Dad's race on Angel Island

Dad had signed up to run a race on Angel Island, he wanted me and mum to go with him but the weather forecasts all said it would be windy and rainy so Mum thought it wouldn't be a good idea for me to go but luckily when we woke up in the morning it was a beautiful day so once our friend JB had got to our place we all drove to Tiburon and caught the ferry over the island.

Here is a photo of me on the ferry with one of my flags on the way over:
It only took about 10 minutes to get to Angel Island, Dad and JB got ready to run:
I was really embarrassed at the start of the race when they sang 'America the Beautiful', Mum, Dad and JB all stood there silently because they don't know the words, I was singing away but I'm not sure they understood what I was saying too well. The race took a long time to get started and I was really really hungry so I didn't get to see them start running because I was too busy getting something to eat.

Once they were gone on their run around the island it started to get very cold. Mum had me all bundled up so I didn't really feel it very much and she kept walking around to keep us both warm. Dad finished just over 45 minutes later and quickly got changed so that he could carry me while we waited for JB who was running around the island twice. I was starting to get a little cold by this point and my stroller looked a lot cozier than being out on the open even if it was with my Dad so I pretended I was tired so that they'd put me in. They snuggled me up in there while they waited out in the cold for JB who ran very very fast because the ferry was due to leave. Unfortunately he didn't make it back in time so I gave up waiting it out in the stroller and we all sat outside a little closed cafe to wait for the ferry. Here's me and my Mum:
She whispered in my ear to do a big pear sauce poop for Dad because he doesn't get to change my nappy as much and she told me that that makes him sad so I did the best I could and Dad got to change me out in the sunshine which I really enjoyed.

We finally got on the ferry at about 1.30pm and made our way back to the car in Tiburon. Here are some photos of me and my Dad on the way back:
That's me and my Dad, I'm not sure what I was looking at but there's usually something interesting going on somewhere.
That's me and Dad with JB and here's me and my Dad looking at the waves splashing on the boat.
It was a smashing day out even if it was a bit chilly in parts. I'd been very good all day but Dad decided we could both be a bit naughty and have our photo taken next to the poshest and most under-used police cars in all of California:

Leah and Ruby hit the swings - again!

Just a quick post today to show you the photos of me and my friend Ruby at the park today. Our mums have worked out a way for us to keep each other safe by sitting in the same swing, it was great fun!This way there's no danger of either of us falling backwards in the seat and we didn't clash heads once. It was nice to have my friend next to me the whole time.
And as always our mums found this all hysterical.
This is me trying to bite my mum - she calls me Sharkbite because I do this quite a lot and I'm very fast!

More soon.

Food Glorious Food - by Leah's Mum

Leah's in bed so I thought I'd post on her behalf and tell you all about the foods she has been eating. Leah turned 5 months old last week and since she gave up the bottle at only 2 months old we've been trying other methods of getting food down her so that when I go back to work she doesn't have a miserable time being very hungry. My daughter appears to be extremely 'strong-willed' (we're not allowed to say stubborn) so I don't know how long she'd go before she gave in and took the bottle, she's already outbattled her Dad for 7 hours so we're not taking the risk.

So we've tried:
Rice Cereal - no problems but very boring and little nutritional value
Oatmeal Cereal - as above, slightly more nutritional value

Then one blender and a visit to the Farmer's Market later we had:
Sweet potato - lots of happy faces, grabbing the spoon
Apples - probably the favourite so far, initial concern after the sweet potato but now slurps it down like it's the best chocolate
Butternut squash - initially fooled by the orange colour and thinking it was sweet potato we've now consigned this to the 'try later' shelf. I'm not sure if it's the thicker texture or just the taste but about as much comes out as goes in
Pluot - without doubt the messiest to make (a purple splashed kitchen prompted the swap from a hand blender to a food processor) it also has a slightly sharp taste which can produce some great faces from the Little One.

I've also made pears and courgettes (zucchini to you American chums), I'm reluctant to try the pears until we've had some more success with vegetables but having tasted the courgette I just can't imagine she's going to go for that if she's turning her nose up at butternut squash. I'm limited to seasonal veg that I can get down the market which luckily has more choice than seasonal veg in the UK at this time of year but still.

So any suggestions? I was thinking Cauliflower maybe? Carrots are on the no-no list I believe, something to do with nitrates.

Update:
Courgettes have been assigned to the 'will try again later' section of the freezer
Pears are a huge success

Carrots are next, nitrates or no nitrates!

Running Wild with Mum in GG Park

Just a few photos from our morning here in sunny San Francisco. We had to get up early today so that Mum could go and run her first race since I came along, it was called the Run Wild race, not sure why but it was a lovely sunny day and there were lots and lots of people in Golden Gate Park, quite a few people were dressed up funny too.

I stayed with Dad while Mum went and ran, she wasn't gone too long thank goodness because I was getting hungry and there were a lot of people looking at me so I was pleased to see her turn up only half an hour later. Dad was very proud of her for managing to run after almost no sleep and very little preparation - I was slightly surprised to see her only just make it past that old guy in the colourful suit though!!




Here's me and my Mum after the race:
And here's someone Dad tried to make me make friends with, I definitely think I'm the cuter one though:

Turkey and yam day? Maybe just the yams for me.

Yesterday was Thanksgiving here in the US and although Mum and Dad aren't American like me and so don't get quite as excited by this holiday they made a last minute decision on Wednesday night to go to Whole Foods so that we could all celebrate in the traditional American way by eating lots of food. We started the day with a nice walk down to Fisherman's Wharf and Aquatic Park. There was this huuuuuge tree there covered in all sorts of shiny and colourful things so me and Dad had to have our photo taken next to that:

Unfortunately for me just up the road from the big tree is a big Gap store, well you know how they like to mess about with me in Gap, well today was no different. Mum says it's very important for a girl to know how to put an outfit together so they found me shoes and a handbag to match my outfit:
I couldn't see Dad's face but Mum was nearly rolling on the floor laughing, I don't laugh at her when she's trying stuff on, doesn't seem fair to me. Still we figured we'd better get out before we got into trouble so we walked on up to Aquatic Park. Once we got there I noticed Mum looking at me funny, I think I'm getting wise to their tricks now, whenever she looks at me like that things go all dark for a while and I end up in here:
They even think it's funny enough to take a photo of me the cheeky buggers. After our morning stroll we headed back for our Thanksgiving dinner. As I'm only just starting to eat proper food I wasn't allowed any of Dad's turkey but Mum had mashed me up some sweet potatoes especially. Here's Dad helping me to eat them:
And here's me mid-way through the process - do you like my snazzy new high-chair? Mum says it's safer than the Bumbo and it's great because I can sit in it when Mum's in the kitchen and help her do the cooking:
They also said that pretty soon I'd have to start eating these funny looking things, I'm not so sure!

Happy Thanksgiving to all my US chums. Happy nearly the end of November to my British chums.

Sunday in the City

I heard Mum and Dad talking this morning about whether to walk over to the Marina today or put me in the car and take me over the bridge to Marin for a walk. I know Dad loves that bridge but I really hate that car seat so I was glad when they decided that we'd just walk to the Marina today. Of course I wasn't telling them that I had no intention of being pushed in my stroller but they figured that out pretty quickly once I started shouting only one block from the house and I got to ride up with Dad in the Bjorn all the way to Fisherman's Wharf. I must've got a little bit sleepy at that point because next thing I know I was awake in my stroller and looking at some boats so I think they tricked me when I wasn't paying attention.

We first went to Baby Gap where Mum and Dad made me try on some ridiculous hats:

Usually I'd kick up a fuss at this, particularly after tricking me with the stroller earlier but I figured I'd bide my time. Then we went to my favourite shop Giggles where Mum and Dad tried me out in a couple of snazzy looking high-chairs then Mum tried on yet another baby carrier to see if I'd like that any better than the other 5 we have in the house. I kept quiet because I know she's starting to get sore shoulders and an aching back but if I don't like it later I'll definitely let her know. They also bought me a nice new toy to play with, I'd seen something very similar on Friday at the Natural Resources store - I must've done so well playing with it that they decided to get me one all of my own. I like Giggles because it has lots of mobiles and ceiling fans to look at and when I'm sat on Dad's chest looking at them I tend to get a little bit sleepy.

Dammit I woke up again in my stroller but this time more fool them, they thought they could have a quiet lunch with me asleep so I waited until the moment the food was put on the table to announce my awakening to them. Haha revenge is a dish best served cold. Dad held me while Mum ate, then Mum held me while Dad ate. They even gave me my new toy to play with to keep me quiet:
Once we finished with the shopping they took me to a lovely spot next to the Exploratorium for my favourite game of lying on the rug and kicking my legs, I also got to look at some trees and the fountain there while they amused themselves taking photos of me in silly positions:


Another typical day with Mum and Dad here in San Francisco.

Rainbows rainbows everywhere

Yesterday Mum, her friend Erika, and my friend Ruby, all went for a walk around a couple of neighbourhoods in San Francisco. The weather was beautiful and sunny with no rain but strangely enough I spotted lots of rainbows at the first place we went to. I even managed to grab one all to myself:
After that we went to a hardware store that Mum found very funny, she kept looking at little decorations to hang on our Christmas tree that weren't shaped like any of the ones I'd seen before at Macy's. There were some shaped like a man that Mum told me is called Elvis, guitars and lots and lots of glitter.

After we finished at the rainbow place Mum and Erika bought some food and took me and Ruby to a park. Ruby fell asleep straight away but I was too busy shouting to fall asleep so Mum lay me on my blanket so that I could kick my legs and wave my arms about which was smashing. Then we all walked to another neighbourhood called the Mission so that we could go to the lovely shop that has lots of toys in it and lots of things for Mum to buy for me. Mum said that last time I went there I shouted for 45 minutes non-stop and she was a bit worried that we wouldn't be allowed back in so I promised to be on my best behaviour this time. Ruby had woken up by this time and we had a great time while Mum bought me some new bibs because I'm starting to eat grown-up food, Erika bought Ruby some new nipples (I was too embarrassed to ask why).

When we got home we bumped into some strange looking animals with antlers, I wasn't allowed to play with them but the nice man said I could play with the white one that was pretending to be one:

and some even stranger looking people:
Dad came down to join us and he and Mum seemed to get very excited at the animals and funny men with long beards, I'm not sure why but they said I'll find out in about a month so I'll do my best to try and remember.

San Francisco or the Big Apple?

It was a relatively quiet day today in Leah-land, no excursions, just a day out to Yerba Buena gardens to look at the trees but no sooner had Mum sat me down on my blanket then we were approached by 2 men from pinger.com who asked us to do a little piece to camera for their website. Mum swallowed her Britishness and went for it figuring they'd probably cut us out later because of her funny accent and the fact that she hadn't brushed her hair today (she says that's my fault).

We got home later in the afternoon, Mum was complaining because I'd asked her to carry me all day but she decided to make a game out of the new foods I'm trying. I ate all my oatmeal and milk up, I even managed to grab the spoon and get some in my mouth all by myself, mind you I also managed to get some in my eye and in my hair. She then let me have a try of this weird sweet thing she was crunching away on (doesn't she realise it's not fair to eat stuff in front of me?) I think she was teasing me because I don't have teeth yet so couldn't bite it but I gave it a good old lick and a bit of a suck and it was good fun, I smiled and smiled in the hope that she'll share some of those brown bars with Lions on that I've seen her secretly scoffing but no good. I'll keep working on her!