This year we celebrated Thanksgiving dinner at the Washington Athletic club. Our friend Jessica who had just moved to Seattle from Witchita also joined us for dinner. Z and I were also lucky enough to have a great date night and see Brandi Carlile in concert over the holiday break. It is always a great show and we had awesome seats.

We also took our first trip to the mountains this winter. There was already a good bit of snow on the ground and we had a blast playing in the snow.

This year our friends Jessica and John took our photo for our holiday card. It was a chilly day and the kids were not super excited to be out in the cold but we got some great photos!

View our November 2012 photos.

Posted in Activities, Family photos, Friends & Family, Gabriel and Zara, Seattle 109 Comments »

I’m a little behind in updating our blog!! We have September and October pictures below.

Some of the highlights from the fall were:
– Hiking – we did lots of walks in Discovery Park. Picking up leaves and sticks is so much fun! Dad feeds us blackberries and we love them!
– Pumpkin picking and a hay ride at a local pumpkin patch
– Halloween – we dressed up as Raggedy Anne & Andy and everyone thought it was super cute! We had a lot of fun at our friends Halloween parties
– Bike riding – We got balance bikes – they’re bikes with no wheels. They’re supposed to be easier to learn on than training wheels. Gabe is a daredevil and wants to ride down the hills.
– We got to ride the new Ferris wheel downtown. It was Gabe’s idea but once we were in line he freaked out and wanted to go home. It’s pretty high!!

View our September 2012 photos.

View our October 2012 photos.

Posted in Friends & Family, Gabriel and Zara, Seattle 81 Comments »

We had planned for Amy’s sister Deb to visit and help with the kids during the first week of August when Ciara, our nanny was in Ireland on vacation. Z had a last minute business meeting in China the last week in July so we knew the week would be crazy for Amy before Ciara left on vacation. The day Z left for China, Amy and the kids went to a pick your own blueberry farm. The kids ate far more blueberries than they paid for and we had a few incidents of turning the buckets upside down but all in all it was a huge success and something we’ll do again next year.

On Monday morning, Amy reminded Ciara that with Z gone it would mean she would have to work more hours. Ciara’s response – you do remember I’m leaving for vacation on Wednesday, right? OH CRAP. No, the dates were in Amy’s old work calendar that she lost when she changed jobs. Somehow the dates had never made their way to Z’s calendar so he had no idea Ciara was gone (and Amy’s CEO would be in town) when he picked the dates to go to China. This meant Amy was alone with no child care, a new job and a her CEO being in town and no Z to help. UT-O looks like it’s going to be a stressful week!

Let’s just say it was a little stressful for a few days but fortunately, our previous nanny’s daughter Chelsea had just graduated from high school and was willing to take on the challenge. Thank goodness she was a trooper and saved us! The only problem that she ran into was that Gabe, who tends to be a little shy with strangers, hid in the corner of his crib and refused to get out. After a little coaxing and the promise of play dough, he came out and warmed to Chelsea. The week was crazy but Amy and the kids survived no problem. The kids were super excited to see Daddy when he returned from China and they were also excited because Aunt Debbie visited to watch them the following week.

Debbie and the kids had a lot of fun while she visited and fortunately she wasn’t freezing when she visited!! We did all sorts of fun things like the Salmon ladder, Pike’s place, and a yummy waterfront dinner. Aunt Debbie and Amy also went whale watching. It was a beautiful day and pretty scenery but I don’t know that Amy is one for “hunting” for things. It was great to have Aunt Debbie visit! We can’t wait for her to come again soon!

Aunt Debbie left a day too early and missed out on the fun of Seafare (she said she had to work or something silly like that!). Seafare is a big summer festival in Seattle. There are parades and boat races, and the coolest part is the Navy Blue Angels show. Our friend Bryley lives right on the lakefront where the planes fly so we were lucky enough to have a front row seat. It was very hot and loud so we’re not sure that the kids loved it this year but it played them out and they took a very long nap!

View our August 2012 photos.

Posted in Friends & Family, Gabriel and Zara, Outdoor activities, Seattle 93 Comments »

We had a lot to celebrate in May. Zvonimir turned 40 (though he didn’t want to celebrate!) and we had a low key weekend at home. We went hiking and had a date night on the town. We also celebrated Amy’s new job. After 15 years at her old company, she took a new job working for a very small consulting firm.

Gabe and Zara are chatting up a storm. They get very frustrated when you don’t understand them but they seem to understand each other just fine. They learned at Gymboree to clean up when they are done playing with toys so they sing “Clean up clean up, everybody clean up.” They’re pretty good about putting their toys away. They also developed a love for play dough. It seems that they would be happy playing with play dough 24 hours a day! A recent ploy to get out of going to sleep is that they have to give Maggie a treat before they go to bed. At first Maggie was terrified and stayed as far away as possible, but it seems that now she’s starting to get it that she’ll get a treat if she’s there.

View our May 2012 photos.

Posted in Activities, Friends & Family, Gabriel and Zara, Outdoor activities, Seattle 75 Comments »

Gabriel and Zara turned 5 months old and are growing so quickly. They are both starting to giggle out loud and are happy, healthy babies. Zvonimir and I are in love with them and are having so much fun. They’re great babies and almost always sleep through the night. They’re also starting to get on a more regular nap schedule.

Gabe finally learned how to roll from his back to his stomach but he has yet to figure out how to flip back over. After a few minutes on his tummy he starts to scream. However, as soon as you turn him onto his back he flips back to his tummy. We’re hoping that he soon learns to flip back over so we don’t have to constantly flip him!! Zara hasn’t rolled over yet. She prefers to lie on her side and kick at the toys (and her brother!). Our prediction is that Zara will be the mischevious one. She has this devilish little smile.

Zvonimir, his dad, my cousin Bill and his son Cole went fishing for Salmon in Puget Sound. It was a very foggy day so unfortunately, they didn’t have great views while fishing, but they had a successful fishing trip! They were allowed to keep 2 farm raised salmon each. They caught several wild born salmon but the law prohibits you from keeping these. They also caught 2 sharks. However, the biggest catch of the trip was by Cole, who caught a seal… well, not really, but the salmon he had hooked was chased and eventually stolen by the seal. They brought home a total of 30 lbs of king salmon for the boat.

We finished up the week with Zvonimir’s parents sightseeing around Seattle and having dinner with a few friends.

View photos of Miljenko and Vida’s second week in Seattle.

Posted in Friends & Family, Gabriel and Zara, Seattle 95 Comments »