Niles Canyon Railway from Sunol, CA to Niles, CA

Right down the road from where we live, they have an historic train that goes between two small towns. They give rides to the public every Sunday in the summertime. Brayden loves trains and we thought he would enjoy riding a real train. So, this past Sunday, we took him to ride the train!

He had a great time! He had so much fun, it wore him out and he fell asleep on the train ride back!

Mother's Day 2010

We were lucky enough to have YaYa visit us for Mother's Day. That weekend Brian and I went to the University of San Francisco ROTC Military Ball. Brayden got to stay home and play with YaYa. Mom and Dad got to stay overnight in San Francisco without Brayden for the 1st time since he was born! It was a great weekend!

Muir Woods Redwood Forest

My mom came out to visit for my birthday. While she was here, we went to Muir Woods Redwood Forest one day! It was a beautiful day and we all enjoyed being outdoors! It is amazing how tall the redwood trees are!!











Brayden even got to go on his first hike with YaYa!! He walked the entire mile long trail through the redwood forest! Good job Brayden!

What Little Boys Do When They Have A Dog!

I walked out in the backyard one day and saw Brayden eating grass, like the dog does sometimes.
Then the next day this is what he did when I was feeding the dog....



Blizzard says that he is crazy and she has no idea where he learns these things!

Lego Land

We had fun at Lego Land, but we were a bit disappointed with it as well. It seemed kind of run down. Many attractions were closed and it just seemed that they weren't keeping it up. For the cost of the tickets, we expected much more. It also turned out that Brayden was about 2 inches too short for almost all of the rides. He was able to go on a few and enjoyed those! He really liked playing at the waterpark area and he got soaking wet....lots of laughs! He also enjoyed all the cars made out of legos that raced. It was hard to get him to leave the mini land because he was enthralled with the cars!! We had a good day, but wouldn't go back until Brayden was quite a bit older if at all! It is amazing to see all of the things built out of lego, millions of legos...literally!

Isn't that a cool giraffe??

These are the cars where Brayden loved pushing the button to make them race

Brayden and Mom in front of mini land San Francisco...it's all made out of Legos

Trying to stay dry...

It's more fun to get wet!

That one is going to POP up next, dad!

Good thing Mom brought me extra clothes!

Can we stay here longer??

Sea World

We thoroughly enjoyed our day at Sea World. Brayden called everything "fishes", the dolphins, whales, rays, sharks, fish, everything. We went to the Shamu show, fed rays, almost touched a dolphin, saw lots of animals, rode a few rides, and had a lot of fun! One of the fun parts of our day was seeing our friend, Lisa (Peek) Yates, who works at Sea World. She was working with the bat rays the day we were there, so she let us help feed the rays. Brayden was afraid of the food(fish) at first, but he was brave and took them and threw them in the pool. He ended up really enjoying it. It was a beautiful day, a little too hot at the killer whale show!! Enjoy the pictures!

Are we there yet??

Dad feeding the bat rays

Our friend Lisa (Peek) Yates works at Sea World and let Brayden help feed the rays.

Throwing the food in the pool.

Waiting for the Shamu show to start...

Taking a nap at Seaworld in my wagon!

Riding the "Elmo's Flying Fish" ride with Daddy. Maybe you can see me.

Taking a break and having a drink with Dad on a warm day at Sea World.

Spring Break 2010

Brian had a week off in March during the University's Spring Break. We had been talking about going to San Diego to go to Sea World because they have the "Here's to the Hero's" program, where they offer free admission to any Sea World or Busch Gardens park to military members and their families. Since we are so close now and don't know where we will be heading next year, we decided to take Spring Break and have a family vacation to San Diego.

We got to see Sea World, the San Diego Zoo, Legoland, the San Diego Wild Animal Park, and the beach. I think our favorite of all the places was the Wild Animal Park. Sea World was very neat also! We were disappointed with Legoland and probably wouldn't go back, at least until Brayden was much older! He was too little to go on most things, but he seemed to enjoy playing at the water park there and seeing all the cars built out of legos! He did love the boat ride he got to go on there.

It was a very fun trip and we had a great time! I will add pictures and posts from each place, so you can enjoy our fun as well! I have some videos, but look for those later in the week, as I need to find the cord to connect the video camera to the computer!

San Diego Zoo

Our first stop in San Diego was the San Diego Zoo! After the airport, we got our rental car, headed to the navy base to get lunch and get a few things at the PX and then headed to the zoo. Brayden loves going to the zoo and seeing all the animals, especially the giraffes! We had to make sure we found the giraffes. The zoo is very big, so we didn't get to see all of it since we arrived midafternoon. We did make it to the giraffes, the petting zoo, the bird aviary, the kids area, and several other animals! The San Diego zoo supports our active duty military with free admission to the zoo and 10 % off for family members, so if any fellow service members are ever in San Diego, take advantage!!


Brayden hanging out in his wagon....over the course of our trip, I think 50 people must have asked where we got this foldable wagon! It is AWESOME!!Thanks YaYa!
I believe you can find them on Amazon.com


Looking at the birds!


Mom trying to hold onto Brayden as he tries to escape to get to the giraffes!
So much for a nice picture!


Petting goats at the petting zoo


Brayden was exhausted after his busy day! He hasn't slept a night since without his giraffe that he got at the zoo!