Monkey see, monkey do

Lately Rosie has been mimicking us and trying to learn new things, from copying DaddyO's "shhhhh" while playing hide and seek to sniffing the freshness of clean laundry (she sniffed every piece of clothing). It's been so much fun seeing what she picks up.

Today Rosie also got her first taste of pizza. She mostly played with it (i.e. rubbed it all over we face) and got very attached. Here are some before and after pics.

Goofball face:


Upset when we took it away after she rubbed it all over the dirt:


Feelin better (and older!) after getting a new piece of crust:

Winterized

1st Annual Cousins' Day 2011

[A collaborative piece written and inspired by the De Sousa / Larkey cousins, Mike, and Vi]

This morning we caught an early BART train to San Francisco.

Rosie's first BART ride

When we arrived in San Francisco we went into the Ferry building and we had a delicous "gourmet" safeway sandwich brown bag brunch. Mind you, this was right next to Blue Bottle Coffee (one of the most expensive coffee shops in the bay area). Then we caught the F train to the Angel Island Ferry.

Looking to be a sunny day in the bay!

After an extremely windy yet scenic ferry ride to the island we got right to hiking. The weather was great and the going was easy. Really, the only thing complicating our trip up was the fact that we each had a plastic grocery bag of provisions to tote. We had all forgotten backpacks, which is particularly embarrassing because there were two eagle scouts in the group.

Rosie had the best view after a peaceful nap

Once we made it to the summit of Mount Livermore we gorged on a feast of more sandwiches, pretzel chips, beef jerky, pasta salad, oranges, bananas and nearly a pound of skittles; all while enjoying one of the most breathtaking views of the bay. Rosa was hitting the block of cheddar HARD; she probably ate 10% of her body weight in cheese.

Peak of Mt. Livermore

We decided to take a little bit of a shorter walk down the Mount Livermore.
Shortly after our departure we decided to have an epic and comical jumping photo op.

Hurray!

 After reasonable success we walked down to the immigration center getting our dose of history after a wholesome dose of nature. We did more walking sight-seeing and read the plaques while Rosa played on them.

After that we walked by the dock and stopped at the picnic tables for a short cookie break followed by a walk through the visitors center and roughly calculated how far we walked to reach the peak.

On the way back to San Francisco we decided to take shelter inside the ferry before stretching our legs again on a walk through the Italian district, North Beach. There we had an early bird dinner (or was it a late lunch) at Steps of Rome where we noshed on salad, and a tasty mixture of pastas and pizza.

Steps of Rome

 Fatigue from the day's adventures and food coma were setting in a little but that didn't stop us from walking once again, this time through Chinatown and Union Square, with a quick stop through
City Light Books. We made our last stop at the Westfield Mall for creme puffs, coffee, and a light show. Rosie loved exploring the mall on her own, but made sure to look back and give us her cheeseburger face and to make sure we were all watching her.
The ride back to the east bay was calm and relaxing.

Hanging out

Learning to read maps

Before parting ways we of course made time for one last group photo.

Smiles after a full day

Today was such a memorable day that gave us an opportunity to bask in the sweetness of family and really enjoy each other's company. We hope this will be the beginning of a new tradition.

Logistics of the Trip
159.1 total miles traveled today x 8 brave souls = 1272.8 miles!
The breakdown:
Car, Train, Bus:
  - 70 miles driving round trip from SJ to Bart
  - 66 miles round trip on bart
  - 2 miles on muni

Ferry:
  - 13 nautical miles round trip between SF and Angel Island

 On Foot:
  - 6 mile hike on Angel Island (788 elevation to climb and descent)
  - 2.1 miles from Wharf to Westfield Mall / Powell St. Bart on foot

Beach Cruisin

We knew that Rosie loves to sleep on the move, whether it be in the comfy carrier, luxurious stroller, or the safe confines of the car seat, but we did not expect the bike seat to be Rosie's next favorite slumber spot.

Today during a quick trip to Santa Cruz, we wanted to grab a bite to eat and ride along west cliff and enjoy the view.

We strapped Rosie in and headed west on the trail, not long into the trip Rosie was dreaming of the ocean rather then staring at it.

On our trip back near the car, Rosie woke up and enjoyed watching the surfers, waves and dogs who walked along the cliff.

Here are a few shots of Rosie in Santa Cruz.

Rosie has a wonderful friend that she plays with every so often. On Christmas eve morning Rosie played with her fellow flower-named friend at Bramhall park. Here is a great shot after the dads enjoyed father daughter time over at a greasy spoon and moms reunited with their gals at the park.



We saw them again today at Happy Hollow Zoo where the girls got to pet baby goats, climb around, see exotic animals, and in Rosie's case, be a big fuss pants cause she missed a nap. We didn't get pictures from this trip but here is from last week with the warthogs.



Rosie ended up taking a 3 hour nap afterward! Catch-up sleep.

Merry Christmas!

Today was a family-filled day of chatting, eating, resting, walking, laughing, gift exchanging, and Christmas-cheering. On top of all the hugs and kisses she got from everyone, she also got books, cute boots and outfits, and a tree swing.
Video- We couldn't wait to hook the swing up so Dad played the role of tree:

Pic- Here is Rosie helping Vavó open her gift:


Video- Rosie loves her cousins and loves to laugh. We captured silly with giggles while her cousin was feeding her.

After leaving Livermore Rosie was conked out after an exciting day. Mom and Dad were feeling daring and decided to go to the movies. It isn't until you have a sleeping baby with you do you realize how loud the theater can be. She ended up waking up during the previews. We did some tag-teaming, Rosie played with the fun red-lights of the walkway, and we snuck in to see some Alvin and the Chipmunks. A learning experience, for sure.
When we got home Rosie majorly chowed on leftover turkey and played some more before going to bed. Rosie has also seemed to learn the sign language sign for water! She is picking things up so quickly.

Pic- Standing tall with banana:


Video- Telling us it's time for bed (she just started doing this today):

Mom's side of the family was sorely missed. But it makes us appreciate that Rosie is loved by so many - near and far!

Coast to coast

Merry Christmas Eve! We just got back from Auntie G and Uncle G's Christmas Eve party. Rosie got in some really good loving from the family, which meant Mom and Dad could kick back and enjoy watching her play with everyone. There's no better gift than to see our baby so loved. Unfortunately we forgot to take pictures but believe me, there was plenty of smiles and cuteness being thrown around.

Earlier today we were able to FaceTime with mom's side of the family who were in Delaware. While it's not ideal to be thousands of miles apart, at least we could still blow kisses to each other. We do have a picture of the family crowded around Rosie on the iPad, courtesy of Ba Ngoai.

Family Christmas gift

Instead of exchanging gifts this year we decided to give ourselves a great family gift. We tuned up our bikes and bought Rosie a bike seat! Yesterday we took it for a spin. We're looking forward to the many bike adventures in the new year!

Day in SF with the Vavôs

On Tuesday we started our adventure in San Francisco after energizing with a tasty waffle and bacon breakfast in Livermore. We first headed to the Ferry Building where we walked around, window shopped the Farmer's market, and wetted our appetite with some fresh oysters.





Then it was lunch at Fisherman's Wharf where we ate at Alioto's with a beautiful view of the bay behind us. Rosie particularly liked the sourdough bread. We walked around the wharf and Rosie took a cozy nap in the carrier. She missed ice cream at Ghiradelli Square :)


We then hopped in the car, got dizzy on Lombard Street, and headed to the Westin Hotel where we were spending the night. The Westin is right on Union Square and has an awesome view from the 17th floor where Vavôs' room was, an an even more amazing view from the top of the tower. 31 floors up! We rested a bit before going out again. Rosie insisted on controlling the TV.


Here's the Lobby of the Westin after a comfy night's rest (for some... not for us so much. She may have woken up the whole floor in the middle of the night):


Wednesday morning we took a nice tour of the city and hit up Crissy Field, Sea Cliff neighborhood, China Beach, the Presidio, the Legion of Honor, Ocean Beach, Golden Gate Park and lunched at the Beach Chalet. Next we went down memory lane to the outer Sunset neighborhood and visited Vavó's first apartment when she came to the U.S. It was fun listening to her reminisce about those first years in SF and her aunt and uncle. Here she is with Vavô in front of the apartments:


On such a clear day we couldn't resist the view so we ascended Twin Peaks.


After battling Bay Bridge traffic, we walked around the Oakland neighborhood of Rockridge before heading to Christmas Fantasy in Tilden Park. We rode the merry-go-round and admired the dozens of Christmas trees and festive lights.








Our last stop was dinner at Shen Hua, a favorite of Mike's from his East Bay days.
It was a fun and special two days! Though admittedly a little tiring: