August Activities

We stuck fairly close to home during most of the month of August, with Little Noodle's impending arrival slowing us down.  But that didn't mean we didn't have tons of fun!  We worked on Virginia's bike riding skills, did indoor tent making and camping, visited with local friends, and had lots of fun around the house.

First big girl bike ride with the pedals added!

Push off from Daddy

Overnight indoor tent camp-out with Daddy in Virginia's room.

Princess Virginia playing at a friend's house.

Loving on the kitten at friend Sophie's house.

Meeting the daughter of one of daddy's childhood friends

We also managed to do two smaller road trips, staying for a weekend in mid-August with the Argyris family at their cabin in Lake Tahoe and then going to Stinson Beach for a day over Labor Day Weekend.  In Tahoe, Virginia had a blast going tubing behind a motorboat for the first time.

Loving the Donner Lake boat ride near Tahoe.

Ready for her first tube ride 

Speed demon!

Virginia with our Tahoe hosts, the Argyrises.

The Harveys enjoy Tahoe Donner.

Virginia took this picture herself of all the adults!  We were impressed.

At Stinson, Virginia visited with her favorite friend in the world, Griffin Guidi and generally was up to no good.  We loved visiting with the Griffinger and Guidi families, as we have done many times at Stinson over the years.

Up to no good with the Guidi Boys.

May Days

After our travels to NYC, we laid low for the rest of the month of May.  I kept myself busy on a committee for planning our preschool's end of year spring festival.  We hired a locally-famous singing cowboy, Cowboy Jared.  Virginia clearly didn't like him at all (she called herself "Cowgirl Jared" for the rest of the month after this performance.)

Getting down with Cowboy Jared.

Playing with friends at the Cowboy Jared show.

Thomas and I had so much fun seeing a Broadway show in New York that we kept the streak going by attending another show in San Francisco.  Mary Poppins didn't live up to Matilda, but it was a nice evening at the theater nevertheless.

It's a jolly holiday....

Virginia has pretty much given up on naps entirely, but she did surprise me one day this month with a super-cute passing out on her bedroom floor.

Tired little Worm.

January Snapshots

After a busy holiday season, we stayed closed to home for the month of January this year.  The winter days were filled with visits with friends and activities around Alameda.  Here are a few snapshots of some fun family and friends moments:

Making cupcakes with pal Tasha

Roll Tide!  Alabama wins again!

Menehune men and ice cream with PopPop at Trader Vic's

"Ice skating" at the Little Ice Rink

January Made Me Shiver

After an eventful holiday season, we laid pretty low in January.  The highlight of the month was definitely our several trips to the Alameda Little Ice Rink.  Virginia amazed us all and actually skated quite a bit on her own.  Best of all were the little seal ride-on toys that they provided - she could use them to practice skating and also ride on them when she got tired.

January also started Virginia on the party circuit - a lot of her little friends started hitting the three year milestone and Virginia was invited to several events (that almost always involved a bouncy house!).  Here she is at the birthday of her buddy Isabel, one of the members of her playgroup.

Finally, we capped off the month with an overnight visit to Double Creek Ranch - the Mendocino County home of the Griffingers.  It was great to get out of the city for the weekend and enjoy the country air and good company!

Mimi and Papa: Going Back to Cali

Mimi got a chance to come visit us soon after her visit with Lizzie last month. This time, she got to bring Papa along! The long Easter weekend was filled with all sorts of fun activities. We took Virginia on her first visit to the Academy of Sciences in San Francisco and also had an adults night out for Susan's birthday at Trader Vic's with the Argyrises.

Spring Adventures

Virginia has been quite the social butterfly this spring and has been out and about at all sorts of fun activities!

Visiting the Easter Bunny at the Alameda Crab Cove Spring Egg Scramble (the blue dress Virginia is wearing was hand-smocked by her Great Granny and was worn by me when I was a baby! We got lots of compliments on it):

Another visit to Children's Fairyland in Oakland:

Celebrating her actual 2nd birthday at Super Frank's Adventure in Pleasanton:

Loving on her GayGay:

Petting Zoo

Virginia recently became gripped with barnyard animal fever! I believe it started in earnest with our trip to the county fair out in Modesto. Since then, the topic of barnyard animals just keeps popping up. No matter what, Virginia is an eager participant in the discussion.

Virginia avidly points out barnyard animals in the books we are reading. Virginia is transfixed by the little scholastic DVD about barnyard animals our nanny Kim gave her. And this week, still early in her quest to learn words, Virginia is becoming proficient at making the sounds that barnyard animals make. She definitely knows "moo" for a cow, "quack" for a duck, and "meow" for a kitten. She also seems to say "baa baa baa" for a sheep. And she is looking with great interest every time she sees a horse or a rabbit.

This past weekend at the Park Street Fair in Alameda, one of the attractions was a small petting zoo. Virginia toddled around with the pigs, goats, chickens, and ducks. But by far her favorite animal was the white rabbit who was quietly nibbling by itself in the corner of the pen. Virginia kept returning to pet its soft fur, give it hugs, and bend down to inspect its face at close range. I did my best to ensure it was tolerable for the little rabbit.

Oakland Athletics, Team of the Future

This past weekend we took Virginia to the A's game. She is sort of an old pro by now. We are counting this as her fourth official game, since we came with Virginia when Leslie was 3 days overdue with her. Virginia had her usual awesome time.

Note to parents out there: the Westside Club in the Coliseum offers sit down service, with carpeted floors, room for babies, and a great view of the game, from the club level. The prices are surprisingly reasonable, with my cheeseburger and fries costing $12 -- no more than what they would cost at the concession stand downstairs. Wormy got to watch the game from our right-next-to the-window table and crawl around on the carpet afterwards. One hundred percent worth it.

Virginia also checked out Stomper's fun zone, which has kids' games, toys, and space to roam around. She was especially concerned with mowing the artificial turf there.

Oh, and it happened that the A's cranked against the Cleveland Indians. They eventually won 11-0, with Chavez delivering multiple doses of pain. Virginia is now sitting atop the AL West all-time winning percentage standings. Her record at A's games sits at a sparkling 4-0.

Computer Nerd

Virginia really, really likes our computers. She offers her assistance every time we need to check email, load up photos, write blog posts, or basically do anything else remotely close to a computer.

Bathing Beauty

This Saturday Virginia took her first swim lesson. We signed her up for casual drop-in "Tadpole" lessons offered at the indoor pool at Mariner Square Athletic Club. After her morning nap, we hustled her over there and fitted her out in a wetsuit and baby bathing cap. She looked like a bathing beauty from the 1920s.

With little fanfare she was lowered into my arms in the pool. Virginia's immediate reaction? Not amused. The pool room was loud and echoey, the water was deep, and there were a lot of strange faces around. For a moment Virginia put on a brave face, but suddenly her little lower lip stuck out and the tears began flowing.

After a while in the water, though, Virginia got her bearings. We swam over to the rail and picked up a few water toys, which Virginia seized on as though they were pieces of driftwood from a sinking ship. We swam a few laps together by ourselves. After a time, she eventually saw that this was really not all that different from bath time after all, and she began kicking along and blowing raspberries.

Looking forward to next week!