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.

New Bikes!

One of the items Leslie and I had on our list this summer was a pair of new bikes. Alameda is an ideal bike town -- centralized, flat, safe, and serious about its 25 MPH speed limits. So not long after we arrived on the island, Leslie and I began eyeing bikes. As usual, I was not comfortable making a purchase until I had researched everything to death. After much investigation and hand-wringing, we all settled on buying at the local shop, Alameda Bicycle. They had a really friendly, helpful, and low-pressure staff, good selection and service policies, and the advantage of being within biking distance of our house! It also happened that they have a big annual sale on Father's Day weekend, right as the summer is getting into full swing.

Leslie and I got some great bikes along with a cool trailer for Wormy. Although it took her a few rides to become comfortable, she now loves it and enjoys shooting down the street with us. We've been taking the bikes to the park and checking out some of the nearby neighborhoods that we never quite managed to visit in our car. I had forgotten just how much fun it is to ride.

Modesto

This weekend we drove out to Modesto to visit my old buddy Brian Zarka. Leslie and I had been wanting to catch up with Brian for some time, as well as get to Modesto to enjoy some of the central California hot summer weather.

We had brunch at the Velvet Creamery, a old school diner in town. Leslie had her usual short stack of pancakes, and I enjoyed "The Very Hungry Hobo." Virginia sampled from everyone's plates.

We then cruised over to the Stanislaus County fair. It was over 100 degrees, but somehow the weather felt pretty good. Virginia loved the Rainforest exhibit, which took guests on an interactive nature walk through the rainforest featuring dozens of live animals including tortoises, parrots, monkeys, and snakes, some of which you could touch. Here's Virginia posing in the tortoise pen.

And here's mommy and Virginia in the mushroom forest:

One area where Stanislaus County really can't be beat is in farming. There was an unbelievable display of produce, homemade foods, historic tractor engines, livestock, and prize-winning animals. Virginia personally was a huge fan of the petting zoo.

Here she is with her favorite animal from the petting zoo, a leopard-spotted trash can.

What county fair is complete without a pony ride? Some guys were running a pretty funny pony ride pen complete with scenery and stetson-wearing guides. I asked if Virginia was old enough, and the ticket taker told me that a 15-month old girl was "right in our wheelhouse." Virginia put on her best John Wayne face and trotted that pony around the pen like an old hand.

All Tied Up

We took an unannounced summer break from posting on this blog. Various events at work and at home have been keeping us busy. Sorry, folks.

But rest assured that we have been having lots of fun with Virginia, and that we will be updating soon!

14 Month Update

Well, we are very behind on posting, but I guess that is what happens when you hit the toddler stage. Virginia is keeping us too busy! She is moving with lightening fast speed now - she's fully mastered walking and is almost running at this point. There is no slowing her down. She won't let us hold her even for a minute.

Her language is starting to pick up a bit, but since she's been so focused on mobility, she hasn't had time to practice speaking that much. I've always heard that kids are either walkers or talkers, and she's definitely a walker so I guess we'll have to wait for the talker to show up. It is funny though because it is usually the boys who walk first while the girls do the talking. But I've said from very early on that we got a little boy's personality in a little girl's body and I think I was right. Virginia is bringing new meaning to the word hyperactive - like father, like daughter!

But Virginia is talking a bit and we are enjoying watching her speech develop. As of late June, Virginia was saying the following words: uh oh (first word), mama, numnum (like yum yum - she uses it to mean food), hi, bye, book ("buh"), and this ("dis"). She's also saying dada sometimes, but we aren't sure whether to call it a real word yet since she also refers to Thomas as mama. She signs "more," "eat," and brushing her teeth (she developed this sign on her own). Her receptive language is clearly quite good, because she follows directions well. I will hand her a baby doll and tell her to put the baby in the carseat - she'll walk across the room, place the baby in the seat and start rocking the seat back and forth. She also is becoming quite skilled at point out different animals in books and distinguishing between them. The kittens in Goodnight Moon are her favorite. She has no interest in the book - she just wants to turn the page so she can point out the kittens on the next page.

Things Virginia does and enjoys at 14 months:

• Virginia adores dogs and cats. Whenever we visit the Harvey home, she chases poor Phoebe the dog around the kitchen island and squeals with delight. When we are out on walks in her stroller, she spots dogs two blocks away and points emphatically at them.



• Virginia has suddenly become obsessed with shoes. She brings them to us, sits down and motions for us to put them on her feet.



• For the past several weeks, Virginia has started giving kisses. So sweet. One of my favorite times was playing with her and Thomas in bed one morning... she started going back and forth giving me a kiss and then Thomas a kiss several times.



• Virginia made the switch to one nap. The past few weeks, she had been fighting the afternoon nap because she was taking such a good long morning nap, so we just pushed the long nap back to after lunch. She still gets a little tired at the usual morning nap time, but the transition seems to be going well. And she often sleeps a full three hours in the afternoon now, so that is a nice break! The schedule just works so much better because we can do real outings now and also attend a lot of the toddler events which are scheduled for mid-mornings.


• Virginia is a dancing machine! She loves moving to music. She shakes her little bottom, waves her arms, shakes her head back and forth, and has started swaying side to side too.


• Virginia's favorite songs: Five Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed (she does all the hand motions), One Two Buckle My Shoe, Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, Friends in Low Places (she's an honorary Southern girl - she seems to love country music), and The Little Green Frog song.

Buzz Graduates!

This month my brother Douglas graduated from NYU's Tisch School for the Performing Arts. Here he is moments after the Tisch Salute at Madison Square Garden.

Doug is ten years younger than me, which means that I am now ten years removed from college. Holy schnikes!

A Few Candids from Beau's Wedding

Katie Jane and Virginia hanging out with Emma Bear in the Omni lobby.

Aunt Lynn, Mee Maw, and Wormy having a dance party at Liz and Dave's place.

Mee Maw and Virginia practicing their favorite. "How Big is Virginia?" "So Big!"

Virginia temporarily forgets her policy of not allowing Papa, or anyone else who is not named Mommy or Daddy, hold onto her at family events.

Virginia at the gift shop in the Charlotte Airport, trying on the cool bomber jackets with me. And unwittingly about to try on a space helmet. I still think I should have bought her that bomber jacket.

Beau's Wedding

My cousin Beau married his wife Jessica this month in Charlotte, North Carolina. The whole Mack family came down for the celebration. Funnily enough, all of Leslie's family members were in town not simply to see us, but because they were independently invited.

Long before I had even seen a picture of Jessica, Beau and Jessica were already friends with my sister-in-law, Liz, and her husband, Dave Fetzer. They met them when Liz and Dave were just moving to Charlotte and Beau was kind enough to show them around the neighborhoods for house shopping. In various visits to Charlotte once Liz and Dave had moved in, Leslie's parents also had occasion to meet Beau and Jessica several times. And it also happened that Leslie, visiting Charlotte on business for a patent case, met up with Beau and Jessica a few times for dinner. All of this well before I finally met Jessica in person at the wedding itself. So it fairly may be said that the Neelands had a stronger lock on an invitation than I did.

As a groomsman and an unofficial egger-on at Beau's bachelor outing the day before events began, I have many great photos from the weekend. However, the solemn bonds of attorney-client privilege prevent me from posting many of them here. So let me present a few images from the ceremonies and festivities.

Beau and his best man, Chris (aka Christo), awaiting the shuttle to the church.

Wormy and I goofing around outside the church.

Beau and Jessica, the moment their marriage became official at the signing of the North Carolina marriage license.

The von Eulers at the welcome reception, doubtless responding to one of Biggie's impressions of Dad. (Not dad's joke about the Murphy twins.)

Wormy, putting on a Cheerio-eating clinic at the reception.

Family Time