FALL BREAK IN SFO

As you can see there was plenty of food, fun, and family over the past couple of days in San Franscisco. Our semi-annual trip found all of the West Coast Simon Family healthy and happy. We had great accomodations at Mike and Cindy's and the hospitality was fantastic. We loved playing with Oscar and the newest member of the family.....CoCo. She is really very cute! We even had a great Chinese meal together with a few hours of visiting with Vicki's family. It is amazing how much Kelsey and Joshua have grown! Thurday we had a fun day in Napa...starting the day with Opus One and ending the Day with Castle of Amerosa and a tasty dinner with Cindy at Don Giovanni's. On the way out of town, we visited with Valerie at her new Emeryville loft. It was really cool! Of course we continue to marvel at Irene's good health and cheerfulness at almost 92! She "hung in there" all week with all of our goings and comings. She is a real sport!

Thanks to all again for a memorable trip. We missed having Jason, Meredith, Amelia, Aaron and Caren with us on this trip!

Another Weekend of Fun!

Last week we celebrated another birthday for Daddy Jason. We all went to dinner at a favorite restaurant, Vivace' and then to Amelia's favorite, Ben and Jerry's Ice Cream Store! Amelia loves to celebrate birthdays! Especially her's!

Mommy Meredith and Daddy Jason had some errands and shopping to do so Amelia got to come over to Poppie's and Bubby's house to spend the afternoon and night.

Amelia loved going to Harris Teeter to buy groceries. She especially loved seeing herself on the t.v. security monitors. We bought all of our favorite things plus a great little flashing small "happy-faced" jack-o-lantern". It won't be long until we all get to go trick-or-treating.

We came home and made sandwiches and pumpkin-faced cookies. After lunch we took a stroll to the nearby horse farm. We made friends with "BROWNIE" the brown and white horse, fed him some apples and carrots, and took a few photos. When we got home we were tired from the long walk and ate popcicles...Amelia's favorite!

After our walks, we ate an early dinner of salad and pepperoni pizza. Poppie went out with some friends to see the ECU football game on the satellite, while Bubbie and I stayed home "puppy sitting" Zeke and Zoe'. Poppie was happy since ECU won again! We took a bubble bath in Bubby's big jaczuzzi tub and then read lots of books and had some ice cream. We were so tired we all fell asleep by 9:00 while watching "Kiyou" dvd.

This morning we got up early to begin making brunch since Mommy Meredith and Daddy Jason came over to each and pick up Amelia. Amelia helped to make biscuits. She loved sifting the dry indredients. The flour made her sneeze. She wanted to make eggs, fries with ketchup, and orange juice....her favorites!

Bubby, Poppie, and the puppies were sad to see them leave, but they were all tired all day. Amelia takes lots of energy to keep entertained!

Fun Fall Weekends and Amelia's 2nd Birthday

Fall and September means lots of football and birthdays in the Simon and Steele Families.

Last weeekend Aaron was home to celebrate his 27th birthday (September 23) and to go to the ECU vs UNC game. It was good that he brought a victory back to NYC.

This weekend Michael (Meredith's NYC brother) traveled to Raleigh and the rest of the Steele Family came for a visit to celebrate Meredith's birthday (September 21), Amelia's 2nd birthday (Spetember 26), and Jason's 37th birthday (October 3). We need a pay raise after all of those birthday celebrations! We had a great time opening presents and had a delicious cookout.

Next weekend we are off to Charlotte for a weekend event at Johnson and Wales University and will hopefully see the Columbia, SC Coopers and Brissettes.

Puppies Update: Zeke and Zoe' are growing. They are both about 7 lbs. They are NOT happy when we leave them in their crate for the ballgames and the birthday celebrations! They continue to be cute and affectionate.

Sous Chef Amelia

I can't think of a better way to spend the holiday weekend than to spend time with Amelia. Well maybe, if I had all the family here....that would be even better!

Daddy Jason brought Amelia over this morning. Amelia immediately put on her cooking attire, got her hands washed, and helped Bubby with weekend preparations in order to get food prepared for Poppy's "solo" week. Poppy will be taking care of the puppies by himself most of the upcoming week as Bubby has to go to a four day meeting near Ashville, NC. We know....Poppy loves to eat "Bubby's home cooking"!

I think that Amelia loves "helping" in the kitchen so much she might become "SERVSAFE Certified" by the time she is five! Amelia loved mixing up the "veggies" for the homeade soup and the spagetti sauce. She also liked taking frequent breaks to sample blueberries, chips with hummus and canteloupe. The most fun also was helping Bubby prepare a picnic tailgate lunch of hotdogs, chips, slaw, and potato salad. It was quite a challenge for us to enjoy our tailgate lunch as Zeke and Zoe' wanted to join in and taste the hotdogs. We loved watching ECU's first game of the season as the played Virginia Tech.

Before naptime, Amelia took Zeke and Zoe' for a long walk around Westlake Reserve. She was really good about holding hands and holding onto the puppies' leash.

Amelia is looking forward to going to a neighboorhood party this evening. We might even take a quick trip to the store.

2007 Summer Vacation

It's been a while since our last post. We have had a very busy summer. June and July were filled with Judy's NC DPI related conferences for teachers. Finally the first 2 weeks of August we traveled to Portugal and Spain. We had a great and relaxing trip! Here are a few photos from the "Easy Pace" bus tour with 18 Canadians, New Zelanders, Australians, British, Singaporans, and Americians.

CHINESE DINNER

We had a special treat in the middle of the week. We met the kids at a new Chinese Restaurant for dinner after work today. Amelia has had a summer cold and of course Daddy Jason has it also...but worse! I was especially happy to see that little Amelia was sporting her new dress that I made for her over July 4. It looks great on her and fits so well! I was pleased. Here's a few "coordinated" photos.....We are all in green and pink!

Amelia is such a good eater now. She even puts the napkin in her lap. I am not sure her Daddy had such good manners at her age. She is also really expanding her vocabulary. All of those books her Mommy and Daddy are reading to her has paid off! She loves to read too!

We hope they all have a great and safe trip to NYC to visit Aaron, Caren, and Michael beginning this weekend.

FATHER'S DAY 2007

It was a good FATHER'S DAY for the Simon Dads. Maury received a 50" flat screen , HD, plasma t.v. for a combination retirement present and Father's Day. He loves it and spend lot's of time in front of it! He also received a framed piece of artwork from Amelia. It is proudly displayed in the favorite room of the townhome, the kitchen! We spent part of the weekend near Pinehurst visiting with The Greens at their lake house for Jerry's birthday and then came home early to take the "Raleigh KIDS" out to dinner at the new Vivace' Italian Restaurant. Amelia loved sharing Bubby's pasta and especially the ice cream at Ben and Jerry's at Horth Hills. She was so cute all dressed up in her new dress and purse....quite a little lady!

The puppies are at home now . Zoe' has had her operation and Zeke is scheduled for next week. All is fine now with little Zeke. We had a little scare with his blood work, but all is o.k. Thank Goodness!

We sure missed having Aaron and Caren home for the weekend events. They are anxious to go to Viet Nam on their vacation. We can't wait to go on our three week trip in August to Spain and Portugal! Vacations are LONG OVERDUE!!!!

MEMORIAL DAY BATH

It was a relaxing long weekend at the Simons'. We saw several movies, cleaned out the garage and closets, and of course gave Zeke and Zoe' their holiday bath. Zoe' wins the gold star for behavior during the bath. Zeke just does not like to get a bath in the jacuzzi!

Yesterday the Roses, Solashs and Jason's family came over for a late afternoon cook out. It was a warm day with no rain.

Maury is counting the days down until the last day of 1st session summer school. I can't wait for the next two month to pass then on for a three week vacation to Spain and Portugal. It is long and overdue!

MOTHER'S DAY 2007

We had another great Mother's Day weekend. On Saturday, Jason, Meredith, and Amelia drove down from Charlotte to Columbia and we drove from Raleigh with Zeke and Zoe'. We shared a couple of meals together and went to visit "MaMaMa" (a new name for Great Grandma Emily) at Steel Hopes. Everyone loved her new home. It was a beautiful day with lots of new flowers in bloom! Amelia especially loved making wishes and throwing penneys in MaMaMa's fountain in front of her "Mansion". The puppies earned another trip to Jane's and Peter's house as they were "pretty good"....even though Zoe' had one little mistake and Zeke ate part of a bag of "Life Savers". We also missed having Aaron and Caren close by.