Our Au Pair

It's hard to imagine, with the difficult economic situation we're in right now that we actually could afford to have an aupair in our house. She went back to Brazil just after Michaela turned four. Jana experienced my mom ailing with cancer and now her father has had to battle cancer himself. Since I know Jana always checks in on this blog to read new what's happening with the girls, I thought it be good to write this one for her.

The girls I think, despite having to attend school/daycare year round have had a well rounded summer. Even though their cousin Lauren was off to Tucson for a while, they got to visit her before she left and after she came back. Check out the biking picture we have at the bay from last week.



Yesterday, we got to spend more time with Lauren and the girls' two other cousins Amelia and Daniel. Besides having a great dim sum lunch in SF, we got to hang out the park, and even go shopping at the mall and help pick out a dress for Amelia's Bat Mizvah coming up in the fall.

So today, Michaela and Mariah get to spend time with their cousin Madeline up in Sonoma. They'll get to swim and have a fun barbecue up in beautiful wine country. I'm home resting because my back is giving me a tough time.

Today, my aunt invited us to the East Coast, but since I'm busy with work, the girls will have to stay local and enjoy it here, which they certainly do at their tender young ages. Most anything in or out of the house is fun for them. Also since their grandma is visiting from Arizona, they have had a special house guest in the Jana/guest room.

Lastly, a few weeks ago we got to visit a ranch and see real cows. See the other two pictures below. That was really fun for the girls especially because of the unexpected extra treat of being able to see newborn kittens that lay comfortably in the palm of their hands.