Ball Roll 2007

Last night, we had a delicious crab feast - one of my mom's favorite beach traditions. The bushel of crabs even inspired cousin Sam to take a short break from his vegetarianism to eat the last few (though well shy of his 15-crab record!). This year the crab fest provided inspiration for another great beach tradition - the ball roll. I supervised the early construction and then cooled off in the nearest bucket once I was satisfied with the progress and organization.The final product -- a Chesapeake Bay Blue Crab with four looping, tunneled tracks -- was a sight to behold. Here I am posing with my crew before the final good luck kiss of the ball opening the crab to the public.

1st Trip to "The Beach"

I finally made it to the legend that is Bethany Beach, DE, where my Mom and G'ma have been coming since they were my age and where the Browns gather every August. I've been having fun playing with everyone, including my cousins Rosemary & Meghan,Fiona, G'ma Debbie

Sam, and, of course, my new favorite: the Atlantic Ocean.

Ready to Move From Tooth to Teeth

Mom and Dad eat this little plastic stick with their teeth every morning (what a concept! I still have one singular snaggletooth). I tried it out and, lemme tell ya, brushing is nothing special. But maybe if I brush real good and rinse off the toothbrush just right, I can encourage the rest of my teeth to come out from their hiding places. Then my rock star smile could be studded with pearly whites.

Playing w/ Zoe... and Starting to Walk!

Yesterday I went to my friend Zoe's house for a play date. She lent me her little walker-car-thing while she gathered apples from the tree. Turns out, with something to hold onto I CAN WALK! Even Zoe was amazed.

MY Car

Sometimes I have to go in the big car and face backwards... and it's hot... and I'm strapped down... and I can't see anything... and I can't steer. It's tolerable at best. So that's why I was **so happy** Jack left me his lil' red car.Now I can't leave the house without wanting to go for a ride around the neighborhood. BEEP, BEEP, coming through!

The 100-Mile Diet

This morning Mom and Dad started on the 100-mile diet for one week: eating and drinking only what is grown within 100 miles of our home in Oakland. Living in Northern California during the height of the harvest season, how hard can that be?! You can get most of what you need at our local farmer's market, including fresh seafood, pork, cheese, and eggs (not to mention Napa Valley wine and Tomales Bay oysters) but there's no red meat, wheat, oats or coffee/tea so no burgers, beer, bread, hot drinks, or (sniff) cereal. Instead they had to *sacrifice* with heirloom tomato-avocado-oyster mushroom-cheddar omelets with fresh peaches and strawberries for breakfast.

While I'm officially exempted, Violet and I did do our part by ingesting a couple handfuls of local sand yesterday.

Harry Potter!

I had been hearing all about this Harry Potter guy's adventures, and with the new book out, I wanted to catch up on the story. I had to read books 1-6 really fast. So now I can start in on book 7. Don't give away the ending!

1st Camping Trip: Book Club @ L. Chabot

This weekend I went on my first ever camping trip, to Lake Chabot on the border between Oakland and Castro Valley. In preparation we bought and tested out a new family-size tent

with lots of room to play inside. It was great fun getting messy, while being serenaded by Robert's newest song, "Applesauce." My friend Dominic really scored big - he got to eat cookies for breakfast. I think it is because the only coffee available was made by his dad in a frying pan, strained with a paper bag and then decanted with a red plastic cup.

Malini -n- Me

On Wednesdays I go to my friend Malini's house for the day
and on Tuesdays I invite her over to my house. We like to throw a few back on the couch together......though I must say, some of us are a little more focused about it.

Snaggletooth

Able to make short work of peaches, bananas, string cheese, crackers, falafels, kidney beans, fish curry and thousands of cheerios, my culinary repetoire hasn't been limited much by my solitary tooth.

Happy 60th G'pa Mike!

Today is my Grandpa Mike's 60th birthday so I made him a birthday card. It was my first ever arts and crafts project so I was very proud of it. Happy 60th Grandpa Mike! I LOVE YOU!

Look Who's Crawling Now!

Our Thoughts Are With the O'Shaughnessys

Bob O'Shaughnessy passed away this morning in Columbus, OH with his family by his side. Adam and I had the good fortune to spend a number of evenings over the past few years listening to his stories and wisdom when he was here visiting Molly and family. He was out here last year for Maisy's birth just before Eliza was born. I was nervous and anxious about what we were getting into and said something about how I couldn't believe that my bulging belly would soon turn into a tiny wriggly baby like little Maisy. Bob turned and said, "What is hard to believe is how soon she will turn into that" and looked at Molly, his daughter, with a look of pride and enjoyment that made parenting seem like a great thing to be undertaking. Our hearts go out to the O'Shaughnessys for their loss.

My First Sleepover: Jack

Suzanna and Jack are staying with us tonight and tomorrow before flying to OH on Thursday. Jack was especially excited to be reunited with his old sandbox one more time before passing it on to me.He was so focused, I made sure mama knew where I wanted to be: right there beside him. We got pretty dirty so...

...Hey, did you know you have a fin on your head?

Really, where? I can't see it.Oh well, nevermind, what's in YOUR bowl?

Cancer Fighting Karma

Tomorrow my Omma and my best friend Maisy's grandpa both go in for chemo. I want to send them both some good cancer-fighting karma and a big, slobbery kiss (sorry, but my nose has been a bit plugged up). Good luck with treatment #2 Omma (here looking like Jamie Lee Curtis with her sympathetically-shaved Sean Connery) and treatment #1 Bob O'Shaughnessy! While we're at it, here's hoping that July brings better mojo to the clan, the neighborhood, and its extended network. Oy, what a spring it's been!