Monterey

A last minute change of plans left us with a wide open day on Saturday so we decided to drive down to Monterey. We had been wanting to visit the famous aquarium and see the area.

I had never been there - I'd been to Big Sur when we lived in So Cal and last year finally made it to Santa Cruz, but this stretch of the coast was a first. How very exciting.

It was a beautiful day for a drive along the coast and the aquarium was huge and quite awesome. Just as the reviews promised, it exceeded our expectations. In an area once known for sardine canning, the entry hall had old canning equipment, which Grace thought was lots of fun.

The exhibits were incredible, although most of the fish pictures didn't turn out well.

And there were very cool touch tanks, including some geared to very short people. Grace was pulling sea stars out of the water before we could stop her.

There were fun caves to explore.

This was the amazingly large "open ocean" exhibit. I could have sat there watching the fish zoom around all day. Grace did her best swimming imitation, laying by the edge of the tank.

There was a giant children's area with things go climb and waterbed jump areas and water tables that were more like rivers running through the exhibits. Grace had tons of fun.

And the view of Monterey Bay was wonderful.

When we finally let Grace get in her stroller, she promptly fell asleep. We walked up Cannery Row and had a lovely lunch of crab and fish and chips overlooking the bay while Grace slept. We will have to read some Steinbeck now to understand the cultural and historical significance of the tourist strip.

Grace woke up in time to get some cookies in town and then head out to Pacific Grove. We had heard it is much like La Jolla and that pretty much seemed right. We were sorry not have more time to explore on foot, but we did end up at the point right at sunset. It was breathtaking.

These pictures remind me why I love California.

On the way back, Grace watched Sesame Street podcasts on her phone. After a while she turned it off (we were pretty surprised to learn that she now knows how to navigate on her own), and told us Elmo needed to rest. Then she started playing Jay-Z. She told us she liked the song and asked if we liked it, too. "You like this song, Daddy? You like this song, Mommy?" Yes, Grace we do. I can't even type the lyrics here so we were more than amused as we realized the lyrics being played for us by our sweet, precious little daughter.

Two and a half

As usual, I'm taken aback by Grace hitting another milestone. Two and a half doesn't necessarily seem like that big a deal, but to a mama who can't believe how quickly her baby is growing up, it's just another reminder of how soon she will be grown. I know I should cherish all the ups and downs since they will seem trivial in another few years, but let's be honest - sometimes it's hard to cherish the phases that involve tantrums and insistence on chicken nuggets instead of homemade chicken and refusal to get dressed!

My point here, however, was not to get all nostalgic. Instead, I wanted to capture a few things about Grace at two and a half.

Favorite color: purple

Favorite foods: milk, chicken nuggets, fruit, chocolate, ice cream

Favorite number: 4 (everything that involves numbers is 4 - her age, when we should do things, the number of toys/books/etc. she wants)

Favorite friends: Lizzie and Lula

Favorite books: Duck Rabbit, Chicka Chicka Boom Boom

Favorite songs: alphabet, 5 little ducks, 5 little monkeys, and a gajillion more - she sings constantly

Trademark sayings: "Have a fun weekend!" "I want a pile! (of books, crackers, whatever is in question)" "Thaaat was silly!" (said while giggling)

Favorite toys: puppy (named connor), baby and other baby, play-doh, blocks, duplos (her favorite activity, though, is reading)

Favorite places to go: the playground, the zoo, the aquarium (CAS)

Favorite animals: dogs, lions, fish

Afraid of: bugs and raccoons

Other: she loves dancing (she will dance non-stop if we play music and generally we have to dance with her; when we're out and there's music, she immediately starts dancing), shoe shopping (not entirely sure how this happened!), and sitting on the couch with a big pile of books, cuddled together, each reading our own book

She loves baths, hates having her hair washed. She loves Sesame Street and Blues Clues (the only shows she watches), but they trade off for front runner status. She is fearless when it comes to climbing. She is starting to show a lot of imagination and do imaginary play. She is also getting crafty. For instance, tonight she didn't want me to turn the tap off when I filled the bath tub. Whenever she lets the water run too long for hand washing or teeth brushing, we remind her that we can't take all the water from the fish. So, when I turned off the bath water, she picked up some of her toy fish and held them up to the faucet and said "the fishes want water!" There have been a few other times lately when she has twisted things a bit to plead her case. This might also be called lying (but of course she's too young to understand). She loves school and her teachers and because she's one of the older kids in her class, she's learning to be a leader. Her teachers tell me she's really patient with the younger kids and helps teach them about taking turns. Apparently at school she really likes to listen to music and look at the corresponding song books. She also adores the water table. She has a wonderful sense of humor and is a ham. She loves her extended family - she remembers her grandparents and aunt and uncle and talks about them regularly.

It is an unbelievable joy and blessing to experience the world through Grace's eyes - she is so energetic, curious, funny and loving.

SF Tourist

On Saturday we decided to head downtown to run a few errands and see if we could hit anything on our San Francisco bucket list. It seems like we live in a different San Francisco than the famous one of colorful victorian houses and cable cars. Don't get me wrong, I like the west side of the city - it's very diverse and family and locals-oriented - but I feel like I haven't seen much of what is famous about the city.

Steve and Grace waiting for the Muni.

Where is it?

There it is!

We did a little shopping on Market and then headed over to the Apple store to replace the bumper on my phone. Anyway, while I was deliberating over the choices (I ended up with gumdrop blue and while I'm having a bit of buyer's remorse, it also kind of makes me laugh), Grace spotted the iPads. It was a low table and the iPads were loaded with kids apps and she instinctively seemed to know what to do. I think we've created a monster here...

Once we pried her away, we continued up to Union Square and Macy's to stop at Boudin's for clam chowder in sourdough bread bowls. I don't know if this is really a big San Francisco thing, but I've heard people talk about it forever as one of their favorite traditions so it seemed appropriate. Plus, it accommodates toddler manners pretty well and was perfect for a blustery fall day.

After lunch we started walking - we were aiming for the famous stretch of Lombard street and then the wharf. We walked the cable car route for a while - one of these days we are going to take cable car ride.

We stopped on Nob Hill...

Grace and Steve in front of Grace Cathedral.

Then we made our way over the next couple of hills to Lombard. At the top, there were a bunch of people in Facebook jackets. I wanted to ask one of them to be my friend, but I refrained. I wasn't sure they would find me as amusing as I find myself. We picked our way down - Grace was asleep and I had forgotten that much of the way the sidewalk is actually steps. Tourist central, but the views were still great.

The last time I was here was in 1999 with Steve. I don't think I would have predicted then that 12 years later we would be living in San Francisco and be parents to the world's most fabulous child.

We wandered over past Ghiradelli Square to the Fisherman's Wharf.

Grace woke up just in time to see the sea lions (you can't see them here because of our big heads).

I love the view north and west from down there, but the storm was a little ominous.

We walked back along the Embarcadero, arriving at Market just as an Occupy SF march was starting. We walked along side for a while - Grace was quite interested in the chanting. I'm glad the naked guy did not make it into the photo. I'm not sure exactly how nudity fits into the movement nor the clearly evident pot, but it seemed to be a peaceful event, though a little smaller than I would have expected for San Francisco.

It turned out to be a really great day, totally spontaneous and lots of fun to hit a few famous sites.

She said what?

A couple of doozies recently (and they don't fall into the category of language acquisition, rather they demonstrate a pretty good command of English):

The other night, as I was washing Grace's hair, something she hates, she said to me "Go make dinner for Daddy and leave me alone, Mom!"

This morning, as she was reaching for my phone, which she knows she is not supposed to play with, she said to her father "I play with Mommy's phone, I play with Daddy's phone, I have all my books, and I get everything I want or I cry."

At the very least, I appreciated her revealing her tactics and confirming our suspicion. She doesn't get everything she wants. Really. It's probably only 90-95%.