“Ready? Go, go, go, go, go! Act like you’re on ‘The Amazing Race’!”
— the kid tries to get her dad to race her on the beach

Last month the three of us went to Half Moon Bay to play at the beach. Jill wrote a post on it here. Here’s a video of that day, including the kid singing and pointing out sites during our drive over the hill.

Music Used:

• ‘Cocaine’ from the Crumb soundtrack by Dick Justice
• ‘Sleepwalk’ from the 12 Monkeys soundtrack by BJ Cole
• ‘Better Times’ from Teen Dream by Beach House
• ‘Frog-I-More Rag’ from the Crumb soundtrack by Jelly Roll Morton
• ‘He Would Have Laughed’ from Halcyon Digest by Deer Hunter

A comfy spot next to Grandma.

Reading comics with Grandpa.

We intended to visit a quiet bookstore in Mountain View…here we are walking down a lovely garden-filled street. Once we got downtown, we discovered that there was a street fair going on!

L immediately wanted to try the bouncy house. Afterwards we got a shave ice, sat down to eat it, and people-watched. Very entertaining! Grandma got some earrings, and ran into a favorite artist of hers.

After dinner we all went out to get a look at the Supermoon and peeked at Uncle’s test car. Hard to photograph…can you tell which dot is the moon in this pic?

Thanks all for a wonderful weekend!

Friday morning we did some mending…

Friday night we went out with friends at Peninsula Creamery.

Sat. and Sun. we visited with Grandma and Grandpa, Auntie and Uncle.

We looked at the moon and played  ’baby meeting’ together.

After all our visitors had departed, we wound down the weekend with some outdoor play.

Tigger learns how to use a magnifying glass…

Riding the big bike.

We made friends with our new neighbors this week, and did lots of outdoor playing with them.

We had a blast at the park, and it was such fun to have someone to play with and to walk home with!

It is definitely easier for kids to be screen free, and harder for the grownups to give up their tv, computers, and gadgets and focus on their children.

There is no need for kids to watch tv…any of it. There are so many other fun, interesting, useful, educational, active things they can do.

Screen-free week is an important reminder, to parents especially: whatever is going on in your world, someone is waiting, patiently, hopefully, for you to play with her. Before she grows up.

Monday: We started the week by making a blanket fort in the nook.

I finished knitting my dolly dress…

…and madame did her very first sewing with a real needle and made a felt picture. She sewed the felt together, and sewed on the buttons herself!

Tues.: it was time for May day crafts.

We made may baskets, paper flowers, and maypoles, one for the dollies and one people-sized.

Then we danced!

Afterwards we took off for the great outdoors. We ended up at a new park with an interesting play structure we called ‘green mushrooms.’

When we got home the three of us constructed a train village, turned out the lights, and used glow sticks to direct the airplanes into the airport.

Wed: After a morning birthday party for Tigger (he has birthdays rather frequently) we went to Filoli.
The chickens were out again today, we were greatly amused by the chicken in pants! Forgot to bring camera, so here are some more pics from last week of those goofy chickens.

Daddy read the bedtime stories tonight, they were giggling as he shared one of his favorites, Calvin and Hobbes, with an enraptured little one.

“Bundle took a bath three days ago. That’s a fact!”
— The kid states her case about personal hygiene

We have a tablet we keep in the kitchen. It’s pretty useful in a lot of ways. When not in the kitchen, someone lazing around on the couch or bed usually has it. We use it mostly as a:

• Jukebox
• Radio
• Web Browser
• Weather Tracker
• Address Book
• Email and Book Reader
• Game Player
• Map
• Video Player
• Recipe Box, etc.

To make it even more useful, I picked up an inexpensive bluetooth speaker to improve its sound a bit. This video shows us setting the tablet/speaker combo up. I think it has the kid’s approval!

Some April kidspeak:

“Is this jazz or what?”
— the kid, over my shoulder, as I check out the hologram Tupac

“All we have is nothing!”
— the kid sums up our food situation as we make a grocery list

“Everything is hot as an iron in my soup!”
— the kid, while eating dinner

Some April Happenings:

• All three of us went to the beach
• A bunch of Easter posts here, here, here, and here
• The kid saw some gnomes and chickens
• We posted a video full of snow
• The girls played with some old book
• We posted the first of a series — Then & Now: At the Bookshelf

April Book Readin’:

A Confederacy of Dunces

The Walking Dead: Book Two

The Walking Dead: Book Three

The Walking Dead: Book Four

The Walking Dead: Book Five

Movie & TV Watchin’:

Inception

Game of Thrones, Season 2

In Search of Steve Ditko

L and her daddy made a sand village complete with waterfall and lake.

They carried who knows how many buckets of water to their village and had loads of fun doing it.

A new dolly came along for her first beach outing too (rarely do the dolls or toys go to such soggy locales!)

After the beach we walked (and danced) around downtown.

Sadly the historic landmark Cunha’s country grocery store is closing down.

We poked around their emporium upstairs.

It had lots of interesting items…old telephones, two vintage Labretta scooters, lovely old windowed cabinets, and a lot of cowboy boots.

If you are in need of any of these items, I suggest hurrying in before they close!

“Everything is as hot as an iron in my soup!” - L commenting on the temperature of her soup.

On the first warm day of spring, we headed to the beach for a picnic.

Here is our picnic spot.

We moved to the main beach as the tide started to come in.

Madame set to work, making a huge sandcastle.

After the castle was finished, she played in the surf.

She took her umbrella, just in case.

The last Easter get together was at Grandma’s.

Lots of cousins, aunts and uncles were there.

There was a fast and furious easter egg hunt in grandma’s garden…

We all had a blast!

We made cupcakes to share with the cousins…

We made teeny tiny easter baskets for the smaller toys and gnomes…

and found an easter basket with some tiny new friends in it.

The gnome is Fritz, and the wee  (1 inch tall!) leprechaun is Gerald. Gerald is her favorite!