On Sunday we headed down to San Mateo to visit the Maker Faire. As the web site says, “Maker Faire is the Greatest Show (and Tell) on Earth — a family-friendly festival of invention, creativity and resourcefulness, and a celebration of the Maker movement.” It started in 2006 here in the Bay Area and its kind of like a huge science fair/country fair covering everything from knitting to robots and everything in between.
We had an absolute blast – can’t recommend it highly enough, especially if you have kids.
At the entrance was this huge fire breathing dragon/octopus robot contraption thing. It was cool...
... and a little befuddling for little Lauren!
Maile jumped right in and took control of a robot some students made...
This was a fun one - using paper tubes Maile built a structure that had to protect a marshmallow from a book dropped from about 5 feet high...
Do you think Maile’s structure was successful? Well, check it out…
Speaking of marshmallows, Mommy and Maile had fun making this marshmallow shooter from PVC piping...
... and then Lauren had fun running all over with it (pizza slice in hand, of course!)
Maile girl hard at work building a structure out of spaghetti and (once again) mini marshmallows...
Great success!
The last thing Mommy and Maile did was make a purse out of old jeans - I don't think she's taken it off since she made it!
A truly awesome day and we’ll definitely be back next year!
(Click here for the video.)
This Saturday we finished Maile’s second season of soccer with the PKS Pandas in the San Francisco Vikings league. Once again I helped out with coaching and had a lot of fun. Happy to report that Maile (and the rest of the team) definitely saw big improvements since last fall (and also since the start of the season). Less “picking daisies” and much more focused overall on the game – more coordination around dribbling and kicking. All in all, a good season.
Coach Matt, Maile and the rest of the PKS Pandas!
Maile has been swimming at La Petite Baleen since this summer. A toddler class opened up at the exact same time, so we decided to sign Daddy and Lauren up for some swimming while big sister is across the pool practicing her strokes.
Daddy was solo with the girls for the first class – we’ll need to have Mommy join us to get some better pictures and video, but Lauren did great in the water. A little apprehensive at first, but she enjoyed high-fiving the teacher, the humpty dumpty jump off the wall and clingy very tightly to Daddy. (Being handed over to the teacher for a few seconds is decidedly in the “did not enjoy” category.)
The girls ready for some swimming - as you can see Lauren is a little curious about what is about to happen...
Daddy and Lauren selfie at the pool!
Maile Girl here! Thought I’d write a hello for Mother’s Day. This morning, Lauren and I woke Daddy up early (surprise, surprise) and we set to work making a yummy breakfast surprise for Mommy. Daddy said that Grandma Jill’s Strawberry Soup would be perfect. Now, I love strawberries (and soup is typically pretty good too) – but I had never had strawberry ANd soup before. Plus, isn’t soup supposed to be hot? Daddy told me that Strawberry Soup was served cold AND that we could make bowls out of cantaloupes. For a second I thought maybe we had indeed woken Daddy up too early, but he had a plan so I went along for the ride.
And, boy am I glad I did. Not only was the soup super fun to make, but it was delicious too! Mommy was super happy when we surprised her with the breakfast. We even let her sleep until 8:30 AM – which is pretty much the latest she has ever slept (at least in my lifetime!)
Bowls out of cantaloupes? Crazy - but Daddy told me to start scooping...
I get very focused when I'm cooking...
After you get the bowls done, you just need to pour in the soup! (Daddy made it the night before so it was all chilled and ready to rock...)
The best part of the cooking part is the EATING part 🙂
(Click here for the video.)
Another nickname option for Lauren Girl?
Although she isn't pictured, Maile got a total kick out of Lauren's new 'do...
No more bath time pictures!
Have a great weekend!
With all the food Lauren got on her during lunch today, we have a new nickname for her…
Lauren Meatball!
Lauren has been eating up a storm lately – definitely thinking we have a growth spurt going on!
Mommy and Maile are catching up on lost time with lots of salon-related activities this week. They painted nails on Sunday and tonight Maile worked on Mommy’s hair, one of her favorite pre-bed-time activities. She’s getting pretty good at braiding Mommy’s hair too. Christine claims she taught herself how to braid, all I know is that I already can’t do it the way she does – definitely takes after her Mommy yet again in this department!
Maile Girl very focused on her braiding technique...
Mommy is another happy client ... well, her only happy client at this point, but Lauren is growing her hair as fast as she can!
Lauren is 16 months old today – where has the time gone? It’s fun watching her these days, you can almost see her learning in real time how the world works, willing herself (and often getting a little frustrated) to communicate with her sister (and us) and to figure out the world around her. She adores her big sister, but is also her own little girl – seems a little more daring and mischievous, but we’ll have to see how that plays out.
Lauren at 16 months
We love you Lauren!
The past couple of days have been absolutely amazing weather-wise – mid-80s! Never gets like that in San Francisco. Lauren LOVES being outside – first thing in the morning yesterday, she grabbed her jacket, whined until I put it on, then went over to her stroller and the door and started whining for me to take her out. When Elena arrived, Millie obliged and took the girls to the park (this is a big deal because normally they sleep first thing and then go about their day).
Life. Is. Good.
Don’t worry, they caught up on their sleep though after all the excitement…
Too good.
On our final day in China, we fittingly, went to visit the Great Wall of China. Or the Great Wall of Liberty as Maile called it. (Which is pretty funny when you think of it.) It was a spectacular way to end the trip!
Maile Girl posing with her new fan on the walk up to the Wall...
... pausing to smell the flowers 🙂
After walking a bit to the base of the Wall we took a cable car ride to the top (Maile was a little excited) …
The kids at the base of the Wall (after we took the cable car up to the entry point)
Maile getting her first taste of the wall - these holes (used to pour hot oil on the enemies) were just the right height!
Maile and Daddy get another perspective...
Maile and Mommy and a good view of how the Wall snakes along the hillside...
Family shot on top of the Wall
I couldn't resist.
Daddy set a bad example, so Maile followed...
Striking a pose!
The Wall is incredible - 5,000 miles! - that's from Boston to SF and back to Chicago!
10 years ago Christine and I took our first trip to China and took a similar picture at the top of the Great Wall. It was incredible coming back, this time with Maile. I can't imagine a better person to share these adventures with and look forward to our next!
(Click here for the video.)
