Fun trip to Coyote Point

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.