Today was a special day. Yes, it was Inauguration Day and the Martin Luther King, Jr. Holiday – but on a more personal note, it was the first time in quite some time that both sets of grandparents were together with us. With one set of grandparents in Hawaii, the other set in Boston and us in San Francisco, it is not too often we all get together. We like to space things out so one set will visit during one of Maile’s holidays from school and the other set will visit during another, etc. Today was the one day they were overlapping for this visit – with Grandma and Papa Boston heading home tomorrow and Grandma and Papa Hawaii arriving to help out for another couple weeks as I head back to work.
Maile was in heaven with all the attention! And Lauren had plenty of welcoming arms to cradle and hold her throughout the day. The weather cooperated as well, so we snuck outside to take some pictures of the whole family together…
Maile, Lauren and BOTH sets of grandparents
Grandma Gail and her (San Francisco) girls...
Grandma Jill and her girls...
Papa Mike jumped in there too 🙂
Family Picture: Mommy, Daddy, Maile (3.5) and Lauren (2 weeks)
Can’t thank both sets of grandparents enough for all the love and support they’ve provided as we’ve settled in with Lauren!
On Sunday, Grandma Jill and Papa Mike arrived from Boston to meet their new granddaughter (and, of course, spend lots of time with Maile Girl). I think it is fair to say that it was mutual love at first sight…
First meeting between Lauren, Grandma Jill and Papa Mike
Even though Grandma broke her jaw just a few weeks ago, nothing can hold back that smile!
One happy grandpa!
by Papa K on November 21, 2012
We arrived in Boston last night and Grandma Jill had lots of fun new things for Maile Girl to play with. First up was a fort making kit that Christine had discovered: bildopolis. Basically its a fort in a box – cardboard boards with velcro squares to attach them however you want. We set to work building a castle.
When Grandma heard that we were making a castle, she went and got one of Auntie Elyssa’s old princess gowns. (Turns out the story on this dress is pretty cool: the dress was originally a nightgown that Maile’s Great Aunt Bess wore on her wedding night. Many years later, Aunt Bess took the night gown and turned it into a princess dress for Auntie Elyssa… and now Maile gets to play with it!)
We’ve been playing with the box fort since we’ve been here – in addition to the castle, we’ve built rocket ships, trains and all types of forts. Good times!
Maile Girl and Mommy working on constructing the first castle...
Here’s a video of Princess Maile entering her castle for the first time…
Putting on Great Aunt Bess' Princess Gown
Thank you Grandma Jill and Papa Mike for the box fort maker! We love it!
(Click here for the video.)
Maile Girl went on her very first vacation without Mommy and Daddy this week. Grandma Jill and Papa Mike took Maile down to Monterey for the night. (She’s been away from us before, but we’ve always left her on her home turf, this is the first time she’s headed out without us.) By all accounts she did great and had a blast exploring the sites of Monterey. They hit the Dennis the Menace playground, checked out Carmel and visited the Monterey Aquarium. Maile knows a thing or two about aquariums and said this one was top notch.
Grandpa Mike went to the Dennis the Menace Playground when he was a little boy - this was a return trip, some 50 years later!
It was hard to tell who had more fun, Maile Girl or Papa Mike...
Dinner had an amazing view - right off the pier were a bunch of seals! Maile loved it.
Love this picture of Grandma Jill and Maile - both fascinated by the sites at the aquarium!
No trip would be complete without a souvenir. This is our new pink, purple, blue whale - Maile is currently snuggled up asleep with her.
Thank you Grandma Jill and Papa Mike for the first of many adventures!
I know my Daddy misses me so I decided tonight I would help him feel like he was back home with me. How best to do that? Well, by reading him a story of course!
Can you see, Daddy? And then the train went chugga chugga CHOO CHOO!
Maile Girl here. I’m not sure how many of you knew this, but my Grandma Jill is quite the gardener. Whenever I go to visit her in Boston she shows me all her vegetables and flowers. Daddy says she has quite the “green thumb” – her thumbs look normal colored to me though. Last weekend, Grandma asked me if I wanted to learn how to plant tomatoes! How cool is that? She showed me every step of the process…
First, I had to look all around the backyard for rocks to put in the bottom of the pots.
Then we filled the pots with dirt.
Then we paused to take a picture (Daddy, Daddy, always with the camera!)
And then, Grandma Jill, showed me how to plant the tomatoes in the dirt…
And then, voila!, all the plants were ready to grow. I told Grandma she needs to send me pictures so I can see how they do. She promised she would!
(Click here for the video.)
Maile Girl here. It’s been a few days since Daddy or I checked in – we apologize! On Thursday, Mommy and Daddy woke me up and instead of going to school, we rode in an airplane all the way to Boston to see Grandma and Papa … and Auntie Elyssa! I’ve been having so much fun with them! I’ll post about some of my adventures over the next couple of days…
For now proof positive that I’m a happy girl!
Just us girls 🙂
Papa Mike - just as silly as ever!
Papa Mike can't take his eyes of Maile Girl (yes, it's harder to get a Grandpa to look at the camera, then a 2 year old 😉
On Sunday, Grandma Jill and Papa Mike came in from Boston to join us in NYC and have fun with Maile while Daddy and Mommy worked on Monday and Tuesday. We need to get all the pictures from Papa, but they had a bunch of adventures all over the city – they hit the flower show at Macy’s, a kid’s play space that had a tree house, John’s Pizza, Shack Shake, FAO Schwartz, shopping down in Soho. Rumor has it Grandma Jill is going to take Maile Girl over to the MOMA tomorrow morning before we all jump on a plane and head back home.
Maile is a lucky girl that in the span of one week she got to see both her grandparents (even though they live on opposite sides of the United States!)
Guess who came to visit for the past several days? Yep, Grandma and Papa Boston! So much fun. They picked me up from school on Thursday afternoon and we went non-stop. We hit museums and parks and went shopping, lots and lots (and LOTS) of eating. The highlight was definitely on Friday when Grandma and Papa came to school with me! How cool is that? Papa talked to all my classmates about being a dentist and Grandma handed out mirrors so we could look at our teeth. We all got to ask questions too. I was so proud to have my Grandma and Papa come to my school!
Grandma and Papa picked me up after school and we hit downtown...
Papa and I goofed around - he's so silly!
Grandma and I hit the stores - I showed her all the dressies that I liked...
Papa was my transportation - I hope his back isn't too sore!
3 generations all together for Daddy's birthday!
by Papa K on November 30, 2011
On Monday, Grandma and Papa decided to take Maile on her first adventure to the Boston Children’s Museum – basically a rite of passage for any kid that grew up in the Boston area. Maile had a blast exploring everything and the pictures that Papa took really brought back some great memories…
Any kid from Boston remembers the big milk bottle...
Daddy told me amazing things happen behind these doors!
Remember the bubble tables?!
Grandma, these look just like magna-tiles - I can show you how this works...
Trains. Are. Cool.
Thanks Grandma and Papa for a wonderful morning at the Children’s Museum – I hope we can go back again next time I come to visit!
