On the Way Home...

Liv encouraged me to stop & let her out of the backpack on our way home from the park. Here's what we did...

We stopped and admired the flowers.

And walked to the beach to watch the kites!

(and play in the sand)

And then we took a nice little stroll, hand-in-hand, the rest of the way home for dinner!

Slides

Liv spent most of the day with us in the KWS shop while we sorted through the remaining inventory.

At the end of the day we made a trip over to the park to let her run around & do more age appropriate stuff! :)

Her first mission was to climb to the top of the highest structure and then debate a while if she wanted to slide down or not... eventually, yes.

But not entirely successfully, I think she ended up going head first at some point in the spiral down!

Then she decided to go back to the toddler-size slide.

Here she is getting a "high-5" from her buddy Thomas.

I have some more pictures - & hope to post soon!

Canoes, Kites, & Clean-up

Liv spent some time at the beach this afternoon.


In her exploring, she found this "canoe" washed up on the beach. She climbed in grabbed the sides & started rocking fore & aft & looking at me expectantly... "What, Liv?"... more of the look... "OH... wait, I think I know!"

So, I started singing:
"Row, Row, Row your Boat..."
and got a big grin & nodding & more fore-aft "rocking"

We camped out in a protected spot behind a little beach sage bush to play with our shovels & buckets until Liv noticed someone out kiteboarding.

These next couple shots are Liv trying to say "kite" it comes out "Kai, Kai"

She's great at finding garbage.
And generally speaking, identifying it.
And even knowing what to do with it on occasion!

14 years in 14 months

Mommy's little teddy bear.

Is coffee ready? The meese need coffee!!

Not Intimidated by the Big Boys!

Reminding Mom Why we eat Choc. Chip Cookies!


They're DELICIOUS & looking like this keeps the boys away.

Trying on All Her New Beach Paraphenalia.
(thanks, Aunt B) Dad over did it again.

Jeff's decided that the Shoe-Thing is definitely a Girl-Thing

Peek-a-Boo!

Boo!

More Soon... sorry I've been so Delinquent!

Sing-Along at the Library

Some blurry pictures of Liv and the other kids at sing-along.

Good Times!!

Liv on my lap - amazing!!

clapping

the end of head-shoulders-knees-&-toes

parachute time...

picture is terrible... to much movement for my phone-camera

Liv is standing inthe middle - crazy kid. (bright pink longsleeve shirt/light pants)

sitting

Great Weekend at Genoa

Spent a great weekend with our friends, Leo & Carlotta Montejo & their boys Leo & Adriano, at their beautiful home in Nevada.

Leo & Jeff got the glider out of its winter storage AND went flying!

Carlotta,the kids & I planted the vegatable garden.

The kids all had a terrific time - Livvy loved playing with the big boys and they were so good with her!

I hope that I have some more pictures to share on the camera, but for now here are a few from my phone.

Adriano

Leo

Liv

Leo

Honey Bee Swarm in the Lilac!

The kids are asleep in the car with in the first half hour on the way back to CA!

Walk on The Beach

Foggy, but surprisingly warm in Alameda today.

Liv's been suffering from another runny nose this past week (or more!) So, in deference to the other mommies & babies we're opting out of the social gatherings... playground, sing-along, & story-time, etc. Which means she's either climbing the walls at home, or we're romping around on the beach - Today, it's the beach.

She's a strong little walker these days! She's doing really well keeping her balance in the soft sand (which is tricky!) and she hiked a good long distance today. It's fun to watch her! And to see her captivated by the water and want so badly to charge into it, but then decide or remember that she'd better not... she puts up her little hand and shakes her head and says "nooooooo..." -- it's really cute. (b/c last week, Daddy let her wander in, and she got all wet & had to leave the beach & go back inside to get warm dry clothes. Seems like she's learned that lesson (for now!!).)

Again, sorry for the lousy cell phone images... but well, it's better than nothing & better than lugging around the Nikon in certain situations.