Kleinville

Happy Halloween!

Halloween turned out to be a dark and stormy night, but the girls braved the elements for a high-calorie booty.

The evening kicked off with a pre-party at Angie and Brad's, who boast a lady bug and budding Luke Skywalker as offspring.

We instructed Ella to go for the 'good candy.'

Joe the Plumber needed to earn an extra $210,000 to buy his business, so we employed him as our nanny for the evening.

It turns out that Sarah has a penchant for Snickers®.

The night before we carved pumpkins.

We learned with Sarah not to let young kids do the actual carving. OK, not really. Two of Sarah's fingers were subject to a closing door the day before.

With Sarah's injury, I thought a mummy costume might be fun, but she was too cute of a butterfly to switch.

Next year, Ella wants to go as one of the Village People. We'll see...

Autumn in Kleinville

We've been keeping pretty busy with birthday parties and pumpkin-centric outings, and here are some of the photos to prove it.

No October is complete without a trip to the pumpkin patch.

Ella has officially overcome her fear of large animals (we hope).

Sarah is waiting for the Big Pumpkin.

Sarah tried out her butterfly costume at Kate's similarly themed birthday party.

Ella continues to enjoy her little sister.

Playing follow the leader is a popular game.

And one last cute one of Sarah...

Playing Tourists in San Francisco

Since it was supposed to be such a nice day, we decided on a whim to drive up to San Francisco and take Ella on the pedal boats at Stow Lake. Ella knows about the pedal boats from her 1960's classic "This is San Francisco" book, as well as the more recent "Good Night San Francisco."

We also decided to use the occasion to visit one of our favorite breakfast places, which just happens to be named after our first born. Unfortunately, Ella wasn't in the mood to have her picture taken, so we have Sarah standing in instead.

Then, it was off to Stow Lake. This was an adventure in and of itself, as Golden Gate Park was packed due to the grand opening (and free) day of the Califorina Academy of Sciences. The line was literally a mile long to see the penguins and other exhibits. Unfortunately, Stow Lake happens to be fairly close to the new museum, so navigating and parking in the park was a challenge. But, we made it!

Ella couldn't reach the pedals, so Mom and Dad did all the work.

Sarah, couldn't reach the pedals either, but she looked good in a life jacket.

After Stow Lake, we felt adventuresome, and decided to take Ella to see the sea lions at Pier 39 (via crooked Lombard Street even!). We had talked about going before, but wanted to wait until Fall when all the tourists are gone. It turns out, that like the sea lions, the tourists never leave.

But, Ella had a great time watching the sea lions. She liked the "baby ones."

While we there, we happened to see one of the world's largest sailing vessels make its grand entrance into San Francisco Bay. I had read about the 289-foot Maltese Falcon in Wired Magazine and seen a piece on it on 60 minutes, but it was awesome to see in person. It's amazing what a couple hundred million dollars will buy you.

I'm One!

Happy 1st Birthday, Baby Bear!

Dear Sarah,

They say when you’re a parent, the days are long but the years are short. “They” are so right! You’re quickly turning into a little girl, no longer a baby in many ways, crawling after your big sister and letting us know exactly how you think and feel about everything. It’s a bittersweet time, since you’re the second and last baby that will be in our house and in our arms and our hearts. But you sleep through the night! And you drink milk out of a sippy cup! And you’re a year closer to not being in diapers any more! So there are many reasons to rejoice, but one big reason to sigh and hold on to you a little tighter -- you're changing so fast!

On the sweet side, you’re entering one of my favorite stages where there’s an explosion of growth in words and you're learning to walk. You haven’t exploded quite yet, but you're on the brink. You definitely communicate your needs and wants. The amount of signs you know increases every day. Baby, hat, hot and banana are the latest. Your first and only word so far is “Moo.” It’s for every cow you see, and every goat and sheep, too. Your favorite food is banana -- every time we pass the kitchen you do the sign it.

You’ll now walk holding onto my fingers for about 10 steps or so if Ella is your target destination. But crawling still gets you there faster. Your favorite game is chase, when I get on the floor and chase after you crawling. (But believe me, crawling is overrated. Ouch.)

I know you get less one-on-one time than your big sister did at this age, and I sometimes feel a bit guilty for that, but you get to experience so many more things. It's so cute to see you doing all the things that big sister does. You get two parents AND a big sister to love you. And we do love you so! And I get to say to you what my mom says to me, "You'll always be my baby!"

Love,
Mama

11/12th

Dear Sarah,

Yikes. You’re almost one year already! How did that happen?! My sweet little baby is growing up.

This month has been a fun one. You’re starting to communicate more with signs and also your first words: Dada and Mama. Awww! And something that sounds like El-la-la. You’ve even made up your own sign for dog: panting like one. You also give kisses now and wave bye-bye.

You’re pulling up on everything and climbing up onto the dishwasher door and onto your big sister’s toddler bed at every opportunity. Unfortunately, you haven’t mastered the getting down part. Luckily mama grabs you off the dishwasher asap and Ella has a carpeted floor. :)

You love to laugh – you think it’s pretty funny to pretend to give me your binky. Or have mama play “carwash” with my hair on your belly. And you love to be outside. You cry whenever I bring you back inside.

It’s fun to watch you and Ella together. She has “cooking class” for you most mornings in her room with the pretend kitchen that Papa made. You love all the big kid toys. But don’t grow up too fast, okay?

Much love,
Mama

Seattle Sights

As promised, here are some of the sights we checked out in Seattle.

It rained the first day, so we found indoor things to do - like the Experience Music Project. We're hoping our trip doesn't lead to drum lessons down the road.

No trip is complete without a trip to Pike's Market. Ella wasn't so sure about the flying fish.

Ella did enjoy the cherries we got from the market.

Our hotel was right by the Olympic Sculpture Park.

We weren't very far from Seattle Center either. Ella went on her first Ferris Wheel and loved it.

We made it over to Bainbridge Island for the Farmer's Market and lunch.

We also spent a great day in Bothel with Meg's cousin's family - the Ruefs. We had fun feeding their goats, chasing their cats, petting their dog, picking wild respberries and so much more. Ella and Sarah even took a spin on the same swing that Megan had as a kid.

We saw fireworks in Kirkland with our friends Jen and Roy. Ella liked the distant ones that didn't make so much noise.

The Seattle Aquarium was a big hit.

We walked around the University of Washington with Stacy and Kara.

For our last day, we headed out to Snoqualmie Falls. After the falls, we checked out the railroad museum.

Bloomin' Seattle

Somehow, we wound up taking a lot of photos during our Seattle trip. So, rather than bestowing them all upon you at once, I going to try and group them around themes. The one thing about all the rain is that there are a lot of beautiful flowers. Ella likes flowers. Sarah does too. Here are some photos.

Mom and Sarah at the English Gardens at the Ballard Locks.