Preschool, Parties, & Summer



Now that both Brennan & Lucie have full-time preschool spots, I do my best to set aside one day a month for one-on-one time for each of them, and a day where all 3 of us have an outing. Where we go and what we do varies wildly with the weather, any small errands that also need doing, and the prevailing mood -  

So on a pretty day, a fun way to skip school sometimes just involves a walk to the neighborhood bakery.  Lucie enjoyed climbing into everyone's doorway to jump off their steps, and snacking on the top of the baguette I let her carry, because, c'mon, what's cuter than a little kid carrying bread that's almost as tall as her?  I just cut off the slobbery bit when we got home.  Then we continued our special day at the new Dolores Park playground, which is pretty nice.  There are some impressive slides, including this one for tandem sliding.  She only made me go down holding her hand 8 or 9 times.

Even if I have a specific plan in mind, I'm learning to keep it secret.  Because if you, say, on a Thursday, promise a day off from school and a special trip to the Zoo, and somebody wakes up Friday running a little fever -

Then you have one in tears screeching "I want Zoo!" who won't be bargained out of it - and one cranky, tired kid refusing to participate after he gets bargained into it:

Really, it was fine.  I just had to give one a piggy-back ride while I pushed the other in the stroller.  Piece of cake.

After a few years in San Francisco, I've learned to make the most of it when rare summer days happen.  Quick, get some shorts on the kids, hose 'em down with sunscreen, and head outside - even if it's just the front steps.

Here they are, playing with chalk in the sun, wearing t-shirts outside, just like kids with normal lives.

As luck would have it, our neighborhood elementary school was having their annual "Fun Fest" on this beautiful, warm, sunny day.  We walked down the hill to Grattan and blew $20 on tickets for things like games, snacks, and -

a bouncy slide!  (A big hit, especially since Enzo was there)

I sort of wondered if Lucie was too little, but no one stopped us.

There were also sno-cones, which initially were met with enthusiasm but quickly fell out of favor due to stickiness and ice-cream headaches.  I tried a bite of Lucie's.  It was called "blue raspberry" flavor.  I'm not sure what a blue raspberry is supposed to taste like - based on this experience, I'm guessing sugar, baby aspirin, and taking a deep breath outside a chemical plant.

Lucie's preschool had a little "mommy & me" party on the Friday afternoon before Mother's Day.  Mommies and other caregivers were invited to come in for a decorate-your-own-cupcake event.  Lucie put sprinkles, chocolate chips, and raisins on hers, took 2 bites, handed it over with a "here, Mommy!"-then sat down to eat an entire dish of raisins that were intended for decorations.  So that's when I learned that Lucie will eat all the raisins you are willing to give her, and that whipped cream, while way easier to apply than frosting, does not make a particularly stable base for cupcake toppings.

Speaking of Mother's Day, here's the card Brennan made me.  I'm hoping he just ran out of time before including Lucie.  It seems like he devoted considerable attention to the big flower, and accurate portrayal of Daddy's height and hair.

Now that all his classmates are turning 5, we get invited to a bunch of birthdays.  A lot of them seem to take place at the Midtown Terrace Playground and rec center.  This party even had special entertainment by the Bubble Lady.  She's pretty good, but I spent a lot of the show wondering how slimy everything she owns must be.  Brennan and all the other kids liked it a lot.

Finally, here's a summer party Mommy & Daddy could get behind - only 4 guests total, sitting in the sun at Michel Schlumberger, tasting wine, eating the few crostini & nuts the kids left behind, while they splash semi-quietly in the fountain.

So what if somebody's shirt had to spend half an hour drying in the sun?

Easter & city adventures

We returned home from Florida just in time for Easter, giving me a chance to improve my egg hunt track record.  (for everyone keeping score at home, so far I've logged 2 rainy-day living room egg hunts and 1 vineyard tasting room picnic-and-parking area egg hunt)  Thanks to the mild & sunny morning, we were able to have our very first Backyard Courtyard Egg Hunt!

Brennan & Lucie had lots of fun, and Mommy was relieved to finally have an egg hunt work out.  Daddy's favorite moment? The new downstairs neighbor -who likes to make noise late at night - shutting her windows so the sound of happy children didn't keep her awake at 10 am.

April brought more nice days, so one morning we decided to skip school and go to Fisherman's Wharf.  Bren wanted to look at the sea lions, so we braved Pier 39 for the first time.  And since the temperature dropped about 10 degrees and the wind picked up considerably, we made what seemed like the wise decision to walk back through the shopping center and warm up.  I hadn't counted on the double-decker carousel, however.

A very reasonable $10 later (is there an emoticon for sarcasm?  'cause I could use one here), we were riding high.

It was the first carousel that Lucie rode without crying.  Unless you count Disneyland, when she was sleeping in the ergo carrier.

And just like Disneyland, what you thought was a nice picture of your happy kids turns out to include some random stranger in terrible tourist attire.

As I mentioned a few posts back, we rejoined the zoo so that Bren could get his train fix on a Monday.  We've been back a few times - there's a new tiger cub I've been trying to get a glimpse of - and even had a special Just Brennan & Mommy afternoon at the zoo.

Closer to home in Cole Valley -

Lucie's restaurant manners have improved somewhat - now we're merely tense all through dinner, rather than regretting leaving the house at all.  The kids' favorite restaurant is still our neighborhood sushi place.  Lu particularly likes pulling everyone's chopsticks apart.

 

Brennan invited his buddy Enzo over to play, so I picked them up early from preschool one afternoon.  We stopped by the fire station on our way to the playground and got to talk to a fireman!  He answered all of Brennan's questions regarding what the all the gauges and plugs were for, and showed the boys how the poles work.

We also experiment with turning pants into hats:

And every great once in awhile, Roux gets brave enough to allow some cuddling.