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A trip back to Italy also means I get to see many of my friends. I am sometimes surprised by how many people I am still in touch with. In fact, I think I am the one who is in touch with more high school friends. Maybe it make sense: when you move to a different country you cling to pieces of your past…In any case, it was fun to see old friends, and to catch up on what happened in the last year.

This year I had the pleasure to meet my friend Tiziana’s 9 months old baby, who reminds me of Keegan, as far as sleep patterns are concerned, and I also the chance to see my friend Simona in her last few days of her third pregnancy…and I got to meet the new baby as well: how special. We met a couple of times with her kids, who are a little older than Keegan, but again young enough they don’t mind playing together. Once again we went to the Museum Park, and hung out on the play yard area.

combo slide

We could not miss the Merry Go Round and the everlasting train ride, of course. I think I mentioned it last year: this is really the longest train ride in the universe as  it does 6 rounds!!! I guess you get your money worth.

We were also fortunate to spend Simona’s last evening as a pregnant women together: we met up in the afternoon and played. Then got some delicious pizza and kicked back. While the kids watched some TV, we relaxed, chatted and downed a couple of beers.

Literally a few hours after we left, she was at the hospital…it must have been my belly kiss that did it. (-: And quickly, Margherita was born. Yes, just like my mom. How interesting that two of my friends chose this name for their daughters. We got to see her after they went back home. She is so small…I forgot how small babies are!

Keegan was very excited about meeting the baby. He is very fascinated by babies, and I have to say he is very gentle with them (surprisingly, since we are still full of bruises from his rough play). He says he would like a baby even though I am sure he would be crushed if he had to share our attention.

We spent also a lot of time with my friend Loredana and Francesca, her little girl. We went playing at the park together, and watched fisherman catching small fish in the Naviglio (yuck), and they loved to roughhouse together.

Keegan also discovered a favorite ice cream, Liuk, a lemon popsicle with a licorice stick. He could not get enough of it.

It makes me really happy to see how Keegan gets along with my dear friends. He has a special connection with the people I like, and this is great.Of course all the gifts he receives from them and all the attention does not hurt.

I just wish we lived closer…but I enjoyed all the time spent together.

I love spending time with my family and friends. I also have to admit I like the help I receive from my parents in taking care and entertaining my little one. Thank you so much!!! They really provided me with some much needed downtime for shopping, relaxing (even reading) and some fun afternoon and evenings out. I met some high school friends for our annual visit, and it was wonderful not to have to worry about getting home so the babysitter can leave.

This year I was also able to see my friend Giada that lives in Germany. For a lucky coincidence, she was in Milano for her nephew’s baptism. So, even if her time was very limited, we had the chance to meet for drinks at a fancy rooftop lounge bar, across from the Duomo. It was great to see her. Amazing: we got to meet two years in a row. We know each other, literally, since she was born, 8 months after me.

So, all and all it was another great trip. Spending a lot of time with family and friends, without hurry, and just enjoying each other’s company, makes the long trip and even longer adjustment so worthwhile. I already miss all of you, and I am so sad I can’t have my family closer to me and don’t get to talk to my friend, face to face, more than once a year (if I am lucky). However, I know that the wonderful memories will keep me company in the months ahead.

Thank everyone for making our trip so enjoyable and of course thank you to my parents for pampering us, spoiling us and making us feel like celebrities. You are the best and we love you lots!

Our annual trip to Italy has come and gone. This year, just like last, only Keegan and I made it across the pond. Fortunately, every year the trip gets a little less difficult, and the pile of baggage is a little smaller.

Can’t you tell from the arrival photo? Don’t forget last year I had 7 pieces of carry on, while this year I only had 4: my carry on, my purse, Keegan’s backpack (which he carried for some of the trip) and the car seat. Oh, the car seat: remember the 17 lb  I had carry on my back??? Well, once again it was worth the pain and suffering, including fighting with a flight attendant that did not bend his rule of “3 year old or younger”. Keegan slept in it, up to 6 hours at a time, and quietly sat in it, buckled, for hours. What’s not to love? It compensates for sore muscles. We tried British Airways this time, and I have to say it was great for many reasons:

1) you leave at night time and arrive at night time
2) you fly 10/12 hours straight in a large airplane , so plenty time for sleep or relaxing or walking up and down
3) you land at Linate airport, only 20 minutes away from home (vs. Malpensa, 1.5 hr)
4) you ship your bags directly to the destination without having to get them and transfer them at the first port of entry in US

Also, the planes are nicer, with individual monitors and movie library, the flight attendants are actually nice and pleasant and you can request child meals. If I did not have all that weight with me, the layover would have been nice too, since London Heathrow Airport is like a large shopping mall.

As always, these two weeks flew by.  As always it took Keegan 1 week to get adjusted, and his sleeping and going to bed was somewhat troublesome for the whole trip. It was at time so frustrating I went to buy the Italian translation of Go The F…To Sleep, renamed Fai ‘sta C..o di nanna and wonderfully translated. I am waiting for the audio book, narrated by the Italian Samuel L. Jackson. (-: You should have seen the disgusted face the late 50’s cashier gave me when she rung it up. OBVIOUSLY it is not targeted at her, and OBVIOUSLY she does not have a three years old that does not sleep. The only surprising thing was that the book was displayed in the Children Help Section, next to the serious book on raising children.

Other than the usual sleep issues, though, we had a great time. It was wonderful to spend time with family and friends. While we did not do any special trip, spending time together was priceless. Keegan got re-acquainted with his grandparents right away, and they were laughing and playing together from the airport. Nonno and Nonna invented many new games to keep him entertained and he was just loving all the attention.

Reading new Italian books was always fun, but his absolute favorite were the books I used to read when I was young. My dad kept most of my toys and books, and it was fun, even for me, to rediscover them. Disney 3 little pigs combined with the old VHS tape of circa 1950 animation was a hit. He has been singing these songs ever since.

more reading

And talking about my toys, my old Barbie Doll House was brought up again. Granted, Keegan used it for all sort of creatures, not just Barbies (which were pretty abused in the bath already), but still, I thought it would make a nice blackmail photo for when he is older and dating…

We also went for our annual visit to The Natural History Museum, another blast from the past for me: it was one of my favorite places to go. This year, since Keegan has been more and  more interested in Dinosaurs we visited also the fossils area. They had huge recreations of entire dinosaurs skeletons as well many other animals bones and skulls. It was pretty cool.

watch out for the T. Rex

stegosaurus and footprints

my all time favorite, Triceratops

And since the museum is inside a large park, there was the obligatory Merry Go Round…and round…and round…up to 9 rides at a time. These grandparents are really spoiling him. (-:

The same park also has wonderful places to watch Koi fish and turtles, and to climb and play.

Eating great food is also another wonderful part of our trip, and Keegan and I indulged in delicious soups, pastas, and of course breads, pizza, focaccia and gelato. The round little focaccias where one of his favorite, along with his liquid yogurt.

Keegan was also thrilled of spending time with his cousins, aunt and uncle. Fortunately they are still young enough they enjoy playing with a little one, and they showed him off at school. They visited us…

…and we visited them at their house, where Keegan could play soccer with his cousin and his friend. I am not sure how he is not falling down after these kicks, but he does not. Maybe we should enroll him in a soccer school.

not very graceful, but effective

They really got along great, and Keegan was so excited about having them around…He was also very sad when it was time to leave.

Despite random sicknesses, we were able to have nice dinners all together and even got the chance to take our annual group photo in my parents’ living room. It is fun to compare them, year after year.

…and  hello Blue Dolphins!

Keegan graduated to the next class in his preschool. He is very excited about it and so are we, and not only because the tuition is getting lower.

He had a lot of fun in the Green Gator class, despite a little rough start, with the change of three teachers and he really bonded with his final teacher, Ms. Johnna. She was very good, very sweet and fun, and all the kids just loved her. Good thing Keegan will still see her and play with her. All kids, from 2 years up, play together outside, once the classroom schedule is over.

Ms. Johnna

The new class will be a little more demanding. The new teacher, Ms. Marlena, introduced the curriculum to us during open house: there will be science, and phonics and reading and writing preparation, along with basic motor skills development and a couple of field trips. This sounds like a great plan, and I am looking forward to the progress. Keegan seems very excited about the change: despite the fact that Ms. Marlena is a lot stricter and more of a disciplinarian (which never hurts), 6 of his best friends “graduated” to the blue Dolphins room too. Keegan, Mackenzie, Rozalin, Kelsen, Elliott and Julia are now together. I do feel a little for his teacher, because these kids together can be trouble, and definitely the are a handful! (-: She feels optimistic, though,a bout this class and how much they will accomplish.

Blue Dolphins Room

So have a good school year, my sweet, little Blue Dolphin.

Summer may be officially over, but the nice, warm weather (and the actual calendar) made us indulge in Summer fun a little longer.

We planned a few play dates to take advantage of the tourists’ departure: we went to the zoo with Torin and his mom and dad, and explored new paths. Krista and Eric are the experts when it comes to the zoo, and know all the shortcuts. We saw giraffes, polar bears, monkeys, meerkats, tortoises (getting busy as always), snakes and other assorted animals. We even took the sky ride back, saving us a long uphill walk, while providing wonderful aerial views of the zoo and the bay. Keegan loved it. Another highlight was the zoo train. How fun, for them…

Another fun tourist attraction is the Birch Aquarium. While not as extensive as the Monterey Aquarium, it is still fun to visit, and you can’t beat the view. It was the perfect place to be in an unusually rainy Sunday. Jada and Sharon met us there. They also have a nice kid play area, which was Keegan’s favorite part.

Eaten by Bruce the shark?

The outside fountain

We also had the chance to use the little inflatable pool some more, by having Hannah and family over. Buying that pool was definitely little money well spent. The kids loved splashing in the Shamu pool and jumping around.

After a few more games, it was time for art. They were so serious and concentrated, and it was interesting to see the different “styles” in action: Keegan mixed all the colors in large quantity till he had a big gray blob on the page, while Hannah was carefully choosing colors and keeping them all neatly separated.

We had dinner outside: the kids had their little table while the adults were relaxing at the big table, and baby Natalie, was happily playing on the floor. The kids also had a cute fruit composition, “funny fruits” as Keegan called it; I was hoping to encourage them, especially Keegan, to eat some fruit: no such luck. No matter: we were more than happy to help out.

After dinner we had story time, tickle time, thanks to the Tickle Monster book, and just plain goofing around.

Throwing themselves over the bean bags

Making funny faces

Finally, Keegan got to experience his first boat ride. My friend Gary, whom I have known since college, owns a fishing boat, and he took us for a nice tour of Mission Bay. Keegan liked to pretend he was driving…

His favorite part, though, was spraying pelicans and cormorants with a water gun. He just could not get enough of it.

Fortunately, Gary knew a spot where they gather in large number, alongside the California sea lion (you can distinguish them from seals thanks to their color and because they do have ears). They are incredibly loud, but it is kind of cool watching them lounge around.

Thank you Gary!!!! We had so much fun, we will have to convince Gary to take us out again.

Even if summer is basically over, we took advantage of a great labor Day sale and bought a family tent. We have been talking about going camping and we definitely needed a new, larger tent. We went all out and got a 6 people, two rooms one: even if the divider is a thin piece of fabric, it is great to have our own space. And since I am small, I can actually stand inside. If our fall is warm and sunny as usual we may be able to get our quick camping trip. If not, we will do some backyard camping till next spring. Keegan really liked it.

Matt and I also had the chance to say goodbye to Summer in a beautiful way. For our last date night before my trip, we went for a 2 hour kayak sunset tour of la Jolla Caves. It was beautiful! While we did not see the tiger sharks, we enjoyed the beautiful caves, and plenty of Garibaldi fish, pelicans, cormorants and of course sea lions, in their natural habitat: this area of la Jolla is a marine preserve. It was fun to see them swim or dive alongside us. We also took a close look at the caves, and even entered into the largest one. We tried eating seaweed (salty and slimy) and enjoyed the most beautiful sunset, sitting in glassy water. What a great way to conclude the season!

You never really understand how much we rely on electricity till you have to face a blackout. It was a really unprecedented one. The afternoon started as any other day: I was working at my computer, and we had some guys pouring some concrete in the backyard. As I was getting ready to pick up Keegan at school, I realized we did not have any power. I thought, at  first, that the guys did something to cut the power off. I then realized that the whole house was out, and as I called Sharon next door, that the whole neighborhood was out. During my whole drive to Keegan’s school, I did not see one traffic light working.My cell phone was working intermittently, but my land line, and corded phone, worked great. So I guess it was worth keeping a relic hanging on the wall.

At school, we exchanged stories about the black out and listened to the radio. This being San Diego, there were comparisons to horrible catastrophes, like hurricanes and tornadoes, but, all exaggerations aside, we did find out that the black out was extensive, stretching from western Arizona to the coast and from Orange County all the way to Baja California, Mexico. WOW, this is more than 7 millions people without power. Cars were stalled, and traffic jams were horrendous, so a few of us decided to wait it out a little, and have our kids play outside school for a while.

Fortunately, the roads we were driving were pretty open, so both Matt and I made it home quickly. We gathered candles and powerful LED flashlights and got ready for the night. I was mainly worried about the food, since I had been grocery shopping the previous day. Keegan, while amused by the novelty, was not too happy because he could not see his many little toy cars and therefore play with them, and proclaimed “I don’t want another blackout ever again”.

enjoying watching his huge shadow on the wall

After Keegan went to bed, we settled in, had a nice candlelit dinner (how romantic) and started watching a movie on the portable DVD player….before we both crashed. Fortunately the power came back on around 2am, so it has only been 11 hours, but what was more disturbing was the cause: while inquiries are underway, it looks like ONE guy, in Arizona, changing a malfunctioning part on a transmission line, had cause all this, including the shutting down of the nuclear reactors in San Onofre. Pretty scary thought…ONE guy cuts power to 7 million people, and none of the safeguards worked…

the dramatic headline the following day

The next day, we hoped for a return to normal…no suck luck. Keegan’s school was closed, and so was mine, as it turns out. Don’t ask me why: they are both private schools. So that meant scrambling to find something entertaining to do, but also that my last day of work and end of class, had to be postponed to Monday. Not fun. At least we managed to spend a good, if tiring, day together. We played and we went to the Science Museum. It was not as crowded as I thought, especially considering the two for one  offer and we had a great time playing around the different exhibits.

following his daddy’s footsteps…will it be a water resources engineer?

In the afternoon we got our flue shots and obligatory ice cream and finished the day reading stories, deeply grateful for the bright light that was illuminating the words. Of course we all made plans to stock up our emergency kit, for real this time, and of course nothing has been done… YET. But with fire season just around the corner, it may not be a bad idea.

August was quite eventful as well. We started the month with a bang with a weekend getaway to Monterey: Matt’s sister Sue and her family were in town for a convention, so we met them up there. We picked up Keegan from school right after lunch and headed to the airport. Of course, it had to be Circus Day at school, so we retrieved a little boy with fading face painting and bright green, glitter hair. We received quite a few comments on that, and we had glitter everywhere!

circus day

at the airport…attracting quite a few stares

We stayed at the Embassy Suites which was an awesome hotel. We arrived in time for the free happy hour (open bar and snacks) which Keegan loved. Free, “unlimited” popcorn? Small fountains with live Koi fish?  “Tropical plants”? What’s not to love?

We headed to the Worf, the more touristy part of the city, for an excellent seafood dinner with Aunt Sue and cousin Hannah. Even if Keegan has not seen them since he was little, he immediately loved them, especially Hannah, also called by him: oatmeal hair. This never ceased to amuse him, for the whole three days.

apple hair and oatmeal hair (Keegan and Hannah)

The next day, after an excellent free breakfast, we went to the famous Monterey Aquarium. It was beautiful! We also met Matt’s brother Jim, his wife Dyah and their kids, Jimmy and Kirana. Keegan was trooper and “endured” a 4 hour visit. It must have been an all time record. He watched otters being fed, and diver cleaning tanks, and fluorescent jelly fish and all sort of aquatic animals.

Hannah, Jimmy and Keegan in the wave tunnel

Kirana and Keegan in the wave tunnel

Keegan, Jimmy and Kirana and the fluorescent jellyfish

After lunch, we went back to the hotel for a much needed nap. We met everyone again at our hotel for happy hour and quick swim in the pool. We had a great family dinner together… It was great to be together, even if for a short time. We miss them and we wish we could get together more often.

The next morning, with Keegan waking up so early, we had the chance to enjoy the hotel some more. We went to the heated, indoor pool, where Keegan (and Matt) had fun splashing around. After a delicious breakfast we got ready to leave. Keegan helped, carrying his own backpack.

Before leaving we found some time to play at the Dennis The Menace Park.

This is the great playground where Matt used to play in when he was a little boy, (around Keegan’s age), and lived in Monterey. It was originally designed by the creator of the comic strip Dennis The Menace, and even if it has been renovated (and made safer) since then it is still quite great. It has an original steam engine to climb on and discover (with very careful adult supervision), a large garden maze, a suspension bridge, a climbing wall, a rolling tubes slides, and many other traditional play structures.

Keegan’s favorite: the rolling tubes slide

We headed straight to the airport, and Keegan had a short nap in the car, missing all the traffic. We had a great time. Keegan loved seeing his cousin, and all the attention and he positively LOVED the hotel. He actually cried when we left, and for many weeks afterwards he said he wanted to go back to Monterey and to see his cousins and aunts.

Back in San Diego we had more fun play dates. The marine layer returned, but the sun usually broke through in the afternoons, at least at or house. This is one of the reason we don’t go to the beach too often in the summer: between the smelly seaweed, the crowds and the grey, cloudy skies what is the fun? It is better to wait till the fall when the weather is nicer and there are less people. We did managed to go a couple times, though. We meet one of Keegan’s new friends from his gym class, Alyce, (of course, a girl) at la Jolla Shores, a large, pretty beach, backed up by a large grassy field with a large playground. The perfect location. The water, despite the overcast skies, was very warm, and Keegan managed to get quite soaked. But this is part of the fun.

Talking of water, the mom of one of his friends from school, Van, graciously organized a pool party for his classmates, and we met at their house ready to swim. Keegan was so excited. They have a nice, large pool, with a diving board, and he has been talking about it since last summer.

Van, Elliott and Keegan getting ready

He had a blast and really did not need me in the water at all. He could dive, swim, get to the edge, get out and do it again, without floaties or life vest. In fact he felt a little “left out” since he was the only kid without and he had to give them a try.

cannonball!

I was so proud of him (and so relaxed, just floating and chatting, without too much worry). Kelsen, Elliott, Eric, Julia and Victoria, and of course Van were all there, and they played together quite well. The baby brothers and sisters splashed around a bit too.

After swimming and recovering their energy by eating hot dogs, they all headed inside to watch Rio, or at least part of it. What a fun afternoon.

zoning in front of the tube

We got time for adult fun too. I went to a day trip to Los Angeles in a field trip with Platt College. We went to see the Disney Music Hall and an exhibition at LACMA on Tim Burton’s art. It was great. We rented a luxurious double-decker bus and headed north. I’ve never seen the Disney Hall, so it was great for me, and we were lucky that the auditorium was open to the public that day. What an amazing building.

The auditorium with the Gehry design organ

The Tim Burton’s Exhibit was also spectacular. I spent more than two hours admiring his beautiful art and props from his movies. I miss museums and great exhibits. I even miss LA, and strolling down sunset or hanging out in some cool hotel.

the entrance of the exhibition. No photography permitted inside

On the way back, though, I remembered why I don’t go to LA more often: it took us 4 hours to get back home! We boarded the bus at 3pm and we were in bumper to bumper traffic all the way to the merge with the 8 freeway, way within San Diego. Wow. I did not mind it too much, though, since I was not driving. We watched The Corpse Bride on the DVD system the bus had (I told you it was luxurious), and I brought a book. So, 4 hours (or 6 counting the way over) of uninterrupted reading in a comfortable, bus is not too shabby for me.

We closed the month with our date night: a dinner cruise in the San Diego Bay. For pure luck,  San Diego Summer Pops, a concert series, had fireworks scheduled, so we got to “park” our ship right in front of them and enjoy them. Very beautiful and romantic.

So even if we still complain we don’t get enough real vacations, and we don’t get to take 3/4 weeks off like Europeans (or at least Italians) do, I guess we can console ourselves thinking we live in a beautiful place, a real vacation destination that offers so much to do and see and that we get to play outside in a beautiful environment all year around. (still I would not turn down extra vacation days).

September starts with a three day weekend, and with that Summer will be officially over. There is much to look forward to in the Fall as well: our trip to Italy, (Keegan and I), Cars 2 out on DVD (well, I guess this is more Keegan than me) and Keegan moving up to the next class, Blue Dolphin on Tuesday. For once, half of his class, and most of his best buddies are moving up with him…we are really feeling sorry for the new teacher: Keegan, Kelsen, Kenzie, Rozalin and Elliott in the same class…wow this is an explosive mix! We hope Ms. Marlena got a lot of rest in her vacation.

Wow, Summer flew by…we have been so busy enjoying it we did not have too much time to update the blog. I will try to make up for it now. (-:

July was a good month: we finally got a short break from the marine layer and gray overcast skies, and had some fun in the sun. With warmer days we had more water fun. The small pools worked overtime and we managed to get the larger pool workable enough to dip in. Keegan loves it. In fact, when asked at school what he likes most about summer, he answered: using two pools. He swims in it most days, when Matt comes home…too cold for when the suns not  out. His swimming skills really improved, and he can now swim by himself quite easily. He is working on learning the correct style but he can dive, swim underwater, and more importantly he is able to come up to the surface and swim to the edge of the pool. This is a big relief for us, because we know that, even if he still need constant supervision, he is safer in the water.

We had Kenzie over to splash around and the two took turns diving in three inch water, and getting soaked.

They had a blast. Can you tell?

Keegan was also invited to a fun birthday party at Gym Ventures: the kids got to play in the gym for an hour with an instructor and then filled their bellies with pizza and cupcakes. Even if the party was right in the middle of his bedtime, Keegan lasted till the end, and promptly fell asleep in the car when we left.

everyone is making funny faces

We also had a few more play dates with friends from school. You would think that after seeing each other all week, they would need a little break but noooo. Seeing each other outside school adds to the fun. Keegan went to Rozalin’s house with Kenzie. Amazingly enough, there were no fights or crying, and the 4 kids, including Rozelin’s big brother,  went along wonderfully.

Keegan is in touch with his feminine side: nursing a doll back to health

July was a good a good month for us too: work on the yard continued, as well as the furnishing and fixing up of the house. I got to go to Comic Con, which was unexpected, since tickets has been really hard to come by. I guess this is the advantage of attending a design school… I only stayed for a few hours, but it was great to see all the art…and of course I got a couple of books for Keegan, signed and dedicated to him by the artists. Great Christmas presents. In the meantime I gave him the book I bought at last year Comic Con, an awesome story by illustrator David Mack. What an inspiration to see all this beautiful art and to talk to the artists. Hopefully this beautiful book will inspire Keegan as well.

This summer has really been the summer of Cars. Not only Keegan has been watching the video over, and over, and over again on the weekends, but he has been playing with his toys cars A LOT. Many people complain about these movies, because their kids obsess over some particular character…well we are counting our blessing. Since he discovered Cars in the Spring, he has been playing with them a lot, by HIMSELF. This means that we get a few minutes of independent play when we can actually relax and read or do whatever, without having to pay attention to him 100%.

It is not quiet, mind you, because I think this is physically impossible for him to do, just like he can’ t stay still. He needs to talk. We get many comments, all the time (some nicer than others) on how he expresses himself so well, how he asks so many questions, how inquisitive he is…all nice ways to say he is NEVER quite. Not even in the bathroom, or when he goes to sleep. And definitively not when he plays. It is actually quite funny: he makes up all these stories, and I have to say that the little TV he watches, fuels his imagination and stories.

He plays with his cars using all sort of other toys, building garage, or slides or whatever else. He races them, he hides them, he lines them up, and he takes photos of them with his camera…

this is what I find when I get home from work

some of his favorite ones…but where is Francesco?

recording the crash?

Despite my dislike for licensed characters stuff, my resistance was futile: he has Cars underwear, sock, shoes, pjcs, t-shirt, various books, stickers and markers. He even has a Cars 2 lunch box: after spending a long time looking for the perfect lunch box to buy, we went to Target and it was all over…I had to get that one. My favorite toy, though, is a large Mac: it contains 16 cars and has a handle, and this is where all the cars go to sleep at night. (-: And he is going to get a new launcher. garage, once he gets enough stickers, of course, that will hold 10 more. These are the kind of toys that I like…storage masked as toys.

We also found a way to use his new passion to our advantage. We made sticker charts to earn new cars. The charts have a road and he uses cars stickers to fill it. This has helped our nighttime routine quite a bit. We both win: he gets new cars, we get more peaceful nighttime. The only problem is that, since he jumped on the bandwagon so late, it is extremely difficult to find the cars he wants at a reasonable price, since it has been so many years since the movie came out. The charts also have the added bonus of instilling the idea that you need to earn your toys. Now if he sees something he likes he says: “can I earn stickers for this toy?” Nice.

“There is a lot of traffic on this road” is his usual comment

Now he is looking forward to the Fall, when the new Cars 2 video will come out. We thought about taking him to the movies, but he can’t stay still and quiet for two hours, and even at home he always wants to skip through videos, even his favorite ones. So we all agreed that waiting for video is probably best.

So, thank you Pixar. You genius idea of commercializing one of the oldest plaything for little boys has really worked out for us.

Independence Day is here! Wow, half a year has already passed, and I am glad to report that it has been a lot better than the last so far. Sure, there are still remaining construction related issues (thank you City), but nothing comparing to the stress of the past year.

Even Keegan has been  much easier: better sleeper, and way LESS tantrums (knocking on wood, touching iron, etc.). His vocabulary is increasing rapidly and his absolute non-interest in drawing and coloring continues. He has shown more interest and skills, so far, in math related games. He enjoys workbooks that are math related and has a good grasp of more and less (what is heavier, what is more, etc) which surprises me, definitely not the math genius. The other night he even did some basic math on his carrots. He knew he had to eat 5, so he said: “I have seven carrots, I will took two off and eat 5”. I was clearly impressed. Ok, so he gets it from his dad. Well, engineers make a lot more money than artists.

The long weekend started early: on Thursday we spent a beautiful afternoon in Mission Bay with Hannah, her mom Jennifer and her little sister Natalie. It was a perfect afternoon: sunny and breezy, but not hot. We finished up the afternoon with a nice dinner, and Matt reached us there.

On Friday, I left early from work to meet Keegan at school, just in time for his Bike Parade. All the kids, with their decorated wagons, tricycles and bikes go around the block to celebrate the holiday.

ready to go with Elliott

It is really fun to watch them go, struggling uphill, and flying downhill. I guess this year will be probably the last year we are using a tricycle: It is probably time for a real bike. Keegan knows, that, to get a bike, he needs to pedal on his own (he likes to be pushed when the road gets tough). And honestly, I think it is a little easier to pedal with a bike. So now my months of research start to find the perfect(ly looking) bike.

All together

After the parade, a sweet surprise was waiting for them: sorbet and lollipops.

triple K trouble: Kelsen, Keegan and (Mac)Kenzie

The long weekend was fun. We enjoyed some really good time together. Saturday, since there is no trace of marine layer, we headed to the beach. It was nice, and we got to play in the water and sand. Keegan had a nice long nap, while we rested and worked around the house. We even did a little yard work.

Sunday morning we headed to a park waiting for the Annual Church Carnival to start. It is really cool (and free). We went last year, and there Keegan discovered the magic of bouncie slides. They have all sort of booths, prices, free food and desserts and of course bouncies. We played some games, especially the fishing game, waiting for the bouncie to be blown up. We got enough tickets for a large one eyed leopard. He loves it. More bouncing and then, the highlight of the morning: a huge water slide. Keegan saw one the day before, so he was very excited. Even so, it took a lot of convincing, since he did not have his swim trunks.

But once he tried once, trunks or no trunks, you could not stop him. He was sliding up and down  for more than 40 minutes.

I finally took him home, exhausted, around 2pm. Amazingly enough, he did not have a long nap, but we got him to bed early.

Matt had been working on the pool, so we were both pretty tired by nighttime. We relaxed in the newly connected jacuzzi: it felt nice to be able to soak, after more than a year of watching it sitting there as a huge paperweight.

On the actual 4th, we finally blew up the dinosaurs pool from last year: he has been asking for it for so long… He spent most of the day in and out of the water, jumping, diving (don’t ask…I know it is only a few inches, but you go tell him) and splashing around, on a beautiful, sunny day.

We even inaugurated the new soccer goal, with annoying sounds effects. He had fun kicking the ball and hearing the loud GOOOOAAAL. And check out his technique!

Water guns were also brought out for a fun battle, since it has been very warm all day. The super friendly neighborhood cat Yogi stopped by to say HI. This is friendliest cat I have ever seen. She immediately comes over and rub against your leg even if she never seen you before. And she love cuddles, being pet and and being around people. She behaves more like a dog. Keegan loves her, and he is very delicate with her.

We had dinner outside, overlooking the canyon and listening to the various birds, and the squawking hawks. So beautiful.

After Keegan went to bed, we relaxed, and watched some of the Seaworld Fireworks from upstairs…at least the ones that were tall enough toe above the trees.

What a fun weekend! We really can’t complain too much of not having vacations or not going anywhere, since San Diego provides us with so many great opportunities.

We had a busy June. With the warmer weather and the longer days, there is always so much to do in San Diego.

Seaworld and the zoo are open later, so they are a perfect spot for a quick after school activity: this is where the the annual pass really comes handy. The is  also a great Inflatables World in the parking lot where the Pumpkin patch is and we made a trip there. While the admission fee is not cheap ($15), spending 2 hours sliding up and down made it worthwhile. It was amazing: 10/15 huge inflatables (mainly slides, which are Keegan’s favorite), in all shapes and forms. And being a Friday afternoon, there was barely anyone there, so no waiting in line. He had a blast!  He was running from one to the next, to the next, so excitedly! And since the place closes at 6pm, it was easy to get Keegan to leave: they were closing the gates, no discussion there. We will definitively go back.

The Gorilla one was my favorite. If I did not have to pay my own way, I would have loved to slide down there myself.

We also had some fun playdates. MacKenzie came to visit after school and the two kids had fun playing in Keegan’s play room. These two are really best buds, and they are great playmates. Even after spending the whole day together at school, they still want to hang out. Amazingly enough they did not break anything or hurt themselves.

playing house (with cars)

“roughing” it in the big inflatable ball

On the house front, we are still working on the yard, mainly getting pool and jacuzzi back. Then we will move on the yard, that by now looks more like a wasteland…I guess we are lucky we are living next to a guy who has a bunch of dried dirt and overgrown weeds for yard, so it makes ours look like a tropical paradise. Regardless, Matt always keep the weeds mowed, and Keegan often “helps” with his own lawnmower.

June meant also gray and cool days, but Keegan did not mind, since he get to wear some cool hooded jackets.

We also had two fun events, that happened on the same weekend: Father’s day and Torin’s birthday party.

As every year, we had a Dad Celebration at school, complete with a buffet and water games.

Keegan is helping dad with his water balloon toss

this, sadly,  is the best father/son picture I could manage.

During the weekend we celebrated daddy by cooking breakfast and giving him a little break. Matt got a couple of books, and a wonderful paper tie, created by Keegan. In the afternoon we went for a nice walk in Tecolote canyon, and saw a lot of bunnies and beautiful birds.

Torin’s birthday party was very fun, as always. Trains were the theme, and the kids played and run around. Water guns were added to the mix this year, and that was not good news for some of the adults that participated into a water gun fight.

The little guys got soaked, but they did not care. It was warm and sunny, so it did not matter. Pinata and cake arrived next, making everyone happy.

We all loved the train/lego block cake pieces. As always very creative.

One more fun event to close a fun month: we braved the crowds and headed up to the San Diego County Fair. We actually had the timing right: by driving up there 20 minutes before opening we did not find any traffic and scored a terrific parking spot. And we have heard that on that particular day the traffic, had been horrific later on, because they had a Beer Festival and a Gospel festival going on at the same time. I guess we were lucky.

We started by visiting the agricultural pen, looking at goats, cows,pigs and sheep. Keegan got soon bored, but he loved the little pigs races and swims.We could not postponed it any longer: we had to go to the rides. Keegan was well informed, and knew there were rides to be had. He could ride alone on more than half the rides, but of course he liked to pick the ones that required adults (= twice the cost to ride them).

Fortunately, we met one of his friends from school, Elliott, so they had even more fun riding together and we were mainly off the hook and could sit back.

Keegan’s first attempt at bumper cars

Look ma: I am driving a Mustang too!

“motorcycles…so dangerous!” (actual quote from Keegan, even if he loved this ride)

Overall it was a fun day: we have not been at the fair in ages, but definitively it was not a cheap proposition…these rides are expensive. But the beaming smile on his little face made it all worthwhile.

We are looking forward to some summer weather, without any June Gloom and lots more fun with our little guy.

I know some of you may think that is always Spring Time in San Diego,  and that we don’t really have seasons here, but there still is something special about this time of year: longer days, warmer sun, baby hawks and lots and lots of flowers everywhere.

Spring Time also means we have more time to play outside after Keegan’s nap. So we take full advantage of this longer days to visit our favorite places, the Zoo and Seaworld, as well as neighborhood parks. We play stomp rocket, soccer or baseball. Soccer is still the favorite game, though.

One of our favorite parks, is the South Clairemont park, next to the Skate/Bike park. There are the obligatory slide structure, but also a huge, flat field, which is ideal to play in, or simply run in, maybe on daddy’s shoulders.

Being a neighborhood park, sometimes we met some of Keegan’s friends from school, that also live nearby.

Having a snack and goofing off with Van

If the weather was not nice, we found some fun activity to do. We got to tour an ambulance and a fire engine (which is different from a fire truck, I guess). Keegan had fun pretending to be a fireman and a patient: he even got his blood pressure taken.

goofing off on the fire engine

Hello… Can you hear me?

And if nothing else is going on, a “pic nic” outside school at pick up time will do.

Spring also means, Mother’s Day. We had a mellow but pleasant one. We started the celebration with Keegan’s school party. Tea and cookies were served under a tent outside, and silly dance games were played. It was just nice to see all the kids showing off their moms.

Keegan with MacKenzie and Van and their moms

An horrible pictures of us

Saturday, we had a date night planned, but our sitter got sick, so we ended up building IKEA furniture instead for Keegan’s room.hat a parent’s way to spend Saturday night (it still beats rolling up coins). At least I felt we accomplished something. The room is almost finished: we will have pictures soon.

On Sunday, Matt’s prepared a delicious brunch while I took an early morning nap, and he helped Keegan prepare a sweet card for me. Keegan also gave me his gift: a pretty jar of multicolored sand. I also picked up approximately 400 prints of pictures from 2009 and 2010: I finally got caught up, well still need to start on 2011. Watching all the images, and how much Keegan has grown in the past two years was very heart-warming, and I felt very blessed indeed to have such a wonderful little man in my life.

The warm and fuzzy feelings helped a lot, because he was not exactly on his best behavior that day…but no matter. And since he is three, I still get to dress him with clothes I like, even matching outfits in my favorite colors (a trend started when he was a baby).

One other fun activity we did this Spring was to “raise” and then release Painted Lady butterflies. I have been wanting to do this for a long time, and Keegan have been hearing about caterpillars and butterflies a lot, both at school, and at home, with our fun Hungry Caterpillar book and magnet set.  So we got a habitat for them, and ordered some larva.We were lucky: all 10 caterpillars turned into beautiful butterflies.

It was an amazing experience for all of us…I would say more for me and Matt, but Keegan enjoyed it as well. They arrived in a sealed jar, and we watched the caterpillar wiggle and eat till they became chrysalises.We even borrowed a great book that details the transformation.

getting ready to form a cocoon

a translucent chrysalis

That’s was the tricky par: transferring them to the little pop-up container and hang them there. After a little over a week, they started coming out of the cocoon and we had the chance to watch them and feed them. It was really fun.

We fed them sugar water and oranges…and they seemed to appreciate the bounty.

How many can you count? Can you see all 6?

We let them go on a beautiful sunny afternoon. Problem was, they did not really want to leave. They enjoyed the free food I guess. So, we had to actually put them on our hands and get them out. It took a couple of days, but they finally all flew away. We bid farewell to each of them.

bye bye butterfly. Fly away…now!

One more spring baby we had the fortune to enjoy: our usual hawk came back again this year. It settled in a nest almost completely hidden, but right in front of our house. With a binocular and some luck we got to observe the babies grow into juvenile, and they sometimes used our house and railing as a resting perch while they were learning how to fly.

taking a rest (and a dump) on our railing

So, all and all a fun, busy Spring. We are looking forward to Summer, and to a hopefully warm and sunny weather to compensate for the gray and cold summer of 2010.

… so we are really behind with this blog thing. This year has been very busy so far, between work and the million house related things…And we thought we were done with all that.

Anyway let’s try to recap. The week after my parents left, it was Easter already. The festivities started with preschool party in the morning, where a Easter Bunny dressed magician showed up and did tricks. I was so sad I had to miss it (NOT): Good Friday and Easter Monday were my only two days off in the Spring, alone, so I wanted to take advantage of the time to catch up with stuff.

doing some magic

wow, a real bunny (and not a weird old guy in a bunny suit)

On Saturday, I took Keegan to the nearby park Easter Celebration: there was an Easter Eggs hunt, a bouncie, a little firetruck rides, the Easter bunny, face painting and balloons artists.

Keegan did not really understand the idea of the eggs hunt, when there are tons of other little kids running over each other and scrambling to get some eggs. He just stood there, so he ended up with only 1 egg: it still got to exchange it for candy, so he was happy anyway. And plus, there were PLENTY more eggs awaiting him this weekend.

anxiously waiting for the hunt to start…

Of course he happily jumped on the bouncie and we were lucky to meet one of our neighbors, with her little one, Markus, a few months younger than Keegan. The two get along really well, and I dare to say that Markus is even more rowdy than Keegan, so there was a whole lot of wrestling, jumping, bouncing, bonking, and whole lot of laughter. This helped a lot, since we ended up being in line for the “balloon artiste” (yes, this was on his name tag) for more than half an hour. It was worth it, though, because he got a sword, a helmet and a belt, that lasted for weeks.

There were the obligatory pictures with the Easter bunny, and just a lot of playing in the sun.

Ok, is this just me or this bunny is absolutely creepy???? It is almost scarier than Frank from the movie Donnie Darko (by the way, still one of the best movies ever!)

Markus, Keegan and the creepy bunny

On the actual Easter day, after my early morning nap, I hid all the eggs and the basket in the yard, and had a good time watching Keegan discovering them all. We had to help him bringing in all the loot. I may have gone a little overboard, but he was one happy camper, between all the toys, the large Italian chocolate egg  and the candy.

He got the Leapfrog Scribble and Write he asked for, Froggie catch mitts, and the Cars he got for his birthday, which he did not remember at all. The gift that keeps on giving. These helped fuel his new passion for everything Cars related…and it is a good timing too, since the new movie will come out in the summer. Now playing with his cars is one of his favorite games…AND he can actually play with them alone for some time.

After the hunt, we called my parents and he opened their gift while talking to them via Skype: he was excited to get little Playmobil guys to complete his skate park set (also a gift from his nonni). Grazie nonni!

He easily crashed for his nap, but woke up early (too excited). He was so tired, though, he went back to bed and I had to wake him up. We spent the afternoon at Krista’s house, and had another fun hunt with Torin and their neighbor. They had a great time playing together and we, the adults, enjoyed some relaxing time.

Chasing each other, running and roughing each other were favorite games, but playing with Torin’s great train track was also a favorite.

It was a great Easter weekend, and I had a full day off on Monday to extend the fun. It was only fitting: after all, Easter Monday is a holiday in Italy.

I can’t believe it how fast time flies: it has already been a month since i nonni left: we still miss them quite a lot.

But let’s not dwell on the sadness of the separation. We had a wonderful time together, and we wholly enjoyed these days in San Diego. The trip was uncertain till the last minute, but with the doctor’s green light, my parents arrived on March 26.

Despite our new addition, they still preferred to rent the usual apartment at the beach…and who can blame them? Spending the morning in beautiful Clairemont or hanging out on the boardwalk in Pacific Beach? Humm, it is really a toughie…In any case, it was good for us too, so we get to visit the beach a lot more often than we usually do. The weather has been a little chilly, so there was no swimming in the water, but definitely playing in the sand.

We of course enjoyed a lot of wonderful, home cooked meals, and I made sure to ask for all my favorites.

The weather was not the greatest, but we took advantage of all the sunny days. My parents also rented a car, so they had the chance to take Keegan out to play, while I got some wished-for downtime. Mission Bay was an obvious stop, so Keegan could show one of his favorite playgrounds and all the progresses he made in climbing and jumping. Check out his  really cute t-shirt (with some apologies to Milton Glaser for re-appropriating his logo)

We really got to do a lot of fun stuff, and Keegan sure enjoyed all the attention. Seaworld was another mandatory stop. Keegan showed his nonni his newest favorite: The Dolphin Show.

We also fed the seals, but the smell of raw fish turned Keegan off. We had a quick stop at the polar bear exhibit, and of course we could not miss the Shamu show. Keegan showed off his great map reading and leadership skills, directing us to where he wanted to go.

The first week my parents were here, there was a small Fire Expo right across from Keegan’s school. We went to check it out. Between a couple of emergencies, the fire station was open for business, and we got a nice tour. We were a little disappointed there was no pole, but the guys assured us the PB station have one. Of course, the cutest firemen were brought out for the event: I pick Keegan up every day, and I never seen any cute ones before. The kids also got to test out the fire truck and spray water with the fire hose. They all got stickers and a hat. It was fun.

With nonni here, everything was a game and adventure, even the painful (for us) meal time. He even started eating tomato suace again, but the veggie soup still remained a no-no.

Of course the best thing was simply the time spent together: everyday they would invent a new game for Keegan to play and regardless what it was, there was plenty of laughter. One thing Keegan really liked was to listen to grandma and grandpa telling stories, all sort of stories, from the classics, like Cenerentola (Cinderella), which is now one of his favorites, to Pinocchio, to Greek Mythology (Ulyssis and the cyclops) to Aesop’s Fables. Some of the books were the same ones I read as a child, and it felt really weird to see them again. They don’t look quite as beautiful and fascinating now. It was probably the first time he sat quietly listening to a story, without having any visual in front of him…It is more than I can say about a lot of my students.

Stickers books were a big hit too.

The overall favorite games, though, involved jumping around, and “hiding”. Keegan is fascinated with Hide and Seek, but he still does not get that you really have to hide and not tell where you are.

My mom even tried her hand at baseball.

Keegan even got to go to Legoland with Matt for his school’s annual trip: a welcome break for my parents. Unfortunately I could not make it, but looking at the pictures it seemed like they had a blast. Hannah and her mom tagged along, which made it a lot more fun, especially for Matt.

With Easter approaching, our neighbour, the photographer, once again had a little lamb, Daisy, and we got to play with it a little bit…in fact it walked us home one day… then promptly peed on our driveway, which Keegan found hilarious.

I can’t deny, of course, that my parents’ visit also meant free babysitting for us: it was great to be able to go out at night without worrying about finding and paying a sitter. We took full advantage of that. We went out to the movies, to the Rise Against with Bad religion Concert, and we even stayed a night in a awesome hotel, The Keating, designed by Pininfarina in the Gaslamp Quarter. It was awesome! I mean, being able to be away for a night would have made a cheap Motel 8 feel like a mansion, but this place was incredible. We have not been in a modern, boutique hotel since Keegan was born…and I can say I did not lost the taste for it. The room was great: concrete floors, in room glass shower, espresso machine in the room, huge, comfortable bed. Every floor had a cool model of a concept Ferrari. It was very luxurious.

in-room bath and shower

bed

espresso machine: I had to drink some

the hallway with the Ferrari models

After three weeks filled with so much fun it was hard to say goodbye, but we hope to see them soon in Italy. Thank you for everything and a presto!

So, we have not been writing for a while. Too much to do, too little time, blah, blah, blah. Anyway: all is well here. we kept busy with working around the house and my parents’ visit (more on future blogs). Of course, we have still not moved in the new rooms, and we still have mostly empty closets, and boxes in the garage. All in due time: we are setting up weekend schedules, and try to tackle one thing at the time. Keegan especially is in no hurry, since empty rooms means he has more places to store toys and play.

Case in question: his huge, inflatable ball, proudly sitting in what will be Matt’s cave.

Among all to do lists we had to add some unexpected item, that took priority. Matt’s truck finally kicked the bucket, after 12 years and more than 165,000 miles. Honestly we were hoping to wait till the summer, but when the mechanic said that the wheels could come off at any time and it would take more than $2000 to make it safe, we need we had to get something else, and quick. Amazingly enough for us, we managed to get our new ride in a couple of days. So we are now proud owners of a Honda Ridgeline. I am very excited about it, because it is still a truck (hello IKEA trips) but it has finally 5 seats, so we can all fit in comfortably. No more squeezing in a jump seat or inside the Mustang. Hopefully this will lead us to take more road trips.

As for the house, well, there is still so much t do: the yard is priority #1, We have been working with a landscape architect to come up with a comprehensive plan we can slowly adopt for the whole house. We are also setting up new concrete pads for our jacuzzi and pool, and try to figure out where to place them. For now, the yard is half a jungle, half wasteland, 100% depressing. It is so bad that gophers peek out and scurry around with impunity. They are eating some of the weeds, to be honest, but also make a huge mess. I feel like I am inside an eternal rerun of Caddyshack.

gopher are kind of cute, but still…

Then we will need to get furniture for the upstairs rooms, and the living room. And of course the outdoor furniture as well. The garage is almost cleared out: still a few things to seel, a few things to put away. And we finally ordered blinds for 2 of the upstairs rooms. My goal would be to have most of the more pressing item taken care of by summer time, so our house can really be ready for guests. Anyone flying to the West Coast?

I will soon post images from our wonderful three weeks with our parents, but in the meantime here are some pictures of Keegan during the past couple of months.

trying to inspire his musical career

A big boy seat…love it! I can actually use the front passenger seat now

Our wonderful morning ritual: milk, books and cuddles. It almost make waking up at 6.15 am bearable, ALMOST.

Another ritual: watching some TV with dad on weekend mornings, all bundled up with some friends (while mom is napping).

Keegan is very fascinated by little babies: here is with Natalie, Hannah’s little sister.

Really, 1 lucky boy on St. Patrick’s Day (also 150th anniversary of Italy’s Unification)

January and February came and went in the blink of an eye: we have been busy.

After a summer like January (more warmer days in January than last July), February brought some winter: rain, wind, hails, even thunders and lighting but also a couple of beautiful double rainbows.For as rare as they are, in the past 6 months we saw at least 3/4 of them. They never stop to amaze us.

it is hard to see the second rainbow in this image

While I did use Photoshop to stitch images together and adjust the colors, this is really how it looked like.

We still had our beautiful sunny days, of course, but we also had to crank up the heat most days.The winter weather did not stopped us. Keegan especially has been a busy boy. Between the end of January and the end of February, he had 4 birthday parties and another birthday celebration. Lucky for us, two of his friend opted for a joint party. Wow: we were exhausted.

We started with two of his best buddies: MacKenzie and Kelsen. They are born 2 days apart at the end of January, so they joined forces and had a wonderful celebration in Mission Bay, under a rare sunny day. There was a bouncie house, and crafts and of course cupcakes! How fun! It was interesting to see a Spiderman-Princess party.

playing soccer with his buddies Elliott, Kelsen and Van

the birthday girl and boy with Spiderman and Princess cupcakes

Right after the party, we all got bad colds: I completely lost my voice for a day or two. It felt weird not being able to talk…but I am sure there were plenty people enjoying the silence. (-:

The following week, it was Van’s pirate party. It was fun. It was all about pirates, with a real pirate leading a treasure hunt, and pirates crafts and cake and piñata. Event the guest were encouraged to dress up. Keegan “costume” lasted a whole 5 minutes, before he wanted to take it off. I barely had time for a picture.

Keegan loved the activities and I had plenty of time for chatting.

mr. sensitive eyes, shielding from the sun. He would not make a very good pirate.

The made-from-scratch cake was amazing. Even Keegan seems impressed.

The following weekend, it was Rozalin’s party, another friend from school. We did dread this one a little because it was held at Chuck E. Cheese’s but it was not too bad. Keegan had a lot of fun playing games and winning rewards points, but he was not too thrilled by the huge mascot. Who can blame him? Who thought that having a creepy looking rat as  the symbol of a pizza place would be a good idea?

playing the horse race game

that mascot is very creepy if you ask me

One of Keegan’s favorite things about birthday parties are the goodie bags, and the chance to eat candy. He gets to pick one or two pieces only, so it is quite the event. Guess what color was the candy he picked?

Jada’s birthday is in February too, and even if she celebrated at Disneyland, we had the chance to go visit her and wish her happy birthday.

Our final celebration for the month was Elliott’s soccer themed party. Again crafts, snacks and piñata all matched the theme. The best part about all these parties is that all his friends from school are there, so Keegan feels somewhat comfortable and plays by himself.

the three musketeers (weren’t 4 even in the book?)

Birthday parties asides, we also got the chance to squeeze visits at the zoo, and Seaworld on Presidents day, when both Keegan and I were home for the holiday. The Dolphin Show is Keegan’s new obsession, so we made sure to make it. We also got to see the Pets’ Rules show. I wonder why they have to schedule the shows so close in time: it is always a mad rush to go from one to the next.

Striking a pose with a giant panda at the Zoo

On Valentine’s day weekend, another party, this time at Mila’s house, where Keegan spent some time playing with his buddies Hannah and Mila.

By the ed of the afternoon he is so tired he looks dazed among all the toys. I swear, we did not drugged him.

We had our Valentines Day celebration: while Matt and I postponed our official date one week, Keegan got to have fun the exact day. He exchanged Valentines with his friends at school: you are supposed to bring enough for all children, and are not allowed to personalized them or address them, you just sign them. If Charlie Brown would have been around right now, he would not have to fret about the red haired girl or not getting any cards…

He got in the mood with an appropriate shirt.

At home, he got to eat his candies, enjoy his school’s Valentines and open his gifts: a train bridge and a custom puzzle with his name.

playing with his train track and the new bridge

He is really getting interested into puzzles right now. He also loved his music and motion card (but at $6.99 a pop, it will probably be his last). Even if we did not got out that night, Matt sent a beautiful orchids/brumelia plant, and cooked a wonderful dinner (my contribution: setting the table and preparing the heart shaped mozzarella/tomatoes appetizer), so we had our romantic evening at home, beating the crowds.

Last but not least, we had our final construction walk through on February 25: a year and three days after our “soft start”. Wow: what an ordeal it has been, and we are are happy to be finished. No more lock-boxes at the door, no more unexpected visits from workers, especially in the weekend, no zipper doors…finally time to worry about decorating. Granted, we still have lots to do, especially in the outdoor area, and we don’t want to wait, but we are trying to focus on the part that is done, and not so much on the yard…talking of which, we  hired a landscape architect to create a complete and comprehensive plan for the whole outdoor area, including the side yard that is now a dumping ground. Of course we will not be able to tackle it all at once, but we thought it would be good to have a plan that we can execute little by little, instead of tackling different area randomly…at least when we are done the yard would look consistently designed.

To celebrate the end of construction, we had a very informal open house for the neighbors that have been so patient and supportive throughout this ordeal. We had a pleasant late afternoon chatting and “touring” the house, while the kids played. We had a great time. It is nice to be able to have people over again.

Now we will focus on main priorities, even if I can’t stop thinking about all the other things I would like to do to update the house to match the remodel (kitchen cabinets refacing comes to mind).

With March approaching, Spring is in the air and hopefully my parents’ visit in a few weeks. We are looking forward spending some time together.