This afternoon, Maile’s school had a Halloween party. Grandma and Papa went over early and helped set up and get all the kids in their costumes. Chris and I were able to head over as well and we’re really glad we did – it was ridiculously adorable!
It was definitely organized chaos, but the teachers did a good job walking the kids around in small groups where they "trick or treated" at each of the different classrooms...
One little boy came running up to Maile and gave her a big hug - turns out he thought she was the real Elmo!
For the second day in a row, Maile threw a fit when we tried to get a family shot...
... but we finally got that Maile smile we all love back at my office!
All in all, Halloween this year was a big success!
Maile's preferred way of riding her tricycle
We made some progress on the bike riding front this weekend. Mommy taught Maile how to use the pedals to get around. We’re still working on the steering component, but definitely getting closer to adding “tricycle riding” to Maile’s ever expanding bag of tricks…
(Click here for the video.)
On Saturday afternoon, we headed down the peninsula to Palo Alto to celebrate Sam’s first birthday. It was great to see all of our friends that have moved down to Palo Alto – certainly miss seeing them all the time in the city. Christine took a ton of pictures – some highlights involving Maile Girl…
Fun on the big cement slide - so big that you needed to sit on a piece of cardboard to make it down...
Maile and Allison hadn't seen each other in months, but fell back into playing just like old times!
Daddy and Maile
Bubble time - behind the scenes note, Mommy blew the bubbles AND took the pictures. Such talent!
Maile made Sam a birthday card - she took giving it to him very seriously...
The whole group - our family of friends is definitely growing!
Party time!
Eating cake with Wills
And by eating, I mean shoving as much as possible into her mouth as fast as she can...
One of the shots from Jenna Park's Mixed Race Project
A couple month’s ago a good friend of Christine’s reached out to ask if we’d be interested in participating in a photo project that a friend of hers was working on. The photographer, Jenna Park, was hoping to take photos of mixed race families at their homes. From Jenna:
The Mixed Race Project is a glimpse inside the homes and lives of some of these multiracial families. I didn’t want to focus on taking traditional portraits – there is certainly enough visual documentation on the beauty of mixed race people out there already – but I felt that portraying families in the context of their homes made a stronger impression of how we live.
We thought it would be fun to participate and a couple months ago during a visit to San Francisco, Jenna came by our apartment for about an hour and took pictures of Christine, Maile and I going about our day. We painted, played bubbles and hide and seek, and ate lunch. A pretty typical Saturday and we all had a lot of fun. Jenna also asked Christine and I a bunch of questions about how we grew up and how we think about raising Maile.
The result is a great photo essay that Jenna put up on her web site: The Mixed Race Project. You can find our family’s entry directly here: Christine & Matt’s Family.
We’re very happy with how things came out and look forward to seeing where Jenna takes the project next!
Fleet Week in San Francisco is always good times. And we’ve been checking out the Blue Angels with Maile since she was only 13 weeks old! This year she was old enough to ask questions about what was going on and actually enjoy seeing the airplanes flying overhead. She still wasn’t the biggest fan of all the noise, but luckily we came prepared for that…
Maile proudly rocked her pink ear guards ...
... but sometimes the Mommy version is just better (as it is with most things...)
Last weekend we met Sophie at the California Academy of Sciences. There was a time when I felt much older than Sophie, but now she is basically the same age as me. We ran all over checking out the fishies and making shark cookies. Pretty solid Sunday if you ask me!
The floor was see through! I asked Daddy if we could set that up at home and he said he would work on it!
Sophie and I pretty much checked out everything together.
Sometimes we asked one of the mommies to join us...
We're still little so a lot of the action takes place above our heads...
... but we just stand on our tippy toes and we make it work!
After running around the museum, we headed out back to make some shark cookies. Mommy helped me with mine.
Then Sophie and I compared notes before chowing down!
My mommy is always making my hair look pretty, so I decided to return the favor. First I had to work out all the knots – that’s tough work. After that I straightened everything out and added a “pretty”. Voila!
(Dad note: starts to look painful for Mommy towards the end…)
(Click here for the video.)
by Papa K on September 29, 2011
Last week Chris and I went to Maile’s school for the first parent night. We officially met all the teachers and learned about what Maile is learning and the overall approach and goals for the year. It was really nicely done and at the end, we all went in to the classrooms and did a project for Maile.
Waiting for us in the classroom was an envelope that Maile had painted herself. Inside was a note that Maile had “written” with help from a teacher earlier in the day. Maile’s note said:
“Dear Mommy & Daddy,
I enjoy coming to school, playing with my friends and discovering new things to do every day. Right now, my favorite area is the art area, where I enjoy drawing pictures with crayons and splashing watercolors on paper.
The teachers told me you are comint to visit my classroom and can help me with my project. I would like to ask you to draw me a picture of a big house. Mommy & Daddy are in the room, and Mommy’s cubby is in the house. Thank you!
Love,
Maile
P.S. Please place Maile’s favorite things in the cubby as a surprise.”
Every family had a different, personalized note from their child. Some parents had to build something out of clay, one built the Golden Gate Bridge out of blocks! Luckily, I had Mommy with me so she set to work and I offered encouragement (I was also responsible for painting the roof and writing a letter back to Maile.)
Mommy showing off our picture and letter we wrote back to Maile Girl
Maile's dream house ... complete with blue bunny in the cubby.
I would have loved to have seen the faces on all the kids when they arrived the next day and saw all the projects we made them. The teachers said they were incredibly excited and after enjoying their own, they walked around the room to see everyone else’s. Very cool!
(Dad note: Just a quick note to wish all of our Jewish family and friends a very Happy New Year! We hope the holiday is treating you well.)
by Papa K on September 19, 2011
This one is for Papa Mike. On Sunday, we went to check out Sunday Streets over in North Beach. It wasn’t very busy when we went, but the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition was setup with balance bikes. Balance bikes are this new concept where they teach little kids to “balance” on bikes without pedals or training wheels. Apparently, it is better for kids to learn how to balance first and then add in the pedaling. (Makes sense to me, more details here.)
Mommy got Maile started by showing her how things worked ...
... then Maile and Daddy raced down the rest of the course!
Eat your heart out, Papa Mike!
by Papa K on September 18, 2011
On Saturday, we headed down to Marina Green for the Family Day Kite Festival. It was a blast, I actually forgot how much fun kites are. They had some incredible kites that you could watch, but the best part was that the YMCA setup a booth where you could make your own kite. I had pretty low expectations that the kite we made would fly, but it really did!
Mommy, Daddy - DUCK! There are huge animals in the sky that are going to fall on us...
This is the kite that Mommy and Maile made...
... and here is Daddy and Maile flying it!
Video of Maile’s first solo kite flight…
Kites. Are. Awesome.
Bye bye kites, we'll see you soon...
(Click here for the video.)
