Christmas with Keelin

Keelin came for Christmas this year (actually Andrew had to fly there to pick her up and drop her off). We had a wonderful time together. The kids just love playing together, even when it ends up in tears. Ryker even gave up sleeping in KeeKee's bed without any complaints. It was such a busy trip with the Nutcracker, Cirque du Soleil OVO, Bay Area Discovery Museum, hula lessons, ice skating, trips to Krispy Kreme and the park, art projects, cooking together, tickle games, etc.

Bay Area Discovery Museum

I finally took Ryker to the museum today. It was a drizzly, dreary day here and we had a great time. The museum is for kids 8 y.o. and younger and it is all touchable and interactive. Ryker got to jump in the pond (a kind of waterbed), help plastic fish swim up stream, crawl through lots of tunnels, make waves, steer the boat, climb the pirate lookout. We will definitely go back!

Halloween

Ryker and I picked Andrew up at the airport. He was returning from a visit to Keelin and arrived back just in time for Halloween. Ryker did NOT want to put his monkey costume on. I bribed him into it with a piece of chocolate. He was a little confused by the "trick or treat" thing at first. THEN he got it! I turned the table on him and had him help pass out candy. He liked that part just as much and gave everyone a big handful.

Pumpkin Carving

Tia Lisa invited us to a pumpkin carving party at Precita Park. Ryker told her what he wanted: sad, teeth, nose, etc. and the artist set to work. He was so excited when we took it home and I put a candle in it.

LuLu!!!!

Ryker woke up the other night to find that LuLu was sleeping in his room. I told him she was coming but I still think it was a big surprise for him. We had a great time - Fleet Week, trolleys, buses, and trains, Chinatown, Muir Woods. Ryker hiked quite a distance!

Weekend at the beach

We took Lisa's dogs to the beach just south of SF. It was a beautiful day to play in the waves. In fact, it was so nice we went again on Sunday. Ryker has no fear and we had to keep him from running down to the water without us.

Bed Time

Ryker decided that he absolutely did not want to sleep in his crib anymore. He also (finally) discovered that he could climb out. So, we extended the Stokke to the toddler bed. The entire nighttime routine is a bit trying these days:

Ryker, time for bed

No! No want to!

Ryker, let's go, time for bed

Why? Wanna play!

This goes on for some time. The other night, we even got a "whatever" from him when we told him it was time for bed. Isn't that supposed to come like years from now? We manage to get him in the shower with a promise of "toga" afterwards. He loves to have his towel wrapped around him as a toga and runs around screaming "toga! toga!" Go figure.

The Hummingbirds

Ryker started "school" last week. It is a daycare here in Noe Valley and I feel that we were very lucky to get him into it. He goes 3 days per week from 9:30 to 3:30 pm. They have trains! cars! sandbox! He loves it - even if he isn't sharing very well... Andrew takes him and picks him up on the Burley (bike). I'm not quite up to all of the hills here after hauling, cleaning and painting 12 hours a day...

San Francisco - Finally Home!!!

After Andrew took Keelin back to Northern Ireland, Ryker and I moved into a friend's house for a week to accomodate tenant move-in/out dates. Andrew surprised us by returning early to help us move into our new home (and 4th move of the month!). Ryker has been surprisingly adaptive to all of the change. Yes, the potty training has disappeared but he is coping pretty well considering what he's dealing with this month. Our new home is a two bedroom apartment that Andrew owns. We've repainted most of it this week. His shipment arrived from Dublin and we had to unload that (using a manual pulley system) and then bring my things from the other house. We worked almost non-stop on my birthday. Well, the only stop was to go to the grocery store to pick up pasta for dinner. When we returned there was the most amazing floral arrangement on the door step from the Lamms. You cannot imagine how good it felt to return to our disaster and have that beauty awaiting me. So, I cooked dinner while Andrew put Ryker to bed. Andrew and I then enjoyed our pasta and cheesecake in the living room, looking at the flowers and drinking champagne. All I could think was I happy I felt to be with my family in our home. The only thing missing was Keelin. That would have made it perfect.

Arriving in SF

We arrived on August 15th. The movers showed up 2 days later with my stuff. Keelin and Andrew arrived later the same day. It was a mad dash to get everything positioned to show the house. The garden needed to be totally redone. It was so hot that the kids played in the new sprinkler system once we finished. We also managed to take Keelin and Ryker to the park, zoo, Mitchell's ice cream, aquarium, boat tour, making lemonade with lemons from the yard, making pizza, painting pottery, and mani/pedi for Keelin & Sarah. AVO sent Keelin the blue sequined shoes. She loved them!!! We all had a great time!