September Updates Continued

Ana is now so long! She is not a baby. She is at this really beautiful stage where she still has the roundness of a little toddler in her face but the smile and lengthening figure of an older toddler. I know this wont last long. She is very beautiful in this phase though and her smiles are powerfully captivating. She counts things often up to thirteen, usually skipping the four. The other night I heard her just counting in bed, practicing 8 through 10 over and over and in different orders. This after counting the blinds up to thirteen several times before we put her to bed. She talks to me a lot more and loves to sit on me. If I sit on the couch I can almost guarantee she will sit on me these recent days. I, needless to say, love this!, and hope this lasts a while. She smiles at me and talks kind of serious sometimes, serious in tone. And then she smiles and laughs and makes her own jokes. Before long, she is off jumping or climbing again. Jumping and climbing remain her favorite pastime. Tami tells me that all of her 4 molars are poking out to some degree now. I could only see the bottom when I looked. Those are almost completely out with only a bit of gum flap left. Tami says to her in Spanish to show Tami her teeth and Ana instantly complies and opens wide, holding her mouth open for Tami to look. I say the same, and she flashes her mouth open quickly and then clamps it shut in a smile. Funny girl. She did this more than once.

Cool that Ana was wearing that shirt the her class was making tiger masks. She wore hers most of the way home and at a restaurant.That reminds me, almost everyday now, at some point, we will start hearing meowing. Then Enzo will yell out, "There is a cat!" And, looking around, we will find Ana crawling around, smiling, and meowing. "I'm a gato!"

In September we were in a Parade. My sister-in-law asked if I could drive the bug with the music for some of her dancers in the Newark Days Parade. Tami and Ana strolled along as helpers while I drove. Enzo went part way with me, part way walking with his Aunti Tia, and part way in the stroller with Ana.

Very early to find our spot in the staging area allowed me time to mount the jazz playing silhouettes that Tami made, set up the speaker and music, and have a cup of coffee while watching the morning sun establish itself. The theme for the parade this year was jazz and Traci's dancers would be following to a mixed version of "All That Jazz."

Here the dancers are warming up before the parade begins. It's a pretty long route through Newark neighborhoods from City Hall to a park.

Enzo watching the dancers following us. Parades are fun, especially with no car seat rules to follow.

And before it was over, the rain started. And before we would be done- it would really rain! Fun and soaking. we actually decided to leave the bug in Newark and I went back for it that evening when the rain was done. I hadn't converted the wipers to 12volt as the electrical system was converted. I didn't have reliable wipers and it was coming down hard for hours. All part of the fun.

I must say that I like parades as an observer and as a participant.


I recently had the opportunity to flip through yearbooks from when I was in high school. That's a weird experience! I generally think of myself as a quiet type of person. And, obviously I had forgotten about being voted one of four "Most Memorable" in my graduating class. Really? That is not at all part of my self image for my high school days. But after seeing the picture, see below (who wouldn't be memorable with that crazy hair and beard in high school!), I do remember us taking the photo and the honorable designation.

It's still weird to remember and to include in my assessment of what my experience was in high school.

But this was awesome! This is Matt, me, and Nathan in high school. I think it was our sophomore yearbook. "Stud Patrol." Ha! It's pretty cool having friends you had in high school nearly 20 years after the fact.

Tami and I celebrated our 8 year anniversary in September. Eight years and 1 month of marriage, to be precise. First we made it a special day by taking the kids to Roaring Camp. Those photos were in the last post. Then, we took the kids to Grandma and Grandpa's house to play and stay for a couple of hours while Tami and I went out. We went and walked around the Los Gatos Lodge where we got married. It is so much simpler and smaller then I remember it. Funny how that works. After a walk around and a drink and fond memories, we went for a nice dinner in downtown Los Gatos. That's where I snapped these couple of pictures of my beautiful wife, 8 years and a month after we married.

This is just a picture of the bug in a parking lot. Look how small it is next to those cars- and those are not big cars. That's a Prius on the left.

Ana and Enzo have a lot of silly games. One of them is "Sit on me." Versions include sit on my panza, sit on my back, sit on my lap. They all involve them taking turns sitting on each other and laughing.

Here a couple of pics from a breakfast at the Farmer's Market.

I love my kiddos.

These next two are of the kids laughing and playing at Grandma and Grandpa's house. You can't tell from the picture but they are pushing each other, stomach to head, to see who can move the other.

 They are beautiful in their happy play.