Tour de San Rafael
Karina can cycle! So, back in November we got her a new bike for her birthday and she really didnt use it too much as its been wet a lot this winter. But only yesterday she went out with her friend and her friends Mam and we recieved an unexpected photo on our cell with a picture of Karina - cycling - with no training wheels! Shes been hassling us for a while to remove her wheels but we genuinely didnt think she was even close to being ready. However, on only her 2nd attempt (she went out briefly with Natalie a few days ago) and off she went - unaided!
Just to prove it to ourselves, Natalie took her again today and yep - there she goes!
Very proud of our little girl who is growing up way too fast!
Not to be outdone, Mr Kyle (the maths wizard in the family it would seem) can count with no problem to 25 and also backwards from at least 10 to zero. At 3 years old! Pretty impressive stuff there big guy!
Kyles first playdate
Kyles friend from his pre-school asked if they could have a play date - his first ever! Their family live a long way from us so we met half way, at the Discovery Museum near our work. Typically, they were both so ridiculously shy that they played separately for the entire "date" until the last 15 minutes when they were inseparable! Sheesh!!!
Nice view of the bridge from the pier near the museum.
We found this a large, slightly aggressive Pelican trying to mind his own business while being surrounded by over-inquisitive Japanese tourists!
Happy Birthday Mammy!
Mammys birthday was right after New Year. The kids got her a new dressing gown (with monkeys on it - courtesy of Kyle!) and we decided to take her to an Italian restaurant. Happy Birthday Mammy!!!
China Camp
A small trip out to a local "reserve" which we'd never been to despite living right next to it. Its called China Camp and is pretty historic - look it up on wikipedia - its very beautiful but there's really not much there if we're honest; its more of a wildlife reserve than anything. Looks like it could be fun in summer as they have picnic and BBQ areas as well as an open air pool.
Playing with our birthday presents
We take the kids to the school yard pretty often to practice on their new bikes. When spring comes our mission is to get the stabilizers off and get Karina riding properly. Kyle is like lightning on his bike, we can't keep up!
New Year
Happy 2010! Karina had a lot of fun with party poppers... and we're still cleaning up the mess a month later!
More skating
Karina is really enjoying skating (though our recent trip to lake Tahoe - to be blogged a little later - she fell and hurt her wrist so at present isn't quite so so about it right now!). Here she was part of the kids session where they are allowed to take a chair on for stability but she really doesn't need it.
Tooth fairy working overtime.
Teeth are falling out at a terrific rate... the tooth fairy's bank balance is suffering!
Christmas!
Well, Christmas arrived at last... the kids had a great time and were spoilt as usual. Nice day, but hard work! next time - in England we hope.
Kyles new train set. Took me about 3 hours on Christmas morning with all manner of tools and a 12 pack of beer to get this up and running. Karina is proudly displaying her new obsession... sorry... Nintendo DS :)
Our tree. All Daddys handiwork.
Kyle on his new digger.
Christmas in Union Square
We spent Christmas Eve in the city, hanging around the Union Square stores and generally taking in the Christmas atmosphere. The girls wanted to go skating on the outdoor ice rink but the line was several hours long :( Anyway we had a great time, eating and drinking (hot apple cider on a cold night - yum!) and doing a little last minute shopping. It was nice to feel like tourists for a few hours.
Macys, Union Square, very Christmassy!
And the view from the restaurant at the top of Macys.
Karina met the Grinch! (Kyle was scared!!)
Having a great day out. Karina didn't remove that Santa hat for about 2 weeks, even slept with it!
The kids found this store window with a huge polar bear and its baby - made out of paper.
Getting up to date
Time to get back up to date a little... going way back to December :)
Our yearly "Breakfast With Santa" signalled the start of the festive season. Kyle was so happy to see Santa... he went straight to him and said "I promise not to say any more bad words Santa" (Thats the picture with Santa laughing!) :)
