Em's Finish Time

Here is the finish line clock as Em came across for the Avenue of the Giants - half Marathon!!!
Woot Woot.

A couple of engineers...

Rafi and the boy are working on a suspension bridge at Lawrence Hall of Science. We cut preschool today so that we could hang out some more with the G-N clan - mom, dad, Doron, Rafi and Zohara and Ziva. It was rainy so LHS was our place. The boy is pretty smitten with Rafi - they both love to build complex and beautiful structures.

Park 61st st Emeryville

After a trip to the BEST B*Y (thanky you Unka Jim) we found this new park in Emeryville (around 61st and Doyle) - it wasn't super big but it had some pretty cool play structures and we needed to run around for a bit so it was Perfect.

Indoor Play Cafe

On this rainy rainy morning we had a play date with Amy and Cypress at Sadie Days in Oakland - it was a pretty cool space but crowded - lots of moms escaping the bad weather. Still I love a place where the boy can run and play and I can have a latte!!!! Plus seeing Amy was a BIG bonus.

Monday Funday

Our Adventure Day playdate was at Lawrence Hall of Science this week. We had a good turnout of kids this time - lots of siblings too - There was much running around and playing with the various exhibits and then we ended the day in the blocks room.

Corty's dad David spent about and hour & a half working on his tower....

Tilden Park Hike

Our monday am playdate was at Tilden park - we got there a little early so we went and checked out one of the hiking trails behind the Nature Center.

Zoo

So a few weeks back we got a half price Oakland Zoo membership through SavvySource (and 5% was donated to our preschool!!!)- I was hoping that the cards would get here in time for us to go to the Halloween Zoo events but they didn't - but they are here now & em had a vacation day at work (!!!!!) so after school we told the boy we had a surprise to show him. On the drive I let it slip that our destination was the zoo & he got upset - telling us in no uncertian terms that he considers the zoo to be BORING & it was NOT where he wanted to go - but since we were already on the freeway & mommy & momma wanted to go - Tough


Well we got to the Zoo and discovered that its pretty much a kids PLAYLAND with rides, a train and even

A ROLLERCOASTER (shamu rocks!)

The final verdict -- NOT BORING!!!!

at the farm

This is us as we wait for Elizabeth and the boys to meet us at Tilden's Little Farm for an adventure day outing. Don't worry - it gets better.

Post Call

Em had her first call shift at the New Job - she left the boy and I Sunday afternoon at the OctoPretzel show at Ashkenaz . We were very sad to see her go and had to come home and cook a fancy dinner to make ourselves feel better. But the upside is that the next day after a nice adventure day morning at Habitot and LHS we got to have lunch and a WHOLE afternoon in Mommy's company.

This meant flying kites at the Marina....

Saturday in the City

This weekend we came into the city for our first recreational visit since we have been back in the Bay Area. And we promptly got lost. Hard to believe that in only four years we had both forgotten how to drive around the city. Even in the Castro we forgot what streets get us where and places that only the buses can turn - it was rather embarrassing, but finally we did make it to our destination - The Children's Playground at Golden Gate Park - and the Ginormous Cement Slide...

Then from the park we headed out to the Avenues where I discovered a great Coffee shop that I will probably never go to again since its on Judah and 46th and I can't imagine being that far out again but they did make a REALLY good cup of coffe & it was a nice break from the craziness in the park and on the streets from both the Power to the Peaceful concert in the park and some neighborhood street fair that we ran into on Judah.

Tilden Park - Little Farm

Today we met Loula and her moms at the little farm in Tilden Park - the boy didn't love it quite as much as Drumlin but he was excited to meet Loula again and also to run into one of his classmates as we were feeding the animals at the park.

After feeding celery to the goats and cows we headed down to the nature center and then to the playground nearby. The boy really picked up then and he and Loula spent the next hour or so running around like little crazy nuts - climbing, jumping, running, climbing... it was a lot of fun to watch and Em and I really liked hanging with her moms. Then we all headed over to the carousel....

all this and chocolate ice cream too.

Adventure Day Marissa

For our "Adventure Day" with Marissa we decided to be very Boston and to walk the Freedom trail. We started by hopping the T down to Park street and then finding the head of the trail there - it took us down to the waterfront where we stopped into the aquarium (and had a bit of lunch) and up through the North End before coming out around Fanuil Hall.

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Hooker Entrance

Riss wouldn't stand by the sign for me to take her picture for some reason... so you just have to imagine.

Family Day for Farah at School

Farah invited R. to be her guest at "family week" this wed at her school. It was torrential out so we splurged and took a cab ride to the school where Farah and a classmate came skipping down the hallways to pick us up and escort us to her classroom. R. sat infront of the pre-Kindergarten class and took questions about what it is like to be a cousin. I bolstered him up. Then we got to join in for choice time....



We chose coloring. R. and Farah were so cute working together on their projects. He made a rocket ship with fire (surprise) and she made a book of drawings about princesses (surprise). Then we went with the class to the school library for storytime. R sat still through two stories on the family theme (both about dads, sort of ironical I thought)

Then we said our goodbyes and headed to Inman Sq for a 1369 Brownie treat (and coffee) and a board game.

Turtles!!!!

MoS Adventure Day

We had another Museum of Science Adventure Day. Did some digging, some building, some computer screening... all in all a good time.

Central Square Adventure Day

Sometimes for adventure day we just stick close to home. Here are a few shots from this weeks Adventure Day Central Square.




Here he is looking VERY smug as he takes the lead yet again in a rousing game of Chutes and Ladders at 1369 - our fave local coffee house


Blue skies over city hall..... and


jumping up and down at the city hall doors - playing with his shadow.

MoS Again

trip to the museum of science with Gabe & Jack.

R & I built a staircase.

Adventure Day - Providence

We talked Mommy into coming along for an adventure day & we got a REAL adventure. We all climbed into the car and headed to Providence RI and the children's museum there. It's smaller than Bostons' Kids museum but similar in many ways. The boy had a great time. Then we headed up by Brown and grabbed some college town Pizza. Did I mention that the other day he said " Hey Momma - P-I-Z-Z-A spells Pizza"

MoS

Today we went with Kath & Gabe to the Museum of Science.
Monito wanted to wear his crown, as you can see ...

He enjoys any type of computerized display - this was a machine where you can send yourself an ecard outside of the gift shop - he stayed busy here for a good twenty minutes.

I enjoyed looking at the urban planning models

the Zakim Bridge

Birthday Full Moon over River St.

As R. and I walked home from Birthday Adventure Day we stopped to look over our shoulders to see the full moon bathed in sunset rays - this doesn't really do it justice it was crazy awesome.