Pictures From Summer 2009


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Pictures From Summer 2009

It's fall 2009 and the first rainstorm is passing through the Bay Area. We've had a wonderful summer with lots of fun and playing with many friends. We visited the Santa Cruz boardwalk and had a great family vacation to Aptos with Lucia and Jack. Benjamin loved to run in the waves, although we were cautious because he hasn't quite gotten the hang of swimming yet. Benjamin did enjoy some swimming lessons at Santa Clara University. Benjamin rode his bicycle in the local Fourth of July parade while Eliza rolled in her stroller. We attended most of the home games of the FC Gold Pride, the new women's professional soccer team that played its home games at Buck Shaw stadium on the Santa Clara University campus. Nice to have the facility within walking distance!

Melissa's Wellesley friends visited us in July. She tries to get together for a mini-college reunion each summer, and this time we were honored to be able to host. We also had some good trips to the San Francisco Zoo with other families. Eliza's learning the names of animals and their sounds. Benjamin loves playing board games -- Sorry and Chutes & Ladders and Junior Scrabble, and playing Joel's "big-person" games, too. Heck, if they can teach him geography, or the economics of 1800s railway organizations, or 17th-century German farming, I'm all for it! Board games can be educational!

Benjamin had his last day of preschool at Action Day Primary Plus near the end of August. He was definitely sad to leave and anxious about starting kindergarten; it's hard to leave someplace you've been every weekday for more than half your life. But no worries, Benjamin quickly took to life at Haman Elementary. He loves his teacher and the emphasis they place on reading, and he likes feeling like he's one of the big kids now. Melissa and I debated the pros and cons of several other schools before settling on this one and are so thankful that he is enjoying himself. At the moment, he's home with bronchitis which is a real bummer for all of us.

Eliza has grown both mentally and physically in the last few months. She's wearing mostly two-year-old clothes now, being a little tall for her age. She's getting more and more words and really tries to repeat what we say. Words like "blueberry" definitely take us by surprise. She loves to read each night before bed, loves sitting in swings and swinging back and forth, and loves to climb all over her parents and her big brother. One of her new tricks is wrapping a stuffed animal in a blanket and putting her "baby" to bed -- perhaps we need to get more dolls for her! She's reasonably good at feeding herself with a spoon now, and getting better every day at drinking from straws and from an open cup. Every Saturday Eliza and Joel go to the Farmer's Market to pick up supplies and to nosh on samples.

We've enjoyed visits from Lynn and Ellie, Michael Cohen, Rita and Murray, Rob and Beth, Saam and Sarah, and many others. Many a weekend day has been filled up with birthdays and playdates, from the one-year-olds to the six-year-olds. Joel still enjoys cooking (homemade mozzerella on homemade pizza dough was a big hit), but he's depressed over the state of his Oakland Raiders this year. Ah, well, time to root on the San Jose Sharks!