plum goes west

At the Jungle Gym

I discovered Jungle Gym and the YMCA last week and drug Catherine and Brian along for the fun!  Basically its free play in the gymnasium at the Y, fully equipped with hoola hoops galore, basketballs, bikes, trikes, and an inflatable bouncy gym!   Mary and Brian had a blast running all over, just doing like toddlers do.  Brian fell in love with a miniature cop car and Mary liked being toted around in a green fisher price wagon.  (seems fitting to both of their personalities)  It was so fun, and so nice to know that we didn't have a mess to clean after all the play.

Enjoy the pics!!!!  

:)

Here's Brian patrolling for hoodlums and misbehaving toddlers in his shiny black police veee-hicle.

"Officer Wright, I didn't know that I wasn't supposed to bring my sippy cup on the basketball court.  Please don't give me a ticket!"  

"No Mam, we have a no strike policy here at the Jungle Gym.  I'm gonna have to confiscate that sippy cup, and you might as well hand over your snack while we're at it."  

The latest in a long....loooooooong line of obsessions.

So, Mary is officially obsessed with the freagin' dishwasher...as evidenced by the pictures below.

Mary, perched in her new "usual spot." with sippy cup and all just in case she catches thirst while exploring the innards of the old as dirt dishwasher in our kitchen.

yep...i see you.

so, that's our ipod perched in the soap receptacle...and right behind it is Mary's princess toothbrush....both placed there by none other than Mary herself....I guess she's planning on an extended visit.

So, what have we learned from Mary's latest obsession?......no knives go in the the dishwasher (that was step 1)......now we've moved to no forks, no breakable plates and/or bowls/glasses...what have you, as Mary likes to take everything out (dirty or clean) and disperse it in piles throughout the apartment.  

Awesome.

Fun and Fabulous

This past weekend, girls from all parts of the country flew to San Francisco to help celebrate my good friend Marie's Bachelorette Extravaganza!  It was a great success on so many levels.  I spent most of last week planning, cooking and coordinating up a storm.   I had lots of help from Marie's friend Lisa and once the girls arrived they were all hands on deck to make the whole weekend as fun filled as possible.  We started out on Saturday morning by meeting at Marie's and hopping on the cable car and heading down to the Ferry Building.  We shopped around for a bit and then strolled a few blocks to the dock where our sailboat was just coasting up to pick us up for a day out on the bay!  Heather, Marie's sister-in-law had offered their boat and Keith, her boyfriend was gracious enough to sail us all over for the better part of the day while we sipped champagne and soaked in the rays.  It was gorgeous day!   We sailed under the Golden Gate Bridge, then headed to Angel Island where we got off and had a picnic.  From there we sailed to Tiburon where a few of us headed onto land and did a little shopping.  Finally we stopped in Sausalito where Andy and Mary were waiting to drive us back into the city.  It was an amazing day.  I had an awesome time hanging out with all of Marie's best girl friends from college.  Can't wait for the wedding in July!  After our boat ride, we proceeded to paint this town red.......until 4am....but those pics aren't showing up on this blog.  :)

From Left- Lisa, Me, Marie, Heather+her baby bump!

Marie's friends Natalie and Shona

Shona and Katie

Chillin'

Mary and Friends

Our dear friends Marie and Ty came over for dinner the other night.  As always, Mary soaked up all the love she could get.  What a little attention stealer.  Loved seeing you both!  Congrats on your new place in Seattle!  We can't wait to visit after the wedding!!!!!

Somebody get the windex!

Smiles

One of my favorites

I just love this picture of Mary.  She's such a girl.  

Mary...don't eat crayons!

Untitled from Kristen Grayson on Vimeo.

Dancing with My Dad

Dancing with Dad from Kristen Grayson on Vimeo.

While cooking dinner the other night I caught this sweet moment with Mary and Andy on video.  This sparkling gem of a video is one for the vaults.   I will show this video to Mary when she's much older.   There's nothing more precious than a father dancing with his daughter.