Month: January 2009

Pacifica and Half Moon Bay

2 weeks ago we tried to go on a hike with the San Bruno Mother’s club, but due to too much chaos in our lives – not RSVPd and arrived at the wrong meeting point and late – we failed. We had lots of fun on our own though, and we saw the mom’s club walk by from a distance while we built our sandcastle. They all had strollers, so Leilani probably wouldn’t have enjoyed that hike anyway.

Time flies (that’s why all the Baby Blog posts are so late…)
Andy says: I drew this on the sand, with a driftwood gnomon. I made it at noon and it was accurate for a little while, maybe until the next tide washed it away, like the sands of time…

Hiking on the coastal bluffs in Pacifica

If you look closely, you can see an island on the horizon to the left of us. I don’t think you can see Kaua’i from here, so it must be the Farallones (30 miles – 50 km away).

That’s San Francisco in the far distance, Ruwan’s neighborhood, with Mt. Tamalpais above and beyond.

Leilani loves to climb anything and everything. I think she had more fun on the dirt hill than on the beach itself.

Leilani and I built a strange sandcastle:

Leilani showing off her new yoga skills:

Leilani managed to take 2 pictures with her unique perspective, before she stuck the lens in the sand and got her ear pulled…

Then we went a few miles south to Pilar Point Harbor, at the north end of Half Moon Bay. We walked to the north point where there were tidal flats, and then to El Granada, and back to the harbor where we had dinner at Barbara’s Fish Trap.

Yikes! Cold!

And another sunset…

Someone in El Granada was cutting their Nightblooming Jasmine hedge, and I took some home – the next afternoon I discovered the Jasmine rainbowshadow below:

Jasmine Rainbowshadow, that sounds like the name of a My Little Pony.

Alum Rock Park 1/03/09

A few weeks ago we hiked in Alum Rock Park in San Jose.

There was a nice winter afternoon sun, but it was still cold.

We could not decide if it was spring already…

… or still fall

In any case, Leilani fell asleep soon

and missed all the pretty scenery.

There are pretty sunsets in San Jose too.

Skiing Weekend

Leilani is learning to ski, and she has fun at the same time! She was on her skis for the first time ever this weekend and really enjoyed it: whenever she fell down, she thought it was funny. She wanted to go again and again, and really made progress. We are really proud of her and look forward to a lot more skiing (hopefully we’ll be able to keep up with her for a few more years).

I thought we were pretty advanced compared to families where the moms who were yelling “Now you have to take this seriously!!!” “Do your pizza [slice]. Nooooo!!!!” among other things that I wouldn’t put on the babyblog. We also lasted substantially longer on the slopes. The only real crying in the entire day was when I interrupted one of downhills, to force her to take the lift after she had just discovered that she could ski all the way down, way past the lift and I would carry her back up. Unlike many other kids Leilani didn’t crash into anyone, except for once, at very low speed, she used a standing, adult snowboarder to stop, and appologized too.

It also was our cheapest skiing trip ever, below $100 and that included gas, motel, lift ticket, and a pair of sunglasses that I would have needed anyway.

A video of her first turns. Yes, she was making controlled turns and stops already, she figured it out by herself when she couldn’t do the snow plow very well to stop. Did I say we were proud of her?

We drove up to Donner Summit (7200 ft – 2200 m) on Saturday moring and found an area to play in the snow and go sledding.

Leilani, the little polar bear.

Wheeeeeee!

Andy forgot to pack Leilani’s gloves, but soon found a shop to buy another pair, almost the right size and definitely the right color.

Later we went randonnee skiing a little bit, on the trail towards Castle Peak. Uphill Leilani took a nap in the pack and Andy did all the hard work.

She woke up just in time for the downhill part. This was actually her first time on skis, hors piste too. But it was hard for her because it was not very smooth, and we had to hold her the whole time.

After a good night of sleep at a nice motel in Reno, we went back up the mountain to the Donner Ski Ranch. It’s a small family-friendly resort, the lift ticket is only $5 for Leilani, none needed for the parents.

The big attraction was the moving carpet. The first few times they let us go up with her, but soon she learned to do it by herself.

Leilani makes a pretty nice turn here, and Andy is brave to trust that she will and doesn’t jump out of the way.

Even before she had mastered basic turns and stops Leilani started asking about the chair lift. I was not sure what was more fascinating to her, the longer downhill, or the cool ride, Andy thinks it was the cool ride. We told her she couldn’t go until she went 3 times on learning slope without falling.

That’s probably what motivated her to go over and over, but after lunch, she managed (I think she did fall but did so well otherwise we counted it). So towards the end of the skiing day Andy took her for one ride on the chair lift with her (don’t ask how he got his lift ticket)

I will now include at least one “photo of my feet” in every post and eventually I’ll have it printed as a coffeetable book :-)

(Andy took this for her–hey, I have cool skis too)

Andy adds: going down the “big” slope was too much for Leilani. It was too steep and uneven for her, and she never made more than one turn. So I had to pick her up after every turn on the way down. But she didn’t mind and laughed everytime.

We left after that because Leilani was tired and we wanted to drive home before the traffic–no skiing for the parents. But we made it home almost without traffic and Leilani napped and was then very good in the car.

When we put her to bed, I told her how well she had done on her first day of skiing and how proud we were of her. Mommy said that we would go again because she liked it so much and she would learn to ski even better. “And faster,” she added without hesitation.

Storytime at the San Bruno Library and other photos

Mrs Barbara reads a story

Teacher pam from the Millbrae Music program sings a song

Cool in the car

Grandma gave her a Madeleine doll, Leilani picked out clothes to match her.

Leilani colored the princess in the rainbow coat (Allerleirauh in English has a feather coat – the rainbow coat)