Well, it's official, Dalia is a Giants fan. She's been exposed to lots of baseball watching the past few weeks, and last night (after having a monumental three hour nap - yes, the girl who doesn't nap) she got to stay up past her bedtime and watch the winning playoff game with us. It was all shouts and pacing and hat wearing in this house. She periodically would shout, "Go Giants!" and clapped and said, "good job, boys!" at just the right time. I truly believe she was watching and waiting as we were. I'm so glad we were both here to celebrate with Mark when his team won the penant. It was super fun. Anyway, I couldn't not post about this, seeing as how this is such an important milestone for Dalia in her Daddy's family. Can't wait for the World Series games. (Although, truth be told, it would be nice to watch something of my own for a change - all this Wiggles and Baseball is making me a little coo-coo. Well, I have until Wednesday.)
We're home from our trip now and had an awesome time in San Francisco and the bay area seeing friends, family and being tourists for Dalia in the city. Before she was born our friend Oralea (who lives in SF) gave us Good Night San Francisco and it's a book she's read since, well, forever. So, she wanted to see all the sites in our book. We drove down Lombard Street, stopped at the Golden Gate Bridge, went to Golden Gate Park (the coolest playground on the planet), saw Ocean Beach (though you can hardly see it through the fog), and the Windmill and had a wonderful meal with Oralea and Matt in their apartment in the city. It was the most fun we've had there since we moved there for a short time over 12 years ago.
Did I mention that San Francisco has the coolest slides in the world. We found this one in Eureka Valley (remembered it from a decade ago, but Oralea helped us track it down).
We also enjoyed hanging out with Aunt Ali, feeding the birds and squirrels in her backyard, Uncle Jimmy, seeing Auntie Guacamole again, visiting with Grammy Karen, having a wonderful evening with our friends Scott and Dana and meeting our newest cousin, Charlotte.
I think Mark left (part of) his heart in San Francisco. We'll have to get back there soon to retrieve it. Until then, we hope our time in beautiful California will stay with us through the new year as we await our new family member.
Dalia is just about the best traveler. She barely fussed, enjoyed the sites, and forced us to listen to nothing else but Casper Babypants (she can now sing all the songs and knows the names of each one).
We came home on Dalia's birthday. My mom was awesome enough to order a cake and bring home groceries so we could have a little celebration for Dalia with Gigi, Pops and Uncle Rob. She's had a week and a half of birthday celebration, ending today on Mark's 40th! birthday with a little party with a couple of friends.
This mom doesn't exactly know what I'm going to do with her all day now that we've had so many weeks of all day funtime. Thankfully, we have lots of new things and memories to keep us busy.
Phase one of our glorious two week vacation has come to an end, but not without warm, wonderful memories. We had such a great time at camp. For those of you who don't know, Mark's been going to a Berkeley Family Camp in the Sierras since he was a very small boy. This is a tradition he's shared with me and now our daughter. We went when she was one, but really, it was nothing compared to being with her there at three.
Can a father and daughter get happier than this?
Swimming, playing on the wooden play structure, in the dirt, getting hot chocolate and apple cider in the dining hall, playing games, making crafts, sleeping outside, meeting new friends, loving family...Dalia seemed to be right at home as soon as we got there. It must be in her blood.
And speaking of in her blood, part of the fun of going to camp now is we go when her Uncle Jimmy's Blues Band plays on the camp stage under the stars. Well, it didn't take long for Dalia to find her comfort on the stage or as close as possible.
She also slept better than ever almost all night every night, falling asleep each night in under five minutes (no small miracle for our little lady).
And celebrating her birthday with her Daddy and all her friends at Camp Tuolumne.
Anyway, now we're in the Bay Area seeing friends and family for the rest of the week. We'll post more later this week
For better or for worse, Dalia loves the Wiggles. They are everywhere we go now, too, not just on the television. They are her imaginary friends at bedtime, at the park, at dinner...you get the picture. Captain Feathersword is her fifth Wiggle. He is a pirate, if you haven't figured that out yet.
After weeks of Dalia telling us she wanted to be a princess monster for Halloween, our neighbor gave us a Snow White dress. And while she has no idea who Snow White is, she was easily won over by her "princess" dress and had no interest in the awesome combo get up we originally set out to accomplish. She wore her "fancy" shoes and even got a little eyeshadow and lipstick (though after that wore off she wouldn't let me apply anymore). Now, all of this, including trick-or-treating, handing out candy and generally LOVING Halloween, happened with a high fever (of the past four days) and a trip to Urgent Care this morning. She has an ear infection, which I'm happy we are now treating - if we can get her to take the medicine. She was a trooper today despite feeling horrible. Hopefully, next year we'll make the Monster March with her little sister in tow as well. For now, we stuck close to home and didn't have any less fun for it.
