In fond remembrance of a sweet little piggy named “Patches” who brought lots of joy to many children & adults too. Bye Bye Patches. Thanks for the smiles you gave to us.
Max & Patches
Emily & Patches
Emily & Patches
Emily & Patches
Max & Patches eating grass
Christian & Patches
Kathy & Patches
Alex & Patches
Emily, Grandpa Dale & Patches
Oma & Patches
Patches trying out Max’s cool mini kick board scooter
You will be missed.
Browsing Posts tagged Alex
We went to “Buck N Horse” Ranch in Gilroy this afternoon for Max’s first horseback riding lesson with his good buddies, Alex & Sean
He was paired with Chai, a sweet little pony
Max & Chai took one look at each other and bonded immediately
Max feeling quite comfortable riding Chai
Giving Chai a big hug to say goodbye after his lesson. This was kind of a trial basis lesson to see if it would be something he would enjoy doing.
View of Napo River from our room at La Casa del Suizo
Max enjoying the hammock on the back porch
Emily & David playing “dolphin” in the baby pool
Wallace being attacked by the kids!
Papa Dave & Max on the Jungle Excursion
Dorian, Charlie, Alex & Aunt Claudia
Although the Napo River had pirhanas, these were not pirhanas!
Max saying “hello” to a tortoise at an animal sanctuary
These were all injured & rescued animals of the jungle
Toucan
Aunt Claudia getting ready for white water rafting in the pirhana infested Napo River. According to the guide, the pirhanas are well fed so they don’t tend to bite people! Max went white water rafting in Wallace’s lap just to be safe! 
Sean
We went to a Butterfly Garden in the nearby jungle town of Ahuano (about a 15 minute walk from the hotel)
We sat down for a minute before our guide came to take us into the butterfly garden & in seconds Miss Em was asleep on Papa Dave’s lap
Gorgeous butterflies!
The butterfly was attracted to the cardinal on Charlie’s shirt
Alex hot, tired & trying to remain still so a butterfly would land on him too
Norma in the hot baths at Termas de Papallacta
David in paradise
Norma & John enjoying some alone time with me & my camera
Mary, Emma & Sean (hiding)
Max & Emily’s front yard: thermal hot baths!
Max & Emily enjoying their private hot bath in their room before heading off to the Jungle
On the road again
Goin’ places that I’ve never been
First stop was a lovely lunch spot featuring hummingbirds
Alex, Emily & Charlie hanging out on the couch before lunch was served
Lunch menu. Surprisingly enough black pepper ice cream with basil sauce is pretty darn good!
Vicky (our tour guide), Normita & Fernando (our driver)
Wallace embracing his mama
Emily walking down a path to the hummingbird feeding stations
Charlie, Emily, Alex, Max & Nick watching the hummingbirds
We arrived at the bank of the Napo River in the evening to take our canoe ride to Casa del Suizo Hotel
Great Uncle Dorian (aka “GUD”) deeted up in an attempt to repel the mosquitos
David ready to go! He probably needed to deet up a little more than he did ’cause he was eaten alive by the mosquitos
Part of the group heading over in the canoe
Our luggage took an entire canoe!!
The beautiful La Casa del Suizo hotel as we arrived via canoe
We stayed here in the jungle at La Casa del Suizo for 3 nights
The next day we jumped on the tour bus again and headed to Mitad del Mundo (Middle of the World)
Check it out! 0 degrees-0′-0″
The Krasnoff Family straddling the equator
David, Norma, Wallace & Max straddling the equator
Mary & Sean straddling the equator
Wallace & Sarah straddling the equator
Emily thrilled to be holding a rhinoceros beetle
Max a little freaked out about it which is kind of funny because he is having a reptile/bug/beetle party for his 6th Birthday next month!
Happy Emily
She wasn’t phased at all
She even touched & petted the beetles.
David was the first to attempt the “beetle thing”.
Emily wanted to do this too, but her face was smaller than the beetle
John & Dorian — a quick stop at a scenic view after Mitad del Mundo
Max at the scenic view
Solar Museum
Here we are as a group on the equator at the Solar Museum
Mark successfully balances an egg on it’s small end on the equator. Yeah Mark!
Then we headed to Maria Elena’s house for what they refer to as “lunch” at 4pm’ish.
Max & Emily had fun on the teeter totter
Alex, Nick, Sean & Max all on the teeter totter!
And, there was a rope swing here too!
Emily loved it!
Max did too!
Charlie too!
Sean too!
They even had a white pet rabbit which was a big hit with Max & Emily
Emily fell in love with the bunny rabbit!!
We stayed in downtown Quito the first four nights,
at the Lugano Suites Hotel
The cousins were happy to see each other!
Emily was quite popular with Charlie & Alex.
We started our trip with a tour of Quito. Here is a beautiful cathedral. Wish I could remember it’s name.
The handsome gentlemen hanging out on the wall outside the cathedral (Dorian de Wind, Dale Colyer, John Williams & Dave Glick)
We even got to see the President of Ecuador, Rafael Correa! He made an appearance for us! LOL! He was elected in late 2006 and took office in January 2007.
That evening we went to Denise & her husband’s lovely home in Tumbaco for dinner.
This is their beautiful view from their back patio!
Claudia, Denise & Bernardo
Norma & David
Wallace & Marta
The kids had a great time on the rope swing! Ooops! That’s not a kid! That’s my DAD!!!
Truth be told, all of the adults took a turn or two on the rope swing: me, Mark, Claudia, & Evan! It was too dark and the evidence isn’t clear.
Charlie upside down on the rope swing!
Max on the rope swing!
Emily enjoyed using Papa Dave’s binoculars. Better get use to this red Christmas dress! You’ll be seeing it a lot!!!
We traveled through Ecuador for 16 days with 15 of our closest friends & family members to include a total of 19 travelers in our group. Here are the individuals in no particular order:
Cousin Nick
Cousin Alex
Cousin Charlie
Aunt Claudia
Uncle Mark
Brave Cousin David
Great Uncle Dorian (aka “GUD”)
Grandpa Dale
The Oma
John
Papa Dave
Friend Mary
Friend Evan
Friend Emma Jane
Friend Sean
Emily
Max
Wallace
And, here begins the tale …
Oma sent Max & Emily a cool cardboard house for Easter! We opened it a wee bit early (okay, a month early!) ’cause the rain has been relentless & we needed something to entertain the little rugrats!
This cool casa cabana has a door, 7 windows and spy holes!
Emily having fun decorating it.
Sean, Alex & Emily decorating the house as Max pops his head out of a spy hole to find out what’s going on with his house painters!
Emily is totally into yellow so she would only color the house with a yellow marker! HUH?!?! It’s been PINK! PINK! PINK! What’s the sudden switch to yellow?
Alex & Sean helping to decorate the back door.
Sean really getting into it.
Max writing his name on the front door! THANKS OMA!!!! This has provided Max, Emily & friends with a lot of fun!
Alex & Max welcoming “Patches” home for a weekend visit
Alex all smiles as she holds “Patches”
Max being very protective over his classroom guinea pig
Max kept telling Alex & Emily that it was “HIS classroom guinea pig”
Emily & Patches. This is going to be a looooong weekend …
We went to Donner Lake (Tahoe) this past weekend with the Kensler-Iversen Family
We rented a pretty home with two sets of bunk beds & a spiral stair case to a secret “kids only” hideaway. Kid’s Paradise to Erik’s angst.
Max @ the Donner Lake Mountain House
Emily @ Soda Springs Ski Resort where she went tubing
Sean @ Soda Springs Ski Resort
Alex @ Soda Springs Ski Resort
Sarah & Sean @ Soda Springs Ski Resort. Sean tried some skiing and was quite successful.
Wallace carrying Max to the tubing hill. He was too tired to walk.
Wallace & Erik in the kitchen on Saturday night making a fabulous meal for me & Sarah!
Potato, Green Cabbage & Leek Soup with lemon creme fraiche as our starter. Life is Good.
Alex, Sean, Max & Emily chilling in the downstairs livingroom watching “Harry the Dirty Dog” after a long afternoon at Soda Springs while we enjoy wine & adult conversation upstairs.
Wallace reading “Silly Sally” to the kids on Sunday morning before getting ready to head back to the Bay Area
