EB

EB was kind enough to visit us here in CA. We went to the Exploratorium, which was lots of fun. Pretty much everything was hands-on, which is Sean's kind of place! Also it was free that day which was an added bonus. That made it crowded, but I think everything in San Francisco is crowded during the summer anyway.

I didn't take any photos inside the museum, but outside and across the street by the marina there was a free fair. On the way we took a couple pictures of the GGB. I really should stop asking Sean to "smile" for pictures. :)

The fair had free bounce houses, activities, music, etc. Even free train rides!

While we were waiting in line for the train ride, some fighter jets flew by. And again and again, including red white and blue smoke. We wondered what was going on. Then, there were loads of people jumping out of airplanes. I have never seen so many parachuters in my life! Sorry this is a terrible picture with a dirty lens, but it's all I've got. If you look closely, you'll notice that the jumpers formed a "T." When we got home I checked the news, and all the craziness in the air was part of a filming for a T-Mobile commercial. It was really cool to watch, as well as to ponder the amount of money a very large corporation was spending on advertising.

Here EB and Mr. Sean go for the train ride.

When the train pulled away, I saw that in the marina there was a GIANT boat/ship/yacht - something huge. AND, look what it said on the side:

Yep, that's right, there was a Notre Dame yacht in the SF marina! So of course after the train ride we had to walk over and check it out up close.

We saw that the back door was open. I was wishing that Jeff were with me to walk right on and say "Hi! I went to Notre Dame!" But I am timid so we just stood there and looked at it for a few minutes, imagining getting on the boat and cruising the bay with some rich alumnus.

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We hung out around the house a bit, too. Sean and EB did some watercoloring. Sean generally just keeps his bike helmet on all the time when he's outside since he's on and off the bike so much.

We did a little running in the grassy patch by the pool.

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Back to the city.... we made a trip to the cable car museum, which I had been looking forward to for a long time. There were some displays inside about the history of cable cars in SF. I didn't realize that they once went all over the city (there are now only 3 lines I think). It was kind of sad to learn that. Back in the '50s the city got rid of them because people were driving their individual cars (among other reasons I'm sure). They almost got rid of all of them altogether, but at least a few were saved.

Sean loves gears and wheels and anything mechanical, as you probably already know. He enjoyed the museum.

The cable car museum is just a few blocks from Chinatown, so we spent the afternoon there and had dinner there. I found some Chinese Checkers for $2, which I thought was a pretty good deal. It also came with another board for some game involving dice and fighter jets. Most of the stuff we saw in the shops there made about that much sense. Anyway Sean likes it!

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We headed to Napa Valley one morning to see Old Faithful of California, a geyser. Sean was kind of scared of it at first, but then became interested as it sputtered, stopped, then came back about 10 minutes later. You can tell it was really hot that morning - Sean was red, sweaty, and really not in the mood for photos.

Did I mention it was hot? This was in the shade, too!

We had lots of fun with EB! Her presence was requested often during the week. "EB play with you?" was the most repeated phrase. (Sean is still working on learning how pronouns work. "You" and "me" are confusing!)



Next up, the Gravenstein Apple Fair, followed by our big trip to Yosemite then a visit from Uncle Paul! Stay tuned....

Video update

Here are a few videos from the recent past.



The first is from the dizzying outdoor concert we went to at the library.

Next up we have a pop-quiz session that should make Uncle Chris proud.

Finally, this is a sample of how Sean prays before meals.

New bike and other miscellaneous items

Grandma and Grandpa S. wanted Sean to have a bike while we're in California. He loves it!

Just kidding, that photo is from the Novato Farmer's Market - the police department was there and Sean got to sit on the police motorcycle and in a police car.

Here is Sean's new bike:

I know, not as cool as the police motorcycle, but much cheaper and more importantly much more practical! He plays with it every day. He either rides on it or gets out the screwdrivers and wrenches and takes pieces off and puts them back on. He's quite a little mechanic.



Here are my two boys having some "guy time" outside with the new bike.

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There was a concert at the library last week so we had a picnic dinner outside. Sounds like a good idea, but Sean ate two bites then was not interested in food. He just couldn't sit still long enough to eat with all the entertainment!

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There are always ants going back and forth on the sidewalk on our patio. Sean likes to watch the "ant highway."

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Dad found this "awesome new radio!" at a rummage sale recently. The knobs and dials were a big hit. That is until Sean got his new bike. He hasn't looked back! Thanks Grandma and Grandpa S!

Grandpa and Grandpa S. visit

Grandma and Grandpa S. came to visit a couple of weeks ago. (Yes I am a little behind on this blog! Sorry!) We had a great time.

The weather was pretty warm so we spent quite a bit of time at the pool. At first Sean was a little afraid of the water but now he loves it. He has to do everything on his own though - he does not like to be carried around the pool, he just likes to hang out on the stairs where he doesn't need someone holding him.

Sean has quite a collection of trains going, and he likes to build bridges, tunnels, garages, and houses for them out of his Duplo Legos.

There are some turkeys who live in the neighborhood, and we saw them one morning scurrying around.

I cleared some bushes near our place and put some of our plants in the ground. We have lettuce, parsley, basil, tomatoes, zucchini, chives, and sunflowers growing. It is so dry here that even with daily watering, the plants grow very slowly. We are still waiting on the tomatoes, zucchini, and sunflowers; but we've been eating the herbs and lettuce.

We made a couple of trips into the city. We climbed Telegraph Hill and played around on the lawn near Coit Tower.

And of course we took a cable car ride!

Sean enjoyed climbing on the stairs at Union Square.

At Ghirardelli Square, Sean explained to everyone how the machinery works.

On the way home from the city we stopped at an overlook. There was no guardrail near the steep hill so I made Sean stay on the bench. He was not happy about that. I must say I'd rather he pout than scream though!

Here is the Golden Gate Bridge (aka the "GGB") with the fog and the city.

We also went to Muir Woods. Here we are at the gift shop. Sean is not really into stuffed animals, but he did like to see how many of them he could hold!

The famous "camera smile" at Muir Woods.

A real smile. Much better!

We had lots of fun with Grandma and Grandpa. Thanks for coming to see us!

Catching up

It's been a while since I've last posted. After going through last month's pictures, I now remember why. We were pretty busy.

In late June, I took Sean to the Sonoma-Marin Fair. Here Sean is riding the carousel. He was very interested in watching the mechanism that makes the horses go up and down. We also took a train ride and a few other rides. It was nice because all of the rides were free after you paid $15 to get in. We did a lot of stuff so I think it was worth it.

There was also an area set up for kids to learn about where food comes from. There was a "farm stand" with pretend chickens and eggs, a cow you could milk, some other fake food, a cash register and scale. Sean really liked this part and would have stayed much longer if we could have!

Next, our nice California vacation/semester abroad/deployment was rudely interrupted by a huge storm in Hamilton that caused our basement to flood. We learned that we can make it home to Ohio on 24 hours' notice. Sean and I flew home so that I could take care of the ruined basement. I had lots of great help from our families (THANK YOU TO EVERYONE!), help from Sean's beloved bike (he kept himself entertained with it while I set everything out to dry and ripped out the basement carpet), and no help from the insurance company (is anyone surprised?).

Anyway here is my biker babe at the old house, perfectly content to sit on his bike all day.

And here is our lovely basement. It's not so lovely anymore. The floor is completely covered in sticky glue. This is what we have to look forward to when we return. I am not complaining, however; some people lost much more than we did. And, it's only stuff and we're not really that attached to our stuff. It was just a hard way to learn a simple lesson: do not leave any papers, books, dartboards, posters, clothes, cardboard boxes, or LPs on your basement floor while you are gone!!!

Back to more pleasant thoughts. The biker babe again. He actually helped me pull out some of those weeds.

The trip did have some good points too. We were home for the fourth of July, so we went to the parade in Hamilton. Sean had a great time; he just didn't want his picture taken.

We also stopped at Ikea to browse and play around with the props and the toys. I think Sean needs his own office.

Back in California, we resumed snacktime out on the patio. This picture reminds me of my cousin's son, Jacob. Does anyone else think so? This picture also make Sean look like a floating head because his shirt blends in with the chair. :)

We made it back to California in time to meet up with my most awesome friend from ND, Elizabeth (another E.B.!), who was in CA visiting family. She finally got to meet Sean (well technically she met him while he was in utero, 2.5 years ago), and we got to meet Lyle. He's such a cutie and a chilled out baby! Sean was very excited to meet Lyle, I think because he wanted to play with the presents we bought for him. :)

I was reading to Lyle while Sean was napping. Then Sean woke up and joined us. This lasted for a few minutes until Sean got completely annoyed by Lyle waving his arms around and touching Sean.

Cheers!