Adventure

We ventured out to San Francisco today to go to the farmer's market and art market at the Ferry Pier.  There were a lot of people.  For shopping, our Alameda farmer's market is much more practical, but it was a fun outing.  We took the ferry over - O loved the boat ride and loved the live music we saw at the art market.

Here he is finishing his set with the band.  He really wanted to be up on the stage with them, but we were able to lure him down for some dancing.

The end there is him telling me to come dance too!

We got some great views on the ferry ride back home.  Today was a beautiful day.  O really loved it that we went under the bridge.

Happy Guy

Family shot 

Chef

Among O's favorite activities is playing in his "chicken".  He really likes to make his food and serve it up to Mommy or Daddy, or anyone else who happens to be either around or on the phone.  The play kitchen has been a very big hit, although he also still pretends the coffee table in the living room is an oven as well.  The other day, he saw Daddy wearing an apron in the kitchen, and decided that he needed his own "cooking bib", as he calls it.  So, we did what I always do when in need of something unique, fun and well made.  We called Grandma and put in an order.  I was very surprised when the apron arrived today!  It turns out that Grandma had already made the hat and apron and put it in the mail even before we requested it.  She must be a mind reader....

"Cheese"

 Here he is in action - just like his favorite TV cook, Jacques.  In fact, when he is cooking with his pans and his tongs, he says "Just like Jacques.".  Funny kid.

Put it in the oven.

The weekend is almost here!  I think all three of us are looking forward to some quality family time.

Little Musician

Finally, O has a "guitar" of his own. He loves to listen to and play music, or as he says "tunes".  It is funny, as much as he always wants to play our ukes, he particularly likes to put his on its stand and in its case.

He looks like a real little musician!

Things are going well here.  Life has gotten busy since we started work, of course.  O has fun every day at his new school and Tom and I are working hard.  Next week, we get to see Marcy and Joy for a day or two, they will be here with some other friends of Marcy's for her birthday.

The Big Day

Yesterday was Tom's Change of Command on ASPEN.  It was a very nice ceremony and very moving.  Roy, who he relieved, was very sad to be departing ASPEN, but also happy to be leaving it in Tom's capable hands.  Here is Rear Admiral Castillo presiding over the ceremony.

 
Tom offering Roy his relief.  I am so proud of Tom.  I was surprised at how affected I was by the ceremony.  Tom has worked very hard for this command, and it will certainly be challenging and rewarding.

Tom and Marian after the ceremony.

 Me and Tom..

 The Captain.

Here I am by the door to my new office spaces.  I have some great people working for me and I am very excited to get started in my duties.  This is going to be a great tour for both of us!

Since we decided to leave O in school during the ceremony yesterday (formal military ceremonies and two year olds don't mix well), Tom took him to the ship today.  Here he is the Captain's Cabin (with the Captain) briefing him on the nav plan.

Wait, I thought that was Daddy's chair!  Hmmm -  maybe I can finally sit in one now too... O looks very comfortable up there!

The Captain and his First Mate..

A Day at the Beach

We had to say goodbye to Grandma on Tuesday.  We had a great time with Grandma, and she was such a big help to me and Tom with getting settled into the house.  O definitely misses her, he asks where she is every day (multiple times) and then asks "Is she coming back?".  My attempt last week to explain to him that Grandma was leaving on Tuesday to go back to Pennsylvania and Nan was coming on Friday to see him, has backfired a little.  He is now very confident that Grandma is coming back on Tuesday...

We took O to his new school every day last week for a few hours each day.  He did well.  He says that he likes his new friends, and that his new teachers are fun.  Of course, that did not stop him from crying and making us feel bad at drop off.  On Friday, he was there for the morning, through lunch and nap.  He did very well with it, and when he woke up, Nan and I were there to pick him up.  He was excited to see her!

  Yesterday, Tom spent the day out on ASPEN observing and underway day.  Back on Alameda, we had a busy day.  We went to the farmer's market in the morning, and then took a picnic lunch to the beach.  There was a sand castle and sand sculpture contest yesterday.  They hold it on a day in June when there is a very low tide.  You can see in the picture below, just how far out the tide was.

O was very happy to dig in the sand, but he wanted nothing to do with the wet sand, and would not even put his feet down on it.

 Here is an example of one of the sand sculptures.  There were some very neat sea creatures, sphinxes and alligators too!

Tom and I start work tomorrow - vacation is over.

Day Trip

Today we took a break from the unpacking and drove up to Sonoma for a little exploration.  We had a great day, and O was a very good boy all day.  Our first stop was at a visitor's center and sculpture garden.

There were some very cool kinetic sculptures there - here is one where you could roll big balls around in the sand.

O and Grandma walking on the path.

After lunch we went to our favorite winery in Sonoma.  The four of us did a tour of the vineyards on a tractor-pulled tram.  O loved it and talked a lot about the tractor.  Here he is in the wine cave (or tunnel as he liked to call it).

We are pretty excited to live just over an hour from Sonoma.  It was nice to get away from the house and have a reminder of why we wanted to get out here for this tour!

Lemon Harvest

We harvested the lemon tree for the first time yesterday.  O was very excited to help pick the lemons and put them in the basket.

Today we made lemonade from some of the lemons we picked.  O was a big help squeezing the lemons and adding the sugar.

We are mostly moved in and getting well settled.  Having Grandma here has been a big help.  Tomorrow we are going to take a little trip to Sonoma for a well deserved break and to show Grandma a little bit of California.  I will get some pictures of the house soon to share.

Californians

We are here!  We got in last night at around 8pm California time.  O was very good on the plane, but it was a very long day for him.

So far today, we have movers at our new house delivering and unpacking our stuff, and we got our new car delivered!  Right now Tom is over with the movers, and I am sitting in a dark room while O is having his nap at the hotel.

I thought I would share a few more shots of O operating heavy machinery at Nan and Pop's house and with Uncle Jimmy and Aunt Jennifer.  Happy Birthday again to Aunt Jen, we miss you already - I wish I had my video camera yesterday at the airport when O spontaneously started singing Happy Birthday Aunt Jen!  This morning at breakfast, he was saying Happy Easter, Aunt Jen, funny boy.

Here he is with the front end loader at Nan and Pop's:

And here he is driving the Prowler with Uncle Jimmy.  He sure did a lot of riding and driving during our visits!