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Archives for October 2003

Getting in the Swing of Halloween

Getting in the Swing of Halloween

It was a busy weekend, between a couple get togethers, our haircuts in Seattle and then dinner out. Our weekend started with dinner at our favorite Chinese restaurant. We wanted to celebrate good news for Steve’s company. Katherine made a couple new friends at the restaurants, who said hello and she said hello back! After a good nights sleep, we headed out to Bellevue for my Saturday workout and then a trip to a Mercer Island bookstore. They feature a storyteller every Saturday. And, although, Katherine was a bit young for the stories, she had a great time “participating” in the story. We then headed over to our haircuts, to lunch at a nearby deli and then home for the afternoon. After a quick nap, we took Katherine to her first ever Halloween party at our friends’ house – where she was fairly confounded by everyone’s Halloween costumes. Katherine was a good sport and wore her black cat costume all evening. ๐Ÿ™‚

This morning we drove around Union Hill looking at property and then went to a get together with our PEPs group. It was a blast seeing all the babies crawling around. Katherine was the only baby walking, so our challenge was making sure that she didn’t tromp on the other babies. We then came home and had a nice dinner catching up with family. Between seeing family and friends and daylight savings time, Katherine was beat and readily fell asleep.

More New Words

Katherine is continuing to expand her vocabulary. We’ve been pointing at our coffee maker and saying “Hot.” Well, a couple mornings ago, she said “Haaat.” This morning we let her touch the coffee cup and she touched it briefly and took her hand away just like Steve. She has also said “Baaaa” for Ball and “Bis” for Bisco (we think). She talks non-stop sometimes – she’s clearly talking to herself and us!

Kitchen Drawer

Katherine has her own drawer in the kitchen full of cups, bowls and such. She loves opening the drawer, bending over and flinging everything to the floor. She now tries to open other drawers – the one above and our bathroom drawer! We’ve got to get our cabinet locks installed…

Katherine Talking and Walking

Katherine is officially mobile. When we left for our biking trip, Katherine could walk 4 or 5 steps between me and Steve. When we came home, after much practicing, she could walk 8 to 9 steps. Now she can easily wobble in Frankenstein fashion 14 or 15 steps. We play a game of “go to mommy” and “go to daddy” where she will beam and walk between us. Not only is she mobile, she can now squat and then stand back up again. For instance, if we duck behind the coffee table, she will grasp the table with one hand, squat down, peer at us from under the table and laugh at us. Tonight, I caught her walking to Bisco who was lying on the floor. She leaned down, grabbed his head, ears and then nose – at different times. I tried to explain that she needs to be gentle, but that didn’t work out too well. It’s fortunate that Bisco is very patient. He just stayed on the floor looking very resigned.

Katherine is also expanding her vocabulary. Today, I came home and Patty informed me that Katherine says “Up.” She confirmed this by lifting her arms up, looking up at me and saying “Uph.” It was very sweet. So, I spent the rest of the evening saying Up and Down. And we’re continuing to say Thanks (which I’ve heard a couple times as “Tanks”) and we think she is trying to say Bisco as “Bith.” She babbles a lot now, talking to herself as she plays with her toys and walks around.

Everyone Sings in Our House!

With Steve out of town this week, I’ve taken the opportunity to practice my violin warming up for a few minutes each night with some nursery songs and a few scales. For some reason, Bisco has real issues with the violin. He simply purses his muzzle and howls “AWHOOOO” non-stop. Even when I play simple songs, he’ll hop on the couch and moan.

Last night, I took my violin out for the first time in months. Katherine spied it and clung to my leg looking at the violin curiously. When I started to tune, Bisco rushed over and started to howl. Katherine really enjoyed the show – Bisco howling next to me as I tuned and played the violin. Tonight, I took out a harmonica that we got at Sid’s birthday party, and the same thing happened. I want to make sure that Katherine grows up with music (As they say at Tiny Tots “it’s a musical life!”), so hopefully she’ll develop a love for stringed instruments. I took her hand and let her touch my violin and bow, she was so curious!

Curious Katherine

We call her “Curious Katherine” because she wants to check everything out. Tonight, she wobbled behind one of our chairs and found the gymboree parachute that was collapsed. She picked it up (strong!) and dragged it from behind the chair as if telling me “Mom, I want to play with this!” I opened it up and she crawled through. After staring at it, she grabbed the tag and one end and started to roll the parachute back and forth watching it roll across the floor.

During our trip to the Bay Area, she investigated everything around her. On the plane, she would check out her roundabout seat (not that she doesn’t sit in it everyday!) and she would peer at the people around her. She even stood on Steve’s lap and giggled at the people behind her over his shoulder. At the hotel, she checked out all the rooms and found bath salts next to the bath tub. I moved them to a nearby table, thinking she couldn’t reach them. Not only did she reach them, but she also then dropped the bag scattering the bath salts everywhere. I turned around from filling the tub and saw her stick a salt granule in her mouth. Holy Cow! Yes, we managed to get it out of her mouth.

Katherine goes to her first wedding

My previous roomate from Tempe, Sueling, got married this past weekend, so we all headed down to Los Gatos on Friday and came home on Sunday. Katherine was a trooper on the plane rides and drank lots of water to relieve her ear pressure. I’m not sure how parents travel with children, because she only slept one hour on Friday. With all the new experiences, Katherine didn’t want to miss a minute and stayed alert thru the airport, flight and to San Jose. She did sleep to the hotel, but promptly woke up as we carried her to the room. Coincidentally, Steve’s parents  were in town too for the Stanford homecoming weekend, so they visited Friday and saw Katherine’s new developments. For dinner, we went to the California Cafe in the old town shopping center, sat out on the patio with other families and then walked back to the hotel room to watch the last out of the World Series first game. It was a beautiful evening, and Los Gatos is a very “tony” town as Steve’s mother described it.

On Saturday, we had breakfast with Steve’s parents at a local, Southern establishment. We headed back and stopped at the first annual glass art pumpkin festival. Local glass artists sold all sizes, colors and types of glass pumpkins to help raise money for hosting schools. Since we were staying right across from the Los Gatos High School, we stopped by and found a large, colorful pumpkin created by a Stanford grad only several years ahead of us. Since they wouldn’t ship, Steve had to visit a local store to double box the pumpkin for delivery home (it arrived in one piece!). It’s about 18″ in diameter and while orange in color has all sorts of blobs of colors all over it. The artist, when she found out we were from Seattle said, “bringing glass back to Seattle…that’s like taking coal to Newcastle!” I’m not sure how many people can afford the glass art she was referring to! Also, when Steve and I were debating one largely orange pumpkin and the one we bought, another woman explained that the colorful one was better because we could display it all year and it would go with more stuff. Pretty good rationale, so we bought it.

We returned to the hotel. Katherine took a nap, and we headed off to Sueling’s wedding only 6 or 7 miles up highway 17. The wedding was held at a small and tucked away facility with english cabs, a train, play houses and a refurbished barn! The ceremony was beautiful and in front of a lake with fountain with us sitting amongst the trees. (Katherine and Steve stayed outside the ceremony area so she wouldn’t disturb anyone – although it turned out she was quiet throughout.) We ate appetizers, rode in the train, and talked with others at the wedding.  For dinner, we partaked in a 9 course dinner; we were just stuffed and Katherine was bleary eyed, so we had to leave prior to the cake cutting for nap time. She slept for 45 minutes in the car, and then we headed later to Mountain View to synch up with old friends, James, Lily and Kristina. After a short visit, we drove back to the hotel and hit the sack.

On Sunday, we woke early and headed to Albany for a visit with family. We visited with my Uncle Richard, Aunt Susan, and cousins Henry and Ronald. It was good to see everyone, after 7 years! Katherine played or banged on their piano, walked around their house and we enjoyed catching up.  Unfortunately, we had to leave after only an hour and a half to make it back to the San Jose airport in time for our flight.

Santa Barbara Vacation

Steve and I booked our bike tour vacation to Santa Barbara late last year. This was a Butterfield & Robinson “Moderate to Challenging” tour that included staying at some wonderful hotels, eating great food, drinking and tasting all types of wine, and riding 25-30 miles/day for 4 straight days. While I didn’t set any speed records, I did managed to finish all the rides without hopping a ride in the sag van or walking my bike (except for one really nasty steep hill). Wahoo! Not bad considering the 50-60 work weeks, a year old infant, and being 5 pounds over my ideal weight. ๐Ÿ™‚

We arrived in Santa Barbara just in time to check in to the Upham hotel – one of the oldest hotels in Santa Barbara. We walked around the corner to Carlitas, a wonderful Mexican restaurant with killer margaritas (Steve). After stuffing ourselves, we wandered leisurely down State Street to the pier and back in time to watch Alias. Perhaps one of the funniest (not ha ha) moments was realizing that Steve’s luggage had gone to Honolulu and wouldn’t arrive to our hotel until late the next morning. Poor Steve ended up riding the next day in borrowed shorts from our guide and Merrills.

Day 1 wasn’t too bad. We biked 14 miles in the morning with a great downhill ride, stopped by a winery for tasting and ended up in Los Olivos for lunch. After a nice lunch with our group members, Steve and I headed off out of town, up a very steep hill and then along rolling hills back to our first hotel. Another 14 miles later, we arrived at the Santa Ynez Inn – a 2 year old Victorian inn with a pretty amazing suite. We unpacked and prepared for a wine tasting at the hotel – which was very informative – and then a phenomenal dinner at the Inn. Steve managed to restrain himself during this whole day, only purchasing a handful of bottles at the first winery and at the tasting event. Besides Steve’s biking apparel, the toughest aspect of day 1 riding was the seat of our hybrid, upright bikes. I guess it would be an understatement to say that we were not used to the …uh…pressure points on the seat. Our bottoms were very, very sore on day 1 and day 2, and partially day 3. By day 4, we were just numb. I think it’s worth describing the dinner on day 1; it was a wonderful blend of wines matched perfectly to each course, starting with a fennel/dill salad and ending with a veal (like butter) and fig tart. After the dinner, we went upstairs and got our first real night of uninterrupted sleep in 11 months.

Day 2 started from the hotel. We rode thru wine country and past some very nice wineries, stopping at Fess Parker and a couple other places for snacks from the sag van and pictures. We then continued a low grade climb that culminated in a killer downhill and then a flat run on new asphalt to our winery for lunch and then a van ride back to the hotel. This was more of a challenging ride than day 2. Between the long, low grade climb and tasting wine and our sore bottoms, getting to lunch was a welcome event. Again, Steve purchased more wine and then decided to make the unprecedented B&R ride back to our hotel – for a total of 52 miles. With his newly arrived bike shoes and gear, he made it back in about 2 hours. This wasn’t too bad considering that the asphalt was very warm and apparently the bike tires were sinking not riding over the surface. One humorous event occurred about 5 miles into the ride after a nice steep hill. We arrived at the top and Steve said, “I think I lost a shoe.” Yes, Steve had strapped his Merrills to the back of his bike with a bungee cord, and one disappeared never to be found again. I also gave in and finally started to draft Steve on the new asphalt as we rode against a brisk wind for 8-9 miles. At one point, I said “we could go faster” and Steve pulled aside to give me an idea of why we were going so slow. Anyway, this was a very picturesque ride. We felt like we were in the Bay Area with brown hills, trees and scrub. We also saw all sorts of veggies being grown, from red peppers to squash to zucchini. For dinner, we wandered into Los Olivos (very small town) for dinner at a Cajun/Californian restaurant. Steve was dragging from his ride, and I was watching all the babies in the restaurant thinking about Katherine. At one point, I was gazing at a child (maybe 7-10 mos) old and realized that I recognized his dad. Noah Wiley and David Crosby were sitting right behind Steve eating dinner. That was our big brush with fame on this trip. ๐Ÿ™‚

For Day 3, we hopped in the van and rode to the “Coastal Bike Trail” perhaps 2000-3000 feet above sea level. We cruised down a hair-raising hill that lasted a good 10-15 minutes; it was so steep that my right hand hurt from pumping my brake down the hill! I also remember hearing one tour member screaming “I need a tranquilizer.” The fun continued along the Coastal Bike Trail where we saw a coyote and solar powered bike trail lights. We rode near Hope Ranch where we saw beautiful, million dollar homes and found ourselves ascending another fun, steep hill. Funny enough, we ran into a resident walking her dog who informed us “Sorry, the hill keeps going. you know, there’s nothing wrong with getting off your bike and walking.” ๐Ÿ™‚ I didn’t give into the temptation, but went into my granny gear and swore all the way up the hill. At the top, we cruised down a gorgeous, palm-lined road with expensive homes and then dove down another hill to arroyo beach. Here we stopped, as advertised in our trip notes we could use bathrooms there. What they didn’t say was that this beach had a very picturesque cafรฉ nestled next to the beach that served hot mochas and clam chowder. We stayed 20 minutes there, confounding our guides who realized that they had “lost” 8 members of the tour somehow. Thankfully, our guide who was riding that day found us, and all was well. We hopped back on our bikes, rode along the beach to Santa Barbara and lunch on State Street. After a huge lunch with more wine (surprise, surprise!), we took a walking tour of Santa Barbara, which was extremely informative and enjoyable – what I didn’t realize is that Santa Barbara has a very rich history with diverse architecture that dates many, many years back. On a more practical front, we bought Steve new shoes and indulged our parental guilt at a children’s store on State Street. Steve selected two dresses for Katherine, one that she’s going to wear to a wedding and then her birthday and one pink velvet dress for the holidays. I test drove and then selected the smaller of two Silver Cross rocking horses for Katherine’s birthday (more to come on how she reacted to this!) and a Rody which is a plastic inflatable rocking horse more appropriate for Katherine’s age. Our shopping extravaganza was cut short as we realized that we had to ride up more hill to our final hotel – the San Ysidro Ranch. I huffed and puffed up more low grade, and then higher grade hill the remaining 6-7 miles. This Ranch is chock full of history, where very famous people have stayed, married and honeymooned. The Ranch dates back to 1920s when it was really a ranch and then it was converted to a resort with a spa and gorgeous restaurant, where we had a very tasty dinner that evening.

Day 4 had the hardest ride yet. We started at the ranch and went straight up the Santa Barbara hills. Going up a double digit grade (or so it felt), I finally hopped off my bike and walked up 40 or 60 feet. I got back on and managed to get up the rest of the climb – perhaps a couple thousand feet. We then headed downhill and after a little backtracking we arrived in a small beach town – Carpenteria. We headed along the beach and ate a beach cafe, and relaxed before going to the Santa Barbara Polo Club to watch a club match. We learned that polo is indeed a very expensive sport- each match requires over 50 ponies. And the only way to end up with a modest fortune is to start with a large one. ๐Ÿ™‚

After wandering around and admiring the ponies, we headed back to the ranch – uphill again of course. What was encouraging is that we did the ride back to the ranch more quickly than the day before; however, it was still a relief to get back. We went into town and had a nice meal with the guides and group on our last night.

It’s a Musical Life

When Katherine was just an infant, I purchased Tiny Tot subscription concert tickets. They are essentially short (less than 1 hour) performances geared to babies and toddlers. The kids are free to talk, cry, move around during the concert. The first concert included children of the Symphony players and conductor as well as two women who told a funny story that incorporated the four seasons and a story about a musical family.

Katherine was entranced by the show. She stood on my and Steve’s laps throughout and stared at the women. During the singing, she started wobbling one leg (which is her Elvis-like version of dancing) and getting pretty excited. Her friend Sid also attended and she played with his shoe a bit. I can’t wait until the next performance!