May 29, 2010

Riding the Rails

We decided to start our Memorial day vacation with a bang by taking a rail excursion. Our new home in Mountain View is just a few blocks from the train station, but we haven't had the occasion to ride the train since we moved into the new house. Today we rode the train to the scenic city of Burlingame, a small city about halfway between Mountain View and San Francisco. The city has a nice little downtown and a park, but the real reason we chose Burlingame over the many beautiful cities along the peninsula is it's kid friendly brewpub. Good beer, great food, and crayons on the table made for a really fun day for everyone.

Silly faces on the train!






This week Lillian discovered the songbook on her bookshelf. She also discovered that her Daddy loves to sing almost as much as she does. Here is a short video of the father daughter duet of Camptown Races.

May 26, 2010

Full Circle Farm

A few years ago, someone had the crazy yet brilliant idea of turning a little used school ball field in the middle of an urban area of Silicon Valley into a working farm. The 11 acre farm has a large demonstration garden that is tended to by volunteers. Our friends Kathrine and Santosh have been volunteering at the farm for several months now and we have vowed to join them in the fun on Wednesday afternoons this summer. The garden is a fantastic playground for the preschool set, with gigantic piles of dirt, hay bales, rows and rows of vegetables to run through and best of all strawberries fresh off the plants. Since it was a school ball field it is also completely fenced in so Lillian can roam freely without fear of getting lost. Lillian had a grand time running around with the other kids until a menacing red beast came onto the scene and forced her to run for cover.

Good times in the garden.



Kids watching the farmers do their work.


The scariest big red tractor ever!



Lillian cowering in my arms after the tractor came out.

May 9, 2010

Photos by Lillian

This week Lillian decided she wanted to take some pictures with our "new camera" (The camera is older than Lillian so I'm not sure it qualifies as "new" but Lillian has decided it is the "new camera"). Here are a few samples of Lillian's handwork.






May 3, 2010

Lillian's Bike

As we mentioned before Lillian has been mastering all sorts of new forms of transportation. Her latest acquisition is a balance bike (AKA scoot bike), a kid sized bicycle with no pedals that is propelled like a scooter. After a few days practice Lillian is able to build up enough speed that she can keep herself balanced while she glides on the bike. She now rides so fast that mom and dad have to jog to keep up with her. She is capable of riding her bike for miles on end all over town, which is great exercise for the whole family. Here's a short video of her riding at the park today.



And here is a picture she insisted I take of her with her French braid (not really a French braid) when I pulled the camera out this morning.