends. some highlights from the week included beach visits to lake tahoe and fallen leaf lake.

william and jacob weren't too interested in getting wet, but cal would have crawled right into the lake had cory let him. he was in heaven and provided lots of entertainment.

another day we took a beautiful drive to visit emerald bay.

we also took the gondola at heavenly ski resort up the mountain. the views were impressive.

grandma spoiled the boys, as always. here she is sharing treats - they all gathered around like little chicks begging for food.

other activities included bike rides,

the fastest round of mini golf,

nervous airplane flying,

and lots and lots and lots of running around with cousins.

 

thanks mom and dad for organizing a great trip! i hope we can make lake tahoe a tradition.

santa cruz

this year labor day happened to coordinate with ben's birthday. so we took advantage of the long weekend and rented a house in santa cruz with family to celebrate ben turning 35. ben's birthday present was to surf as much as his heart desired. the first evening in town we checked out the waves at steamers lane.

then we ventured over to the santa cruz boardwalk, a first visit for all of us. i don't think william knew what to make of all the lights and sounds at the arcade. we did manage to win a few tickets playing my favorite ski-ball.

me being 8 months pregnant and william little we were limited in our ride options, but we could ride the sky ride or 'this fun ride' as william refers to it.

of course we spent some time at the beach.

in capitola we joined the crowds to watch a bit of the begonia festival and river parade.

william got the best view from ben's shoulders.

and we had cake for bens birthday. william loved the fire.

before heading home we did a quick visit to the fantastic monterey bay aquarium with the rieben family.

happy birthday ben!

big sky, montana

back in july we headed to big sky, montana to see our boston/nyc friends, the knights, and enjoy sometime in the great outdoors. we had delayed flights both ways and entertained ourselves with cameras and hats.

besides catching up with friends the main focus was fishing, fishing, and more fishing for the boys. ben practiced his cast in the backyard.

moms and kids enjoyed lots of outdoor time and playing in the very fancy house. even bath time was fancy.

we loved simply being outside in the beauty of montana. one day we took 'a fun ride' up the big sky ski lift for the view and family picture. 

and since we were in the neighborhood we had to visit yellowstone national park. of course the highlight was seeing old faithful blow. we felt very american.

thanks knight family for a fantastic getaway! it was perfect in every way.

newport beach

a few weeks back we joined the entire forrest family for a fantastic reunion in newport beach. william for the first time loved the airport and airplane ride. 

we spent the first day with great grandma hayden and thorougly enjoyed all her love, fun house and neighborhood. ben flew in from a week in europe and it was great to be together again as a family.

onto newport beach where we enjoyed staying right on the beach. after church on sunday we took family pictures outside the newport temple. the only way to get william to smile was a hug from both mom and dad.

monday was the family olympics! william participated by carrying all the baseballs and wearing sunglasses.

besides relaxing and playing with family at the beach, ben got some surfing in,                

i picked up long boarding at 6 months pregnant,

and william stayed far away from the water but was kept happy as long as he has his trucks and trains.

thanks to grandma forrest for putting together a fantastic reunion!