Jumpin' Jack

Have Bag, Will Travel.

Taste of Spring

One week it's winter in the 40s and one week it's summer again in the 60's. This week it's in the 60's, sunny, and glorious.

Tyke on Trike

We got Jack a Kettler tricycle for Christmas. It has an attached "push bar" that overrides the pedalling so Mom and Dad can navigate the trike which is handy as Jack's feet are just a tad short to pedal by himself right now. With one more inch and his endless energy, we can see him pedalling about town in no time.

First Taste of Chocolate

Yum!

Christmas Past

As we alternate holidays on the east and west coasts annually, this was our year to spend Christmas on the Left Coast.

Tom's parents, Pat and Ed, flew in from Portland, OR for a week which was a lot of fun for all of us and especially for Jack.

We spent some time during the week to visit with Pat's lifelong friends, Art and his partner Earl, who have interesting stories to tell of their lives and travels as a teacher and an intelligence officer in the service as during WWII repectively. We also visited with another of Pat's good friends, Bessie, who spent several years as a librarian in the Marin school system and lives in Berkeley.

On Christmas Eve, we continued a Blossom family tradition of Pat's homemade spaghetti, and we kicked off a Burke family tradition of opening one gift on Christmas Eve (of pajamas, surprise!).

Christmas morning was relaxing as we waited for church services to conclude at the historic Mission Dolores church (down the street from us), and then opening our stockings (Stella included!) and presents before lunch.

In the late afernoon, we attended a kids' circus caberet called Mittens & Mistletoe at our local Mission theatre.

The next day we drove to Sacramento for a big meal and more holiday fun with Tom's cousins.

CLICK HERE for more pictures of Christmas 2010.

Click below for a video of Jack with his new xylophone:







And click below to watch Jack dance with his Honey Bear:

Eureka!

Here's Daddy and Jack at the Eureka Valley Rec Center in the nearby Castro neighborhood.

We usually hit the playground outside (pictured at left) and decided this day to venture in and watch the big kids play basketball. Jack was fascinated.

The "rec center" is really an indoor basketball court, outdoor playground, indoor playspace, abaseball field, tennis court and enclosed dog run which were all recently remodeled.  Fun fact: the surface design of the playground was inspired by "The Wizard of Oz,” complete with yellow brick road.