Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival

Hannah, bff Katie, Zoe and Henry,
on a beautiful October day
in Golden Gate Park,
festival sounds, sights, smells, and tastes...
Otis Clay, Earl Skruggs and a crazy-cool looking rainbow man,
all in a sun-baked homage to Hazel Dickens...
Zoe got a serious banjo groove on
while the rainbow man distracted everyone else!

Date at GGP with BFF Katie

By this time, we were only a couple weeks away from potentially closing on our new home in Tiburon. So we needed to make sure we maximized our quality time with Parker School BFF and soulmate Katie Dent. Another cold, grey summer Sunday afternoon, we hit the playground in Golden Gate Park where the girls covered every inch of the playground with glee. We sure will miss Katie (as well as all our other city friends), and will need to make a special point to get back often to keep the relationship strong. I can't lie though - I sure won't be missing the city's gloomy summer weather..!

T REX

Yo, my name is King T, and I am the best of the best
I am the bipedal carnivore more fearsome than the rest
I'm the 9-4-1-1-8 Hannasaurus Rex, y'all
I'll turn your day into a Jurassic ball
I'll make the museum shake like the house of pain
(After I check out these fish and this crazy forest of rain)

I'm the 9-4-1-1-8 Hannahsaurus
Rex up in the Academy of Science
Giving it my roaringest declaration of defiance
Water fountains elevators subservient I will make
Give a shout out to my namesake friend the Hannahconda snake

I'll take time out from my absolute reign on...
Stop n' color a butterfly on some paper with some crayons,
Yeah, I said it - IT'S FLY and it's PINK
Have a snack, hit the road before anotha dinosaur's extinct

Hannah & Zoe On Urban Safari

A morning visit to the California Academy of Sciences to see the hatch ling chicks proved to be fun for all. Hannah wanted to know what kind of bird made each of the different eggs, and then she wanted to know which birds made each nest. The elephant bird's big egg really impressed her.


Hannah also loved passing right by the Macaw who said "Hello" to her... and she thought the red, blue and orange frogs were funny because they were supposed to be green-but they were not.


Zoe took in the sights and sounds with wide eyes, and she didn't complain at all even though she was a little over bundled for a humid, vibrant visit to the rain forest. She enjoyed the respite of the outside patio, where it was cool and quiet.

Happy Birthday Daddy!

"You are the BEST!"
- Hannah

Runnin'andajumpin'MOREMOREMORE

Hannah, you are almost 2 years old now, and you are full of energy and enthusiasm for MOST things you are a run-on sentence personified, going on and on all the time - here and there and back and forth... you love going for walks, especially to nearby Mountain Lake Park (or in your cadence, "montinnn - lakePARK!) and Rossi Park when we go outside, you love to run, stop and say hello to every single person, no matter how big or small, until they smile and say "hi' back you like to stop and sit on every door step and charge up the longer, more challenging stair cases that line each block you love collecting pebbles which circle the trees as you skamper along the sidewalk I have spent more than a few minutes being entertained by your efforts to cram your fists-full-of-rocks into your tiny little pant pockets.... your determination and persistence, along with your great expressions of effort as your fingers figure out how to navigate the tight spaces - only to get stuck once they are deep in pocket-land, and your total body-jerk flailing campaign to ultimately wrench-free - absolutely makes my heart sing with laughter and joy you love to walk backwards and wacky-walk with me and we see how goofy and silly we can be you are so so talkative, and you say "Walk" when you want to go outside, "Running" if you see anyone else running by, or "sidewalk Chalk" or "MOON!" "Airplane" "Rainbow!" BUS! BUS! BUS! "Greenlight" ...and you can name every color of the cars lining the street you can climb the ladder on the big jungle gym at Mountain Lake Park and you can almost make it up the entire ladder on the slide at Rossi Park you still like to daddy's help for that, and you love to be pushed on the swing, but otherwise, you like to do everything yourself you love to walk to City Kids ("Cittydids!") and play with the huge Thomas-The-Train set they have laid out for kids to play with.... you like to claim everything "MINE" and often times you will assert yourself and yell "Noooooo!" if another toddler has something you don't want them to have - even if it is theirs... yet, you also know "Everybody's" and "share" and when you are not too excited or distracted you are very thoughtful to share... you like to say "Thank You" when ever you walk up and stick your hands out to give something to another person, which is pretty darn cute anywhere you go, you drink in the actions of all the other kids, and your mom and I take that as a clear sign you might be ready for pre-school soon... going for walks, even if it is just around the block, is always an adventure I love to go on with you... one of my favorite things is to see your eyelids get heavy as you are lulled into a peaceful daze by the swing, and at dusk, hoist you up onto my shoulders for a piggy back home you grab onto my hair like you are yanking weeds and we run under the trees with the low-hanging branches and leaves while you laugh and say "Mooooore," Moooore," "Treetreetreetree" at the end of our walks, now, you sit down by our apartment door entrance at the top of the stairs and let me take off your shoes before we go inside, and then you run and

give mom a big hug
I'll take that run-on sentence any day I love you, Dad.

Choo Choo Trains In Golden Gate Park

Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival

Hannah, your first live music concert (not counting your Uncle Randall's and your friend Adam Robinson's personal guitar concerts) was fitting because it took place - for free - in your back yard, Golden Gate Park. Luckily, we were able to hit it Friday night for a little while, before the bitter cold winds blew in, chilling the rest of the weekend. There is "no other music festival like it anywhere in the world." Local billionaire(?)/buy-out guru, Warren Hellman (who also owns a stake in the Great American Music Hall), hires all the 80 acts and underwrites the entire multimillion-dollar venture "simply because he likes the music so much that he wants to share his enthusiasm." You were mostly interested in running around and playing soccer with the older kids who were near us, and getting airplane rides from Dad. But you loved the music too... you got your groove-on to a couple John Prine songs, and when Lyle Lovett and his Big Band started playing, you took a little chicken-dance hankerin' to him too. I hope you keep an open mind to all kinds of music and I look forward to sharing many more live concert experiences with you!

Daddy, Hannah, boo-boo bunny, and super-sized momma enjoying a few last notes before heading back to the warmth of home sweet home.

Big Love for Cousins Jake & Kate

Or as Hannah would say, "Kake" and "Dak," and usually in the wrong order, as the video will reveal (if we ever get that uploaded...). Hannah had the absolute best time ever with her cousins, from the very moment they arrived and first stepped foot in our house. It was as if Christmas in Chicago was only yesterday,... or more like the oldest, bestest pals in the world reuniting after years apart, without skipping a beat. The pictures below are just a smattering of the fun times the three of them had together - a time that was all too brief with all the hectic wedding-related details getting in the way of good old fashioned playtime.

May 7th : they're finally here!!

May 8th : Friday morning pajama party...wheeee!
May 10th : Mother's Day BBQ in Golden Gate Park

(You would never have known she was cranky, overtired, and having a meltdown before we spotted J&K up the street on the way into the Park...then EVERYTHING changed instantaneously!)My best memory of their togethertime will have to remain as such however - as it was when we ladies were getting ready in the final hour prior to the actual wedding. Hannah had woken from her nap (all went as gloriously planned there, phew!), but was a tad bit cranky, which was only made worse when we tried to put her into her flowergirl dress which she REALLY hated... Thankfully, Kate showed her how she had on the same dress, and they admired each other and their matching dresses in the mirror. And before you knew it, Hannah was smiling and running around, giggling like mad, squealing actually, playing tag with Kate and showing her all her toys again. If it had not been for Kate in that hour, who knows how things might have gone down! And if I hadn't been so busy trying to squeeze into my dress, I would have tried to capture the glee those two shared during that hour on our camera's video. But for the first time in our lives, we hardly ever turned our own cameras on that weekend. Thankfully, we have lots of pictures from friends who chronicled the events of the weekend.

If I could have bottled up Hannah's squeals of delight, happiness like I've never heard before, when playing with Jack & Kate, I would have. Thanks for coming out to San Francisco and bringing all of us so much joy!
XOXOXOXO
K, J & especially H

Party In The Park - Doin' The Limbo