Handy-baby

We're enlisting Josie's in an on-going training program on home repair. Here she's instructing Dan on how to fix the leak under our kitchen sink. :)

Saturday Lunch

Papa, Gma, and Auntie Suz came over for lunch today, along with Colin and Lisa's folks. Josie had fun watching Colin run around the house, pushing the alligator cart and pouring pretend tea for everyone.

Josie said a very clear and deliberate "bye-bye" when everyone left to go home.

Helping with Housework

Josie helped us dust the house this morning in preparation for the Ferrier/Doi visit for lunch. We are very pleased to see this new interest and developing skill!

More pics from Christmas in Pinecrest

Cuteness

Weekend Outings

On Saturday, it was cold but we played at the playground at Tilden Park's Little Farm. Josie loves the slide. Here is a photo and video of playing on the slide. Soon she'll be old enough to ride the slide alone.


With cold fingers and sniffly noses, we watched ducks and geese. Josie is a scared of the big cows, but she likes the birds. Josie says: I'm cold, let's go home.

On Sunday, the sun came out and we visited the Bay Area Discovery Museum (http://www.baykidsmuseum.org/), which is in converted army buildings at Fort Baker, just under the Golden Gate Bridge in Sausalito. What a view! The BADM has outdoor play areas like the Scottsdale Railroad Park that Dan enjoyed as a kid, and children's interactive exhibits in the army buildings. There is also a cafe and picnic area. Josie is not old enough to understand most of the exhibits, but I can tell we'll be back a lot. We went to the museum with our friends Carlos and Emily, and their daughter Elena. Josie and Elena had fun throwing bark chips together.

Happy New Year!

We joined the Hayashi side of the family to welcome the new year. We had great food, including a few traditional Japanese new year foods (yummy mochi!). Josie had fun with her 3rd cousins playing with their toys and pets (cats AND rats!) and weaving her way through the legs of the other mingling adults. My mom's cousin, David, took these great photos of Josie. Thanks, David!

Snow Trip

We took Josie to Pinecrest after Christmas with the Ferrier/Doi family for some snow shoeing and general romping around. There was lots of nice new powder, which made walking a bit difficult for Josie, especially with her puffy gear (snow boots, snow suit and mittens). On the flip side, all the new snow was great for building our snowman/snowcat and making snow angels.

The power went out at the townhouse (and all over town) so we headed out a day early, chaining up before we started the drive through the snowy conditions. It was a fun adventure and we're hoping to make a couple more trips to the mountains this winter.





stay tuned for more photos...

Driving in Christmas Pajamas

We converted Josie's upright walker into a car on Christmas morning. Daddy helped her do some "drifting" tricks around the house. She quickly figured out how to get off and on by herself, which she would do after each ride, and then beg to go again.

Christmas in Texas

We had a great time visiting Dan's family in Texas the week before Christmas. Josie did exceptionally well on her first plane flight (yea!). The weather in Georgetown was warm during the day and chilly at night- couldn't ask for much better.

We celebrated her birthday a second time around and Josie was just as excited. She loved opening the presents and meeting her aunts, uncles, and cousins. She also couldn't get enough practice on the play stairs that Grandma made her. By the time we did Christmas gifts, she was a pro at crushing tissue and ripping wrapping paper.


Josie loved exploring Grandma's property via wagon ride, feeding snacks to the cats and chips to Max the goat, and watching the deer in the morning.





She had a blast at the Rentschler's house playing with their new puppy (Ollie the double-doodle) and their awesome slide/swing set.