At the Beach

If you hadn't already guessed, I'm a big fan of the beach. Not so much the laying out in the warm sand and soaking up the sun - though that has its merits, no doubt - as the just being in the presence of the ocean. There something truly awesome about it ... for me it's similar to looking up into a sky full of stars and contemplating our place in the universe ... anyway, we went again to the Marine Fitzgerald Reserve in Moss Beach, about 30 min from home. We brought our new sun shade (which rocks!) and Zach had a great time playing in the sand, watching the waves, checking out the harbor seals, the hawks ... and his belly button.

June Playgroup

This photo and video are from June, when we hosted our almost-monthly playgroup. It's incredible that just one year ago we could set the kids on the floor and they wouldn't move, and now they're walking, crawling and climbing all over the place.

Mark & Emi, Larry & Atti, Jon & Zach

Visiting the Neighbors

Zach was enjoying walking down the hall when he decided to knock on Anne's door to see if Benito, her mini-Doberman, could come out and play. Anne's friend, Kathy, opened the door and ... well, why am I writing all this when all you have to do is press "play"?

Guess Who's Dancing?!?!

From walking to dancing in three wobbly steps. The first video was shot the day after the "Guess Who's Walking?!?!" video. We took the second one just a few hours ago.

Guess Who's Walking?!?!

Hot off the presses, er, flash memory card:

Miami Trip Videos

I wanted to post these separately. We had some firsts on this trip: first steps and first feeding himself with a utensil!

Also, more confirmation that Zach LOVES music and dancing. and being tickled :)
No captions, I think they're all self-explanatory.

ok... one comment: for those of you unfamiliar
with sign language, Zach is signing "more" when
he puts his fingers and thumb together and touches
them to each other

Miami Trip - Happy 90th Big G!!!

The first weekend of June we flew cross country to Miami, to visit the Day's and celebrate Magi's (aka Big G, Zach's great-grandmother) 90th birthday. Kevin, Jo, Ian and Connor made the trip, too, so the whole clan was there.

Magi is an amazing painter. Pat had a photo of one of her
paintings scanned and "printed" on her birthday cake. What a treat!
(pun intended)




It was HOT and HUMID in Miami. It took us all a day or so to
adjust. Wearing the least amount of clothes possible helped.




The boys are playing with Zach's "story reader" toy. A hand-me-down
that has proven to be a hit wherever we take it.




Even Conner had to stop his climbing to give it a whirl.




Great-grandpa John giving Zach a ZRRRBRRRT!!!



Whew!




Amy's Uncle Ken making funny faces at Zach




Big G reading to Connor




The presentation of the cake




The showing off of the cake




Proud Great-grandmother, grandmother and mother with her
proud son, father and grandfather




Not all, but a significant showing of the Day-Simmons clan:
L to R (back): Pat, Kathie, Kevin, Kristen (Pattie's daughter),
Pattie (Kathie's sister), Ken (Kathie's brother), Ian, Alice (Ken's wife);
L to R (middle): Jon, Lorraine (Kathie's mom), Big G, John (Kathie's dad),
Becky (Pat's cousin); L to R (front): Jo, Connor, Zach, Amy




Smellin' the flowers :)




Bedtime story from Grammy




That's one happy Grammy, and two happy grandkids!




Uncle Jon reading Ian's bedtime story, Green Eggs and Ham, with
help from Kevin and Pat




The next day, Big G reading to Zach



Zach is very relaxed




Happy Family!

Zach's first baseball game - Red Sox vs. Oakland, May 25, 2008

On the Sunday before Memorial Day, we went to Oakland to watch the Sox take on the A's. It was Zach's first baseball game - woohoo! We prepped him by teaching him to raise his arms up over his head and cheer whenever we say "Boston Red Sox - World Champs!!!"

He did pretty good, and though the Oakland Coliseum isn't a child friendly ballpark by any stretch of the imagination (it's not even a baseball friendly park), we walked, crawled and climbed around the concourse when he got fussy.

And yes, sadly, the Sox lost. So it goes ...

First real trip to the beach - April 26, 2008

So back in April we decided to take advantage of one of the rare hot days in the city (hot in SF = upper 70's / low 80's) and go to the beach. We had taken Zach to see the ocean before, but never hung out or let him play in the sand.

We went to Baker Beach, which has great views of Marin and the Golden Gate Bridge. Zach loved the sand. Here are a couple of photos from our day at the beach.

At the playground - March 17, 2008

Here we are at the playground in Golden Gate park again. Every time we go, it seems like Zach can enjoy the play structures in new ways.

Zach Likes Slides! March 16, 2008

Until I can catch up and post more or less in real time, I'll add the date the photos were taken to the title of the post, in order to avoid further confusion. Thanks to my eagle-eyed editorial staff for providing the oversight that caught this oversight.

A few days after his Birthday, at Holly Park

Zach's First Birthday Party, San Francisco Edition

Yes, Zach's birthday was 3 mos ago, and I'm just now getting to post these pics. Some found it confusing that the date above says June 17. This is today's date. The day I'm posting these photos is June 17. Zach's birthday is not today. Zach's first birthday was on March 11. Hopefully this clears things up.

The spread. Mostly for the benefit of the parents.



Andrew and Sebastien



Isabelle and Sebastien



Zach discovered his love for balloons this weekend :)




Riley, Zach's share-care buddy, and Riley's mom, Erin




Amara, Becky and Zach








Sarah, Larry and Atticus



Aymeric!



Emi!



Aymeric, Emi and Lavender Lab!



The Dads and some tired little ones



Birthday Boy and Proud Daddy



Didn't we do this last weekend?



"Happy Birthday to You!"



Emi and Mark



Atti and Larry