Other Rainy Day Activities?!

Play dates, play dates and more play dates! Last week was full of afternoon play dates... this is from Ben's play date with Sammie last Wednesday, Ben and Sammie had tons of fun chasing each other and jumping on these boxes. Sammie is the daughter of Jen's high school friend, Monica.

What else to do on rainy days? This week we start 2 classes... music class on Monday afternoon and tumbling on Wednesday. Of course, Jen scheduled these month long classes last week when we were ankle deep in rain and stuck indoors and as we watch the weather forecast, this week is supposed to be in the 70's... go figure. Regardless, Ben will love his new classes.

What to do when you can't play outside?

You become very creative indoors in order to entertain your toddler!

There are some scrub jays who dive bomb our back yard a few times a day and/or sit on our patio furniture and hang out. Well, usually we are out and about having fun in the sun but with the rain, we haven't been able to be outside much. So... as we were locked inside this past Saturday, we tried to lure the scrub jays to hang out on the patio so we could watch them have fun otuside.

Here is the lone scrub jay eyeing our back yard.

 Jeff put bread all over our patio so the scrub jay would come to dine while...

 we wait patiently in the living room so we can watch them... First problem, scrub jays are smarter than we thought and could see us through the living room doors hence they didn't want to dine with an audience. Second problem, Ben is not patient.

 Third problem... the pretty blue scrub jay was scared off by the big, nasty black crow (pictured below sitting on our fence and keeping watch on the bread) who actually scared us a bit, too.

You might be wondering how this little experiment ended... well, by 7:00pm, Ben lost any interest and went to bed. When we all woke up Sunday morning, the bread was gone. We were, unfortunately, out smarted by the birds.

Sunday at Gilroy Gardens

Sunday was the first non-rainy day in a LOOOONG time. Seriously, it has been raining for soooo long. But, with the sun out, we had to take advantage of it and do something fun. And it just so happened to be opening day at Gilroy Gardens which is an amusement park for kids up to about 6 years old. Ben had such a good time and it was great for us because he got to run around the whole park and get his energy out!

Gilroy Gardens has rides for kids his size, a train ride, mazes, water rides and carosels. For any local parents who haven't been to Gilroy Gardens yet, your kid will love it there.

 This is Ben's tough face... we were on the water ride and he was done with the camera!

He's a Climber...

It is hard to tell from this picture but he climbed up this ladder all by himself, his Dad is just there to spot him. This probably sounds like a broken record by now but this little man is climbing EVERYWHERE... literally!

Saturday Rain Day

It has been raining non-stop for weeks here in Northern California and there is only so many indoor activities you can do to entertain an active toddler who refuses to watch any form of tv, movies etc. So... Saturday morning came with more storms so we decided to take advantage of a quick lull in the rain fall and take Ben out for one of his most favorite past times... puddle jumping!

Who Was Excited for Paddy's Day?!

 Take One Guess... It's the wild Irish man jumping up and down on the couch...



In Honor of St. Patty's Day

We went on a quick hike after lunch on Sunday in the Toro hills. Much to our surprise, the hills we filled with sheep. Literally sheep everywhere. With the green hills, the sheep wandering all over the place and the slightly overcast weather, it felt like we were back in Ireland! What a fun surprise just in time for Patty's day!

 

Park Play Date

On Saturday, we drove up to Los Gatos to meet with our most fabulous college friends for a park play date with all the kids! Christina and Jason Drogin brought their awesome little men, Will and Jake. Jenny and Josh Goines brought Jake, who knows just about as many words as Jeff. Shannon and Khloe Koontz came but Zach had to work and was very missed. With all of our great college friends, how could we not have the most fantastic day?!? The kids loved playing together and we just know there will be many more decades of play dates in our futures!

Friday Dinner with the Viane~Riese's!

Our good college friends, Mike & Jenn Riese drove down to the aquarium on Friday afternoon and us lucky Bolgers got invited out to dinner with them. We definitely did have fun but we aren't sure we'll be invited back to dinner with them until the 'terrible 2s' are over... more on this to come in a bit...

Ben loved Sophie and Christian, Jenn & Mike's 2 awesome kiddos... you can't really tell from this pic, though. I think this was just before his melt-down (or maybe his third melt down)...

So, we don't really go out to dinner with Ben much anymore. If we do venture out to dinner, there is a lot of praying that goes on the few hours before dinner. Unfortunately, this was an impromptu picture so not much praying took place and boy did we pay. Ben was just not having it... he didn't want food, he didn't want toys, he didn't want to play much with Sophie or Christian... he just wanted whatever he wasn't allowed to do (like throw pizza on the kids at the table behind us). Needless to say, dinner wasn't a long drawn out affair. But, always fun to see such fabulous friends regardless of how cranky our little man was...

Houston, We have a problem...

Seriously?!? How am I supposed to 'baby proof'this? He definitely has the Bolger climbing gene... this is definitely not a Jacobs trait.

New Toy

We got Ben a new toy a few weeks back but the weather has been so dreary that it's been way to cold to set it up... that is, until Saturday rolled around. As always with anything having to do with water, Ben was in love. Lots of splashing and screaming. Happy camper, for sure.

Of course we wake up to unexpected rain on Sunday and when Ben ran downstairs for breakfast, he immediately wanted to go outside and play with his new toy. So sorry little man, but that's not going to happen.

What's better than splashing in the water? Adding more water, of course! And spraying the hose on everyone and everything... well, that's just the icing on the cake!



Taking Advantage of the Sun...

Saturday was a gorgeous day. The sun was out, we were all up early and the little man was in a great mood. So, we decided to take advantage of the sun while it was here and go on a 5 mile hike in Fort Ord/Toro Hills area. There has been so much rain recently that we've had little opportunity to get outside and another plus was that the little ponds have grown to big ponds.

 Half way thru our hike, Ben decided it was a better idea to snooze vs take in the scenery. See the white hat/blob thing in the back pack on Jeff's back? That's Ben snoozing away.

Of course we woke up Sunday morning to rain which is zero fun. Good thing we got outside yesterday. Perhaps we'll let Ben stomp in some puddles today?!? Enjoy your Sunday, everyone!

Ouch!

Yep, that's a nice little raspberry on his nose. Ben and the sidewalk had a little scuffle this week. But... if you think his nose looks a little raw, you should see the asphalt!

Dinner Out

It's a big deal for us to go out to dinner now-a-days because Ben really isn't that well behaved after 4:30pm. So going out to dinner is a real treat mainly because someone else has to clean up what our little toddler throwns on the floor. Saturday night, we went out to dinner with Gommie & Papa to celebrate Jeff's 33rd birthday and boy, it really was a treat to have a night 'off!'

Birthday Boy!

 Ben was actually really well behaved on Saturday night, which, it's sad to say we were shocked. We anticipated the worst and brought back up toys and things to distract him but he did great. Here, Ben is sitting with Gommie & Papa settling into his seat. The waiter doesn't realize that this little boy's tummy is growling... he will, though... soon. Very soon...

... Now the waiter gets it! The waiter is on the opposite side of the table getting the full force of Ben's yelp for an appetizer.