Favorite things

Nothing better than being at Notre Dame, wearing beads, and standing on a fire truck.

Last California mega-post

Here is a summary of our last couple of weeks in California. Things got kind of busy there for a while, so I now have more catching up to do on the blog.

In preparation for leaving California, we decided to run the hot tub for a while to make it at least look clean after we left. We found that there were two frogs and several GIANT slugs living in it. I caught one of the frogs. Sean was very interested to see it, but not touch it. A few days later he agreed to hold it. That lasted for about ten seconds. I wish I had recorded the look on his face. He did not like holding something wet, cold, and jumpy!

Sean claimed this suitcase as his own when I got them all out and started packing. One afternoon while I was making dinner he just sat in it and looked at his books all by himself. So cute. Luckily he moved on to something else by the time I had to actually pack stuff in it.

Grandma and Grandpa S. sent Sean this truck and trailer in the mail. He was SO excited. He loves things that hook together.

Just before Halloween we went to the Schulz Museum in Santa Rosa for some kids' activities. This is the most impressive product of the day. Can anyone tell that Dada helped out on this one? I think he secretly wants to put a glitter pen on his Christmas list. ;)

Sean shows off his blue tongue after a popsicle. And I'm glad we have an abundance of address labels, since so many end up on his shirt instead of our envelopes!

More indoor playground fun.

Sean discovered the foosball table at Dada's work. (Yes, that's right, all you accountants and engineers out there - some workplaces actually have games! Whoa!)

Sean found the Crazy Taxi game too and was hooked. Especially when he realized that it takes place in San Francisco - there are even cable cars!

Speaking of cable cars, we went into the city to do one last ride. We got a day pass and started out on a streetcar.

We stopped at the Streetcar museum, which was a huge hit. They had a hands-on area where you could play with the bell, levers, etc. from old streetcars.

Future streetcar operator?

Next we stopped at Rasputin where we picked up some good deals on some cds. They also had wheels bolted onto the stairway, so of course we had to check those out too.

Next we rode the cable cars down to Fisherman's Wharf.

Man I miss that California sun.

Sean wanted to see how the cables work. They are just endlessly fascinating.

We went to Ghirardelli Square but weren't really in the mood for a huge ice cream sundae, so I just bought a bunch of chocolate to bring home. You will be amazed to learn that I have not opened any of it yet. I guess I just want to make sure it lasts until we get back to SF again, and who the heck knows when that will be?! Well anyway here is a tired Sean by the Ghirardelli Fountain.

We had one last dinner out at Mary's Place, which is Sean's favorite restaurant. I don't think he really cares about the food, he just likes to play with the truck/trailer they have there. The food by the way is really good.

Sean and I made a stop at the Novato History Museum. He was not really excited about it, but luckily they had a couple of hands-on things.

This is the view from the front of the museum. That's the old city hall building which is currently being restored. In the background, Mount Burdell.

I don't know if I mentioned it before, but we only had one car while in California. We managed just fine (and I really wish that in Ohio we lived within biking/walking distance to the library, grocery store, church, etc). I would drop Jeff of to work in the morning and pick him up in the evening if I needed the car, but for the most part I got myself into decent shape towing Sean (and library books, groceries, etc.) around town on this. It got great gas mileage.

Indoor playground / Fleet Week & hot tub videos

Novato has an indoor playground that we go to once a week. I tried to get a good picture of Sean, but he is constant motion, so he was blurry in all of them. I will try again this week.

This is an old one from Fleet Week. In case you need a translation, Sean says "Blimp almost landing.... far away ocean."

We have a hot tub on the patio that we have not used at all since we arrived. Yes you probably think we are crazy, but the slugs got to it before we could and that was the end of it. We still run it every once in a while so we don't get in trouble with the landlord for letting it get too gross. Sean was fascinated by it - "This dial means.... how much pressure.... this filter over here under there...." he got a little flustered at the end I think because of the camera. :)

In this one he explains the dial, buttons, and how the water comes out of the filters.

And I don't believe it, but I am actually caught up on pictures and videos! I guess that means I will have to remember to take the camera with me this week/weekend for whatever we end up doing!

Lucas Valley

Last weekend we went for a little hike in Lucas Valley, which is just south of Novato. Jeff wanted to check out Skywalker Ranch, but of course it is completely gated and hardly visible from the road. Oh well. Someday he will get in there I think.

Anyway it was a beautiful day and we wanted to enjoy the sunny, warm weather. It still feels like late summer here, with maybe one day a week actually feeling like fall (windy, crisp air, cool).

Mama trying to bust through the cattle gate. (I couldn't figure it out.) It's nice to know that lots of cows are pastured here and not confined like the ones you see in Meet your Meat.

This was as good of a view of Skywalker Ranch as we could get. It's really huge and as you can see has a giant pond in the front.

And as usual, we stopped for a snack. Sean said, "Sitting on George Lucas!" when we sat down. He comes up with all kinds of amusing lines - I wish I could remember them all!

Streetlights turn on!

Since it has been getting dark earlier, we now have a new post-dinner routine. We have to make sure we get outside to watch the streetlights turn on. Sean gets very excited when he sees that it's dark outside since during the summer he would be in bed before dark and up after the sun came up. We have to make sure we get dinner going before it starts getting dark, otherwise Sean is suddenly done with dinner and repeats "Streetlights turn on!" over and over. He doesn't want to miss the action.

So this is where we hang out every evening....