On Friday, Mommy, Daddy and Papa Mike took me on a safari! Do you know what a safari is? It’s basically a zoo without any fences! At first I was a little nervous and thought maybe the animals would eat me, but they were really nice. The guide told me that if we are nice to animals they will be nice to us … usually anyways. That makes sense to me.
The safari was super cool. I liked the pink flamingos and the giraffes the best. I took LOTS of pictures.
Papa Mike and I ready to get our safari on!
What's that Daddy we should look behind us?
Woah.
Look how close we got! So cool!
I took pictures.
Lots and lots of pictures...
Say cheese!
(Dad note: The safari was pretty cool. I’d say Maile was a little too young – she was great, but it was a long day – ~3 hours. The guides were super knowledgeable, we learned a lot!)
Lots of firsts this year for our Thanksgiving celebration.
Lauren enjoying her first Thanksgiving.
Mommy cooking her first Thanksgiving turkey.
Daddy spending his first Thanksgiving away from Boston ever!
Since we were just in Boston for Auntie Elyssa and Uncle Stephen’s wedding, we decided to stay in California and Grandma and Papa Boston came out to celebrate with us. We rented a wonderful house in Santa Rosa and set about making it a Thanksgiving to remember.
While Mommy cooked the food, Maile Girl focused on the table decorations.
With guidance from a Kiwi Crate she made place cards for everyone in our family...
... and was quite proud of the results.
Mommy cooked it and Daddy carved it - and it came out great!
Lauren wasn't feeling 100%, but she still was excited to get involved with Thanksgiving (and Mommy made sure she had turkey too...)
I'm stuffed!
Love.
(Dad note: I apologize for missing a couple days of posting last week. We headed up to Santa Rosa for Thanksgiving and the internet wasn’t fantastic in the house we were staying at. Everything else about the house and our time away was amazing though … as you’ll see over the next few days!)
Grandma and Papa Boston arrived on Wednesday morning just in time to help the girls celebrate Hanukkah. It was Lauren’s first Hanukkah and the first time we used a Menurkey (thank you to Uncle Stephen’s mom, Liz, for sending one our way!)
Lighting the first night lights with Papa Mike...
We always read the card first...
Maile loved the Lego house that Grandma and Papa gave her...
.
... no, really, she loved it. We played with it all weekend and spent ~2 hours over the first night and the next morning creating one of three houses in the kit
Haha! While they are distracted, I will open my gift!
ARRGGGHH! Wrapping paper is soooo hard to get off!
by Papa K on November 25, 2013
Maile Girl has been super helpful entertaining Lauren while Mommy and Daddy have been busy with the move...
... she is not, however, very helpful with the unpacking part. She skips the put away part and skips right to the make a mess part.
by Papa K on November 24, 2013
From top, left to right - Maile, Lauren, Mommy and Daddy
We’ve been spending a lot of time the past couple of weeks packing (and now unpacking). Luckily, there isn’t an art project that Maile has come across that she hasn’t gotten totally engrossed in. The other day, she made paper dolls of our family (I’m told Mommy helped with the hair). I wonder if the pink hair is a sign of things to come…
by Papa K on November 21, 2013
The first picture of Maile in our apartment on July 13, 2009
Tonight is our last night at our Francisco Street apartment. Tomorrow we move to another apartment about a mile away.
We were in this apartment for 4.5 years and I think it is safe to say they were the most eventful of Christine and my lives. We moved in the May before Maile was born – so that’s 4.5 years of Maile’s life and almost a year with Lauren. Those of you who follow this blog know how many memories were made here. Plenty of laughter, a fair amount of tears and lots and lots of love.
We couldn’t have asked for a better setup to start our lives as a true family. Certainly not the biggest apartment, but big enough and a great location that supported us in getting out and exploring this great city that we call home. We were surrounded by amazing neighbors that watched our girls begin their lives and provided us with support and friendship through it all – truly the best “neighbor” setup I’ve had since I was a very little boy on Dennison Street in Swampscott, MA.
The boxes are (mostly) packed, our girls are asleep and I’m here writing one last blog post from my tiny desk tucked away in the corner of the living room – a good way to see this place out 🙂
by Papa K on November 18, 2013
Who’s that girl? Just Maile, crushin’ it, collecting ribbons, learning to swim…
Maile Girl with her green ribbon - next up blue and, more importantly, some open water swimming without floaties!
by Papa K on November 17, 2013
Last week we had a bout with a mean little 24 hour bug that took our family down one-by-one.
Lauren was the first casualty.
Lauren was patient zero in our house on this one... poor little girl.
Then she got all better and handed off to Mommy.
We were thrilled when Lauren got better so quickly ... until Mommy got knocked out.
Then Maile Girl got it. Poor Maile Girl – first time throwing up and she was NOT a fan. In the morning after getting sick she told Mommy “It was a bad night of my life.”
And then at the end after watching my girls go down, I got it. What a way to go – just absolute foreboding knowing it was going to hit me and nothing I could do about it.
At least it was only 24 hours – in the grand scheme, not too bad at all – but a “bad week of our lives” for sure 🙂
(Click here for the video.)
by Papa K on November 14, 2013
When Mommy was in New York, she bought Maile a new jacket. Maile LOVES it. No complaints putting it on (which is rare since she always fights us on wearing a jacket), but then at school she wore it for the whole day.
No really, see if you can spot her in these pictures…
Where's Maile?
Can you spot her here?
And to top it off, she insisted on wearing it to sleep that night.
It was not that cold in our apartment 🙂
I love her.
by Papa K on November 12, 2013
On Sunday, Mommy and Maile made marshmellows from scratch! – making them was fun, BUT eating the leftovers was definitely more fun.
What a mess!
(Dad note: The finished product came out really yummy … but those who know me well, know that this sort of mess is kind of my nightmare 😉
(Click here for the video.)
