Visit

G&G Spoon came to visit for a few days. I think I only saw Sean for brief intervals of mealtimes, otherwise he was outside with Gramps S. the whole time!

Here he is hooking a bungee cord up to his bike. (Despite numerous warnings, he lost all of his bungees down the hose hole in our deck, but was very willing to spend $1.06 at the dollar store to buy a new package when presented with the alternative, which was to crawl under the deck and retrieve the dropped bungees among the mud and cobwebs.)

The money tree. Ah, if only the money actually grew on the tree... good attempt!

Teresa has been trying new foods. I wouldn't say she really enjoys most of them, but she's a good sport. So far her favorites are pears and mango, her least favorites are carrots and sweet potatoes. Everything else (black beans, oatmeal, rice cereal, apples....) is somewhere in between. I am looking forward to her being able to handle things that are a little more chunky, so I don't have to puree everything (no, I do not buy baby food. I make all my own.) and I can start feeding her some stuff that I am already cooking for everyone else. In this picture, those pieces of melon are pretty much for playing. She could sort of eat them but was having a hard time getting them down without some crazy faces which made me nervous.

It's hard to get a really good picture of both of them together.

My cuties.

Bows

March

Yep, a little behind here. Little Miss T Spoon has not been giving me as much free time at night. Hopefully I can get a post in here before she calls for me again....

After our trip to California, actually the day after, we drove to South Bend so Jeff could give a talk for the Film Department. We stayed at EB's house. Here is Sean with a bag of chips and one of her necklaces - is anyone surprised that by the end of the weekend, the necklace was broken?

Little Teresa sitting up so nicely and playing. And proof that she is growing well - those aren't supposed to be capri pants!

We went to the Studebaker museum, which Sean really enjoyed. Teresa napped in the carrier as usual.

*****

When we got home, things returned to as normal as they get around here. Teresa found her toes just delightful to suck on.

My car, which I bought 9.5 years ago, hit a milestone last month:

I don't think it will make it to 200,000 under my ownership, but it still has some life left in it.

*****

We took Sean ice skating for the first time. He loved it!

Teresa, as usual, in the carrier. (She's close to getting out more - nearly crawling!)

Look how big my little boy is!

Not off to a good start. ;)

That's better!

This was the highlight of the day for Sean:

California Part IV

One day we drove to Sausalito to check out the Bay Model. We had gone here when we lived here, and I thought Sean would appreciate it much more now that he's a bit older. However, when we went in, we saw a sign saying we were welcome to visit, even though the model was under construction. I thought, ok no big deal, but then when we got to the big room, there were people hammering and drilling, and no water in the model! So, we left. I was going to walk around Sausalito but I had no idea where to go, so instead we drove a couple more miles south and walked along the Golden Gate Bridge. Sean walked all the way to the halfway point. He was very excited to watch all the cars, trucks, and buses go by. It was a little noisy and stinky for me, but he had a good time and Teresa got a good nap in the carrier.

We watched this Coast Guard boat go around for a while. Sean did notice that it had the same logo as two of the hangars at Hamilton Landing.

We took a little break from all the noise when we got around the tower. (Sorry I don't know the technical term)

Also while we were in California, we drove back to Somerset Place (the street where we used to live). Here is Sean outside "our" front gate. He didn't remember it.

That's about it from our trip to California! Now it's back home and back to the daily grind. We had fun but came home exhausted!

California Part III

Wow, this is California Part III - yes we were there a long time!

There is a Chevy's in Novato. I really like their fresh salsa, although I must say sometimes their food is inconsistent (or maybe it's me) - one time I like it, the next time I don't. Anyway that was not the point of this picture. The point of this picture is LOOK AT THE HILLS - SNOW! That is a big deal for Marin County.

More snow in the distance.




Heading over the GGB to the city for a fun day of cable cars, shopping, etc.

Like most other tourists, we drove down Lombard Street. Definitely not where I would want to live, but I guess some people would think it worth it to say they live on one of the most famous streets in the world!

Here's a view of the Bay Bridge. Having our home base as Marin County, we always take the GGB into the city, so we have actually never driven over the Bay Bridge.

We parked the car, bought all-day Muni passes, and found our way to a cable car stop. For those who don't know, it is not worth your time waiting in the LONG line at the very beginning of the cable car line. Just walk two blocks to the first stop, and hop right on. (They don't allow the cars to fill at the begininning of the line, because they want to leave room for people to get on at other stops.)

Finally, on the cable car! I think Sean was waiting for this moment for a long time. This was the most highly anticipated event on our trip.




Teresa was trying to see around her cheeks to find out what the heck we were doing on this loud contraption going up and down the steep hills.




She was wearing this wintry coat/outfit she got from my friend Emily. It has little ears on the top, and I think 50 people said, "Aww! She's sooooo cute!" that day. :)




We stopped at the Cable Car Museum. Sean did not want his picture taken at this time, so I just had to get their backs instead.




When we lived here, Sean was too little to sit on the outside bench. This time he could though. That was really exciting.

We stopped for some reason or another, then they got back on to ride a few more blocks. I chose to walk, since Teresa was asleep in the carrier and I could walk about as fast as the cable car goes anyway.

We did a little shopping at Macy's for furniture. The local Macy's furniture store is about an hour from our house here in Ohio, and we wanted to check out a modern style couch they carry. So, we decided to stop by the 7-floor Macy's at Union Square. The floor-to-ceiling windows made me dizzy. I do not like heights!

This store, which sells new and used CDs, DVDs, video games, LPs, etc. etc. is one of Jeff's favorite stops near Union Square. I'm not a huge fan of the smells (especially in the elevator), so I took the kids a few doors down to DSW. We kept ourselves entertained with an escalator, elevator, and snacks.

We actually rode a streetcar (which Sean liked better than the cable car) back around the Embarcadero to the Fisherman's Wharf area, but here is another cable car picture with the beautiful bay in the background.

And finally, the highlight of my day, a sundae at Ghirardelli Square. Unfortunately they put nuts on top, which I didn't know they did, so Sean didn't really like it too well. He had a few spoonfuls.

*****

Back at the hotel....

*****

Another day, we went for a hike in Lucas Valley. I thought Sean would never make it, but he actually really enjoyed it and I don't think he asked to be carried once!

He spent a lot of time examining the water running down the side of the hill, trying to speculate where it came from and where it ended up. He also checked out lots of rocks and sticks along the way.

Just beautiful. This is a great way to reconnect with God's great creation. Just going to the top of a hill, no people or houses or roads in sight. Awesome.

Back down the hill, we saw Skywalker Ranch from afar.



After nap time, we drove to Sonoma to check out some family-friendly wineries.

Sean found this game which he also enjoyed playing at a Notre Dame tailgate. (Since he is also interested in pickup trucks, he said he wants to have a tailgate party for his birthday! Haha he doesn't even like burgers!)

He found a scooter too.




Miss Smiley enjoyed herself as well, just chillin' in the grass.

*****

I took the kids one morning to Muir Woods while Jeff was at work. It was very chilly, but we still had a good time.

Sean walked again the whole way, which surprised me. We did the whole loop, which was maybe 2 miles total. There are several little bridges that cross the creek at the bottom, so he was looking forward to the next one coming up.

Inside the trunk of a great redwood.




Inside another trunk!




There was a hole with sunlight coming in at the back of this one.




We also found some numbers along the trail, but I did not have the guide that explained what they meant. Sean just had fun walking along finding the numbers though.

Teresa had another poop explosion. Goodness gracious, at the most inopportune times. This time, it was about 50 degrees out and she had to get totally changed. And, we couldn't find a bench, so I had to just get everything out on the trail. Luckily it wasn't too crowded, although there was a work crew nearby. They didn't seem to mind Sean watching what they were doing while I changed her.

Along the trail there were also blue reflectors indicating where you might find a fire hydrant. Sean was really excited about these and I think he could have walked for hours and hours looking for reflectors.

Teresa, on the other hand, had some sleeping to do.

*****

One afternoon waiting for Jeff to finish up, we hiked up a hill near the "big garage."



One more post on California coming up....