Swingers

Today Julian began a life long love affair with the swing. He sat down and held on, then gently swayed back and forth. Zoe was not going to let him swing alone, and demanded to go higher and higher, giggling into the soft fall sun.

Hanger

Zoe and the Cupcakes (at Creativity Explored)

Zoe is all about cupcakes. She goes into her drawer in the kitchen and gets out her mini baking set, her whisks and spoons and "makes cupcakes". In the sandbox, she molds and carries cupcakes over for me to approve of and nibble on. When daddy took her to pick out a card for my birthday, he made a point of saying that she indeed picked it out, and that it would be evident when I saw it. It was a beautiful card- a photograph, my favorite type, of a big stack of... cupcakes. so when we passed by the gallery window at Creativity Explored on 16th St., I couldn't help but take a picture of her in front of it. Sorry, the lighting was poor, and we were tired and cold, but it seemed to be made for us. Thanks CE!

Co-Pilots

Off to the coffee shop, Nico and his two co-pilots for their weekend ritual.

The Boardwalk, boardwalk

It's a gorgeous fall day, 80 degrees and even a two hour drive won't keep us away. Over the bridge and over the hills down into the Half Moon Bay valley (which is full of pumpkins and ready for Halloween- check back in a couple of weeks) then down the foggy coast into beautiful, sunny Santa Cruz. After lunch at the Brewery we parked in Seabright and walked over the train trestle for some Boardwalk fun. Zoe tried out her first big-girl rides. Zoe and Mommy went on the Log Ride together, which Zoe loved until the final nose dive and subsequent splashdown. But she took it like a trooper, grasping dearly onto Mommy's thighs. Then we licked soft serve cones and contemplated which ride to take next. We decided to walk through the crowd to the far end for the Carousel, where we missed an opportunity for an outside horse. It was up to the teenagers to grab the rings and fling them at the clown's mouth, but we had fun cheering them on. Then up to the Helicopter ride- which Zoe took all by herself. Last few tickets, we thought we'd do Logger's Revenge again, but Zoe stood at the bottom step and squealed "NO"! So we went over to the Kiddie sized rides and she and daddy rode the tiniest roller coaster I've ever seen, the dragon ride. It's like a "Mini Dipper" It snakes, it dips, it rolls- in about 8 seconds flat, then does it again. She loved it. We had tired little kittens on our hands at the end of the day.

Rocks

"I'm nunning with nyocks, mommy!"

Sitting Up