Bubble Bath

Coffee, Shopping and the Girl in the Mirror

The other morning Matt and Eleanor shared some coffee. Matt enjoyed his more than Eleanor enjoyed hers, but she really liked the little "Eleanor-sized" coffee cup.

Yesterday Eleanor and I went shopping. She needs new shoes. I found some online and decided to take Eleanor to the physical store to have her try them on. The store had a very small selection compared to the website, so we ended up not getting shoes. We did, however, find a belt, tights, and some giraffe panties. She wanted to try everything on together when we got home.

At lunch time today our doorbell rang. It was the postman with a box for Eleanor. She was very excited about the new dress. Thanks Meme and Grandfather!

Matt starts classes on Monday. It looks like our three schedules (Matt's classes, my work, and Eleanor's nap) are going to work out quite well together.

Pasadena Public Library

We have a great library. It is two blocks from our house. This is so convenient we walk there regularly to get DVD's comics and occasionally books.


Eleanor loves to put book after book on the reading table in the children's section. She rarely reads them because there are so many more to pick out.


When we get ready to leave she likes to run around in the outside courtyard with the fountain.






"Oh. Hello there." Says the man with funny socks.


Library time is fun.

A Weekend at Forest Home (Ojai, CA)

And so it turns out that where we were going wasn't Santa Barbara after all. But in fact, a great deal East of there. Now we had been warned that we were going "South" of Santa Barbara. However, this was a metaphorical South as in, South on "the 101." Ah well. It was still a delightful place and we had plenty of time to spend relaxing and getting to know lots of other Fuller folk. Melody even had time to squeeze in a zip-line ride and I a mountain board ride.

What is a mountain board you say? Think this:






Well... More like this:

Though, after 8 hours of childcare we were exhausted, we all had a good time and got another social headstart on the school-year.

Stay tuned, up next, a post about a walk to the library with Eleanor. Don't miss it!

A Visit to the Giant Octopus

Today Melody and I braved the California DMV. While Melody wrangled with the many-armed beaurocracy of the Department of Motor Vehicles, Eleanor and I visited Fry's Electronics. The space alien theme of the massive superstore is undercut by the tired distractedness of the employees.

Perhaps they were more dismayed at Eleanor's creative mouse restocking strategies.

When I asked Eleanor what she thought the Octopus wanted there in the store she said: "Eat."
"Eat what?"
"Bite."
"Bite what?"
"Nanor."

Despite any nefarious intentions sensed by my child she insisted on returning to the computer section, with tables made up of the creature's tendrils literally bursting through the floor tile. A fun place.

We'll be on internet hiatus for the weekend (not that it will make much difference for all we post) as we've hastily taken on the duties of childcare for a Fuller staff retreat this weekend in Santa Barbara (it's a paying gig).



View Larger Map

Now for those of you who are geographically challenged like I am when it comes to California I've included a map from those nice folks at google who are busy reading all our emails and blogposts and stealing all our best ideas. Hi guys!

E is for Eleanor

 

Eleanor's favorite letter is E.

New Friends, Sno-Cones and a Slip-n-Slide

We moved into a wonderful community of Fuller students and their families. Our community is comprised of families, couples and single people. There are about ten kids ranging in age from in utero to about eight years old. It's a great place to be and we are all enjoying it immensely. Eleanor is loving having so many other kids to play with and fun new places to play. About twenty times a day she asks (or begs) to go to the "blue car," which is a toy in the shared courtyard across the street. Part of the reason she loves going to the blue car is because most of the time there are other kids out.

Today there was a community event thanks to a Sno-cone machine that didn't have to be returned until Tuesday. After Eleanor's nap, we went to the "green area" for Sno-cones and fun. Don't be fooled, the green is really fake grass.

Here's a picture of the Sno-cone party:


After the Sno-cones were gone, the slip-n-slide came out. Eleanor watched with interest as Andrea (4) got a running start then threw herself onto the slide. Eleanor tried to do it exactly like Andrea. Here's the photo sequence: