Grandma Carolyn Comes to Visit

Josie had a great time playing with Grandma Carolyn during her visit this past week. Lots of gardening in the backyard, strolling around the neighborhood, and drawing with chalk on the driveway.

On a gorgeous, sunny day, we went to the playground near Auntie Kathryn's house in the city. Josie loved watching the dogs chase frisbees across the lawn nearby. She rode the merry-go-round and the see-saw animals for the first time. She walked the undulating spiral wall. But the sandbox was her favorite, as usual.

1st Ride on the Steam Train

Colin and Josie recently rode the steam trains together on cold day at Tilden Park. This photo shows them just getting off the train while the next group of riders was boarding. They were entertained by the commotion of kids and dogs running around. Colin tried to hold Jo-Jo's hand, but she was too distracted to notice...

Boppa and the iPhone

A "three-hour-nap" day

7:05 am, all dressed and ready to start the day.

Josie began her day with an 8:15 breakfast at her cousin Colin's new house in Oakland. This photo shows the cousins waiting for slow service.

Josie's favorite food is chicken apple breakfast sausage. Today she started saying two syllables starting with S, and in context we know she's saying "sausage".

After breakfast, the kids did some digging and exploring in the backyard.

Then they returned inside to eat apples (gnaw little bites out of them, and give them to parents who finished them).



At about 10am, we all went to the playground at FROG Park near Colin's house, for a workout on the play structures. You can't tell from this photo, but the playground was crowded with kids and families on this Sunday.

Josie got home at noon and snacked on fresh peas from the garden. She can say "pea-pea" and she means the edible kind. Dan had to make several return trips to the pea bush to get more peas for this hungry girl. Both her parents were exhausted at this point, with still an hour to go before Josie's nap. So we got out the swimming pool (this was a warm and sunny day in Albany).


After her swim, we put Josie down for her nap, and she slept for three and a half hours. While she slept, Dan and Lisa planted vegetable seedlings, read the paper, went to the hardware store, did the dishes, pulled weeds, moved soil, dug out a wild iris, rearranged patio furniture, and ate lunch. They both took ibuprofen together about 4pm. When Josie woke up at quarter-to-five, Dan's back was killing him so he got Josie's help to wheel out the TV and put on a yoga video.

Josie joined right in, doing different stretching poses in sync with the video models, with Dan.

She had a nice bath, some warm milk, and went to bed at 7:30pm to dream about the long day.

Camping in Pinnacles

We had a great weekend camping with friends in Pinnacles National Monument, east of Monterey. There were a few minor mishaps along the way (forgetting the bag with our clothes and toiletries!), but we managed, and Josie did awesome. She was certainly a handful at the campsite, wanting to get into everything and run around. During the trip, we saw a hare, a California condor, quail, snake, lizards, and loads of other birds. Josie couldn't get enough. We have to start planning our next adventure!

She loved walking on the railroad ties that lined the edge of the parking spot... perhaps we have a future gymnast on our hands?


Despite the rocky environment, the area was full of color, displayed by the lichens and the wildflowers.


Dan pointed out the different flower species and even collected a few seeds for propagation at home.


Dan carried Josie in the backpack on a 6.5 mile hike through the mountains (very steep and narrow at times).


Here's our group after the hike, looking forward to ice cream treats at the campground store.

Summiting the couch

Josie is finally tall enough and strong enough to pull herself up on the couch, all on her own. Not all the time, but when she's really frustrated and tries as hard as she can, she can do it. She'll be mountaineering with her Dad in no time!

Music show

Josie went to her first music concert this past weekend with her friend Max. It took her a few minutes to warm up, but then she roamed the dance floor, checked out the other kids who were there, showed off her belly to the musicians, and clapped and bopped to the beat. Max eventually warmed up, too, and got down on the dance floor (literally) and showed off some awesome breakdancing moves.

Wearing Dada's Hat

Repairing the Deck

We all worked on the deck today. Josie got out her tools to help pull rusty screws in the morning. She was a big help. Our friend Kirk was also a big help, making the deck safer for Josie with fewer rusty screws and splinters. Lisa primed the end-grain of the new boards we installed to replace the rotten ones. Dan crawled around under the deck to drive new screws from below. Almost ready for the house painter--just need to finish the guardrail and steps now.

Very Busy Gardener

The weather was very nice this weekend, and Josie got outside to do some gardening. She loved filling these pots with soil she dug from the raised bed, then dumping them out and refilling them. She likes to sit on this terra cotta chimney cap while she digs. Josie has a good command of the backyard now. We're still nervous about her on the stairs and near the edges of our deck with no guardrail, tearing up special plants, eating dirt clods, walking quickly with sharp shovels... I could go on. At the rate she's gaining horticultural skills, she'll be in charge of our fall vegetable plantings. She went through three outfits on the day of these photos.