dinner and the red balloon

last evening, dottie and i went to basak and lula's house for a delicious meal prepared by basak followed by loverly conversation while the kids watched the red balloon. the little boy in the picture is their sweet neighbor charlie who was also their with his mother. the evening ended with dottie and lula jumping on the couch hysterically together. a prefect way to spend a tuesday evening!

habitot.

this morning we headed over to berkeley to a little discovery museum called habitot. the greatest idea ever for children's destination! it had a play grocery store/kitchen well stocked with plastic food and shopping carts, an art area, water tables galore, a mini pretend farm, train tables, .... anna (my biz partner at dutch door press) had been once before so knew of it and suggested we go on a outing. in total there were 5 little girls with us running around together because along with anna and her girls aida and zayneb, we met up with marie, siena, and their friend toscana. by the end, the girls were pretty wet and tired and in need of a nap. we will be back!

for more pictures, click HERE.

dottie's top 5 from the museum:
1. fishing in the pond with the magnetic fishing pole
2. the grocery carts
3. helping zayneb and aida bathe the babydoll in the tub
4. getting up on the saddle of the pretend horse (one of her favorite books right now is cowboy small!)
5. pinwheels

a sunday evening

ian and his parents, alma and greg, came over this evening for dinner and we really had a lovely time. dottie was thrilled that they brought her 2 new books (a california counting book and dora the explorer!) and even more thrilled to have more readers around! she also LOVED alma's pearls and was not easily tricked when i tried to give her other beads to put around her neck so she wouldn't harm the pearls. i will also add that chuck cooked a delicious meal!

hangin' out with the bear and the moose

wyatt (aka bear), malcolm (aka moose), and penny came over this morning with bagels and shenanigans. funs times at the house and then off to the playground where they followed each other down the slide, had tea in the bushes, and played chase in the grass. my goodness they are cute together!

humphry slocombe ice cream

this afternoon our friend brian suggested that we meet him at a new ice cream spot in the mission that we hadn't been to called humphry slocombe ice cream. i must say that i have never seen such an interested/odd assortment of ice cream flavors in my life! salted licorice, balsamic caramel, secret breakfast, bourbon & coke float, thai chili lime, ....seriously. dottie and i got fudgsicle, and brian and chuck got vietnamese coffee. yummy but very rich and not anything i think i might crave in the near future. great for the experience and we will be back i am sure!

giggly girls

this afternoon after dottie's nap, kim and frances came for a visit. as you might have seen from a previous post, we've had a little tent and tunnel up in the house for the past couple of days. the girls had so much fun with it giggling with glee at each other chasing each other around. it's just so amazing to watch dottie as she becomes more and more social with other kids. they also got to have a special treat (or 2 or 3).....MINI POPSICLES!!!! they even cheers-ed each other with them! the video is of them just being silly...

it's gray

the weather has been a bit cold, gray, and gloomy here over the past 4 or 5 days which hasn't been too much fun (summer in sf i guess!). this morning we headed to the academy of sciences with penny and co. (wyatt, malcolm, gigi, and gammy) and had a lovely time. dottie was actually way more timid on this visit than the last, standing at least 2 feet away from exhibits to really check them out and perhaps not get bitten by a stuffed giraffe! from afar, she waved to the fish and checked out the penguins with a big smile! at the very end of the visit, we went to the toddler room so the kiddies could run around and they loved it!

dj dottie

listening to some tunes...
(surely it's gansta rap or perhaps "c is for cookie")

tea for two

dottie decided to invite milo to a tea party in her tent today and milo actually didn't mind partaking (as long as he got a little nibble of a teacake!)

future fire fighter?

this weekend, chuck and i attended jeff and jenny's wedding (which was SO much fun!) on saturday and sunday i worked at the renegade craft fair so chuck was on dad duty the whole day. he took dottie up the hill to bernal kid's day which is a little festival in our neighborhood for kids. jumpy castles, music, face painting, and the best of all....a fire engine!!! dottie even got to get behind the steering wheel. chuck said she was very entertained!

recess

this morning dottie and i got together with basak and lula for a playdate at recess over in potrero hill. it's a really cool indoor play area that is packed with fun toys for the kids. dottie and lula had a ton of fun running around together and did a pretty nice job of taking turns and sharing while they cooked in the kitchen and rode the plastic rollercoaster. after recess, we went for pizza at a cute little spot nearby and the girls held hand on the way to the car afterwards. they are getting cuter and cuter together as they are learning to play together!

on another note, dottie experienced her first carwash today. before we drove in, it seemed as if she was going to lose it. she watched the car ahead of us and started to cry. i must say, the whole thing would be a little bit loud and scary if you didn't quite get what was going on. anyway, we drove in and though she jumped a little here and there, she paid attention the whole time to exactly what was going on and she took the whole thing very well. when asked if she liked it afterwards, she said, "yeah" very eagerly. when asked if she wanted to go through again she quickly said "NO"!

dottie in dots (again!)

couldn't resist...

bubbles and corgis

for the last week or so, we have been watching another sweet corgi named dutch. we have all been having a ton of fun with him, especially dottie! she got some bubbles over the weekend that have been a perfect thing for all of them to play with together. who knows what dottie is saying in this video but we almost think that she has been hearing enough barking lately that she is mimicking the dogs! woof...

another carni!

yesterday, we checked out another carnival. this time it was in san francisco in the giants stadium parking lot. after the county fair in petaluma that was so great, this was a bit of a letdown. there weren't very many rides for young kids and it felt trashy (i know, big surprise at a carnival). thank goodness we met up with anna, ahmed, aida, and zayneb because even though it wasn't a great carnival, the girls had fun. dottie is finally getting old enough that she is able to try and keep up with the big kids!

flirt

in this little clip, we captured this silly thing dottie has been doing lately with her eyelashes. she does it when she wants to be silly or sweet or even right before she goes to bed at night. we think it's pretty cute and wanted to share it with you (the tongue, not so cute...)!

no love for noodles...

but lots of love for the family, green beans, and avocado!

go giants!

yesterday dottie, chuck, and i checked out the giants game with our friend brian. dottie wasn't too into the game (she takes after me!) but had a ton of fun playing on the bleachers and walking around with us. she did get quite excited when people started to cheer and clap and joined in with the fun! unfortunately, the giants lost the game.

happy 4th of july!

this afternoon, penny and jason reserved some picnic tables at golden gate park and people gathered for a 4th of july picnic, buckets of fried chicken and all! dottie had loads fun running around with friends. she ate sweet corn on a stick which was a first, tried to hula hoop, got a peep at a sweet little gopher that made a short appearance, tried to play badminton, hung out on lawn chairs with some buddies, successfully swiped about 5 juice boxes from other kids, and later on, experienced her first sparklers. very fun day!

july 3rd

last evening, the weather was so nice, we had ian, brian, and allie over for impromptu margaritas on the back deck. dottie was very interested in brian's tiger tattoo on his arm and was excited to be read a book or two by ian and allie. it's nice to have nice friends!

i want a pony

because we just can't get enough of watching dottie on the pony...

(the funny thing is that chuck has a monkey on the back of his phone holder and he shot the video with his phone. so as she went past on the pony, she made a monkey noise!)