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!