Bonnie visited us in February.                                                      Munchychew, Sofi and Zak's miniature hamster, watched us from inside his ball.

Francisco had a birthday party.  Zak is at left.  This party was just for the kids.  Later we had a family party.

The kids were as sophisticated as 10-year-old boys can be.

Grammy went to San Diego for her annual Bridge Tournament.  Debbie, Jean, Bonnie.

Sunset at the pier.

Grammy visited Cindy...

...as well as Lars and Nancy...

...and Rosemary.

This is from the family birthday party.  Francisco likes root beer.

It was a wet day.

The party was for Cassidy and...

...Francisco.

Eric, Isabelle, Sandra.

Zak likes root beer too.

Eric and Isabelle watch as...

...Francisco opens presents.

Cassidy opens presents.

Francisco got a BioniCam, a surprisingly good little video microscope.

In early March the Erics visited Grammy and Grandpa in Santa Rosa.  Eric and Cassidy played chess.

Isabelle made a mask.

Her smile was only temporarily hidden.

Sofi read to Isabelle.

Zak and Francisco shared a computer game.

Sofi and Isabelle volunteered to walk Hixie, a dog that was up for adoption.  It isn't clear which of them enjoyed it more.

Sofi and Zak were in a GATE class devoted to LEGO robotics.  Sofi and her team built Roameo.  Zak and Justin built Tankbot.

In March the Suzy's got a dog, a little Chihuaha pup named Chato.

The kids like Chato.

Sofi and Nicole had dinner with Grammy and Grandpa.

Grammy and Grandpa, Spring 2009.

Grandpa gave Zak and Sofi a bit of self-defense instruction.  They learned fast.

Then he asked them to think about how dangerous this made them.

The four oldest grandkids are now big enough to legally sit in the front seat.  "I've got Shotgun!"

Sofi and Zak on their bicycles.

Sofi, Nicole, and Zak after a movie.

Sofi and Nicole painted rocks.

Sofi edited this photo of Nicole, herself, and Chato.

Sofi doing homework.                                                                                    Zak with an ocean diorama he made for school.

Zak with his "Oh, Really!" expression.  Grandpa can't get away with anything anymore.

The rainy season in Santa Rosa.

Zak with his friend, Justin, at their school's annual fundraiser, "The Walkathon."

Sofi and Nicole after the Walkathon.

In April Grandpa took Francisco and Zak to Legoland.  Each kid brought a camera.  This picture was taken by Francisco.

Everything was made of Legos.

This is Legoland's representation of San Francisco in Minitown.  The kids said it was awesome and each took several hundred pictures.

The entire park really is amazing.

Zak took this picture of Grandpa.

Isabelle, Sofi, and Chato came to Grammy and Grandpa's house for an Easter Egg hunt.

Sofi loves Easter Egg hunts.

Cassidy and Isabelle.

Nicole and Sofi in their Hip-Hop outfits.

This takes a bit of explanation.  Each year Grandpa takes a nice picture of each class that Sofi and Zak are in and then gives each kid a copy of the picture.  In order to get the kids to cooperate, Grandpa promises that they will get a chance to look goofy or scary in a subsequent picture.  Then he distorts their faces in funny ways using his image-editing skill.  The kids love it!  This year Sofi and Zak asked whether they could do the distortions.  They have been learning the skill over the last couple of years -- we call it "evil faces.".  Granpda agreed, and here is Sofi's result.    By the way, she is the wavy creature standing third from the left in the second row from the front.

Here is Zak's version of his class.  He is standing eighth from left in the middle row.  Due to  popular requests, this year each kid got a copy of the "evil faces" picture too.

We've been going on "photo walks."  It is fun to stop and take a picture of the flowers.  These happen to be in Grammy and Grandpa's front yard.

Isabelle can swing a hula hoop.

Grandpa considers four-year-old Isabelle to be mature enough to have a digital camera.  He got her an inexpensive used one on e-Bay.  This is one of the pictures she took on her first day.  It was at the Luther Burbank Home and Gardens.  Note that Grandpa recorded the moment.

Here is another of her photos.  The kid is a natural.

Justin, Zak, Nicole, and Sofi celebrating the end of the school year.  They made a movie.  Click here to see it.  
Don't worry.  No one was hurt.

Sofi and Zak have joined Grandpa on his photo walks.  Here are a couple Sofi's pictures.

Here are a couple of Zak's.

Photos from the past year or so.

Return to the Hudson Family Home Page