Summer Adventures

We've been thoroughly enjoying summer -- warm weather, sunshine, watermelon, barbecuing, water play, popsicles, peaches and strawberries, sunscreen and floppy hats. At least once a week, we've been rounding up the circus and heading out for adventures big and small. Here's a review of just a few of those.

An Adventurous Morning

A few days after exams had ended, we decided we were ready for a bit of an adventure. We knew we weren't up for something big, but we definitely needed to get out of the house. The Palo Alto Junior Museum offered us the perfect opportunity. The little museum is nearby (oh, so close!) and just the right size... with some exhibits to test out and some animals to admire.

The girls raced off to see the animals. They loved the peacock, and talked about their friend Anna! (It's amazing what little minds remember...) They peered at the bats and the lizards and the rabbits and especially the turtles, swimming underneath a cute little bridge.

By the time the girls had seen all the animals and tested out the exhibits, the museum was considerably more crowded than it had been when we arrived. We decided to escape the crowds and round out our morning with a special lunch. Chinese was the perfect choice for all concerned. Indy dozed in the sling, the girls ate their weight in steamed rice (and discovered a new love for sweet and sour pork), and Mama and Daddy delighted in the freedom from both cooking and cleaning.

A highlight: Kathleen's fortune cookie reported that she'd soon receive a promotion for her hard work. We found it amusing, considering that someone else in our family had, in fact, been selected for promotion that week... just not one of our girls!

An Evening Walk

The city recently completed construction on a pedestrian overpass less than a mile from our home. The "bridge" was a topic of discussion each and every time we drove past the construction site, the girls fascinated by the progress. When we finally saw cyclists and runners whizzing over the bridge, we promised the girls they could walk on it themselves. We made good on our promise with a late-afternoon/early-evening walk/wagon ride.

Daddy did the bulk of the work.

But Mama toted someone, too -- Baby Indy! His cheek looks a little smushed, but he seemed to enjoy the walk, anyway.

On the way back, we let the girls walk on the bridge, rather than just ride in the wagon. By that time, though, we were squarely in "commute time," so the trail was getting some heavy use. We were a bit concerned that one of the speeding bicyclists might collide with our girls, so we asked the girls to keep one hand on the fence as they walked. It kept them safe and they discovered the fun of chain link fence noises, too!

Circus, meet the Zoo

Because the girls had been so excited about the tiny zoo at the Palo Alto Junior Museum, we decided that a trip to a "real" zoo was in order.

The circus descended upon the Oakland Zoo one fine, sunny weekday morning. The girls were just as excited as we thought they'd be. Kathleen liked running from exhibit to exhibit, finding the animals "by herself." Madeline took to greeting all the animals as we arrived at each habitat, "Hi, zebras! Hi, giraffes!" and then bidding them farewell as we moved on, "Bye-bye, zebras! Bye-bye, giraffes!" John David just hung out in his Beco carrier like the sweetheart he is, alternately snoozing and gnawing on his little hand.

Kathleen races off towards the next animals, losing her hat in the process...

Daddy and Madeline enjoyed the zebras.

It's a pity we couldn't have enlisted the help of one of those camels to lug our lunch and diaper bag and children. The rarely-used double stroller wasn't the best choice for the zoo -- it was hard to maneuver. (I guess that's why we generally go with the jogger!)

The girls loved exploring the lily pads and rabbit holes in the children's zoo.

And we make our own fun, wherever we go!

More summer adventures (and misadventures) to come...

Scenes from the Circus: A Little This, A Little That

The girls were both sick last week. First Madeline popped up with a temperature. Not to be left out of anything, Kathleen followed suit a few days later. It was a relatively easy virus, for which we are thankful -- no rashes, no vomiting, just a fever. But even if the virus was easy, our children were not. They were whiny and clingy and miserable, spontaneously erupting into tears for no discernible reason. Kathleen looked up in tears one evening and, in the most pathetic of voices, pointed out, "But Mama, being sick is not fun!"

It was not fun. Not for anyone. Even John David, who was not sick, seemed to cry more than usual.

At one point, when just about everyone was crying at once, we were forced to admit: our zone defense strategy was failing us. Everybody needed somebody all the time. For the first time since John David arrived, we felt truly outnumbered.

And since we couldn't clone ourselves, and because we couldn't grow extra arms, we did the next best thing -- we borrowed widely from our library's DVD collection. Between that, countless sippy cups of juice, regular doses of Children's Tylenol, and the grace of God, we all survived.

Zone defense has resumed.

:: :: :: :: :: ::

Kathleen recovered from the plague upon the circus just in time to attend her very first dance lesson. We were beyond grateful for the timing. We'd taken Kathleen to get her leotard and slippers before she'd fallen sick. Even at her most miserable, Kathleen never went more than fifteen minutes without asking, "Is this the day I go to my ballet school?" (She'd go to ballet school, you see, because that's what Angelina Ballerina does. Never mind that her class actually includes ballet, tap, and gymnastics. It's ballet school.) Enduring five days of constant questions about going to dance class was one thing; having to explain that she couldn't go would surely have been the end of her world.

What little girl wouldn't be excited about starting dance class, when going to dance class means you get to wear a new, pink leotard?

And, just in case that wasn't enough, Kathleen got to wear her hair in a "ballerina bun." During the great sickness we'd watched ballerinas on YouTube in preparation for dance class, and Kathleen wanted to look just like them, so she needed a bun. (Mama had to make a special trip out to the store for hair pins that morning!)

We think she looks like a perfect little ballerina!

:: :: :: :: :: ::

Our friend Matt stopped by to visit the circus last week. A friend of Daddy's from high school days, Matt is now a naval aviator and has been stationed at (relatively) nearby NAS Lemoor. The girls were especially excited to see "Mr. Matt." The poor man arrived at dinner time and was barely able to finish his food before he was convinced to play hide and seek. I'm not sure who laughed more during their game -- the girls or "Mr. Matt."

Apparently Kathleen thought she was still playing hide and seek when we took photos!

:: :: :: :: :: ::

We ate supper outside a few nights ago. Mama and Daddy lingered at the table and Indy lounged in his bouncer, while the girls ran around the yard, burning off that last bit of energy before bedtime. Kathleen and Madeline ran races for a bit, lining up and running, jumping, or skipping toward the fence line. Eventually Madeline decided she'd rather officiate than participate.

In case you were wondering, Mama did join Kathleen for a few races. So did Daddy. But Madeline just officiated.

:: :: :: :: :: :: ::

Yesterday the girls entertained themselves in the backyard with sidewalk chalk paint for quite some time. When they finished, our cement patio was much more colorful, but so were the girls. Mama decided that they should spend a little time cleaning up in the wading pool before they had lunch and headed up for the long-awaited naps. (At least, they were long-awaited on Mama's part. It had been one of those mornings.)

Mama and the girls were standing by the pool, watching it fill with water. Mama was doing a bit of mental math, calculating how long they'd swim and how long lunch would take and how early she could, in good conscience, put everyone in bed for naps. Somewhere in the back of her mind, she thought the little pool was taking a long time to fill, but she figured she was just impatient. She was, after all, projecting toward naptime.

"Mama?" Kathleen began.

"Yes, darlin'," Mama replied, sighing and wishing the pool would fill faster.

"Um, Mama..." Kathleen continued.

Mama waited, letting Kathleen's words catch up with her little brain.

"Mama, I think you forgot the, um... the cap."

Oh. The pool wasn't filling quickly, because Mama had, in fact, forgotten to put in the plug.

Good thing she has a three year old to take care of her!

Happy Father's Day

Mama asked the girls this morning why they loved their Daddy.

Madeline: "Daddy! YAY! Daddy kish."

Kathleen: "Because he reads to me. And snuggles me. And rocks me. And spins me."

And we could go on all day about the amazing things Daddy does for the circus -- all the providing and teaching and loving and clowning and guiding and cheering and praying. But we won't. We'll just say this:

We love you, Daddy! Happy Father's Day!

Fashion at the Circus

We're not particularly fashionable here at the circus. Sure, Mama would like to be a fashionista, but she just doesn't have it in her. Even when she had more than five minutes to select an outfit, shower, and dress herself, she was never on the cutting-edge of fashion. It was a short trip from tried-and-true classics to the much-maligned mommy fashion, characterized by convenience (must be endlessly washable) and comfort (if you can't stoop, jump, run, reach, and nurse in it, it's no good). She doesn't mind, though, really. It can't be all that bad to look like a mom when you are, in fact, a mom.

Daddy could really care less about fashion. He's all about function -- not so much about form.

Our girls, though? They have their own distinctive fashion sense. It currently tends toward the froufy and colorful, incongruous and humorous. And now that both Kathleen and Madeline are (generally) able to undress and dress themselves, the fashion emerges at unexpected times.

The other day Mama glanced out the backdoor while preparing dinner and caught of glimpse of true toddler and preschool fashion in action! (Let's not dwell on the fact that they somehow undressed and re-dressed themselves without Mama noticing... We're still not quite sure how that happened.)

It was a bit of a blur, so it took a few moments to figure out the elements of each ensemble.

That's a flower fairy skirt with a receiving blanket cape... Kathleen must be some sort of cross between fairy and super hero!

And that's another fairy skirt, but paired with a Little Mermaid pajama shirt... Remember, we were cooking dinner -- no one had been in pajamas in ages!

The girls are also quite interested in accessories. They tromp about the house in Mama's heels (you know, the ones that wouldn't see the light of day were not little girls parading in them). They frequently require two purses each to carry their treasures. And jewelry! They're constantly accessorizing their outfits with necklaces and bracelets. When they can't find actual play jewelry, they manage to fashion their own from ribbon or what-not. And apparently Madeline applies the same make-it-yourself approach to headgear. She danced around the yard in this hat another night.

Yes, it's an empty plastic flower pot, left over from planting our Trader Joe's basil...

Take it for what it's worth -- but we think it actually works on her!

Invisible Indy

Indy, it seems, has been rather absent from our posts.  It might even seem as though he's not around.  He is, of course.  You just have to know where he is...

For example, here he is enjoying story time with Mama and Kathleen while at Nan and Grandpa's.  

Actually, Indy might be enjoying his meal more than the story.  It's hard to see the pictures from underneath that blanket.

Here's Indy at the park with Nan and Grandpa.  But that's not Indy in Nan's arms.  That's cousin Emily.

You mean you don't see him?  He's snoozing in the carriage that Aunt Caroline was sweet enough to loan us for a moment.

Okay, enough of that.

In all seriousness, we're having a wonderful time with little Indiana.  He's becoming quite a big boy -- outgrowing his sweet little newborn outfits already.  He's obviously eating well, but he sleeps decently, too.  (Of course, we'd rather that he was clocking 11 or 12 hour nights instead of the 4 hour stints he has going on right now, but all things considered, we know we're lucky.)  Excitingly, Indy has just begun to be more social.  He's cooing and smiling at us, much to our delight.  Before we know it, he'll be walking and talking and keeping up with his sisters.

With that in mind, we had a little Indy-only photo shoot the other morning.  We think he's quite the little man.  Oh, and take note of the pajamas -- perfect for the circus!

And because nothing at the circus goes quite the way we plan, Indy was joined by an exuberant sister for at least a bit of the picture-taking.  Madeline wasn't all that interested in the photos -- she was pleading, "Kish, please!  Hold, please!" as she climbed up to be with her brother.  She'd hold him and kiss him all day long if she could.  We couldn't resist snapping the photo, since this is the way things really look around here...

A party and some pictures

A few weeks ago, we were privileged to attend the baptism of this sweet little girl -- cousin Emily.

Cousin Emily was baptized by Father Phil, a family friend (Emily's pastor, obviously) in a sweet, private ceremony at a beautiful little church in her hometown.  One of the many wonderful things about Father Phil is the way he welcomes children and encourages them to participate in his services.  At the baptism, Kathleen got to stand right in front and watch everything.  She loved it.

And after the ceremony we all retired to Emily's house for a party!  It was a wonderful time with friends and extended family and delicious food.  The girls ran and played and Mama and Daddy got to chat with lots of people we hadn't seen in a long time.

While were there, a friend and gifted photographer offered to take a few pictures of our family.  Since it can be a challenge to get all of us in one photo, we happily took her up on the offer.

And that's pretty much the way we look, friends.  Even when we're all cleaned up, we look a little crazy.  What else would you expect from a circus?

Playdate at a park

On Tuesday we decided to meet up with Auntie Caroline, the twins, and sweet little cousin Emily for a playdate.  We had planned to play at the botanical gardens in San Francisco, but we decided we'd stay in Marin county, where the weather would be warmer.   (In a ridiculous attempt to pack less for our short trip to Nan and Grandpa's, Mama had packed only sundresses and little sweaters for the girls.  It seemed like a good idea at the time...)  Here's how that worked out:

Although we didn't get great weather, we did get to play at a great park.  The girls were delighted with the play structure's castle towers and bridges and slides. 

 

Kathleen enjoyed the swings, too.  There was even a toddler park for Madeline, although she wasn't much interested in it, since she doesn't think she's a toddler.   She did, however, learn a new word:  dinosaur.  She'd like one.  Or at least dinosaur-riding lessons.

But even the coolest park can't compete with Grandpa...  Kathleen took a breather and snuggled with Grandpa and checked on Auntie Caroline and cousin Emily.

After a lot of playing, we took a break for lunch.  Now, Auntie Caroline is a great person to meet with for a playdate, because she comes prepared.  We'd all packed lunches, but Auntie Caroline packed fun!  She came equipped with balls (which got a lot of good use rolling down the slides), a ring toss game, and a really cool bubble set.  After we'd eaten, we got to play with all that fun.

And by then, the chilly day and a lot of play had gotten the best of everyone, so we headed home for some nice, long naps.  Thanks, Auntie Caroline.  We should play again -- when it's sunny!

Ferry, Ferry Fun

It's that time again: exam time.

So while Daddy's up to his neck in papers, presentations, and exams, Mama, Indy and the girls are playing at Nan and Grandpa's house. It gives Daddy some quiet to study at home (there's not much quiet when the circus in residence, as Nan and Grandpa are now well aware) and it lets everyone else have some fun.

And boy, do we have fun.

On our first full day at Nan and Grandpa's we took advantage of a sunshiny day to ride a ferry boat into San Francisco. The girls were excited about the process of buying tickets and climbing aboard the boat...

On board, the girls took turns walking around the boat with Grandpa. (Mama was busy nursing Indy.) In between explorations, they enjoyed the view. And the company.

At one point during the 35 minute trip, Mama was reminding the girls to use "inside voices" on the boat, explaining that people ride the ferry to work, and that they often read or sleep as they travel. Kathleen seized upon this idea, responding, "I've got to go sleep." She shut her eyes and tipped her head to the side, hanging her mouth open just a bit. Mama chuckled and said, "My! You're quite the little commuter, aren't you?" Kathleen never opened her eyes, never moved, and never gave up her faux-sleep as she replied, "I'm not answering!"

When we finally arrived in "The City," we wandered around the ferry building and its lovely boutiques for a bit. We watched other ferries arrive and we watched all the people coming and going. The girls did some running around and Kathleen indulged in some pigeon chasing.

After a bit, we decided to head home. As a reward for good behavior, Nan treated the girls to cupcakes from a pretty little bakery in the ferry building. While the girls were excited about the ferry, they were over the moon about those cupcakes!

The ferry for the return trip was a hydrofoil. Even though the cupcakes were clearly the highlight of the return trip, watching Kathleen play in extra-strong wind on the deck as we zoomed across the bay came in a close second.

And before we knew it our adventure was over -- just in time for naps. That was a ferry, ferry fun day!

Starting our day off right

A breakfast buffet. . .

A breakfast . . .  beard?

He'll be comin' on the Cal Train when he comes...

Nan and Grandpa have been great about visiting the circus lately. They come the day that Daddy's away the longest at class, arriving midmorning and staying until late afternoon. These visits are great for a number of reasons. First and foremost, the girls are about over the moon every time their grandparents arrive. They stand watch at the front window, waiting for Nan and Grandpa's car. When it arrives, they broadcast the news of the arrival at the top of their lungs, punctuating their joyful shouts with jumps. (Or in Madeline's case, by throwing her hands above her head and saying "Hop!") Once inside the door the grandparents are pressed into service, reading stories, snuggling grandchildren of all sizes, dressing dolls, and watching "dance performances." But Nan and Grandpa's visits are also great for getting little chores done, the ones that sometimes fall by the wayside. Grandpa's hung the pictures that were propped on the stairway for heaven knows how long, watered the garden (and the wilting hydrangea by the front door), carried out the trash and more. Nan's pitched in with laundry folding and dish washing when things have been hectic. And although Mama has made countless successful solo trips to the commissary, Costco, Target and the like with three children, when Nan and Grandpa come to town, Grandpa stays with the napping girls while Nan and Mama run errands with John David. (It's amazing how much you can get done with only one baby!)

Last week, Grandpa needed to go into work in San Francisco before he could come to visit the circus. Nan drove down by herself and then a few hours later, we all made an outing of meeting Grandpa at the Cal Train station. The girls were predictably excited about seeing Grandpa. Seeing Grandpa on a train? Extremely exciting.

Here's the circus (sans Daddy, of course) waiting in the sunshine.

The girls were surprised by how loud and how big the trains are. (They don't seem nearly so large when you're sitting in your carseat in a minivan on the road while the train races by on its tracks.) Kathleen made sure Indy didn't get scared.

The sweet boy seemed neither scared nor excited. I think sleepy describes it best.

And then the train arrived. Nan held Madeline up to see in the windows and to give her a better chance of spotting Grandpa (or Bampa in Madeline-speak, which greatly amused the Cal Train workers).

When Grandpa finally emerged, he got a royal welcome.

Of course, now anytime we drive past the Cal Train station (which happens frequently, I'll have you know), Madeline shouts out, "Bampa!  Train!" and we have to explain that while Grandpa does sometimes visit us on the train, he's not always on the train...

Happy Birthday, Daddy

This morning's breakfast table looked a little different than it normally does.  It was laden with gifts for one of our very favorite people. . .  Daddy!

We supplemented our breakfast of baked oatmeal with some gift-opening.  Afterwards, we sent Daddy upstairs to study (sadly, birthdays do not trump midterms).  We continued our celebration this evening with some friends.  We had balloons, grilled out, and topped off the evening with -- what else?  -- ice cream and cake.

We are so grateful for this man who leads our family.  We know that it's not every Daddy who will pitch in with every aspect of family life -- from discipline to dance lessons -- who can manage elaborate bedtime routines without batting an eye, who gets up early and stays up late, who can be serious or silly, who changes diapers without complaint, who plans dates for each of his "girls," and loves us (all of us -- even Mama) through our tears and tantrums.

We love you, Daddy!  Happy Birthday!