More East coast pictures

I alluded to the fact that the original set of photographs had a portion of the people that comprise Papa's family. Here are some of the other people with whom we are related. These pictures have fewer people so I think I know who is who.

The first picture has me being held by Grandma Mira and patted on the head by Grandpa Jon. The second picture is Mira's only brother Kevin which makes him my great-uncle. The other two pictures are of my cousins Sasha and Toshi. I've included them again because they are closest in age to me. Toshi is three, Sasha is two and I am 15-months old. Happy holidays everyone. New year's day will soon be upon us.

Zeke goes East

These pictures are more like Christmas than the last set. Christmas is family and here are the people that comprise part of Papa's family. There are a bunch of pictures here, let me try to get this straight.

The first one has me in a yellow shirt while we are getting ready for a hike outside in the cool weather. From left to right; Grandpa Tetsu, Mama, me, Papa and Grandma Linda.

The second photograph has Papa's older brother's family with some extras; Uncle Ru, Tetsu, Cousin Toshi, Cousin Maya, Auntie Soomi, Cousin Sasha and Linda.

Uncle Lawrence and Auntie Maria are happy about the holiday - they are on their way to Cancun, Mexico with their three kids (Akio, Maya and Sasha belong to them).

Cousins Maya and Akio are shyly posing for a final picture with their grandparents.

It was a long flight to New Jersey, only made longer by a missed flight, delays over Newark, and a diversion to Hartford for more fuel. Since we were standby on the flight, Mama and Papa sat separately allowing me to annoy two sets of passengers. Wah. Next time I am going to get my own seat. The return flight to San Francisco went much smoother.

Happy holidays

It is hard to take a picture of Christmas. Papa tried to take a shot of the family together in the backyard, but it wasn't very festive - and I was thinking more about an overdue nap. So he took another one of the lights in the living room, but it wasn't very personal. I wish that they could be combined to create both a festive and personal picture. But photographing Christmas is hard. I guess the best we can hope for is enjoying our time together and wishing everyone in our lives a safe and happy holidays.

We are travelling to the East coast to see Papa's family. This will be my first cross-country flight and I hope that I can behave myself on the airplane. Five and a half hours will be a long and difficult trip for a 15-month old. Cheers.

Sunday apprehension

Sundays are hard. Mama, Papa and I get to play together all weekend, which is great, and we always have lots of fun. But then Sunday evening rolls around and I have to think about going to Daycare in the morning. Not that Daycare isn't any fun - it is. It just isn't family. I wish every day could be like the weekend. We could stay in our pajamas for most of the day and read our books [upside-down!]. It wouldn't matter because we'd be together. We could play with our toys and learn to walk better. But alas Mondays always seem to sneak up on us.

I have noticed while all of the other Ginko trees in the neighborhood have turned brilliant yellow and dropped their leaves, the Ginko in our backyard has only just decided to turn. I think it may be because it is quite a large tree and it gets watered daily from the lawn sprinklers. Winter must be coming soon.

Over at the school

We had another fun weekend at home. On Saturday, we went to see our friends on the coast for a crab feast. You remember way back when Papa was trying to introduce me to crab? Well John, Alison and their daughter Skye celebrated the season with a party at their house. John is a good fisherman and always gets enough crab to feed everyone. I haven't been back to the coast since we moved in June - that's too long not to see the Pacific.

We also went over to the school to look for more slides and stairs to climb. There are so many to choose from - all shapes and sizes. I even slid down some by myself today. In the picture you can see a musical instrument with different length bars that make different notes when you bang on them. I am distracted at the moment by the ever-present wood chips. They are always good fun too.

Mama put up some Christmas lights on the front of the house. All of our neighbors put theirs up this weekend too. It is nice seeing the holiday cheer in this part of town. Off to bed, it gets dark so early these days.

Happy Thanksgiving

We all drove down to Southern California over the holiday to celebrate Thanksgiving with Mama's family. I have made the drive before, but somehow it seemed to take longer this time. Maybe it was in anticipation of seeing my cousin Jacob. Remember? He was my partner in a monkey suit at Halloween. In the first picture, Jacob is the one trying to escape the grasp of Pop-pop Bob. You of course know GrannyM who is watching lovingly over her grandchildren. We enjoyed a huge meal hosted by Patti and John in Ventura. Thanks for all of the yummy treats!

One doesn't know how exciting stairways can be unless you have access to them. In both of the houses where I have lived (and both daycare centers too), there are no such entertainment devices. GrannyM has a good one. It has two landings, bends around two corners, and is carpeted all the way up. I made sure to go up and down as many times as I was allowed because stairs are good for infants like me.

In the last picture, Papa is taking a photograph of me in the mirror. He's always taking photographs just like his father. I think he takes them because he wants to preserve the myriad developmental stages of my life. Or maybe he takes them because he likes to look at them whenever he misses me. Da, da, da.

Evening walks and warm coats

Unlike last week, sometimes we don't get to go to the playground until later in the day. Today's weather was strange, it was like when we used to live in Montara. There was a misty haze when we woke up and it stayed around all day. Zadie dog and I needed to get outside, so off to the school playground we went just before five o'clock in the evening. The school was busy at that hour; lots of other families, some dog owners with their pets out for a walk, and a boys soccer practice in session.

I got to play with the wood chips on the ground. I like to stack chips atop the red pedestals like I am making a pizza. I think the older kids like to move from pedestal to pedestal without falling off into the 'lava.' Someday, when I can walk and jump, I'll play the lava game too. Today I am making pizza.

It was cool outside so I needed to put on a warm coat. Sometimes my parents find clothes in the closet that they think are still too big because of the size on the label, but actually wind up fitting me now. The clothes marked for 18-months fit currently, but who knows about tomorrow.

Some new vocabulary this week. "Da" definitely gets Papa's attention, but "Da" can also mean a lot of other things - like Mama. I can say "uh-oh," "ball," and "poo-poo" in the correct context. Mama thought I said "football" tonight, but Papa thinks she is just projecting her love for the Denver Broncos.

Lazy like Sunday morning

Sometimes days just turn out right. I got up this morning (actually my parents wanted to sleep longer) and we decided to go for a walk after breakfast. Autumn has definitely arrived in Mountain View; it is cool and crisp with lots of bright direct sunlight. That's ok, we can dress for the cool weather and I like having the sunshine.

We live very close to an elementary school with acres of well-kept grass, along with plenty of climbing gyms and big red slides. I had not tried the slide yet, but what better day than today. Mama decided to slide with me, because I am too small to go solo. How fun! I hope we visit the school often.

I wish

I have a story on my bookshelf that was given to me by Mama's best friend Tracie. It is entitled, Wishes for You by Tobi Tobias and illustrated by Henri Sorensen. Sometimes Mama or Papa will read it to me because I can't read words.

The reason I mention this book is because it is a simple collection of warm thoughts for small people like me. Those thoughts let us know that our parents love us deeply. For example one page says, "I hope you will have moments when you're so happy, you'll feel the Sun is shining from within you." I wouldn't have thought the simple sentences or illustrations would have much impact, but they do. Both my parents get a little sad when they read it to me. But I think they are sad in a good way. It is almost like they are sad because they love me too much. I wish I could let them know I love them just as much.

Balls and daylight saving

Ball, ball, ball. Three colors, two sizes, lots of them. They are pleasing to me. Mama and Papa hide this tent and associated balls during the week (they think I already have enough toys). But, they do bring it out on the weekends. Especially on nice sunny days like today, when the air is warm and the days are still long.

Tomorrow will be different. It is the back end of Daylight Saving Time, where we turn back the clocks and gain an hour overnight. It will be brighter in the mornings, but darker in the evenings. I hope I still get my milk on time.

But it is still today; I'll enjoy the Sun, the tent, and the balls.