Holidays with Violet

We have had a very nice holiday break, and just arrived back from a short trip to Yosemite, where we stayed at the Yosemite View Lodge, two miles from the entrance to the park. I highly recommend this hotel, which has family suites that can easily accommodate four adults and two to three children.

Yosemite in the winter was beautiful. However, Violet's favorite part of the trip was the hotel room and the indoor pool. Here we have her gearing up for trip number 3 to the pool!

Once inside Yosemite, we got our bearings and the immersed ourselves in the outdoor experience. Well, at least as much as much as we could with a toddler in tow, who is accustomed to 60 degree weather.

Here Violet is in her snow "outfit" as she preferred to call it, in Curry Village next to the outdoor ice rink. She also had a lot of fun sledding and throwing her first snow balls and papa and mama.

For the actual Christmas holiday, Justin's father Raymond was with us. Here he is enjoying the wonders of Play-Dough. We had a great time. Some of the highlights were all biking together in San Francisco and visiting the winter wonderland in Tilden Park.

Another highlight was a trip to the Golden State Railroad Museum, a must-visit attraction for train fans or parents of train fans. Needless to say, Violet's mind was blown!

Yes, She's Alive!

It is an absolute travesty that we haven't posted anything in the past two months. It's even worse, as I'm one of those people who complains about others' infrequent updates. As so much has happened, at best we're playing catch up here, so I'm presenting an assortment of photos with what I hope is interesting and/or humorous commentary.

Here they are, in no particular order of relevance, significance or even temporality:

This first series is from a visit we made to the pumpkin patch in Clayton, California. As is typical of such patches, one rolls around a wheelbarrow and gathers punkins, which Violet enjoyed tremendously. The patch also had other attractions, such as the requisite wooden cut-out propped up for photos:
And an intriguing, actually downright confounding, haystack maze. With our combined intellect, however, we made it out:


Amy and I took a trip to Boston, Massachusettes (that's where Ally McBeal was set). While we were there, Violet hung out on the farm, and we joined her after about a week. We were then joined by Violet's cousins, Aunt and Uncle. Here's a picture of Violet with her cousin, Derek, who, truly, looks like a freakin' movie star in this one:

We've done a fair amount of yard work, given the child and all, and we've learned that we can rely on Violet to do a few things around the house. For example, as Amy and I were a little tired after doing the front yard, we asked Violet to clear the side of the house and water some of the bushes. Here she is near the end, not even breaking a sweat:

In addition to major landscaping, Violet has been improving her domestic skills. Here, she is displaying two of her choice cupcakes, concocted with just the merest help from her mother. Violet's pride of chefmanship is clear:

You know it's hard out there for a toddler. After such an intense day, who could blame a girl who wanted to take a little load off?

Signing off for now.