On Saturday, I packed up my tools and headed over to Daddy’s new office to help him set it up. There were lots of desks and couches and chairs to build, but with my help (and especially Mommy’s) Daddy and his partners were able to set everything up. According to this video, it only took “1 minute”, but I could have sworn we were there longer…
The best part of the office? That’s easy. The tunnel, of course. What? Your daddy’s office doesn’t have a tunnel?
The tunnel was really long. I got lost a few times.
Hey! Who turned out the lights?
The tunnel was even big enough for Daddy to fit in!
(Dad note: Thanks to Maile Girl and Mommy for helping with the construction! My partner, Nate, did the time capture video above. Really cool setup – the camera basically follows a track and takes a picture every 5 seconds. Incredibly, Maile didn’t notice the huge dolly setup in the corner and didn’t bother it once!)
(Click here for the time lapse video.)
(Click here for the second video.)
Maile Girl here. Recovering from another fun-filled weekend in San Francisco. The weekend actually got off to an early start on Friday afternoon. Word trickled down to Hannah and I that the Bubble Lady was making an encore performance down at the library. Megan agreed to take us over … and Mommy even surprised us by leaving work a little early so she could come too! How fun is that?
Megan, Hannah and I were VERY excited for the bubble lady!
I was really happy I could share the Bubble Lady with Mommy ...
... and the Bubble Lady did not disappoint - she pulled out all the stops. I think Mommy was impressed.
Should I volunteer? Hmm...
Maybe I'll hang back and see what happens to this kid first...
We arrived a bit early and had front row seats - that meant LOTS of bubble action!
We even got bubbles in our hair!
Thank you Megan and Mommy for taking us to see the Bubble Lady!
On Saturday night, Maile Girl experienced her first home cooked Lobster dinner!
Nice to meet you, Mr. Lobster!
He can do what with those things? You gotta tell a girl that before you bring him over - I was just trying to be polite!
Wait, what happens next? That's so sad.
I feel bad for Mr. Lobster, but MAN this corn is delicious!
Maile Girl here. The weather has been wonderful here in San Francisco. On the 4th of July, I told Mommy and Daddy that I wanted to go to the beach. (Dad note: that’s not entirely how it went. A couple weeks ago, we walked by the beach a few blocks from our apartment down near Ghiradelli Square and Maile started whining that she wanted to play in the sand. We just happened to remember this on Sunday.)
Mommy helped me mark my spot - just in case any of my friends wandered by, they'd know right where to find me!
Daddy doesn't really like sand ...
... he's crazy as far as I'm concerned!
Seriously, I can't get enough of this stuff.
You really need to rub it in though to get the full effect...
Time to clean off - WOAH! - this is NOT the same as the water in Hawaii!
Saturday was a day of San Francisco-themed firsts for Maile Girl. We took the cable car downtown and then checked out the merry-go-round outside the Zeum at Yerba Buena. (Dad note: we’re not going to cover it in this post, but the Zeum was a hidden gem of a children’s museum. One of our favorites we’ve been to in the city.)
Maile and Mommy with Alcatraz in the background at Hyde and Chestnut
Is it coming Daddy?
Maile and Daddy riding the cable car
Maile didn't stop looking out the window and waving to people the whole way downtown...
Maile - is there something in your cheek?
Melon, daddy! Melon!
Cable cars are cool, but daddy is better...
Maile was not as enthusiastic about the merry-go-round. Here Chris is negotiating with her to ride one of the horses...
She ended up choosing the sleigh/couch setup. Technically, she was on the merry-go-round, but I told her it doesn't really count.
Not enjoying the merry-go-round. Is this over soon?
Maybe better with Daddy? Nope. (Hey, we paid for two rides!)
Mommy's art show - so proud!
Some of you might remember that last year, Chris did a series of drawings for something called the Sketchbook Project. On Saturday, we went and checked out the art show tour that has been traveling around the country. It was pretty cool seeing Christine’s work in an actual art show!
Checking out the art show crowd...
The show was setup like a mini library – you waited in line to get a library “card” and then you could check out whatever sketchbooks you wanted. If you didn’t have a specific name, you could just ask for a theme or something random. Then they had a viewing area where you could sit and flip through the books. Cool concept. We picked up Christine’s book and the book right next to hers.
When we got home from the show, Maile was all inspired and wanted to make her own art. We liked her drawing so much we decided to frame it and help her make her own art show … just like Mommy!
I definitely have two talented ladies on my hands!
(Click here for the first video.)
(Click here for the second video.)
Mommy had a great idea that we should go for a family bike ride to celebrate father’s day. I told her that I wasn’t so sure we could all fit on my little green bike, but that I was willing to share. Turns out she had something entirely different in mind…
Wait, so I sit here and then Daddy drives up front? Are you sure you trust him on this thing?
Daddy and I reviewing our hand signals. One tap on the back means go faster. Screaming really loud means please stop.
It was a beautiful day, so after we worked out the kinks of driving the bike we went on a really fun ride along the bay all the way to the Golden Gate Bridge. I had never ridden so fast before on a bike! Lots of wheee was involved.
Just like a true San Franciscan I touched Hoppers Hands at the base of the Golden Gate...
(What’s Hoppers Hands? Read here)
HAPPY FATHER'S DAY, DADDY!
(Dad note: It really was a great father’s day weekend – the bike ride was the icing on the cake. We really had a lot of fun and will be doing it again really soon…)
(Click here for the video.)
When Maile was born, Christine and I agreed that we wouldn’t let distance and the difficulties inherent in traveling with a little one curtail us from seeing our family and friends. We love living in San Francisco, but with family in Boston and Hawaii, it means we have to travel a fair amount. A couple weeks back, we took our last trip with Maile Girl as a lap child.
I think it's safe to say we are ready for Maile to have her own seat!
On the way back from Detroit, Christine made a list of all of Maile’s travels in her first two years:
Whew! Seems a bit crazy when you line it up like that. And to think this is how we started…
Maile Girl's first plane ride - September 5, 2009
Through it all Maile was a great traveler and we are excited to continue our plane hopping going forward … just with Maile in her own seat (and earning some miles!)
As we discussed yesterday, this weekend kicked off the Paci Wars with Mommy and Daddy claiming a first battle victory with a swift elimination of the purple paci. We decided to take a different tactic with Maile’s green paci.
Auntie Elyssa recommended having Maile Girl give away her paci to a baby – a passing of the torch if you will. This is also the technique employed in one of Maile’s favorite books, Knuffle Bunny – so you’d think she’d be familiar with the approach.
Lucky for us, we had a baby visitor on Sunday. Cordelia (and her big sister Maddie) came to visit from New York. After some snacks and coloring, we gave Maile her green paci and asked her if she wanted to give it to Cordelia, a baby in need of a good, trusty pacifier. As the video shows, we thought she was going to go for it … until she didn’t.
Back to the drawing board…
(Click here for the video.)
Maile Girl all decked out in her soccer gear!
Saturday was a day that I’ve been looking forward to ever since I found out I was going to be a daddy – Maile’s first soccer practice! I actually thought I was going to have to wait awhile longer, but some friends told us about SoccerTots – a soccer program here in the city for toddlers 18 months and older. Perfect!
As you know we had a rough week being a little sick, but Maile started shaking the bug on Thursday and by Saturday morning we were ready to rock. We had a lot of fun at our first practice (well, at least for 2/3rds of it – Maile started to lose interest towards the end). One of our neighbors asked us to let us know when Maile had a game, so they could come watch – I’m not so sure we’re quite at that stage yet 😉
And how do we know it was a good practice? I think this picture tells it all…
Nothing like a good nap after hard work at soccer practice...
(Click here for the video.)
