Halloween

First off, let me state:  yes, I am aware it is d--n near Christmas.  So, get in the holiday spirit and enjoy these Halloween photos!

We kicked off the Halloween Season with our annual Pumpkin Patch Trip and Portrait.  The photo session has devolved into separate portraits, only one of which can include a smile.

I should have cut my losses at the Pony Ride,  but Hipster Dad was ruining the shot.

This year we got into the Halloween spirit a new way - a field trip to the Mission to learn about Dia de los Muertos.  The kids' favorite spot was La Victoria bakery, where they made Pan de Muertos and got cookies.

This is also the spot where Brennan was one of 9 first graders to correctly identify what the starter smelled like (WINE), and was one of 3 first graders to give his bread man a chocolate chip penis.

Ironically enough, for all the moaning I do about Cold San Francisco, every class field trip I've participated in has been on a bludgeoningly hot day, allowing me to revisit the joys of riding in an airless school bus with sticky vinyl seats.

The kids also learned about Latino heritage, talked about the murals on the Womens' Building and Balmy Alley, had lunch in a taqueria - where 4 kids had chicken quesadillas, 1 kid had chicken tacos, and the remaining 17 had cheese quesadillas - and marched around the Mission hollering "Let's go Giants!"

Roux even got to go on a field trip - to Grattan!  She's been banned for awhile due to her compulsion to herd running children.  As long as we stick to picking up from the after-school program, when it's a little quieter, she's been good. And Ajah & Enzo seem to have the magic touch with her.

Finally the big day arrived!  Daddy came home early from work, and the kids got suited up.  They were pretty happy with their costumes - and so was I.  Daddy looked very hard for a Storm Trooper suit that wasn't just a picture printed on a white jumpsuit.  And let's not even talk about what you find when you Google "girl's tiger costume".

Thank goodness for Etsy.  Sure, it had to come from Germany, and we were a little worried it wouldn't arrive in time, but she LOVES it, still wears it weekly, and I love that she didn't look like a child tiger prostitute.

Enzo joined us for the Belvedere Trick-or-Treat mayhem.  We only lost the kids twice.

As predicted, Brennan had trouble navigating while wearing his mask, and took it off after a pretty brief period.  We then decided that his costume was actually Luke Skywalker during the Death Star Rescue.  (well, the adults did - that's kind of a meta-costume for a 6 year old)

The last day of October seems to signal the end of summer here - sometimes it's almost like the flip of switch.  This Halloween was particularly dramatic, especially when seen from the top of Ashbury Street, where we retired to count our candy and have dinner with Enzo & his family.  

Good night October - here comes November, rain, the end of daylight savings time, and seasonal affective disorder.  Luckily, we've got an upcoming voyage to sunny Mexico...

Summer (actual)

About a month after the start of school, San Francisco's summer arrived.  As it does.

It's a great time to play hooky from preschool and go enjoy the Discovery Museum across the Bay.  There's drawing - 

and hoarding of all the hula-hoops -

and hoarding of all the rubber crabs and using their hollow bodies for  water transport -

When it gets even hotter, we go to the beach.  It's polite to wait until Brennan gets out of school so he can go, too.  (in other news, this is the day I got a new parking ticket to add to my collection - a FEDERAL one, since Baker Beach is in Golden Gate National Park)

And on even hotter days, we drag Daddy over the bridge to Stinson Beach.  (I really shouldn't make it sound like this is something we do reugularly.  I haven't been to Stinson Beach since before Brennan was born.  Which is too bad, since it's not only beautiful, but also really shallow for a long way and I worry a lot less about the kids getting dragged out to sea.)  If it wasn't for the 45 minutes winding our way along Hwy 1 to get there, and that's so rarely beach weather, I'd love to come more often.

It's a good time to play with our neighbors - we got very lucky when Matt, Yinlan, Willow, and Beck moved in next door.  (Lucie & Beck have been buddies from about 4 months of age and on, since Mei watched over both of them) The grown-ups play "Now try this obscure beer", and the kids play, well, whatever this is:

They also have more wholesome activities, like Movie Night.

There's also meeting up with school buddies at the Cole Valley fair and block parties -

Grabbing a bite at the neighborhood restaurants-

Celebrity watching at the Letterman Center -

Rooftop parties to watch the Blue Angels-

And even more parties at Julius Kahn Park and downtown.

Somewhere in there, I even get out on my bike to enjoy the nice weather.  I actually have to go kind of early, otherwise it gets too hot.  Here's the fog burning off in Golden Gate Park, and morning at the top of Twin Peaks -

But one of the best parts of October is that Gangi usually comes out for a visit!  We treated her to a morning at Lemos Farm, which may actually be one of the Circles of Hell, if Hell has pumpkins.

Don't worry.  We also took her out to lunch at a waterfront place in Half Moon Bay.

On her last day, both kids woke up with a fever - as far the the school district knows - and we had a nice walk up Tank Hill to check out the new rope swing and the view.

We wish we didn't have to take her to the airport - Bren asked her to stay all month - but we're looking forward to her next visit.  And coming up is Halloween!

Soccer

After roughly 9 months of puzzling over the omerta code surrounding youth soccer, we finally figured out how to get Brennan on a team...

The solution was:  (clench teeth, fake enthusiasm, and say it with me now) - Start your own team!

Daddy bravely navigated the murky waters of the SF Vikings Microsoccer website and figured out how to register a team,  request a practice field, and get uniforms.  He arranged to have time off work, and long hours were devoted to picking a team name, herding parents, and logo design.  But it was the actual coaching part that worried me the most.  It's hard enough to get our own two kids to follow directions - how in the world do you get 14 of them to do it?

But on September 10th, we were as ready as we were going to be - time for the first Grattan Jellyfish practice!

This is the day I discovered that getting 4-5 kids from the after-school program to a soccer field less than a block away takes way longer than it should.  And once you get them there, they all need help with their shin guards and socks.

The team had 2 practices and a scrimmage, and all too suddenly, it was game day at Marina Green.  I hoped the kids would have fun, and not get discouraged or overwhelmed.  There are two other first grade soccer teams at Bren's school - one has been together since preschool.  We're the late-to-the-party team - kids who were lukewarm about soccer, and/or parents who were too baffled or busy to sign their kids up.  Basically, I was worried the kids were going to get shellacked and feel sad - even though there's no official scorekeeping.

Turns out, there was no need to worry.  Well, about the Jellyfish, at least.  

We did have to worry about:  making sure to cheer the other teams' goals and blocks, catching any hint of trash-talking from our team, when to put Marcello & Kristof in the goal so they couldn't score more points, and generally trying our best not to seem like a*holes while the Jellyfish were shellacking the competition.  'Cause we had a couple of ringers on the team.

The Jellyfish also had an awesome Little Sibling Mascot Squad.  Luckily, after a few practices & games, Lucie became buddies with Nora, Aya, and Jackson (no photo).  Playing with her new friends became more fun than screaming at Daddy to play with her, carry her, and give her the coveted red soccer ball.

We had a brief scare mid-way through the season when Brennan said he wanted to stop playing.  We resisted the urge to scream "you're the whole reason we're doing this nonsense and YOU. ARE. GOING. TO. FINISH." and instead came up with a plan for him to feel really important to the team.  Daddy called this plan "Pass to Marcello".  It was very effective:

I also kept busy honing my amateur photography, trying to tackle sports photography and team portraits.  I even got a reflector, employed here for the first time:

Unfortunately, the only thing less cooperative than the location of the sun is...a batch of 1st graders. I'd hoped to have a lovely shot of the bunch of them on the waterfront, but that would have involved a bit of a walk and then not falling off the edge into the bay.  So I did my best with Marina Green and late afternoon sun.  Funny faces, snacks, and looking away from the camera were also tough to control - but the kids seemed very proud to play their last game and get their medals.

It was a great first season.  The kids (mostly) behaved, Adam & Graham were great assistant coaches, the other parents pitched in a ton with snacks and drinks and wagon rides, many games were won (unofficially everyone is keeping score), and the Jellyfish were not accused - publicly at least - of being in the beginner league illicitly.  But I think the part I liked the most was seeing how much fun the kids - Bren included - had with their coach, and how proud Daddy was of his team.

So I guess we're in for more.  See you in the Spring, Jellyfish!