in january we took a day trip out to truckee to play in the snow and take marley tubing.  he had almost as much fun as joon did!  shortly after that, for my birthday in february, we went to monterey and spent the weekend in a home at the beach in pacific grove.  it was a wonderful birthday getaway and we were walking distance to the monterey bay aquarium.  we all enjoyed watching the animals so much that we wound up at the aquarium three times in two days! in march we were invited to a special celebration for joon's grandmother's 80th birthday in los angeles.  on our way down we stopped for the night in santa barbara and hit up the santa barbara zoo the next morning.  it was a bit of a rainy day at the zoo which made it all the more fun!  after that we finished driving to la and met up with ian and liz and noah.  it was wonderful to see them and watch all the boys playing together.  it was actually quite cold down south and when we got to joon's parents house, there was snow on the ground!  i never would have guessed that marley would be playing in the snow in los angeles!

before we knew it, marley's fourth birthday was right around the corner.  over the past year marley has developed an intense love for dinosaurs and we were lucky enough to have a really cool dino exhibit in berekeley at the lawrence hall of science.  the dinosaurs were leaving right before his birthday so marley invited his friend diego with us to celebrate his birthday a little early.  the following weekend was marley's real birthday and when we went to pick grandpa up at the airport we discovered that bobo came, too!  it was such a great surprise, i nearly drove off and left adam standing on the curb at the airport.  we all had a fun weekend enjoying the company of family and celebrating marley's life.

he wanted to have his birthday dinner at the rainforest cafe in san francisco and visit the sea lions, and he loved every minute of it.   grandpa got marley his first two-wheeled bike as a birthday present and marley didn't waste any time learning how to ride it.   as for maddox, at this point he was crawling around furiously trying to get into things!  over memorial day weekend we took maddox on his first camping trip to lake pillsbury.  it was an amazing trip and we ended up staying an extra night and day.  our camera was either lost or stolen and our camping pictures went missing with the camera, but both kids had a blast living the camping life! the weather was warming up and marley was beginning to experiment with cutting his own hair.  we asked him if he wanted to have his head shaved like his daddy and he was up for it...out came the clippers!

the next group of pictures is of our summer vacation, and this year it was a special one.  my grandmother had announced that she was getting married and asked me to be her maid of honor.  what an honor!  the wedding was at the home of one of phil's children -- on a farm in wisconsin.  the day of the wedding was beautiful and i will never forget being there on the gazebo that phil's grandsons made, standing next to my gramma and feeling the little girl in my belly wiggling around.  it was a magical moment that was highlighted by the sounds of cows mooing in the background.   definitely a cool way to get married!  a great time was had by all, and from what i heard the party went on until the morning!  we spent a couple of days in wisconsin and then we headed down to peoria, illinois, to see my mom and spend some time visiting people there.  we did all the usual peoria things:  emo's for ice cream, the glen oak zoo, wildlife prairie park, and playing on the illinois river.  both the kids got to ride on a jetski (yes, even maddox) and joon learned how to waterski.  my mom had a swing for her yard and two different wading pools plus a stash of fireworks and toys, marley and maddox had a blast and so did the adults--joon and i even got to got out a few times with no kids!  its amazing how easy it is to have some time alone when there is family around!  since we were flying out of chicago, we drove up for the day and went to the shedd aquarium.  maddox LOVED it!  his response to the fish and the atmosphere was intense.  we enjoyed our time there checking out the fish and the dolphin show before heading to the airport.

after we got back from vacation marley started summer camps at school.  this year he did origami, clay creations, cardboard architecture, ball games and photography/scrapbooking.  he made some really neat stuff to bring home and he is still talking about all the different camps he got to do.  the first two pictures are from a trip to the san francsico zoo.  it was a beautiful day at the zoo and we enjoyed exploring all the animals.  maddox started walking at the end of may and he was having a great time walking around the zoo. maddox turned one on july 29th!  we had a small party here at our house with family and friends and maddox was thrilled with all the attention.  i got him his own little carrot cake that he got to eat with some mochi balls (balls of ice cream with a rice flour coating) and he LOVED it!  everyone else had fun watching him smear it all over his face also.  marley managed to somehow make out like a bandit on maddox's birthday.  he wound up getting more presents than the birthday boy--and he still likes to mention that!  ian, liz, and noah came up from santa monica to celebrate with us.  we had fun seeing them and we all went out for dim sum in san francisco the next day.  joon was talking up the chicken feet and made a deal with my dad that they were going to eat them.  well, there is a picture of my dad eating the chicken feet...joon wasn't quite as adventurous, although he did give them a try.  it's been a great year so far, now we are all gearing up to meet the newest addition to our family who should be here sometime in the middle of october!