Train ride at the San Francisco Zoo

Look woman, this picture taking thing is getting out of hand. They've got a nice little train ride going here. We'd like to enjoy it in peace. Ok?

Daredevil Zachary

I'm touching it. Look, I've got one finger on it. Wait, is it moving?? No, ok I'm still touching it. Would you take the picture already??? I'm risking my life here!

Children's Zoo at the San Francisco Zoo

Holly and Kawliga

Hank Williams Jr - Kaw-liga Lyrics

Kaw-liga was a wooden Indian standing by the door.
He fell in love with an Indian maiden over in the antique store.
Kaw-liga just stood there and never let it show,
So she could never answer "yes" or "no."

CHORUS:
Poor ol' Kaw-liga, he never got a kiss.
Poor ol' Kaw-liga, he don't know what he missed.
Is it any wonder that his face is red?
Kaw-liga, that poor ol' wooden head.

He always wore his Sunday feathers and held a tomahawk.
The maiden wore her beads and braids and hoped some day he'd talk.
Kaw-liga, too stubborn to ever show a sign,
Because his heart was made of knotty pine.

Kaw-liga was a lonely Indian, never went nowhere.
His heart was set on the Indian maid with the coal black hair.
Kaw-liga just stood there and never let it show,
So she could never answer "yes" or "no."

And then one day a wealthy customer bought the Indian maid,
And took her, oh, so far away, but ol' Kaw-liga stayed.
Kaw-liga just stands there as lonely as can be,
And wishes he was still an old pine tree.

Holly absolutely hates this song so Jack always makes a big show of turning up the radio and singing whenever it comes on. Ofcourse, when we saw this wooden Indian while wandering around in San Francisco, Jack and I both exclaimed "OOO, look Holly! Kawliga!" I'm sure she was thinking "Why did the Lord stick me with these people". I just had to force Holly to take a picture with it. Notice the pleased look on her face. :-) Ah, one of the greatest joys of parenting, annoying your children for the fun of it. :-)

Poker Champs

Check out Seat 1 and Seat 4 in the picture above. Man, I wish!! Jack could quit his job and I wouldn't have to go back to work. Just spend time traveling around with our poker champion children. My dad (who is much better at Paint Shop Pro than I am) made this up for us. The whole family has become interested in poker thanks to Jack's obsession with online poker and The World Poker Tour. Maybe a little too interested...notice the wearing of hats and sunglasses indoors. Holly has actually become pretty good at bluffing and deciding which cards to play. We bought Jack a nice poker set for his birthday and the kids love to get everything out and play. Well, Holly actually plays poker. Zachary likes to build stuff with the chips. We're going to have to get to work on him. Too bad they don't pay big money for poker chip buildings. He'd be raking it in.

Grape stomping at the winery

A local winery was having a harvest festival where you had the chance to do some grape stomping. We thought it would be fun to go and check it out and let the kids try stomping grapes. Holly wouldn't have any part of it but Zachary was a trooper. I don't think he really got the gist of what was going on but he stomped as well as he could. The day was going nicely until we discovered that stomping in grapes could actually be irritating to the skin. A fact that was brought to our attention when Zachary started crying quite dramatically and trying to scratch the skin off his feet. Our fun afternoon was quickly going down hill. Thankfully, a good wash in the winery's bathroom sink calmed his skin down a little and we were able to salvage the rest of our outing. Needless to say, I think we'll skip the grape stomping next year. I did get some good pictures though.

Mmm Mmm Good

Nothing tastes better than a fine red wine with a delicate bouquet of feet. Thankfully they threw the grapes out afterwards.

A conversation on the way home from PreK today

Zachary - Sara ate too much at dinner last night
Me - Oh, she did?
Zachary - Yeah
Zachary (2 seconds later) - Doubletree* doesn't have a kitchen
Me - Why do you say that?
Zachary - Because there aren't any kitchen tables or kitchen stuff
Me - Well, they have to have a kitchen, they make food
Zachary - Well, where is it?
Me - I don't know, on the first floor somewhere
Zachary (apparently not believing me) - We should take a kitchen with us the next time we go
there
Me - Is your brain talkin crazy?
Zachary - No, it's talking fine

*Zachary has become obsessed with Doubletree ever since we stayed there in New Orleans this past May. He keeps asking if our Doubletree survived the hurricane.

Another Boy

It became evident fairly quickly after Zachary was born that he wasn't going to be the well behaved child that Holly is so it should come as no surprise that it had only taken him about a week of school to end up in the time out chair. Zachary loves sharing parts of his school day with us, especially if it involves Jacob (aka Broken Arm Boy). So, we're in the kitchen discussing something or other and Zachary pipes up with "Jacob and another boy had to sit in time out today". Now since Jacob and Zachary have become pretty much attached at the hip, Jack and I had a pretty good idea who "another boy" was. "Who was the other boy?" we asked. By the look on his face it was clear he hadn't expected us to inquire about "another boy's" identity. He gamely tried to worm his way out of revealing himself but we finally wore him down with subtle yet effective tactics and he admitted it was him. He wasn't giving up anything else though so it took a little bit more work to finally figure out what he had done. From what I could gather, he had been playing instead of listening. He assures us he won't end up in the time out chair anymore but I have a sinking feeling that "another boy" and the time out chair will be meeting again.