Autumn in the Bay Area

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)!

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)

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

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!!!

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!

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

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!