Teta Zdenka...

...has just arrived!

Camping dreams ;-)

Rob is home from Miami since Saturday so everybody is happy again.
The weather is less pleasant than a week ago. We still have plenty of sunshine but the wind is freezing and yesterday it was even stormy. I hope the temperature will improve because our ‘teta Zdenka’ is coming this Friday. Yippee Yippee Yeah!

Even we are pretty late this year it’s time to think about our summer vacation. We have already seen a lot last year. At the time thinking we have to go back to Europe in the end of August we tried to see as much as possible of the California beauty. As you know by now we have enough time to explore further.
Some may be surprised that we decided to go camping as from now!
There are more reasons for us to do this. I’m sure we will never get to this move if we still would be living in Europe. I was not really fan of the overcrowded 'full luxurious’ campgrounds…
But during our trips last year we’ve discovered that the campgrounds here are nicely settled in the most beautiful nature with just the basic facilities and most of all they are quiet! So if you love the nature and you really want to experience it (not just from the window of your car) the best you can do is to look for a campground. In the more remote areas there is mostly no other way of accommodation or a very little choice anyway.
Long time ago I used to camp with my friends very often. The campgrounds were at that time (in the past Czechoslovakia) very similar to those I’ve found here. So I’m really excited. And now with Maarten it’s going to be even more fun.
Anyway we are busy to get all the necessary camping gear we need. This is going to be our family tent.
We’ve already booked the first weekend of May at the Pfeifer Big Sur State Park campground. I can’t wait!

yo&go

New haircut

How do you like it?!

Home alone ;-)

When Oma and Lia were about to travel back to Holland Maarten would just turn his head away from them refusing to wave good bye.
A week later he had such a great time with Aunt Lynn and his funny Uncles and now he has to miss them all.
Tonight Rob left for Miami (FL) for a couple of days…
Maarten hates when people are leaving him (who doesn’t?) especially his favorite ‘pappa/tata’. He was a bit sad tonight but we still had a lot of laughing together a.o.t. with his spinach face ;-)

Potty training

With the warm weather I’ve decided to do something about Maartens’ potty training. We’ve already had some success last year but it was rather me who waited for the ‘right moment’. And according to the pediatricians it doesn’t really make a sense because it has to be the child and not the mother who supposed to be potty trained ;-)
I knew it’s not going to be easy. I’ll better spare you all the details but what a tough job!
The irony is that Maarten finds it very funny especially to see his # 2 somewhere in the middle of the living room or in the grass. GRRRRR

PS: My regular check at the local dentist this week turned into a real drama. I know that there is some dark past since my teeth experienced the dentists from the communist era. But not having any troubles for years I wouldn’t expect to get such a bad score after all :-(

Seganti!

There was not a very promising start of this weekend...
Friday morning Maarten locked us up (me and him) in the garage when I went to grab some potatoes for the soup. This is a Maartens game/joke since a few weeks already.
GRRRRRR! Usually I carry my keys all the time to avoid situation like this. But not this Friday morning :-( There was no way out so we had to stay there for at least two hours because Rob went out to do some shopping...

Since we had to say goodbye to Oma Suze and Aunt Lia last Tuesday the house was ready for another family visit.
Even now it’s still hard to believe but this weekend we enjoyed the company of (only a small) part of my extensive American family. After 13 years!
Uncle Jim and a friend Boz came from their ski vacations at the Lake Tahoe.
And Uncle Harry and Aunt Lynn drove all the 500 miles (804,5 km) from their home in Chula Vista!
We had a wonderful time together sitting at the porch looking at old family pictures, talking about our ancestors and of course a lot of laughing. Maarten was so excited and he did his best to ‘participate’ in all our discussions. First name he learned was ‘Boz’. He kept following Boz the whole weekend with ‘Hi Boz!’. He also tried to keep up with the laugh of his uncles Jim and Harry and he did pretty well.
His very favorite was Aunt Lynn. He followed her everywhere even in the morning he couldn’t wait when she’ll wake up.
I was a little bit concerned about Maarten because he had a cold since Friday. Fortunately he was cheerful not complaining about anything. We could even have dinner out in Dublin and he loved it.
Also on Saturday after Maartens afternoon nap we went by BART (the Bay Area metro) to San Francisco. We took the cable car to the China town to have dinner at a favorite Bozes restaurant (Great Eastern at Jackson St.). It really was delicious!
The Chinese dragons and music in the streets were great. Maarten carried by Uncle Jim all the time was having so much fun in the night SF streets.
Sunday was the day to say good bye. The house felt pretty quiet and empty when they were gone. Maarten is still asking and looking for them. He already misses them and he is not the only one. Let’s hope we all get together soon again.

PS: Sunday afternoon: splashing in the ‘Frog pool’ makes the warmth more pleasant (around 76 F/25 C this weekend)

Sunscreen allergy :-(

Even Maarten is cheerful and happy as always he has got a not good looking rash on his cheeks and ears since yesterday. He was pulling and scratching his ears it probably does itch very badly.
As we’ve already assumed it is most probably an allergy to the sunscreen according to the pediatrician. Not quite good considering all the sunshine we get here all the time. He has to wear a big hat for the time being and I’m sure he doesn't like it at all.

1st BBQ

Maarten got a lot of new toys from Oma and Lia (again!). He was amused for the rest of the day. How wonderful! ;-)
Because of the nice weather we could try the new BBQ grill and even have our first dinner outdoors! Maarten found all the garden lights very exciting and of course the frog sounds from the near creek.

Point Lobos State Reserve

On this warm and sunny Saturday we visited another beautiful spot of the California coast, the Point Lobos State Reserve.
Besides of the stunning coast views we saw a lot of sunbathing sea otters and harbor seals and barking California sea lions on the rocks offshore. It was funny to see the sea otter float on its back.
Lia spotted a spout of mist a few miles offshore. Yes, we were lucky again. There were the migrating gray whales!
We all enjoyed our ‘private beach’ relaxing in the sun and listening to the sounds of the sea. The black cormorants were nesting there down the side of cliffs and rocks.
Maarten was a bit afraid of the loud breaking waves. A little puddle on the rock seems to be a more pleasant place to play.
At the end of our trip Maarten met his favorite little friends - squirrels ;-)

10th anniversary/ Snow!

Though it is pretty rare in this area there is some snow at the Mount Diablo! From the San Ramon Valley we have this beautiful view of the highest mountain of the SF Bay Area.

Also in the valley is still quite chilly however we enjoy the outdoors ;-)

PS: Another reason to celebrate: Rob’s 10th service year with ChevronTexaco!
Congratulations!