THE INN IS OPEN

We are having a run of visitors this month. What fun we are having!

Vanessa had a friend over this weekend, Sophia, and her parents, Rob and Manuela.

Jack met Rob oh about 30 years ago as high school students in the Bay Area. We haven't seen them in ten years, but it felt like 10 days. They live in Santa Barbara now, so it's a short trip. It was really fun.

Vanessa grabbed Sophia's hand and took her everywhere she would agree to go. Sophia picked up Vanners and carried her around like, well, a baby. V-Dog is half her size so that was quite a sight.

We four parents ditched Grandma, Sophia and Vanessa one night and went out for dinner. Woo hoo! When we arrived home we discovered they had watched the Backyardigans, scribbled with crayons, had a tea party with the baby dolls, ate ice cream sundaes, and had just put Chitty Chitty Bang Bang on. All in two hours' time.

We took a beach walk together.

We went to the Hearst Castle together. Banana-chan started shouting, "I want the boob. I want the boob!" at the beginning of the tour, so Daddio arranged for Van and I to be ushered to a private nursing room. We missed nearly all the tour, as a result. When we rejoined the group, Nanners was a wriggly, wiggly little noisemaker, so Daddio had to sprint around with her.

The funny thing is, one of our docents recognized Vanessa. It's true! She said, "We met at the park one time." She was right. I said, "I have a photo of your grandson on Van's blog!" Talk about a small world. Her grandson, Ried, is the 3 year old who saw Vanessa from across the park, tried to climb up after her, and eventually grabbed her hand and kissed her rather intently.

After the tour, we visited the elephant seal colony on the coast. It's calfing season. What an incredible sight!

The little brown newborns were so cute I wanted to steal one and raise it in our bathtub. Daddio said no. We have our hands full.

Then, Monday, whilst we all rested, Daddio left for an indoor track meet in Fresno. "Auntie" Shea-Shea showed off a little bit in the high jump. See a nice article, here. Note that Shea looks extra buffed with those muscles flexed:

http://www.iaaf.org/news/kind=100/newsid=48977.html

And, on Tuesday, we watched our new President, "Rock Oh Mama," as Van calls him, be sworn in.

Next up? Cousins Pete, Becky, Molly and Daniel come this weekend from Sacramento and Granny Ernestine arrives Monday. Then, after both grandmothers leave, we go to L.A. for "Auntie" Nell's wedding. Nanners has already started practicing to be a flower girl - Grandma noted, "She takes it very seriously."

GRANDMA IS HERE!

There are a few stories and photos I've neglected to post on the blog that deserve airing. I'll try to get them up now. In the meantime, life has continued to roll right along for Vanessa and her family and friends, including having Grandma Patty arrive from Vermont. She's with us in California for three short weeks. Can you say, "Par-tay!"

Vanners and I drove to San Francisco to greet Granny Ernestine and all go to the aeropuerto to get our little old Vermonter. Granny said, "There she is!" and Van leaped off the luggage cart she was riding illegally and bee-lined to Grandma for a bear hug. We can't imagine a better reception.

Then we were treated to an impromptu visit with Marie Scott, who prayed her socks off for Vanessa for years, back when she was just a hope. Marie's daughter is pregnant with twins at the age of 43 and things have been very touch and go. Let's hope those twins are as healthy and, um, as kittenish as Vanny, despite the high risk pregnancy. See Marie and Vanessa, here:





Grandma, Vanessa and I all slept in a king sized bed at Granny's house that night. Grandma fell asleep early so, when Van and I crept into bed and I said, "Don't wake Grandma," she took it very seriously. She sat up after a few minutes and said, "I don't want to wake up Grandma. I get down," and off she marched. She fell asleep in my arms in the living room. Then, during the night, she'd wake up, look over at Grandma and say, "Oh, it's Grandma," and then fall back to sleep like a good little girl. We think this was some kind of major bonding event.

See Nanners here, working her living ancestors handily:

When we got home to our house, Grandma headed for bed, but V-Dog would not have her go alone. We came to rescue Grandma from our wee Energizer Bunny, but Nanners held up her hand, saying, "I'm okay! I'm okay! No, Mama, no, Daddy: go away!" and she jumped across the room and slammed the bedroom door in our face. She wanted some exclusive, uninterrupted time with her Grandmother. They spent an hour together in Grandma's bedroom doing who knows what together. They are quite the pair of giggly, curious, little rascals.

Aside from visiting, we've had some funny adventures over the past month or so.

Last month I had a cancer genetics appointment at the City of Hope in Los Angeles, so I had an elaborate plan to leave the house at 6 a.m. to make it to my 10 a.m. appointment. I loaded the car and got the heat running while Daddio scooped up our sleeping Nanners and tucked her into the car seat. I dashed back inside for a sippy cup, Daddio shut the car door, and voila! all the doors were locked with both sets of car keys inside and the engine running. Van didn't cry for the first 20 minutes. We called AAA and the fire department, who arrived at the same time and got her out. We were late for our appointment in L.A., but the doctor was still astonished by my medical case and its positive outcome. He shook my hand and forgave me for being late.

When we are in L.A. we stop by to visit Granny Ernestine's older sister, Aunt Betty, and Uncle Wally in Pasadena. Aunt Betty was a teacher until just a few years ago. She and Vanessa became instant friends. When Vanessa came over to visit after not seeing each other for nearly a year, Aunt Betty exclaimed, "Why, she's like Barak Obama!" Aunt Betty was referring to Vanessa's apparent drive and energy, "Obama's mother said he always knew what he wanted," she added. She and Uncle Wally are vocal Obama supporters.

Van got a big pimple on her behind which grew and grew. Our pediatrician wanted to culture it. He strolled into the exam room, said, "Hello," and went right over to the sink. Van said, "Mama, Dr. Bravo is washing his hands," and he whipped his head around, amazed. Last time she was in, at 18 months, she wouldn't even produce a "Mama" for him. She got over her stage fright, I guess. Nanners was fully cooperative as we lanced the boil on her behind with a sharp object, even saying, "Thank you," afterwards. Dr. Bravo was blown away.

More recently, it's been party season around here. Vanessa was invited to a birthday party for friend Maddie, who turned 3. It was held at the kiddie gymnastics center, and boy, was it ever a blast! After gymnastics, everyone sat around the table and sang, "Happy Birthday" to Maddie. They had cupcakes, snacks, and juice. As the party was winding down, Vanners was lying down... on the floor... which is a big red flag. Or should I say a big pink flag, because as we left, V-dog suddenly stopped in the parking lot, coughed a few times, then shot out a lot of pink frosting, strawberries, pink snacks and pink juice. We moved her over to the bushes and she turned those pink, too. "Are you okay, honey?" we asked when the storm cleared. "Yes," came the reply and we thanked God heartily the pink had not let loose in either the gymnasium or the car seat. Her first post-party vomitorium and she didn't even whimper or soil her clothes. That's my girl.

This weekend Nanners was the toddler of honor at "Auntie" Nell's bridal shower. There were two outliers at the party, in terms of age... one was dear little Vanessakins, and the other was her mama. Both of us were 20 years away from the rest of the crowd. Undaunted, we both made our best attempt to act 22. "Auntie" Shea-Shea hosted the party and many of Banana's best babysitters were on hand from the team. I shot a lot of pics, but not on my camera. For now, I'll post the link to some of Nell's latest work with Underarmour. Maybe you've heard of them. See her in pink, here:

http://www.underarmour.com/shop/us/en/womens

Van will be the flower girl at Nell and Braidy's wedding at the end of January. We think she'll be right at home with the limelight. We'll have to practice walking down the aisle on task, though.

This weekend, we attended Baby Grant's 2nd birthday party at the park. In attendance were Grant, Vanessa, and Scarlett, all from our birthing classes, and Thomas and Nolan, boys of similar vintage who we also play with on a regular basis. Last year at Grant's 1st birthday party Vanessa assumed the hubub, balloons, and singing were for her. This year, she assumed the fleet of scooters and trikes were for her. She had a blast, as did we all.

Dude! Don't overdo the frosting!

When we're not attending parties we're enjoying the beach and our hot January weather. The following pics are from our sunset photo shoot while Daddio was surfing.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Dear Everyone,

What an incredible year 2008 has been! Thanks for being a part of it.

Vanessa would like you all to know she's lovin' every minute of being alive.

Jack and I would like to say the past two years have gone by like one giant year, with a full decade of experiences packed in. Time has been, well, warped. We love it. We wonder how warped 2009 will be and await it with great interest.

December 2008 ended with a bang. Uncle Jimmy and Auntie Susan hosted a California family gathering at their house the weekend before Christmas. We had a blast. Vanessa was Santa's First Assistant, delivering each gift under the tree to the appropriate person. She made no mistakes.

It was, perhaps, a trick year, because there were a few new faces in the crowd. One of Vanny's favorites, Anthony, is cousin Adrienne's fiance. Extra special person number 2 was the lovely Nicole, cousin Matt's new girlfriend.

Auntie Susan gave Vanners a trunk full of Disney Princess Dresses, replete with crowns, jewels, slippers, and a sceptre. Van said, "Oh no way!" and promptly paraded her new wardrobe about the house, ultimately declaring the pink dress to be her top choice. Yes, your Highness.

Unfortunately, after getting over a wee staph infection, Vanessa then moved on to a respiratory bug of some kind. So, with Banana-kins suddenly illin', we high-tailed it home after our Christmas party, perhaps earlier than we would if she were healthy and didn't need her inhaler.

As a result, we only scarcely celebrated our grand daughter's second birthday on the 22nd. We did take her downtown to meet and greet Saint Nick and ride the merry-go-round, and served up her current favorite meal of hot dogs and grilled onions. No cake.

The following day, December 23rd, we sang the official "Happy Birthday" song with candles when friends Andrea and Jennifer came over with hand crafted cupcakes and gifts. Grandma mailed a scooter and rocking seat. Too bad Nanners was so sick. She woke up rather disoriented from a 3 hour nap when her guests arrived. She screamed, cried and clung to her mama, snot-nosed and swollen faced. The poor dear.

She rallied when she got her new tu-tu on and a scooter lesson, both compliments of Andrea.

The next day, more gifts for Vanessa. It was Christmas Eve, after all.

And Christmas? More gifts, of course. Nearly all for VanNannerkins, although I did get Daddio new underpants and he did get me a box of maple cereal. Boy, we went all out this year. Vanessa didn't rush to open any of the gifts, didn't feel like she needed much, and was very appreciative of all she received.

The day after Christmas the tree came down. Vanessa was sick all weekend and therefore stuck to me like a newborn marsupial in a pouch. She healed up just in time for our New Year's guests, Karl, Yvonne and 12 month old Baby Lucas to arrive from the snows of Seattle.

Karl was an elite decathlete training under Jack several years ago. Later, he worked as Jack's assistant coach, and, when we moved to California, Karl was hired into Jack's position as Head Coach in Seattle. Forget all that, we are just all simpatico.

We've been enjoying the sights together. For New Year's Eve we had a fresh crab fest with our guests, "Uncle" Chris, Andrea and Jennifer. It was a hoot!

We've been touring around with Karl, Yvonne and Baby Lucas in the Big Daddy Caddy because it holds all of us - two car seats and four adults. Lucas holds Vanessa's hand as they ride along. See them here, Nanners fast asleep between adventures.



Although Yvonne and Karl got up and went running at 8 a.m. on New Year's Day whilst Daddio and I lingered in bed, we are a very similar couple. At least, we have similar marriages - coach + coach's wife - and similar parenting styles (attachment parenting).

See Yvonne here, getting her first ever surf lesson from Jack, at sunset. Photos courtesy of Karl.

Did you make any New Year's resolutions for 2009? I have one and only one: I resolve to try to keep pace with this heaven-sent creature.