Here are two shots Dave took. They learned how to stop the ball, dribble slowly like a Turtle, and fast like a Rabbit. And how to celebrate after a goal. Pretty cute.
And yes, that's Matt, trying to join in.
Monday, June 27, 2011
Soccer!
So Danny is taking a summer soccer camp, or something like that. All of my moms friends and their kids are doing it and it's a hoot. Danny was funny - he was really shy and then just went for it, but you can tell he's not used to adults telling him to sit down and be quiet. Preschool will be good for him.
Here are two shots Dave took. They learned how to stop the ball, dribble slowly like a Turtle, and fast like a Rabbit. And how to celebrate after a goal. Pretty cute.
And yes, that's Matt, trying to join in.
Here are two shots Dave took. They learned how to stop the ball, dribble slowly like a Turtle, and fast like a Rabbit. And how to celebrate after a goal. Pretty cute.
And yes, that's Matt, trying to join in.
Truth
Yesterday evening Julia came over for a while and we were all out in the yard. Danny and Matt were sploshing about in the water table, per usual, and both were soaking wet.
At some point Danny runs over and jumps into Julia's lap, prompting this exchange:
Julia: Why are you so wet?
Danny: [Jibba Jabba sound]
Julia: Is it because of the water table?
Danny: Yeah!
[beat]
Danny: And, I just peed in my pants a little bit.
At some point Danny runs over and jumps into Julia's lap, prompting this exchange:
Julia: Why are you so wet?
Danny: [Jibba Jabba sound]
Julia: Is it because of the water table?
Danny: Yeah!
[beat]
Danny: And, I just peed in my pants a little bit.
Saturday, June 25, 2011
Words
So Matty has started really talking, but talking in that way that only David and I can understand. Ha. His favorite word(s) is "Thank you" which he says as "DAI DOOOO" whenever you hand him anything. We gotta get that on tape.
But here is a small example of a few of his faves: baa, ball and duck.
But here is a small example of a few of his faves: baa, ball and duck.
The Big Table
Matty's moved on from the high chair and is now sitting at the table in his own booster seat. We realized he was ready to make this transition when he was climbing into Danny's chair about, oh, 4,578,952 times a day. The kid seriously thinks he is 3 years old. Or maybe he thinks he's 4.
The weirdest thing is that it really feels like we're a large-ish family, suddenly. It's kind of cool.
The weirdest thing is that it really feels like we're a large-ish family, suddenly. It's kind of cool.
Petting Zoo
I have no idea why I'm posting here - we have to pack for our trip back East and I'm totally procrastinating.
At any rate, a few weeks back we went to the Sunday Farmer's Market - we used to go every week, but it is just zaniness with the both of them now. Maybe one day I'll be the parent who just lets her kids zoom around and run around and not care, but I'm not there yet - so the trip becomes a constant "Danny! Get back here! Danny! Don't eat that person's food! Matty! Where are you going? Matty! How did you get up there? Danny! Stay here! Matty! ..." You get the point.
But we hadn't been in so long that things were all different and crazy - including a brand new petting zoo! Fortunately, we got there early enough that it was just opening (Ah, how our lives have changed...no more rolling in as the market closes at noon...) and we jumped in in the first wave of kids. It was total, total highway robbery at FIVE DOLLARS a kid. I had a very hard time paying that much for what turned out to be about 8 minutes of fun, but the kids did enjoy it, and so did we.
At any rate, a few weeks back we went to the Sunday Farmer's Market - we used to go every week, but it is just zaniness with the both of them now. Maybe one day I'll be the parent who just lets her kids zoom around and run around and not care, but I'm not there yet - so the trip becomes a constant "Danny! Get back here! Danny! Don't eat that person's food! Matty! Where are you going? Matty! How did you get up there? Danny! Stay here! Matty! ..." You get the point.
But we hadn't been in so long that things were all different and crazy - including a brand new petting zoo! Fortunately, we got there early enough that it was just opening (Ah, how our lives have changed...no more rolling in as the market closes at noon...) and we jumped in in the first wave of kids. It was total, total highway robbery at FIVE DOLLARS a kid. I had a very hard time paying that much for what turned out to be about 8 minutes of fun, but the kids did enjoy it, and so did we.
Yip Yip Yippeeeee!!!
Danny just got into preschool!!! He'll be starting when we return from the East Coast - three afternoons a week from 1 - 6.
He'll be going to First Years - the school we wanted forever, the one we had a spot, but lost, in The Oversight That Will Not Be Named. I called and called and called every single week for months, and just got the call yesterday. I almost wept. What a relief!
I wish there was a website for the school so you could see how dang cute and charming this place is. It's a little cottage in Venice with a big backyard and a huge tree and it's a little ramshackle but totally magical. We are so excited we can't stand it, and I think Danny will be too.
He'll be going to First Years - the school we wanted forever, the one we had a spot, but lost, in The Oversight That Will Not Be Named. I called and called and called every single week for months, and just got the call yesterday. I almost wept. What a relief!
I wish there was a website for the school so you could see how dang cute and charming this place is. It's a little cottage in Venice with a big backyard and a huge tree and it's a little ramshackle but totally magical. We are so excited we can't stand it, and I think Danny will be too.
Thursday, June 23, 2011
Can You Feel The Love Tonight?
Oh, sweet sweet Matty. Nothing like Forbidden Toys (TM) to make him pucker up.
Good Job!
I've been trying to post this for days and days, but here is sweet Matty exclaiming his own pride at using a fork.
Saturday, June 18, 2011
Dave's 40th
Here's everybody!
Here's the birthday boy - how handsome! (picture courtesy Pete Hansen)
Here's the crew from Syracuse...
Still waiting for a picture of the jumbotron message...
Here's the birthday boy - how handsome! (picture courtesy Pete Hansen)
Here's the crew from Syracuse...
Still waiting for a picture of the jumbotron message...
A Nice Stroll With the Kids
We are so way overdue on photos, it's terrible! I don't even know where to begin, so what the heck, I'll start here.
We went on an urban hike with the kids and Uncle John a month or so ago, which turned out to be a tiny bit harder than expected. (John and I were remarking on how similar it was to Pike's Peak. There must be something in our DNA that just says, "Oh, well, just go with it." Then, we hiked a 14,000 foot mountain in shorts, with a Clif Bar and a bottle of water between us. Here, we...well, you'll see for yourself.)
The thing was a two-day hike called The Big Parade from downtown to the Hollywood sign. It's sponsored by a guy named Dan who just loves Los Angeles.
We started out Saturday morning to do the "Kids' Hike" - only to discover we had the only two kids on the hike. Ha! But about 100 people had gathered, and off we went on our adventure.
We started strong (don't worry, we pulled the shade down over Matt), crossed the freeway...
And oh no - our first set of stairs!
"We can do this!" we thought, and someone stepped right up to help, and down the stairs we went. Easy peasy!
Emily and her fiancee Brendan joined us here, and we walked to Olvera Street, into the train station and found a cool aquarium and a beautiful mural.
Matty decided to practice a little walking too.
So about 2 hours had passed, and the group was heading off for the next leg. We were having so much fun we (read I) decided we should really keep going...How bad could it be, right?
Gulp.
Onward!
And hey, who's that with a steaming hot cup of coffee on a broiling hot urban hike?
Thank God he came, or we would have ended up thumbing for a ride somewhere in Highland Park.
A quick pass through Chinatown...
And then this...
We walked alongside the 110 freeway on a walkway built there to ensure people could get from Echo Park to Downtown - this was before cars ruled Los Angeles. It felt like we were finding dinosaurs.
Finding dinosaurs in broiling heat, and Danny wanted to be carried...the whole way.
We crossed the major rail throughway and the LA River, which was truly spectacular.
At this point, it was nearly 2pm, we'd gone through all of our snacks, and decided to head home (on the subway!).
It was a totally awesome day, we saw sights and places you'd never otherwise see, and really felt part of something, which can be tough here in the City of Angels. We were all on such a high about it we decided that if David wasn't crippled, we'd come back for day 2!
We stopped and had ice cream
and everybody slept and slept.
I emailed the leader of the walk that night and said we were thinking of joining the next day. His response, "Yeah! You guys are total bad a$$es!" (I should have read between the lines on this. Ahem. Anyway!)
After a series of texts confirming everyone could still use their arms and legs, we met Uncle John in Silverlake at 9am sharp. Everybody was dressed for business this time, no more jeans and layered t-shirts, it was time for Patagonia baby. This walk was through [the agonizingly steep and never-ending] hills of Silverlake, and when we started, a very serious-looking guy with full-on gear said "You're not coming on this." I just brushed him off, and David even said, "Oh, we did it yesterday," in a tone of voice to suggest this guy didn't know who he was dealing with.
Um, he was right. We were crazy. Right away we went had to carry the stroller down one flight of stairs just to turn around and carry it up an adjacent set, which was, frankly, more hard-core exercise than I get in an entire day.
And then we hit the hill.
I'm smiling, but David's, well...John's blog post really says it best, but let's just say I honestly don't know how we survived that.
Then around every corner, there was another multi-story set of stairs, all rickety and far too steep. Like this:
I hardly took any pictures because I could barely breathe half the time. I heard somebody it was over a half-mile of stairs. And we just kept doing it, and doing it. I say "we" - but I mean Dave, John, and some guy named Fireman Dave who, as a trained emergency professional, recognized the potential emergency and stood at the ready, waiting for the stroller every climb and descent.
That's him taking point here. God, I love that guy. But I ended up carrying Danny up half the stairs, which, in retrospect, was more difficult than carrying the stroller. He's over 35 pounds of wiggle worm, and I was DYING.
But, we did it. We did it. It was one of the hardest physical things I've ever done, but it was awesome, and we did it. The kids had a ball, and so did we. This was our final set of stairs, but we took the elevator for this one.
We went on an urban hike with the kids and Uncle John a month or so ago, which turned out to be a tiny bit harder than expected. (John and I were remarking on how similar it was to Pike's Peak. There must be something in our DNA that just says, "Oh, well, just go with it." Then, we hiked a 14,000 foot mountain in shorts, with a Clif Bar and a bottle of water between us. Here, we...well, you'll see for yourself.)
The thing was a two-day hike called The Big Parade from downtown to the Hollywood sign. It's sponsored by a guy named Dan who just loves Los Angeles.
We started out Saturday morning to do the "Kids' Hike" - only to discover we had the only two kids on the hike. Ha! But about 100 people had gathered, and off we went on our adventure.
We started strong (don't worry, we pulled the shade down over Matt), crossed the freeway...
And oh no - our first set of stairs!
"We can do this!" we thought, and someone stepped right up to help, and down the stairs we went. Easy peasy!
Emily and her fiancee Brendan joined us here, and we walked to Olvera Street, into the train station and found a cool aquarium and a beautiful mural.
Matty decided to practice a little walking too.
So about 2 hours had passed, and the group was heading off for the next leg. We were having so much fun we (read I) decided we should really keep going...How bad could it be, right?
Gulp.
Onward!
And hey, who's that with a steaming hot cup of coffee on a broiling hot urban hike?
Thank God he came, or we would have ended up thumbing for a ride somewhere in Highland Park.
A quick pass through Chinatown...
And then this...
We walked alongside the 110 freeway on a walkway built there to ensure people could get from Echo Park to Downtown - this was before cars ruled Los Angeles. It felt like we were finding dinosaurs.
Finding dinosaurs in broiling heat, and Danny wanted to be carried...the whole way.
We crossed the major rail throughway and the LA River, which was truly spectacular.
At this point, it was nearly 2pm, we'd gone through all of our snacks, and decided to head home (on the subway!).
It was a totally awesome day, we saw sights and places you'd never otherwise see, and really felt part of something, which can be tough here in the City of Angels. We were all on such a high about it we decided that if David wasn't crippled, we'd come back for day 2!
We stopped and had ice cream
and everybody slept and slept.
I emailed the leader of the walk that night and said we were thinking of joining the next day. His response, "Yeah! You guys are total bad a$$es!" (I should have read between the lines on this. Ahem. Anyway!)
After a series of texts confirming everyone could still use their arms and legs, we met Uncle John in Silverlake at 9am sharp. Everybody was dressed for business this time, no more jeans and layered t-shirts, it was time for Patagonia baby. This walk was through [the agonizingly steep and never-ending] hills of Silverlake, and when we started, a very serious-looking guy with full-on gear said "You're not coming on this." I just brushed him off, and David even said, "Oh, we did it yesterday," in a tone of voice to suggest this guy didn't know who he was dealing with.
Um, he was right. We were crazy. Right away we went had to carry the stroller down one flight of stairs just to turn around and carry it up an adjacent set, which was, frankly, more hard-core exercise than I get in an entire day.
And then we hit the hill.
I'm smiling, but David's, well...John's blog post really says it best, but let's just say I honestly don't know how we survived that.
Then around every corner, there was another multi-story set of stairs, all rickety and far too steep. Like this:
I hardly took any pictures because I could barely breathe half the time. I heard somebody it was over a half-mile of stairs. And we just kept doing it, and doing it. I say "we" - but I mean Dave, John, and some guy named Fireman Dave who, as a trained emergency professional, recognized the potential emergency and stood at the ready, waiting for the stroller every climb and descent.
That's him taking point here. God, I love that guy. But I ended up carrying Danny up half the stairs, which, in retrospect, was more difficult than carrying the stroller. He's over 35 pounds of wiggle worm, and I was DYING.
But, we did it. We did it. It was one of the hardest physical things I've ever done, but it was awesome, and we did it. The kids had a ball, and so did we. This was our final set of stairs, but we took the elevator for this one.
Monday, June 13, 2011
David's Surprise Party
I just got this video from Jim Morris - much more to come, but wanted to get this up for everybody Back East to see. He missed the moment we walked in, but catches much of the surprise. It was a phenomenal night.
Saturday, June 4, 2011
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