RJ's Tree

The weekend after Thanksgiving, we took RJ to Dell'Osso Farms First Annual Holidays on the Farm event, which is in the neighboring town of Lathrop. We went a little later in the day than originally planned, so we didn't see the lights or let RJ play in the artificial snow, but RJ did see Santa, who gave him his first ever candy cane (which he adored). He told Santa that he wanted "Mater, Toys, and Something". Then after he smiled for the camera, he asked Santa, "Santa, Can you say Ho Ho Ho Please?". Santa was very happy to oblige!



After braving the Santa line, we went on the hunt for our first Christmas Tree in California -- and RJ's first at-home, live, Christmas tree.



RJ picked out a nice fat Christmas tree, and was quite amused by the fact that we had to strap it to the top of Daddy's Honda Civic. Several pieces of twine and a safety tow rope from Lance's emergency kit later, we were ready for a slow ride home with the sunroof (which we wound the twine through) open.



RJ was not thrilled with the wind, but he was very excited when he got to help Mommy put together the stand for the tree.



Then the next day, RJ helped to decorate the Christmas Tree. He liked decorating so much that the bottom ornaments are rearranged several times a day!

Thanksgiving 2009

This year, I am happy to report that I did NOT have stomach flu like I did last year! (that would've sucked being pregnant!)

RJ and Daddy started out the day watching the WHOLE Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade together while I baked my pies.



RJ especially enjoyed licking the bowl from the pie with daddy. However, it *might* have been the culprit for his diarrhea that came a few hours later and disappeared by the next day. Daddy was unaffected by the pie batter, but I suppose RJ's younger digestive system was not prepared for the batter.



For dinner, our friend Laura came over from Santa Cruz with her dog, Ana. RJ enjoyed feeding Ana turkey after dinner and we enjoyed having some adult conversation after RJ went to bed!

Halloween 2009

I really like that RJ is starting to get into events and holidays now. Last year he seemed to like his costume, but really didn't understand Halloween or Trick or Treating. He mostly enjoyed giving out candy to the non-mask-wearing visitors. This year, he picked out his costumes and enjoyed going to the houses on our street to say trick or treat. When I first asked him what he wanted to be for Halloween, he replied, "RJ", so we were delighted to find an RJ the Raccoon (from Over the Hedge) costume. Then he also informed us that he wanted to dress up as Kowalski (one of the penguins from Madagscar).

He also knew enough to want the candy this year!

RJ's Halloween was really a 3 day extravaganza. On Thursday and Friday, he had costume parades at school where he chose to wear his "Kowalski" on Thursday and his "RJ" costume on Friday. I put on Fairy wings on Thursday and was Fiona (from Shrek) on Friday for the parades.



On Halloween, RJ and I put on our Friday outfits again and went out trick or treating. He went all the way down to the end of our street and then back up. After handing out candy for a little while we were visited by a five year old girl dressed as Thomas the Train. Lance and RJ then went out to a few more houses following Thomas around. To our amusement, even though RJ definitely enjoyed sampling some candy -- the houses he visited with Thomas he would take the candy and put it in Thomas's bag instead of his own... and say "Thank You". Seems like RJ is giving candy to the girls already!



And then after finishing up, and getting to eat two small pieces of candy, we had the requisite I-don't-wanna-go-inside tantrum. This could've also been caused by his refusal to take a nap earlier in the day (which is fairly rare!) rather than coming off of a sugar high.

Baby 2010 at 31 Weeks

Yes, I am actually pregnant, but we don't quite have the time we did when I was pregnant with RJ (2 year old + first year in a new position will do that), so all we've managed to do is one belly picture at 31 weeks. I'm now almost 35 weeks, so maybe over Christmas break we'll get some more pictures of my big ole belly out to you before the baby comes out and there is no more huge belly.

This child is not being as easy on me as RJ was though. The heartburn is about a million times worse, I'm bigger earlier, and carrying much lower, so there's a lot more pressure in my pelvis, which is just uncomfortable. So while everyone hated me for having an easy pregnancy before, you can rest assured that I am getting the full uncomfortable pregnancy experience this time around.

All is going well for the baby though. Baby is healthy with a nice strong heartbeat and growing appropriately. Just like with RJ, we are not finding out whether the baby is a boy or a girl - in fact, we didn't have an ultrasound this time around as there was no indication for one.

The birth of this baby should also be a little different as we're planning on laboring and birthing at an independent birth center with a midwife. I had a midwife with RJ, but was not happy with the restrictive hospital birth setting. Since I had an uncomplicated and unmedicated birth, there was really no reason to be in a hospital (home birth and birth center births are actually SAFER than hospital births for low risk pregnancies), so we found a birth center in Oakland, where I've been receiving all my prenatal care and plan to birth as long as all goes smoothly (and I can get there). I plan to work right up until the baby is born, so I could potentially go into labor at work, 2 hours from Oakland. Luckily, the assistant midwife lives a few minutes away from CSU Stanislaus, and since we pass my house on the way to the Birth Center, we could always switch to homebirth if things progress too quickly! I'm very excited about not going to the hospital, having the option for a water birth (not just laboring in water), and getting to come home as soon as we're ready. We'll see how it goes. I'm due January 24 and will be full term in a mere 2 weeks, so now we just wait!

Santa Cruz - Labor Day 2009

We decided that now that RJ is 36" tall, and able to ride the smallest of the kiddie rides, it was time to take him back to the Santa Cruz Boardwalk. One of the things that my dad seemed to enjoy when my sister and I were kids was taking us on the rides at Amusement Parks, so we thought it might be something that he would enjoy with RJ too. Plus, it would give him a chance to get his feet into the Pacific Ocean for the first time! Oh, and there's typically good seafood near the coast! The goal was for Grandpa to have some fun after his busy week babysitting RJ.

I think we achieved the goal. RJ loved the rides.
And both RJ and Grandpa really enjoyed playing on the beach. RJ was a little afraid of the waves when we'd go to retrieve water though.

RJ Goes Fishing

On the Sunday after orientation (September 2009) we went to the nearby Bass Pro Shop in Manteca.

"The 120,000 square-foot store...and a 65' replica of the world's largest tree (in volume), The General Sherman in Sequoia National Park, welcomes visitors...Massive rockwork soaring 28' to 30' high above the aquarium replicates Yosemite's Half Dome and allows visitors to walk under the waterfall as it cascades into the fresh water aquarium.

The store is insanely impressive and made my dad completely awestruck (and RJ tired from running around it).



We picked up some bait and some hooks for our fishing poles and took RJ and Grandpa fishing at Caswell Memorial State Park, which is on the Stanislaus River.

RJ loved running into the water at the edge, but was initially a little scared at going in with me and Grandpa. However, by the end of it all, he was loving the water.

RJ was also really good at reeling in his fishing pole - but unfortunately the fishies were not biting that day for anyone. It seems that he might have some more fishing in his future though because at age 2, he was actually able to focus on the activity for more than a few minutes. We'll have to take him more often now that we have the gear (thank you cousin Zach for giving RJ your old fishing pole!) and the river is only about 30 minutes away!

Child Development Center Orientation Week 2009

As most of you know by now, my job description has changed a bit now that I'm the director of the Child Development Center. One of the things that I'm now responsible for is the annual orientation for Child Development Center staff. This orientation is one week chock full of ice breakers, team building, safety and health training, learning about CDC policies, learning about licensing requirements, as well as academic preparation for curricular and lesson planning activities. Each day the teachers are required to attend from 8-5 with an hour lunch break. This means that Chris, my assistant director, and I were working days even longer than that to prepare and to organize such an event!

We managed to pull it off, although I did amass a good amount of notes on things to change for next year. I don't think I did too bad for my first orientation though. I managed to add a Dean's welcome and a 1/2 day of icebreakers and team-building to the usual fare. What I am most proud of though was my makeshift spiderweb. Those readers of our blog who went to Challenge Camp will know what I'm talking about, but for the rest of you, it's a series of ropes fashioned into a people sized spider web. The goal is to get the whole group THROUGH the spiderweb to the other side without touching any of the edges. My big goal for the orientation was to establish whole-center teamwork amongst the administration, the office staff, and the teacher-interns. The best way that I know to establish this is to do a series of activities that push people out of their comfort zone, build trust with one another, and then work together to solve a problem. So my dad (who was RJ's babysitter for the week) and I stretched out yarn all over the living room to build a spiderweb that could be attached to our playground structures the next day. Lance initially thought I was insane for trying to do this, but it ended up working out quite well. My dad and RJ secured the web between the swings and a tree and voila! a people-sized spiderweb was created! I even submitted a picture of the activity for the College newsletter. Next year, I hope to actually purchase the rope and webbing professional version rather than doing it with yarn.

RJ also had an interesting week during orientation. He had been sharing a babysitter with his good friends Daisy and Alison over the summer, but since his summer babysitter is one of my teachers, and thus required to be at orientation, we clearly weren't going to be able to use our normal care. So...lucky for us, Grandpa was able to come for the week and help with RJ duty. This meant that RJ and Grandpa were pulling long hours just like Mommy! I think that Grandpa was quite exhausted by chasing RJ around all day, but definitely enjoyed getting to spend all that time with him.

RJ benefited as well by learning some new vocabulary words and phrases such as:

"Ready Spaghetti?" - to which RJ responded, "I no spaghetti, I RJ!!"

"Nudnik" - Grandpa defined this as a term of endearment he learned from his grandparents, meaning goofball, but Merriam & Webster seems to think that he was calling RJ a pest all week. I think I'll stick to Grandpa's definition since its nicer and RJ likes to use the term (he now calls Grandpa a nudnik over the phone).

RJ really enjoyed showing Grandpa his school and the many waterfowl on campus. One day they brought crackers on their walk and got swarmed by ducks and geese. RJ is STILL fearful of the ducks!

AND, Grandpa figured out what was wrong with the adult toilet at the center (you have to hold it down to flush it for longer than anyone wants to - and the facilities people kept telling us that "that's just the way the toilet is" and wouldn't fix it).

It was a hectic week, but I think a great start to the semester for the teachers.

RJ goes to Yosemite

Finally!

Three and a half years ago on our first trip to California for a conference, we had planned a trip to Yosemite. That trip got derailed when Cheryl was diverted to Turlock to interview for some sorta teaching gig at a state school. At long last we chose a weekend for a camping trip to Yosemite National Park. It is only a 3 hour drive after all and was a free weekend to boot.

We considered this trip more of an orientation to Yosemite since we weren't really ready to do any hard core hiking. Even with the little we tried to do, RJ wanted to be held rather than walk himself and he's getting rather heavy for the backpack we have.

Camping was a big hit with RJ. He got a kick out of sleeping in a tent in a sleeping bag, at least at night. Naps were a complete mess because the tent was too hot and because he thought the sleeping bags were more fun to get in and out of and roll around on, which basically meant that we did a lot of driving in Yosemite so he would get a nap and not be a complete brat all afternoon and evening. He entirely loved playing in the dirt and sand with his digger and dumptruck. I think he also appreciated the lack of bathing involved too! For most of the trip, he had dirt everywhere.

On Friday, we mostly just drove there and set up camp just outside Yosemite at the Summerdale Campground in the Sierra National Forest.

On Saturday, we explored the Southern portion of Yosemite until dinner time.

We took a short hike through the Mariposa Grove of Big Trees until RJ declared that he needed to go potty just before we got to see the California Tunnel Tree. At that point, going back to see it wasn't happening. Maybe next time we'll get farther and get to see more of the big trees.

Afterward, we visited the Pioneer Yosemite History Center in Wawona, where we saw some historical pioneer buildings and most notably watched a blacksmith making stuff. I think RJ's favorite part was peeking into the houses and seeing the horses in their yard though.

Then after lunch from the Wawona General Store, we drove (after an aborted tent nap back at the campsite) to Glacier Point for some site seeing of Half Dome. Someday we'll be in shape enough to hike it to the summit, but for now seeing it will have to do.

On Sunday, we spent the morning packing up the campsite and then drove North to Yosemite Valley to see what all the hype was about (since that's where most people go when they visit Yosemite). What we discovered is that it's generally where the civilization portion of Yosemite is, as well home to some pretty incredible scenery, which gave poor pregnant Cheryl the itch to climb again. I think she's already picked out RJ's climbing gear for next summer. El Capitan has some incredible sheer walls of rock that jut out from the valley floor, which also contains the Merced River. We ate lunch at the Yosemite Lodge Food court and then took a nice dip in the Merced River at Sentinel Beach. RJ was a little afraid of the water after he tripped and fell face first into it, all while holding Cheryl's hand, but we quickly got him back in to enjoy the gold-flecked water.




In the future, we're thinking that we'll need more of a specific plan to include some hikes and that perhaps group camping is a better option for camping with kids. Setting up the tent can be mostly done by one person, except for one step, which requires 2. Cooking dinner over a fire also sort of requires 2 people - one to prepare the food and the other to start the fire. Neither activity leaves an extra person to help occupy the toddler in a brand new and exciting environment, which would keep him out of the street, woods, or neighboring campsites.

Boston Visit - August 2009

It's been over a year since we've been back to Boston, so when RJ and I were visiting in Buffalo and Pittsburgh, we convinced Daddy to meet us in Boston for the weekend before flying back home. (It was a LOT cheaper to fly home from Boston anyway!)

So we met Daddy at the airport and then RJ spent the whole weekend being uber-attached to him. RJ was also a HUGE fan of Sully (well, who isn't?), who we were staying with. Even now, over two months after the trip, he'll still ask to "go on airplane, go see Sully?"

Also, since Daddy was jetlagged from a red-eye, and RJ takes an afternoon nap, I got to go off with Eva for a little bit. As much as I love having RJ, I've really missed being able to hang out with friends without a kiddo around.

On Saturday, Lance, Sully, RJ, and I went to Harvard Square for some Mr. Bartley's burgers and a walk through Harvard Yard. RJ hilariously pitched a fit when we wouldn't take him into Harvard's library. We tried explaining that it was not open to the public, but being that he's two, he didn't quite get it. If he ever goes to Harvard and brings home D's, I'm SO bringing up this particular incident.

Then we met up with Heather, Steve, & Jace for some sprinkler park fun before all of us met Jordi, Jen, & Josie in Arlington for a dinner picnic at a local park (which I actually knew of from my days babysitting a little girl in Arlington during grad school!). RJ and Jace had great fun running around the entire baseball diamond and playing in the sand pit equipped with kid-powered diggers while Josie explored the play structure.

Then on Sunday, Sully, Lance, and I took RJ to the New England Aquarium. I don't know if it's just that it was the first aquarium I've ever been to, or what, but the New England Aquarium is my favorite, even after visiting the newer and bigger Georgia and Monterey Bay Aquariums in the last year or so. I think the NE Aquarium has the best set up for maximizing animal viewing without being trampled. I especially like the spiral walk around the big tank. We found one of the many windows and RJ perched there for a while watching the sea turtles and sharks and fish swim by. The aquarium was busy, but we still felt like we had time to see the animals, and didn't have to shuffle around or through the crowd. Also, for penguins, you really can't beat the New England Aquarium. First, they have the rockhopper penguins (the ones with the bright yellow tufts coming out of their heads), which are clearly the cutest of all the penguins (in Lance and my opinion at least). Second, they have a huge area for all the penguins, so everyone can see them and you don't feel guilty for standing there watching them for a while. We even spoiled RJ and bought him a big plush rockhopper penguin to take home (okay it was only because they were out of the small plus rockhoppers). That was fun carting around the airport/airplane. Thank goodness we had a direct flight!

On Sunday night, our friends threw a party gathering all the kids and parents to one place, basically to see us. I'm really touched that we're missed enough to be an excuse for a party! It always makes me feel good knowing that we still have friends even after moving so far away. Although I just heard that Boston got snow already...so I think we need to convince some of our friends to come visit us out here, where it is 80 degrees out and sunny in October!


Thank you to Heather, Steve, and Jace for organizing everyone, and thanks to Justin, Saru, and Ryan for hosting the event (even on short notice!). I wish we could visit more often and for longer to catch up with everyone more! We had a great time. I love watching RJ interact with all the Boston kiddos. Despite our not seeing them often, he does know them all by name from their pictures online!

We had a quiet day on Monday, taking our time packing up and went out for dinner at Legal Seafood with Eva and Michele to feed our cravings for Maine lobster. I'm happy to report that RJ declared lobster as "yummy". He's well on his way toward having my expensive taste in food!

I really wish that I had taken more pictures from this trip - I think I was just so excited to see everyone again that I didn't think to snap pictures. If anyone else has any from when we were there, I'd love to see them!

Pittsburgh Visit - Summer 2009

Grammie, RJ, and I drove down to Pittsburgh so that RJ could see his GGma and GGdad and Aunt Helen and Uncle Jim. We made a quick pit stop at the Grove City outlets on the way down to let RJ stretch his legs and so I could get him and daddy some Steelers gear and check out the Columbia outlet for RJ's winter coat. Of course, despite leaving at a reasonable time for RJ to take a nap, he completely refused to nap until we got off the exit in Pittsburgh.

We had a really nice visit. RJ wowed his GGs with his vocabulary. He really enjoyed reading his new book (that Grammie bought him at the outlets) with GGdad. I think they both got a kick out of asking RJ, "Where's the Judge?".

RJ also got the opportunity to learn one of daddy's old tricks: Rolling down his grandparent's backyard hill. It took Uncle Jim a couple of tries, but eventually RJ was log-rolling down the hill like an old pro. I think the next time we're there in the winter snow, we might just need to borrow or buy a sled for him!

It's unfortunate our trip was so short!

Buffalo Visit - Summer 2009

We typically fly to Buffalo around Christmas time so that we can see most, if not all members of my side of the family in the short period of time that we can get off during the holidays. However, this year will be the first year ever that we're not going to be able to go back to Buffalo or Pittsburgh for the Holidays, because mid-November marks the beginning of my third trimester of pregnancy, and flying is not recommended in the third trimester and Christmas Eve is exactly one month to my due date.

So...this summer we decided that RJ and I would take some time and see some family and we did just that. RJ got to spend some quality time with Grammie, Grandpa, Aunt Amy (who flew up from South Carolina) and his Great Grandparents too.

RJ was pretty much spoiled by everyone. He was on a permanent sugar high from his daily ice cream cone from Grammie. I suppose these are the kinds of things that children get away with when they don't see their Grandparents very often!

Also, we got a chance to do some of the things that there's rarely time and/or the right weather for.

Grandpa, Aunt Amy, and I took RJ to the Buffalo Zoo so he could see the animals. He was particularly enthralled with the elephants and the otters. It was interesting for us adults too because the elephants were having a little scuffle while we were watching them. The one elephant tried to hit the other one with its trunk. I can't say that I've ever seen that before. While the animals are always a hit, RJ was also very happy to have a chance to ride the train and the carousel and play on the playground while we were there.

We also went to the Taste of Lancaster with Aunt Amy and Grammie, where RJ's big thrill was getting to see a modified bobcat pick up garbage cans. He called it a digger and was even more thrilled when he got to see it parked as we were walking to the car.

Aunt Amy, RJ, and I also met Grandpa for some playing and trail walking at Steigelmeier (a.k.a. Losson) Park. It was pretty fun watching RJ play on the same playground that I remember being put in when I was a kid and running away from us on the same trails that I explored as a kid.

Grammie, RJ and I also went to the Taste of Williamsville one night. RJ completely downed some cucumber gazpacho (it was amazing) and scallops and really enjoyed getting to climb into the fire truck driver's seat and play with the fire hose (the fire fighters had a wooden house with trap door "fire" to shoot the water at with the hose). He also nearly gave Grammie a heart attack because I let him play in the bounce house with the rowdy big kids and climb the jungle gym. Sadly, I don't have any pictures of this, but Grammie might on her phone.

Grammie and I also took RJ to the Strong Museum of Play in Rochester. RJ really liked playing in the white pearl "sand"box, playing with the slinkies, the race cars, and a ball pulley thing that let him pull a rope making a ball go up and then fall out on various metal tracks all suspended from the ceiling. I think he was confused by the infinity mirrors, but it made for a cool picture.

Also, for our gastronomical delights (in addition to loads of ice cream from Anderson's, Frosty's, and Antoinette's), we got some Texas Red Hots (a.k.a. Slime Dogs), Roast beef from Anderson's, and some tastes from various restaurants in Lancaster and Williamsville at their respective "Taste of..." events. We also got some real yummy homemade meals. Thank you to everyone for taking good care of us while we were in Buffalo!

If you click on any of the pictures, you will be linked to all our Buffalo Summer 2009 pictures.

RJ in Monterey

This summer, we had some pretty lofty goals of seeing more of the California hotspots. In the three years we've been here, we've been to the Bay Area cities, up Mt. Diablo, Santa Cruz, LA twice (once exploring Hollywood and once exploring Santa Monica/Venice/Marina Del Rey/Downtown LA), Calaveras County (Gold Country), Sacramento, and Lake Tahoe (albeit briefly). This isn't bad for jumping right into new jobs our first year, having a newborn and a family wedding our first full summer here, and buying a house last summer. This summer was the first where we were sort of free to actually ENJOY living here. Of course this summer also involved a new position, pregnancy, and a trip across the country (because we can't travel at Christmas!), so really, it's always something!

Our trip to the Monterey Pennisula was the first of our summer travel destinations. We started our long weekend with a long car ride there. I think it was about 3.5 hours - although it should've been closer to 2.5 or 3 hours. But we had a potty training toddler who required us to pull over and let him use the potty on the side of the road several times. For those considering this - a potty that has the removable cup in it to dump the pee is desirable. I was able to pour all his pee into used spring water bottles and dump it into a toilet at our destination.

Anyway, by the time we arrived, it was lunch time. So, we stumbled upon the very yummy Paris Bakery Cafe, where we had some delectable sandwiches (for example, mine had melted brie in it!) and checked into the hotel to get RJ down for a nap. He slept in the big boy hotel bed for the first time!

After nap we left our room which RJ described as "open the door, see ocean", we rented a surrey and rode up and down the coastline bike path from Lover's Point, where we were staying, to Old Fisherman's Wharf and back. This was a great orientation to the area that we were going to explore more thoroughly over the next couple of days. RJ really enjoyed riding up front and telling mommy and daddy to "go faster". Also, these contraptions are not the easiest to maneuver or judge, but we managed not to get ourselves hit by a car while crossing streets or hit anyone else using the bike path.

After dinner in Pacific Grove, we were drawn to a jazz band playing outside of an art gallery and RJ couldn't resist dancing to the music, which everyone around enjoyed!

On our second day, we went to the Monterey Bay Aquarium. RJ's favorites were the sharks (Galapagos and Hammerhead), Southern Sea Otters, and of course the African Blackfooted Penguins, who we got to watch during feeding time. Mostly he enjoyed the hands on exhibits that involved sticking his hands in the water. The tricky part was when he kept trying to put his hands in his mouth after touching the starfish in the petting tank or just after putting on the hand sanitizer. After the aquarium we strolled down Cannery Row and had some lunch.

After nap, we headed to the Dennis the Menace Playground, which is massive. There are slides built into hills, a suspension bridge, a train engine to climb on, a hedge maze, and several play structures. I think RJ would've been satisfied with only the train though, as we had to convince him that the playground was worth his attention. Once he saw it and went down a few slides, he was hooked though! It must be overwhelming for a toddler to have all that fun in one place!

Then on our last day, we decided that a whale watch would be really cool. Unfortunately, the Pacific Ocean is quite choppy and we were on a smaller boat than we had expected (a fishing tour boat really). RJ thought it was a blast, but I got seasick after walking to the bathroom to pee and Lance got seasick just from sitting on the boat. I probably would've been fine if I wouldn't have moved or gotten out of the breeze or been pregnant but the combination of morning sickness and being on a incessantly rocking and bobbing boat was (in retrospect) a recipe for disaster. Having NEVER gotten motion sickness of any kind in my life though, we really didn't expect me to have any problems. So, poor RJ had both his parents puking, but he was just happy to be on a boat. We did actually get a whale sighting, although this was limited to seeing the whale's dorsal fin occasionally.

After exploring Old Fisherman's Wharf and getting some food back in our bellies, we took the 17 mile drive tour through Pebble Beach on our way to the freeway. This was largely a tactic to get RJ to nap during his normal (1-3pm) time and still see a little more of Monterey, but instead we had a whining toddler in the car and the sights were not so spectacular. Lance and I both thought that the "Lone" Cypress was a joke. If you look at our pictures - you'll very clearly see that the tree immortalized as the symbol of Pebble Beach is not nearly as alone as you might expect. Yeah, it's out on that ledge, but its friends are just a few feet away on the same outcropping of rock. We were not impressed by its lone-ness!

Then about 5 minutes before getting on the freeway, and about an hour or so after his normal nap would've ended, THEN RJ fell asleep for the uneventful ride home.