Harvest Festival

Here are some shots from the Harvest festival today. Josie wore her Halloween costume. It was a lot of fun.

Vancouver

We have been in vancouver for the past 10 days. It was a great time. I must say, though, vacation with 2 small kids is mainly about trying to keep them entertained while not feeling like you could be doing this at home for much less money.

Canada, I must say, is so much more civilized than the states. I know, I do love to bash the good ol US, but its true. Neverminding the big picture things, like healthcare for all and free higher education for all native peoples etc. It was the little things that stood out, like how even in the big cities there were lots and lots of open, free and clean washrooms. The people are unbelievably cool, friendly and patient. It was a whole different vibe. A good example is when the train was late, very late, as in hours and hours, and nobody was losing it. Not a single person complained (actually, one lady was kvetching, but it turns out she was from the US). The train station staff busted out donuts and tea and coffee and turned on the tv, and everyone chilled... for 8 freaking hours. The vibe was contageous and it was impressive. Also, the grub on the train was complimentary as a result of the delay. Oh Canada.....

Edmonton was great, working class town with a wonderful system of parks and a killer river running through it. They miss Gretzky there, let me tell ya.

Vancouver is amazing. It rivals SF in beauty (and real estate prices) and whoops our asses in vibe. Even the bus drivers were cool, really cool. They were friendly, took their time explaining things, waited till we were seated before taking off, etc. The natural beauty is wonderful. The skyline is impressive, the parks are pristine. The public playgrounds and pools are wonderful. Lots of construction work. Where do I sign up for my Canadian work visa?

Anyhow, the latest on Josie is all good. She is so smart and feisty. She makes up a lot of songs these days. She still enjoys dancing. Her swin lessons are continuing. I cannot see much progress swim wise, but she loves it and has a lot of fun. She is a big girl at school now and has a couple boyfriends, both imaginary. She describes them as looking like circles. She loves her brother and is good to him more often than not.

Enjoy the photos and movies. I will post more on lazlo's site.

Too Busy to Blog

so we'll just be posting photos and movies...Enjoy!

Happy Birthday To Tamsen

Birthday!

Number three. Fantastic! What a difference a year makes. She is all little girl now and almost no baby.

She announced the day before her birthday, " I am going to be three and I am going to wear underpants" and, BAM, just like that, she is potty trained. Good work Josie.

This photos are from her party at school. We made enough cupcakes for all the kids and teachers. Unfortunately for the teachers, we left AJ in charge of Josie for a couple hours. When we came home there was a pile of cupcake wrappers on the floor and Josie had a tummy ache. Good job AJ.


Anyways, they made her a little crown and a birthday book at school. It was very cute.



Josie got some fantastic princess gear from the East Coast. Here are some photos.







We had her birthday party today. It was great fun. The weather was superb and lots of wonderful people came. Maury made some great food and a fantastic time was had by all.

Auntie Maitreya made the most kick ass cake EVER. Check it out.


Finally, the party was over. We'll do it again next year.

Dag, It's been a while

Things have been super busy around here with the new addition and all. Josie's brother, Lazlo Michael Hewitt, was born on January 11th. All is well and wonderful. Look for his very own blog coming soon.

Josie LOVES being a big sister. She gives Lazlo a lot of love and attention. It is very sweet.

Here are some of the latests shots and movies from Josie.

By Popular Demand...

Here are some Halloween pics.

This is her school's Halloween parade around the neighborhood. Very fun. Her class, the toddlers, were ghosts. The other two age groups were bumblebees and pumpkins. SO CUTE!

TEAM GHOST

Her nighttime costume was a penguin...a sort of depressed penguin really. She did not quite get into the spirit . She was into getting candy, but the costumes sort of freaked her out, especially the scary ones. By the end of the night she was just burying her head into my shoulder and blindly thrusting her plastic pumpkin towards the candy. I could hear her little voice whisper/whine "trick or treat" only because her head was so close to my ear. At that point we called it quits and walked home.

The best part about this costume was watching her walk. Two year olds more or less waddle anyways, so jamming them into a penguin costume is just the best. We did manage to get her to shake her tail for us a few times.

San Franciscans take Halloween VERY VERY seriously.

Good Times

Hi all.
We have been having a lot of fun around here lately. We have been goofing off a lot and getting ready for Halloween. Josie still doesn't know what she wants to be (a cat, a lizard, a penguin etc). We have a great penguin costume we got from Elijah, so I think I know what she will end up being if the wishy-washyness continues.

Here is a collection of the latest photos and movies I think you might enjoy.

Bye!

Farms and Trains

Two things that get kids going.

This video is really hard to decipher, but I think it is so funny. It is of Josie chasing a chicken. She has never before run so fast.



It was taken while we went with Una on a tour of family and organic farms in Sonoma. We got to ride tractors and pick fruit and veggies straight from the fields. We also got to meet some animals and crawl around in a maze made from straw bales.



It was a lot of fun.

Maury was out of town for 4 days last weeks so Josie and I were on our own. We had a lot of fun together, but missed Mom a lot.

One thing we did while she was gone was to go to Cousin Eve's Birthday party at Fairyland in Oakland. It was very cool. Josie had a breakthrough and rode a train (previously terrifying to her). Here is a short clip of her and Elijah doing so.




Hope all are well.

Update, September 2007

Hi ya'll

Things are going well here. I love my school. I am growing really quickly. I talk so much now.

Daddy is teaching me to pants people. I pantsed AJ in the kitchen last week. It was great.

Daddy is also teaching me about my pythons. We flex together and kiss our biceps when we feel good about ourselves. It is fun. Here is a photo of me in my track suit and swimming goggles kissing my pythons.Here are some movies. This one is of my daddy and I on a hot day in Sausalito playing in the fountain there.




This one is of me wearing a new t-shirt Auntie Tamsen sent me. It has a lady bug on it. I love it. Thanks Tamsen!

The Latest

Howdy doo everybody,

Ever since we returned from our AWESOME vacation to Vermont, Mommy Daddy and I have been very very busy.

I started pre-school. I go to friends of St. Francis on Belcher St. Daddy thinks thats a funny name for a street. I hated it a lot for the first week and cried like crazy everyday. I like it now though. I am making new friends, like Ruby, Abby, Sadie and Cosimo. My teachers are super duper nice. Their names are June and Theresa. We do lots of singing and dancing and gardening and painting and napping and snacking and listening to stories and lots of other things. School is cool.


I got really sick for seven days. I was barfing and schmotzing like crazy. I had a real bad fever too. I feel much better now though, thank you.

Cousin Sam and Noah were here for a few weeks. We went to Yosemite while they were here. It was beautiful and a lot of fun. We went with all the cousins and Aunts and Uncles and Grandma Carol and GrandEd and Vicki. Daddy couldn't go though. He has been working 6 or 7 days a week since he started his new job. He likes it a lot and is able to buy me lots of new toys with the money he is making, but he is pooped a lot and misses seeing me and mommy as much as he is used to.

The new baby is starting to show through Mommy's tummy.
Mommy looks really pretty with a baby inside her tummy. Her boobs are a lot bigger now too. This seems to interest Daddy as much as it does me. Between the two of us chasing her around the house, mommy isn't getting much rest.
Poor Mommy.

I guess thats pretty much it.

Rosa

Wow.
I cannot believe how quickly our time with Rosa went. She has helped to raise Una and me since we were six months old. Now we are about to go to pre-school/daycare and we have to say so long to Rosa. This is so sad.

We want to thank you Rosa for so many things. Thank you for loving us and for teaching us Spanish. Thank you for bringing your daughter, America, into our lives. Thank you for taking such good care of us, even when we were being brats. Thank you for the songs and the trips to the playground and the library, the naps and the stories and for EVERYTHING! We love you and America so much! We will miss seeing you everyday.