Hangin with the Sanchez clan

The Sanchini girls, their mother, and their Sanchez grandparents recently braved a road trip to LA. Due to a malfunctioning camera, pictures from most of the trip were lost :( We had fun visiting the Lippert side, but sadly have not pictures to prove it!

We did have a nice visit with Abuelita in her new room.

She got a kick out of her adorable bisnietas and kept remarking how they looked just like baby dolls! And how she is way too young to be a great grandmother!

What is going on? Abuelita's touching her eye, Sparrow's pulling her ear, and Sequoia- well, Sequoia is imitating "The Scream." Or are they sending out secret signals to all the men in the family who are missing from the picture?

Tia Roxanna, dubbed TiSan on this trip, enjoyed hanging with the Sanchini crew. Thanks for hosting the madness!

A trip to the park produced some sand ice cream and sand cinnamon pancakes. Tia was their best customer.

Unfortunately, Sequoia learned the hard lesson that sand ice cream isn't all it's cracked up to be. Luckily, Grandmama swooped in to assist in the sand removal.

Sequoia delighted Aunt Leslie with her flapping bird imitation, shortly before she learned what a fire alarm is.

She also learned the proper way to photograph fish- a lesson that even captured Uncle Joe's attention! It was a fun trip- we hope to plan another one soon!

Flashback to February

The Sanchini-Gorchini cousins had a clandestine playdate on Valentine's 2010 at a previously unknown park somewhere halfway between Santa Rosa and Richmond.


Uncle Chris, as he often is, was a source of stability for the young ones as they carried out their usual antics.

Sparrow was the daredevil of the crowd and conquered several twisty slides while the rest of us just gawked in astonishment (see Uncle Chris in the background gnashing his teeth with nerves? Maybe not such a stable force after all...)

Her Daddy, however, sucked it up and gave it a go on the tamer version of the inclined diversion. After nearly losing more than a few brain cells, he abandoned the mission to scope out a suitable locale for family portraits.

Crazy cousins nestled in the nooks of a tremendous tree. Sequoia is gleeful as the younger cousins are stupefied at the thought of having to pose for longer than 10 seconds. I mean, those of us in the under 2 crowd just don't ever stay put for that long!

Lucas looks adoringly at his older cousin while Sparrow plans her escape.



The dads get in on the action, desperately hoping they can squeeze out just one photo in which everyone is seated and smiling.

It was too much to hope for. Lucas went hog wild and tried to slide right out of Chris's firm fatherly grasp. Sparrow tried to pick up a few pointers, while Sequoia mildly melted away.

Freedom!!

Family Beach Day!

Daddy discusses the finer points of seashell hunting with little Sparrow.

But she'd rather be chasing the birds.

Then she does the "robot" for a while, though the pink mushroom hate shatters the image a bit.

Sequoia works steadily to build a sandcastle to rival all sandcastles.

Time for lunch!



Cracker sandwiches-mmmmMMMmmmm!

Nothing like some vitamin C to go with your vitamin D!

Sandquoia

Beckoned by the unadorned landscape, Sequoia arrives at the beach just in time


"Sand is soooooo 90's" assesses certified Beach Decorator Sequoia, "Sticks have a certain vertical panache. Sticks ARE the new sand."


Sequoia and her kindergarden crew set to work scouring driftwood for patina favored by the shabby beach chic.


Sequoia lounges in the stark wooden aesthetic of the now.