Karinas first day at school
The big day finally arrived - August 25th 2008! Karina started her new school in Kindergarten (pre 1st grade). We all went along to take her to her new class - as you can imagine the place was a mass of new kids, parents, siblings, and lots of tears and confusion. From, it seemed, everyone buy Karina! She was the model of confidence and happiness which made us very proud indeed. While other (older) kids were throwing tantrums and screaming, Karina looked on, at ease in her surroundings, checking out the play areas, picking up her name badge and sitting in circle for story time. We were SO proud of our big girl!
Trip to see the Giants
The last weekend before Karina started her new school, her old day care had organized a trip to AT&T Park in San Francisco to see the SF Giants (baseball). We all went along as part of Karinas "treat weekend" and had a rather wicked time... we took the ferry around the bay and it drops us
right at the entrance to the stadium. We all stood up on deck the last part of the trip under the Bay Bridge and around the city. Karina had a great time with her friends - eating Candy Floss and any other junk she could pry out of us! We're not really sure any of them knew what was going on or
even that there WAS a baseball game to watch, but they enjoyed it anyway. It was blazing hot that day and we timed it for "Dog Day" too, which basically meant hundreds of owners took their dogs along, the relevance (or suitability) of which I am still a little unsure about. Oh, and Karina went in the
batting cages too and tried (and failed) to hit a baseball!!!
Last day at daycare
Quite a sad (though it should of course be happy) day for us all at the end of August - it was Karina's official last day at daycare as she was graduating to full kindergarten. Of course that meant saying goodbye to some lovely teachers and really nice friends - as everyone is scattered around the bay area due to the daycare being for employees o
f Lucasfilm, very few of her friends live within a reasonable distance of us and will certainly attend different schools. So we made a nice weekend for her, I took her around the office and for lunch in our restaurant and the weekend was reserved to spoil and treat her! I already miss our trips in the car to and from daycare, chatting and playing games. SIGH! Heres some nice pics from her last day...
And of course, as the old saying goes, it wouldn't be a show without Punch :)
Stinson Beach
One of our "rare excursion days" back in August - a trip to one of the big beaches nearby on the Pacific Coast. A great drive through a big redwood forest over a huge hill (mountain?) called Mount Tam, along windy roads with incredible views over the bay. Blazing hot when we left home, foggy and cold when we arrived! The beach was PACKED, and fortunately the weather cleared up after an hour or so - so is the way of foggy
Northern California! The only real downsides were - jelly fish (yuk! but interesting to the kids for some reason!), seaweed (great to throw around, so Kyle discovered!), inconsiderate parents (letting their kids run wild and help themselves to everyones stuff) and - dogs! Yes, dogs... LOTS and LOTS of dogs. And where there are lots of dogs, theres lots of dog s.... OK... you get the picture. The enclosed images are carefully edited and certified "Turd-free"!
In the park
Karina and Kyle *love* going to the park I used to take them with Karinas school friends and their parents from daycare (my work colleagues) in the evening on the way home. A while ago we arranged a similar play date on a Saturday afternoon with her good friend Aria and family, and then retired to a brew pub for food and drinks afterwards. Can't begin to tell you how much hard work it is looking after both of them on the playground!
The big day finally arrived - August 25th 2008! Karina started her new school in Kindergarten (pre 1st grade). We all went along to take her to her new class - as you can imagine the place was a mass of new kids, parents, siblings, and lots of tears and confusion. From, it seemed, everyone buy Karina! She was the model of confidence and happiness which made us very proud indeed. While other (older) kids were throwing tantrums and screaming, Karina looked on, at ease in her surroundings, checking out the play areas, picking up her name badge and sitting in circle for story time. We were SO proud of our big girl!
