Welcome to the Claire Depot - All Aboard!

Claire Fooling Around

2009-04-01T19:49:00.000-07:00

Claire has some really cute moments. Last precious moments before her reign as only child ends.
See pics - http://picasaweb.google.com/Kimberly.L.Brown/March02?authkey=Gv1sRgCK6Lv4Lu0dKOjAE#

Nana and Papa's Visit

2009-02-11T08:33:00.001-08:00

A major highlight in our move to Houston was Nana & Papa. Claire is still talking about this visit and regularly incorporates Nana and Papa into her daily imaginings. For example, we were "driving" to Colorado the other day to see Nana and Papa.

There are some really cute pics from their visit in the list of links - see "Nana and Papa's visit - Jan 2009."

In other news - Claire's potty training is coming along. She went pee 2x and poo 1x in her potty yesterday and started off today with a pee as well!

The Eagle Has Landed

2009-02-09T10:51:00.000-08:00

So here we are, once again, in Houston! Our craft has safely made contact with the terra firma of Houston and we have make some progress on making our home here. As we learned, versus the first time we moved here, this is one small step for a couple, but one giant leap for a family.

Now that things are more settled I have managed to get some pictures of our new life in Houston and posted them to an album, see link left "Houston Zoo Feb 2009." We have a membership to the Houston Zoo already and have been there 2 times. Claire likes it a lot, especially because there is a miniature train that goes around Hermann Park.

If you ask Claire she'll say she likes Houston -- I think that there is more for her to do here than in California during the week, because her new nanny, Dabby, drives her to activities during the week.

Gymboree: She is enrolled in "Gymboree," which is a class held once a week, for a child accompanied by an adult, that is sort of pre-pre-school - there is a lot more playing than in a school but also some structure and some concepts (up/down, colors, etc) introduced. They also have "open gym" which is where you can just go and have at their indoor playground, which she seems to like and will be a great alternative to playing outside when the weather turns.

Library: There is a weekly story time at the library in English, followed by a Spanish/English story time where they also do crafts. She comes home with capes and pipe cleaner dolls and little things like that which are VERY Exciting and she can't wait to tell Mommy & Daddy about.

Two Parks: There are two playgrounds in our neighborhood that are in walking distance, so Dabby mixes it up a little bit and will go to one in the morning, one in the afternoon.

In other news, Claire is in the process of being potty trained and yesterday we had a big breakthrough - she went poo poo in the potty, or as her daddy told her, and she repeats, she "took a big crap." Luckily she can't say "crap" very well so she is not broadcasting this message to the world.

Evelyn is also doing well. A lot of activity in the uterus, as there should be. Morgan is convinced she is going to be a very active baby. Time will tell! Claire is very excited about Evelyn coming out but also very concerned that we know that there are going to be two babies in the house - not one baby and one little girl. We need to spend some time this month getting organized so that we have all of the newborn stuff out and ready for her!

Christmas in Florida

2009-02-09T09:01:00.001-08:00

Craziness! Moving plus everyone being sick ("I choking" said Claire.)

We still managed to have a good time, just not all of us at once. :-)

Check out photos (Florida Christmas 2009) in the picture list, left.

Christmas Cookies

2009-02-08T18:47:00.000-08:00

Before we left California, we went to Bob & Marie's house to decorate Christmas Cookies!

It was a lot of fun, check out the pics (in the list of pics, "Bob and Marie Christmas," left)

Visit from Grandpa 1

2008-11-23T20:37:00.000-08:00

This weekend, Grandpa joined Claire and me for a farewell to California visit. This Grandpa is not to be confused with Claire's other grandpa, Papa. On the fridge she has pictures of both grandpas, and likes to tell us, "I got two grandpas. One. Two." and show us the pictures.

In just two days, we had quite a few adventures. On Saturday, Claire and Grandpa watched while I successfully completed my "gold" belt test in Taekwondo. This will be my last test, given that we are moving to Houston and my belly is starting to protest. Thanks to Grandpa's visit, I didn't have to make babysitting arrangements for my test, the logistics of which had been bothering me, since Maria lives 20 minutes away from my "dojo" by car.

Next, we went to the Palo Alto Junior Museum, which is a (free) hodgepodge of games for kids and a small zoo. Claire holds her own against the onslaught of other kids. She'll let a kid know if they are invading her turf, e.g., "No Little Girl, that's my ball." We had milkshakes and burgers at In N' Out, napped, then went on further adventures to the bookstore and finally the playground. Claire was worn out at the end of the day! When Claire was asleep, I sprung a birthday pie on Grandpa, as well as his birthday gift of Malcolm Gladwell's newest book "Outlier," which he had been interested to read.

Sunday, while Grandpa was at church, Claire and I slept soundly. When we finally got up, we went to brunch at Hobee's restaurant in Palo Alto, which I like because they cater to little kids by bringing out a fruit plate with whipped cream as soon as you sit down, crayons, and a good kid's menu. We enjoyed our breakfast and then went to the Baylands for a hike. Baylands is a fun place to go because there is plenty of space to run around, a big field where people fly model airplanes, and a bird walk. Right now there is no water, but at other times of years there is a lot of water birds around.

We had a great time with Grandpa! Check out the picks, upper left, Grandpa Visit November 2008.

Trick or Treat - Halloween 2008

2008-11-02T19:14:00.000-08:00

This year was the first year that Claire had a sense of what was going on with Halloween. Leading up to the day, she has been fascinated by the "feo" decorations on our street - these are scary ("ugly" in Spanish) Halloween decorations that some people put up on our street. She has insisted on going for walks to see the "feo decorations" and stood, fascinated before the display of skeletons, ghosts, and gravestones. One particular house had a small line strung from door to the sidewalk along which would travel a skull/ghost making spooky noises. After we would watch she would run back home calling for mommy or daddy to pretend that we were, "Coming to get you!"

The night itself, we described the protocol - you knock, say "trick or treat," then people put candy in your basket. She was pretty excited about dressing up a like a lamb/rabbit ("conejo" in Spanish). Our dry run of the "trick or treat" routine went well, but when it came to actually going to a door, she was left speechless. She was also ambivelant about trick or treaters coming to our door. Not exactly scared but definitely wanting to hold on to mommy or daddy for the duration.

She came back with a good (small) haul of candy, which we proceeded to eat for dessert. One new candy was the pixie stick. I showed her how you can make your finger wet and then stick it in the candy. She thought it was yucky but tried it a couple times to be sure. Mini M&Ms were the most favorite, but I have to say that this might have been a dead heat with the broccoli that we were giving her at the same time.

The next day, she was ready - she made us put on her costume to do it all over again! Check out the photos (Trick or Treat 2008, link above left).

Grandparents to the rescue

2008-10-15T11:02:00.000-07:00

Oct 3- Oct 13. With Morgan on a 2 week trip to Houston & environs, and having also been gone for 10 days in September I was feeling a little overwhelmed at the prospect of managing on my own, especially with the pregnancy fatigue.

Enter, Mom aka Grandma. I am pretty certain I, and therefore Baby 2, would not have eaten any vegetables for the last 14 days if Grandma hadn't been cooking dinner for us every day. Also, lunch, and breakfast! We also had a lot of fun.

Claire spent every morning with Grandma while mommy went to work, and we also had some fun weekend adventures, like to the library, farmer's market. We also had dinner at Patty & Rob's house, where Claire was delighted by the two resident cats. She also was a big hit there. She was being an angel child, playing ball with 90+ year old Ora and basically being a charmer. When we left, Patty asked for a hug, and Claire gave it willingly, and added "and a kiss" and gave both hugs and kisses to Patty & Rob. It was too cute.

It was also great because Dad aka Grandpa was able to come up for both weekends from Redlands, an 8 hour drive. Claire noted that Grandpa's arms are "fuzzy," which I remember thinking when I was a kid too!

We also had a visit from Uncle Robert and Aunt Rachel, and we went to the massive playground at Coyote Point. Fun was had by all.

We also celebrated Mom's Birthday. Claire helped Grandma blow out the candles:

Check out the other photos from Grandma and Grandpa's visit, link above left as "Grandma and Grandpa's Visit."

We also took a fun trip to Half Moon Bay to visit the pumpkin farm and ride the train. Check out these picks in "Half Moon Bay - 2008" links above left.

When Grandma left, Claire came with us to the airport to drop her off. Now, when Claire sees a plane she waves and says "Grandma come back!"

North Coast Trip

2008-10-15T10:49:00.000-07:00

September 27-28. Claire loves to go on adventures. When it is the weekend, she'll get very serious and come up to me and says, "Mommy, I want to go on a 'venture." An adventure is pretty much anything that is not the normal trips - library, grocery store, Maria's house, park. You can pose any kind of outing as an adventure and she will be excited about it.

In this case, we decided to go camping along the North Coast of California. We decided to stay in Hendy State Park in Boonville California, which is a nice campground with Redwoods. We stopped at a fruit stand along the way and bought these apples called "pink pearls" which were pink on the inside, and tart. They were just Claire's size and she liked them very much. She just ate them like an adult - I had to watch that she didn't eat right through the core.

We took a hike through the redwoods and stayed in the tent that night. The next day we set out for Fort Bragg. We stopped in Mendocino on the way, and went down to the beach from the Mendocino headlands. It was a beautiful day. The tide was low and we were able to see crabs, sea urchins, sea anenomes and starfish! One of the beaches had a lot of driftwood, which someone had crafted into teepees which Claire enjoyed exploring. There was also a fresh spring grotto, where water fell from the cliff. It was beautiful. Claire was not too enthused about the ocean but she liked everything else. There were also berries everywhere in Mendocino.

We made it to Fort Bragg, which is home of the "Skunk train" - a steam engine that travels from Fort Bragg to Winters, California. We missed the one departure for the day but that turned out to be okay because Claire is a little young for a 6 hour round trip train ride to be all that thrilling. Instead we had lunch at the North Coast Brewery Grill. For some reason it was just the most delicious food I'd had and it was very satisfying.

Next we went to another beach, just north of Fort Bragg. There were long boardwalks which Claire loved to run on. Running running running. There were tide pools but they were not as good as the ones at Mendocino.

After the beach we called it a day and headed on the long drive home! It was well worth the drive and we had a great time. Check out our photos (link top left, called "North Coast").

Claire's Second Birthday

2008-09-06T19:50:00.000-07:00

September 5. Claire is 2 years old! The day started with balloons, including an Elmo balloon that when you tap it, sings happy birthday. And you can tap it and it will sing it again! And again! And again! Claire likes to hold the balloon and dance in front of the TV watching her reflection.

We had a birthday party at Sylvan Park with Claire & Maria's friends from the park. Claire plays there every day. Her closest friend is named Sophia, who will be 2 years old in November. Lorenzo is a big 2 1/2 year old boy who used to play in the park but now goes to pre-school so only comes on Fridays. Matthew is 3 years old, and his sister Samantha is 8. They go to school but play in the afternoons sometimes. Trent and Harlan are 20 month old twins. Claire seems to be a ringleader - she goes her own way and Lorenzo and Sophia tend to follow.

We had a pink cake with sprinkles (baked by Morgan, frosted by Kim), and three kinds of homemade salsa, fruit, juices, vitamin water and chips from Maria. Rounding out the party was Laura (Sophia's mom), Serena (Lorenzo's mom), Irma (Trent & Harlan's nanny), Marta (Matthew & Samantha's nanny).

We also brought the bubble making grill. This is essentially a fan, where you "grill" bubble making shapes by dipping it in the bubble soap and putting it on the grill of the fan, producing bubbles.

A good time was had by all - but it was a hot day and a lot of excitement. By the end of the party, Claire sat in a stroller (not hers) said, "I'm ready to go home." Clever girl!

See photos, above left.

The Family's First Backpacking Trip

2008-09-06T19:45:00.000-07:00

25 miles, 3 days, 4500 feet in elevation
Start: Green Lakes, Hoover Wilderness
End: Glen Aulin, Tuolomne Meadows Yosemite

Theme Song (Kim): "Move Along Train, You've Got a Heavy Load" - Staple Singers
Theme Song (Claire): "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Song/ABC"- Claire
Theme Song (Morgan): Unknown

Though the terrain was not the most challenging, our packs were heavy and there was the added challenge of entertaining a two year old. My pack, was 40 pounds, carrying Claire (25 lbs), plus other gear. Morgan's pack was 65 pounds.

When she wasn't sleeping, or playing with the trinkets tied to the backpack, Claire liked to sing - Twinkle, twinkle little star, ABCs, and then words to the tune of twinkle, twinkle. "Raining raining raining" was one that I remember. She also would cry sometimes. Probably not more than in a usual day with mommy & daddy, but -- nearer. We set goals for ourselves, 60 minutes hiking, 10 minute breaks. Morgan would lie to us about how long it has been to reach other arbitrary stopping points that somehow lend more sense of accomplishment. In some ways, this was better as we did have to go a long way, and there was only one way to get there - walk.

We did not make things easier for ourselves by only going three miles the first day. This was somewhat based on the decision that I had made in my mind 1 1/2 miles into the hike that I would not go further than the planned first day. This thought was quite comforting to me as I struggled on through the first day. However, the lake we stayed at in the first night was beautiful. And the thought occurred to me that what else would we do with the time that I would feel was better spent than if not walking. I didn't believe that I couldn't physically do it - just that I didn't want the strain of caring for another person while purusing this pastime. But seeing the lake, seeing Claire so excited by the tent and the preparations. And so I started to get enthusiastic about the idea of doing the rest of the trip together as a family.

I thought of the family that we saw on a previous trip, with my brother, before Claire was born. This was a family of 5, girls age 9, 12, 15, doing a 200 mile, month long trip. The three of us were in awe of the "Iron Family" -- while we were congratulating ourselves on a hard day, there they would be going another couple miles. I realized that there's only one way to get to be an Iron Family -- and that's by backpacking.

So at the end of the day, or days (13 miles Day 2, 9 miles Day 3), I am very glad that we did this trip. There was much to like, and much to dislike, but there is no doubt that it was an accomplishment in the face of doubt, which feels like something.

Fun trip to Coyote Point

2008-08-10T20:40:00.001-07:00

The weather was beautiful this weekend in the Northern part of the bay, so on Saturday we went to Coyote Point park and recreation area, which includes a nature museum as well as an animal shelter, beach, and huge playground. It is also on the bay, next to the San Francisco airport, so you get airplane flybys as an added benefit.

The Coyote Point Museum is quite fantastic. In addition to the exhibits that are apparent from our photos, there is also a bee exhibit, which has a pipe to the outside, and a real bee hive visible from both sides. Claire was quite fascinated by this.

We also did not have pictures from the animal shelter, but that was a fun way to look at cats, dogs, mice, rabbits, and guinea pigs.

On Sunday, we went for a 6-7 mile hike at Windy Hill Nature Preserve, at about 1700 ft of elevation gain. Morgan carried Claire in the backpack. This is more in the south part of the bay so it was quite warm. Claire walked some of the way herself. The summit included views of the bay, the foggy ocean, and a parade of motorcycles, bicycles, and a Corvette parade, driving through on the Skyline Blvd. Claire managed to fall asleep in the backpack, despite the sun and the swaying pack. At least she was wearing her hat and sunglasses. At the end of the hike, we stopped by a cool, shady creek and threw rocks into the water.

The last photo in the August photos is a movie of Claire wearing Bob's shoes from when Bob was a baby. Pretty cute! Enjoy.

Bike riding with Uncle Robert

2008-07-21T21:39:00.001-07:00

Uncle Robert came for a visit on Saturday, where we went for a bike ride. Upon our return, Claire was eager to ride her bike, with a little help from Uncle Robert. See pictures, left.

July for Claire

2008-07-21T20:45:00.000-07:00

July has been an exciting month for Claire. There are links to pictures of our adventures to the left side here and some descriptions of the highlights below!

Trip to Ohio Highlights:
Blueberries: Turns out the blueberry bushes were ripening. Claire picked berries with grandma. The next day, I went looking for the bushes with Claire but I didn't know exactly where they were. I was walking around and around the barn and then I noticed Claire was not following me. Here, she was standing right next to the bushes, waiting for me to catch on! We also had mulberries and wild cherries on the visit, with Morgan's help because they were high in the tree.

Swim lessons: Claire had daily lessons in swimming at the Steiner's recreation center, where I learned to swim. The outdoor pool had several slides and we had a sweet instructor, Clarissa, who Claire really liked. On the first day, we congregated on the stairs, then everyone moved into the pool. Everyone except Claire, that is! We slowly entered the water and after the first day we we made the transition from dry to wet more easily. Despite the hesitancy, Claire is a good kicker for her age, according to Clarissa.

Akron Zoo: I visited with my childhood friend and her daughter who is just a few months older than Claire. We made a trip to the Akron Zoo (see pics at link on the left "Akron Zoo").

The Barn and Backyard: Claire loved being in the yard. She enjoyed collecting grass clippings and making piles, going "round and round" the trees, and laying in the grass looking up at the sky. She was also very interested in the barn, and the tractors in it.

Sleeping In: By the miracle of grandparents, I slept in every morning!

Bunny Rabbit: Turns out the bunnies were out in full force. One rabbit took up habitation in the bushes right in front of the front door. Grandma and Claire enjoyed looking at the bunny quite a bit!

First homemade chocolate chip cookie

2008-06-23T08:07:00.001-07:00

On Sunday, Claire ate her first homemade chocolate chip cookie - see link at left "first cookie." The first two pictures are before and after, then there is a video sequence of the cookie eating experience.

On Saturday, it was very hot in Mountain View, so after berry picking and brunch with the bookclub in the morning (100 degrees), we drove to San Francisco (70 degrees). It was a perfect day in the city and we had a lot of fun at the zoo, then at Fort Point underneath the Golden Gate bridge.

Next week we will go on our first backpacking trip in Yosemite. We think we will go to Cathedral Lake, which is not too far a hike and high enough that we hope the mosquitoes will not be too bad.

Claire in Colorado

2008-06-07T21:43:00.000-07:00

We had a sad event to attend in Colorado - Parker's funeral. Despite the sadness, it was a chance to have the family together. Claire enjoyed seeing her grandparents -- Nana and Papa -- and her Aunt Linda, from whom she learned quite a few fun new phrases, like Uh-oh Spaghettio.

Check out Claire's pics from this trip in the May 2008 pics (link above left).

Spring

2008-04-16T20:40:00.000-07:00

Spring has arrived in Mountain View. This is most evidenced by new activities for Claire, in that it became warm enough to don a swimsuit and play in the water.

Another fun game that Claire likes to play is hiding. She found a new hiding place -- the kitchen cabinet. Check out the video in the link above left - April 2008 - for some pictures!

Easter

2008-03-22T19:22:00.000-07:00

Today we celebrated Easter with Claire. This entailed pretty much the same routine as any other weekend, with the exception of some dress up with an Easter dress and hat, and some easter toys. The regular routine was to walk to Mountain View for a cappuccino, hang out at the park, and make a visit to a zoo type thing. This week it was the Palo Alto Junior Museum & Zoo, which is this pretty incredible (and free) museum that is basically a room of science-related toys where kids come in and basically go bananas, and then an outside portion that has a duck pond and some other animals. Claire seemed to really enjoy it.

Check out the new pics in the Easter link, above left. Really cute pictures this time, though I'm her mother so I could be biased.

Happy Hollow

2008-03-19T09:32:00.000-07:00

Claire enjoys playing with Bob & Marie Clapp's daughters, Sammy & Sidney.
Please click through to the link at above left for Happy Hollow to see pictures.

You will also see a link for Easter. This is the first pic of many to come of Claire enjoying easter-related gifts. This one came from Bob & Pat, and it sings a chicken song. Unfortunatetly, the sound on the video didn't work right, but we heard Claire saying "duck, duck, more duck."

Daddy's birthday

2008-03-09T20:45:00.001-07:00

Claire celebrated her dad's birthday March 7 with cake and a gigantic, donut shaped balloon. We had a cake lit with many candles which Morgan blew out. Claire looked at the candles with an expression of skepticism - she seemed to be saying "Are you guys sure that is such a good idea?"
See the pictures under March 2008 (link above left).

We had a good weekend with a hike to Borel Hill, a 15 mile bike ride and other general outdoor enjoyment with perfect weather.

TWO balls

2008-03-02T20:02:00.000-08:00

Today Claire told us that she was carrying two balls. Not just a ball, or balls, but two balls.

This was while we were visiting Maria at her spacious, clean house in Santa Clara, playing in her gigantic playroom that was converted out of a garage. I think we are converts to Santa Clara. For the same rent, we could get two bathrooms, three real bathrooms and a backyard, so I'm told.

This weekend we also went on a hike in the redwood forest, Henry Coe state park. It was beautiful. See pictures in the March 2008 link to the above left.

Also, Claire had two surprises in the mail! Mrs. Pfahl sent a belated Christmas present - wedgits! And Grandma Lewis sent two shirts. See pictures to see how much she loves them.

¡Claire habla español!

2008-02-25T22:06:00.000-08:00

Claire is developing so quickly. She can speak two words and knows her colors. She says sentences like, "green grass" and "daddy up."

She also knows Spanish. Important words like "outside" and "moon" and also "work," which is important in the context of where mommy is - "trabajo" or "ajo" in Claire speak. She probably knows more Spanish, but she speaks it with Maria, who she calls Mee Mee.

See the new pictures in the link February 2008 in the list to the left. There is also a fun picture of a visit from Rachel, Robert, my mom and dad. I think this was early January.

Snow Success!

2007-12-30T07:50:00.000-08:00

Claire has voluntarily stepped in snow! This was during our 2 night stay at Glacier Point.

Morgan, Robert, Rachel, Kim & Claire went on a trip to Glacier Point from Thursday Dec 27 to Saturday Dec 29. The trip was 10 miles. There was only a couple hundred feet of elevation gain, but it was up and down.

On the way in, Robert carried a pack and pulled the chariot. It took us 4 hours. He said it was one of the hardest things he had done. It was hard for the rest of us too! When we got to the cabin, Morgan said he felt like he had felt after he had finished the marathon. Claire was quiet most of the trip, but about halfway she started crying. So we put her in a sleeping bag in the chariot and she settled down.

The cabin was a lush accommodation in winter, including a view of Half Dome from the kitchen window. (see pictures, link above left "Glacier Point.")

On the second day, we did a day trip to the Glacier Point overlook with Morgan pulling the chariot. There was a new layer of snow so Morgan had to break trail, which was hard work. We had a good view. Then we stopped in the Geology Hut at the overview and Claire stepped in snow by herself, which was a big breakthrough. Robert & Rachel even helped her get over her fear of snow by making a snowball, which Claire eventually was happy to kick around.

On the third day, we headed back. We made it in a record 3 hours, with Rachel pulling for the first 6 or 7 miles at a record pace! Morgan pulled the last 3 (uphill) miles. There was hardly a peep from the Claire Bear - especially with Frito and gummy candy snack!

All in all it was a great trip.

Christmas in Yosemite

2007-12-26T18:55:00.000-08:00

Claire, Morgan, and I have been enjoying the hospitality of Robert & Rachel in the winter wonderland of Yosemite. One of our Christmas gifts (Thanks Pat & Bob!) was a ski attachment for our bike trailer/stroller and we have been skiing with Claire in it.

Morgan pulls Claire and does a good job of it. We have been on two ski tours and seen some lovely vistas. She loves going downhill and generally motoring around in it. The only snafu is when it comes to getting out of the stroller in the midst of a ski journey. Her feet must not touch the snow -- in fact, no part of her, without screams and tears. sigh.

We met a guy in the parking lot of the Badger Pass ski resort, and I think he said it best, "As the parents ski, so shall the child." We will keep enjoying ourselves with the ski-stroller. One day, I believe Claire will change her mind.

We have been enjoying the evenings hanging out with Robert & Rachel. It is very nice to sit by the fire and have beer while getting our butts kicked in Taboo.

Check out the Christmas time photos! (Link above left - "Christmas")

Autumn in the Bay Area

2007-10-20T20:41:00.001-07:00

Saturday was a big day for the family. We headed for the coast because we were headed for Half Moon Bay to pick up Robert and Rachel's car, where they left it at the start of their bike ride down the coast, and decided to make a day of it.

After pancakes, we headed up to San Francisco to go to the zoo. Claire had a good nap on the way up. The weather was really nice - it was sunny. We decided to ride the the Little Puffer train that goes around the zoo. Claire was not too terribly impressed. She enjoyed walking up stairs and playing with the statues. The tigers were very noisy this time, and the penguins as well. We had lunch at the zoo. Claire ate her first french fries (garlic fries) and peanut butter & jelly sandwich.

Claire had another nap as we drove to Half Moon Bay. Our mission was to find Robert & Rachel's car which they had given us directions to. We located the car and had a coffee. Then we headed to the Marine Reserve to look at the tidal pools. It was high tide, so instead we watched the seals play off the beach. Claire loves rocks and there were plenty of rocks.

The next stop was to see the state's biggest pumpkin at the pumpkin patch in Half Moon Bay. It was big! The Wall Street Journal had an article about using giant pumpkins as boats. This probably would ahve been big enough for a small person.

We headed home. Claire had dinner -- cheesy eggs, peas, pears, yogurt. But she wasn't ready for bed yet by a long shot. So we went to the park. She was Very excited to be back in her old stomping grounds. She goes to the park 3 times per day. There are a couple of videos of her running around the park like a madman. When she started falling down we knew it was time to go home.

Check out the pictures added to the October 2007 site (link above left)!

2007-10-07T19:34:00.000-07:00

This weekend we had a fun time. On Saturday we went for a hike on Sweeney Ridge. The day was very clear and you could see the Farralon Islands in the Pacific Ocean, Mt. Diablo, Mt. Tam, the Golden Gate, the Dunbarton Bridge, and San Francisco in the panorama.

Claire did very well in the backpack though there was some back and forth on the sunglasses and hat question. All in all, about 3/4 of the hike was with sunglasses, which was good because it was a sunny day.

On Sunday we met up with Bob and Marie, had lunch, and went to Rancho San Antonio park to go to the Deer Hollow farm. Unfortunately, the farm was closed, but getting there with three kids was an adventure in and of itself.

New pics of Claire at Sweeny Ridge and Claire playing with the bear that Rosa and Adriana got her are up in the October photos. Enjoy!

Fall is in the hair (hat)

2007-10-01T21:01:00.000-07:00

Rosa and Adriana sent Claire a really adorable bear and Halloween outfits. I have not put up the pictures of Claire with her new gifts, but Rosa and Adriana I will do that soon!

Claire is picking up new words like lightening. Word list is now:
bird
ball
car
cat
daddy
dog
hat
fish
frog
light
plane
rock
socks

She also understands a lot. For example, if you say, Claire, what do we do with flowers? She will breath in (or out!) through her nose, making the "smell" noise.

Please check out Claire's new pictures. She got the water table for her birthday but it was kind of cold so we wore a hat. In the next series, Claire is carrying Grandma's picture and kissing it! She grabbed the picture off the refridgerator (it is a magnet) and made off with it.

See above left for link to pictures.

Claire turns one year old

2007-09-08T21:23:00.000-07:00

Claire's one year birthday was September 5, 2007. That was a Wednesday. So we decided to celebrate on Saturday, September 8. Claire also opened presents in Ohio when she was there over Labor Day weekend.

Claire's birthday stash was huge. She really enjoyed the new toys and books, and she will grow into the really cute clothes that she got.

Now that she is a year old, we are packing away a bunch of her other toys and putting those in storage. We also switched her to a new car seat, and it is installed in the front-facing direction. She seems to like it a lot better than the old one and it certainly fits better than the old one, where her feet have been hanging over the edge for a month now.

Enjoy pictures & video of her birthday (see link above left).

Claire Walks!!!

2007-08-07T20:41:00.000-07:00

Mark the day - August 6, 2007. Two days into her 11-month birthday, Claire Brown takes her very first steps! Mommy, Daddy, and Grandma were all on hand to watch Claire take 4 steps, from an end table into Mommy's arms.

Video now available! See the slideshow (or use link to August photos, above left).

Claire has a tooth!

2007-07-08T14:45:00.000-07:00

This has been the pattern over the last couple days:

6:30pm -- Claire goes to bed

7:30 pm -- Claire awake!

12:00 am -- Claire awake!
4:35 am -- Claire awake!

Why oh why, lord? Well, this morning Morgan discovered the reason why. Claire's first tooth! It will be on the bottom of her mouth. We tried to get a picture of the tooth but she's very protective.

Today was also Claire's first bike ride! She enjoyed it very much as you can see from the picture below:

Check out the link for July photos for more.

Claire in California

2007-06-16T18:27:00.001-07:00

The big move has finally happened. With the help of Pat, we settled into 839 Sevely Dr. There is a great park across the street. Pictures of us in our new home and at the park are in the June 2007 pictures (link above left).

We also made our first trip to Yosemite, where we stayed with Uncle Rob and Aunt Rachel.

Claire did several hikes. Grandpa Lewis was the mule, Grandma Fen was, as always, the teacher.

1) Base of Yosemite falls
2) Happy Isles
3) Mirror Lake
4) First lookout of Vernal Falls

We also really enjoyed going to Cathedral Beach, where Claire loved to play with the rocks; and Discovery Overlook, where Claire did her first granite slab hiking. Pictures are in the June 2007 pictures. Enjoy!

Claire Crawls!!!

2007-05-20T17:11:00.000-07:00

A weekend with daddy has motivated Claire to learn how to Crawl.

Witness the magic!!! (link above left).

Claire video in May

2007-05-18T03:46:00.000-07:00

In the link for May 2007 photos (above left), there are some really cute videos of Claire, including one of her playing with Lefty using a feather. She is really growing fast -- she can stand unassisted for a couple seconds at a time.

Both grandmas should be getting some Claire time in June, which will be great for everyone and we're looking forward to that.

We've got Claire's housing set in California. Here's the new place:

The address is:
839 Sevely Dr.
Mountain View, CA 94041

I will head out to California on Saturday for an interview at the library. I will also do my first California hike in three years! Can't wait. Morgan will be alone with Claire!

Side by side comparison

2007-03-29T19:33:00.000-07:00

A Shared Site - Download Picasa

2007-03-20T09:50:00.000-07:00

We've made a change to Picasa from Adobe Picture Gallery. You can order prints from Picasa, and you can also post and view movies for free (versus for $$$ on Kodak).

At Bob's suggestion, the blog is set up so that we can all post pictures to it through Picasa. I will put a tutorial up on how exactly to do that. (see below)

How to Upload your pictures to this site

Step 1: Download Picasa to your computer (If the link doesn't work, google search: Picasa). Remember to use the gmail email account clairedepot@gmail.com and the password that I sent you by email.

Picasa will then look through your computer for all your photos. We'll do the upload to the web in the next step.

Steps 2+: to come!