Nate's Train Painting

 

Gina snapped this picture when Nate was busy one day. Apparently he didn't want any photos until he was done, but she captured one anyway.

Nate's 4th Birthday

 

 

 

 

Julie rushing to get Nate from preschool

Nate's first day of preschool

 

 

 

 

1. Blueberry pancakes and bacon for breakfast.
2. Family walking Nate to school.
3. Dropping Nate off, meeting teachers.
4. Julie not wanting to leave school or her brother.
5. Respite at home.
6. Julie quickly hauls red wagon 2 blocks to pick up Nate.
7. Walk into town for sushi lunch.

Father's Day Hike

 

 

 

After a full weekend of Discover Museum / Sam's Cafe in Sausalito, and Redwood City downtown street fair / festival, we did our annual Father's Day hike. On Sunday we drove a stomach-churning road 45 minutes in Santa Cruz mountains to a remote redwood grove & river hike. Nate and Julie hiked the entire loop, including a rendezvous scampering through narrow river ledges and steep uphill climb. The only causalty was our camera, which took a tumble on our last leg before we found our car & picnic table.

Train picture

 

Nate, proud of his most recent train picture on the chalkboard. Sidenote: we were watching TV, and Nate read out "SCHOOL!" when the word flashed on the screen. Is he reading, we wondered? I brought out a piece of paper and wrote "T-R-A-I-N"...he said "train". Then wrote "D-O-G"...he said "dog". Then wrote "C-A-T"...he said "dog!" Okay, so we're starting to recognize words, but only a few. Amazing, we had no idea.

The Wagon

 

 

 

 

With the garage sale / cookie sale money, Julie and Nate bought a red wagon complete with a sun top, ideal for those walks to the Redwood City Friday concerts at the downtown square. Now our days our spent between pullers (Nate, Daddy, Mommy, Julie) and common routes (around the garden, house, block).

Artwork

 

The title is "Nate standing on one foot" per the artist.

The Cookie Operation

 

Garage Sale

 

 

 

 

Our street held the annual block garage sale today, and since it was our first weekend we've been around for it, we were out in full force. Nate and Julie baked chocolate chip cookies (whole wheat, Ghirardelli chocolate) to sell for money to buy their new red wagon. Nate was a great huckster, running down people saying "You want something? You want to buy a cookie??" for a quarter and we ended up selling almost our entire batch, earning $14. I also ended up selling all of my old stereo equipment and much more, so we ended up putting the cookie money in Nate & Julie's new piggie banks (see above) and will be shopping for the red wagon tomorrow.

Graduating to Bicycle

 

Gina bought Julie a new helmet yesterday, and there was no stopping her trying the pink bicycle. It seemed like it was only a few weeks ago Julie was pushing herself by her feet on the tricycle.

Big Day for Nate

As we started getting closer to the fun summer school sessions at Nate's new preschool, we wanted to make sure he was potty trained, a prerequisite for attending. So on Saturday June 2, we told Nate pull-up diapers were now only for night time since it was his birthday month. He cried, ran around naked for about an hour, and said how scared he was of having an accident. Only when Gina started leaving for the grocery store did he put on his underwear. We all went along, and Gina nearly cried with pride when she learned Nate and I had used the bathroom in Safeway. Now, 5 days later, he hasn't had an accident for several days; and when someone asked him how old he was, he replied "I'm almost four years old, and I'm already wearing underwear!" With Julie potty trained for the past few months, our garbage can is considerably lighter.