San Francisco Zoo

I paid for a Family Membership to the San Francisco Zoo for the year, and it has turned out to be a great investment, Kyle loves his trips to see all of the animals. We decided since both Dada and Mama had Monday off for President's Day, we would take a family trip to the zoo. I made the mistake of mentioning this a few days in advance, and Kyle kept "asking" about feeding the goats, and I had to tell him that it wasn't for a few more days that we were going.

(Please remember to click on any of the photos to see full size versions)

Our first stop was the gorillas, who were just waking up and having their breakfast. We went in the reverse direction, and managed to find an amazing viewing area all to ourselves. The silverback gorilla has now replaced Kyle's goats as his favorite memory of the park! I actually had this photo up on the computer after we got home, and as soon as Kyle woke up and came out of his room, he was so excited to see the gorilla back at home with him, and he patiently sat on my lap while we looked at ALL of the photos that we had taken. On the way to the gorillas, we also had a great view of the giraffe family.

Our next trip was to the grizzly bears, who aren't let out to roam for their breakfast until 10:30, so we had a quick jog to the other side of the zoo to see them "fishing" in their pond for oranges, pears, and (surprise) fish!

We spent some more time passing by other bears, hunting for the elusive koala, and laughing at the kangaroos before we made it to the long anticipated Children's Zoo. Despite Kyle's week-long excitement about feeding the goats, he was a little reluctant to do so this time. However, he did get brave enough to feed one of them, just as we were getting ready to find some lunch for ourselves.

After our lunch by the flamingos, we went to take a quick look to see if the lion and tiger grottos had reopened yet (they hadn't) Instead, we saw the penguins jumping up out of the water, and then diving back down to zoom around swimming. Kyle became fascinated by the rhino and it was very difficult to get him to leave, but unfortunately, it was time for a nap. On the way back to the exit, we had a quick photo stop atop a "baby" elephant, although Kyle was all wiggles, so it was difficult to get a photo - Mama had to hold him in place in order to get this one.

Once back at the car, Kyle happily babbled to Teddy for 10 minutes about everything that he had seen, but within one minute of reaching the freeway, and no more stop-and-go traffic lights, he was sound asleep, happily dreaming of his next trip to the zoo!

Big shoes to fill!

Kyle's been having fun lately trying on everyone else's shoes, or wearing his daddy's nice button-up shirts. With how quickly time is flying, I am sure that it won't be long before he truly is wearing these clothes! But in the meantime, they make for some awfully cute photos.

Art Class

Kyle and I checked out a new playgroup this week, along with friends Mikey and Kay. We had lots of fun with play dough, stickers, stamps and paint. Kyle's favorite part was having his hands painted and "stamping" those on to the paper! It's definitely nice to take him somewhere else for such explorations and not have to worry about him getting paint, etc all over the house! But it was something that he enjoyed, so I will definitely start trying more things with him at home in safe areas, and hopefully he'll learn to stop eating the crayons sometime soon!

Exploring the Exploratorium

We had a long day in the city today, with Kyle's first trip to the Exploratorium. He is still a little too young to be able to understand the concepts behind each of the exhibits, but that didn't stop him from enjoying pushing buttons to make things move, turn on lights, or make buzzers go! Just as much fun as all of the magnets, fish, bubbles, and water fountains were the other kids to play with, as we were meeting with friends from St Mary's College. Christian and her husband Mark drove out from Fresno with their son Noah, who was great with Kyle, running around with him in the park afterward, holding his hand, and giving him big bear hugs and kisses to say goodbye when we left. He's going to make a great big brother to their little one who is also due to arrive in April. Sarah, Michael, Maddie and Julia joined us from Santa Rosa, and it was amazing to see how much Julia had grown since the last time we saw her at the SF Zoo in August. She's now rivaling Kyle in size, weighing 22 pounds and also wearing 18 month size clothes - very much the healthy and happy little girl! Jen and Ava also came up from San Jose to join us, and it's amazing how much Ava has changed since our visit to the zoo, she is now full of words, and a very observant little girl.

Before most of us had to make our escape due to much belated nap times, we were lucky enough to get a few photos of the four moms and all of the kids except for Maddie, snapped in front of the Palace of Fine Arts. We're hoping that it won't be another year before we are able to get the (growing) families together again.

Coyote Point Museum

We had Kyle's 18-month check up yesterday, and his doctor declared everything to be "perfect". He weighed in at 24 pounds 5 ounces, and is now 32.5" tall. He was a champ with his two shots, and as usual, barely cried at all.

In addition to KinderGym yesterday, the fun activity of the week was today's trip to Coyote Point Museum with friends Mikey and Kay. We spent some time walking through the exhibits inside the museum, but the fun point for the boys was seeing the native California animals outside, and especially the river otters. Unlike the otter feeding at the Monterey Bay Aquarium, it was very quiet at Coyote Point, so we had front row viewing until a couple of even younger kids arrived. Kyle's favorite viewing post was in a small cave with a little window peeking into the bottom of the exhibit, and he loved getting Mikey to join him there. He was quite the ham for the camera, and gave Kay a cheesy grin when she took this picture of him!

Happy New Year 2008

from Our House to Yours!!!

Kyle and I went to visit his friend Ben yesterday for a "demolition party" The two boys had a great time pulling the marshmallows off the roof, until everything started caving in, and then Ben wasn't too happy to see his house falling into ruin! Kyle brought Ben a piece of the house as a peace offering

I'm thinking that maybe next year we'll build our own house, and it will be Ben's turn to come over for a visit to help bring down the walls!

Wishing you all the best for a happy and healthy 2008.

Howdy Pardner

Yesterday we attended the 2nd birthday party of a friend, and there was a great cowboy theme - complete with a petting zoo and pony ride! Kyle loved having the bandanna on throughout the whole party (he was even pretty unhappy when we had to take it off at home for bath time!) but the hat wasn't such a big hit - it was barely on long enough to snap this photo.

The pony ride was a little worrisome for Kyle, and to begin with he was ready to get off as soon as he was on. But once the pony started walking, he seemed quite content to hold on. In fact, he went back for a second ride a little later! We'll be taking him down our favorite horseback trip into Haleakala Crater before we know it.

Happy trails to you, until we meet again!