Sleeping like a baby

Most of you may already know that a few months ago, Cole gave up naps. Unless he happens to be in his car seat sometime between noon and 4pm with a moderately long drive, he's a 9am to 9pm kid. Or 8am to 10pm, depending on just how much fun he's having in life that day.

Every once in awhile, though, his schedule tuckers him out and he just falls asleep from exhaustion. Today was one of those days.

Around 2:30 today, Cole and I were walking back home from BART. He was trudging along quietly until about 4 blocks from our house, when he suddenly stopped and looked at me. "Mommy, up?" he asked sweetly.

So, despite the fact that I was already carrying leftovers from lunch, my shoulder bag, and his hot pink Dora the Explorer backpack, I couldn't help but oblige. If only I knew that 60 seconds later I'd be carrying dead weight, toddler-style, the whole rest of the way, I might have resisted a bit more.

Once I got home, I gently laid him (with his new exploding ice cream practical joke toy) on our couch. I laid some extra couch cushions on the floor in case he rolled off and went in the other room to get some stuff done in this rare moment of quiet:



About an hour later, I couldn't believe he was still sleeping so I went to check on him. Imagine my surprise when I found this!



ANOTHER hour went by, and I looked again:



Luckily, he woke up shortly before hour three or I think he might have been all the way under the couch!

A record day in the Ambrocente
household - Cole voluntarily took a 3 hour nap. Too bad he's so well rested for our red-eye flight tonight!!

Independence Day!

We had quite a wonderful 3-day weekend this 4th. Grandma is visiting and we've been having lots of fun.

It started with some dinner at the Macaroni Grill...with time for drawing before the food arrived...


Cole had a few calls to make on the way home:

Then on Saturday Cole and Grandma played together all day while we did a bunch of landscaping in the front yard. 8 bushes and a tree all came down in one (looooong) day!

Speaking of trees, after watching an older boy playing, Cole practiced his redwood-climbing skills at daddy's show at Ardenwood Historic Farm in Fremont.


Between shows, we took an old-fashioned train ride and Cole and Daddy made sure to stay hydrated.


After the second show, Cole was a big helper assisting in bringing Daddy's case to the car.


Then we had a great BBQ dinner at our neighbor's house, hanging out on her beautiful new deck and looking down on our new, bush-free front yard.

Later that night, a little quiet reading...


Then Monday we spent the day at Aunt JoJo and Auntie Sandy's house in Elk Grove. It was a blast!

There was homemade ice cream...

And a little fun on the mini slip-and-slide they bought for our visit!

We finished up our celebration with some summer fruit (Cole has a unique method of peeling his own oranges, with his little hamster teeth)...


Delicious food and company. It was an all-around great time!

Happy 4th, everyone!!