Photos: Back to the Bay Area, 2nd installment

So here's the next installment of photos from our trip to NorCal waaayyyyy back in September.

Here's some photos from our arrival at Grandmas Pat and Sue's place. We brought out Sylvia's family book to refresh her memory of who's who in her wonderfully complex family. She shared it with Grandma Pat:


For some reason, every time we get to the photo of her cousin Brielle, Sylvia insists that she's sleeping:


One of Sylvia's favorite activities at her grandmas' place was playing the piano! Grandma Pat played tunes and sang, much to Sylvia's delight:


Fun to observe, more fun to participate:


We went to visit Kevin's childhood friend, Jeremy, who now lives in San Francisco and is renovating — practically remaking — their house. Here's his family: Jack, Jeremy, Ceanne, and Barbara:


Ah, toddlers being toddlers! Yup, Sylvia is still in the oral phase. Jack is wearing a shirt that references a craft beer made at a local brewery. We went there later: kids running around bags of hops and barrels of lees, parents drinking tasty beer, everyone noshing on mini burritos and popcorn. So S.F.


Apparently, Ceanne never smiles for photos. Kevin works his magic!


The brigade of little ones! Those who knew Jeremy way back when marvel at his transformation into responsible family guy and outstanding daddy:


The next day, we headed out to the zoo — which is very close by the grandmas' house — with friends Emily and Abraham:


Sylvia fell in love with this grizzly bear. She thrilled at seeing it so close through the glass, blew it kisses, and cried when it walked away!


Abraham loves trains and happily rode the zoo route twice. Sylvia rode it once and enjoyed it as well. The real, miniature steam engine is fascinating for all ages.



We spent a lot of time at "The Farm," the petting zoo section. I love the fact that they provide grooming brushes so the kiddies can brush the sheep and goats. Sylvia is generally intimidated by the animals — most of which are larger than she is — but she does like running her hands through the softness of the sheeps' wool.


She also has a bit of a love affair with ducks. Is it because she could say "duck" and "quack quack" fairly early? Is it because she has seen ducks more often than other animals? (There's a duck pond near to our home.) We'll never know, but we do know that she was excited to find out that not all ducks are mallards:


And I'll close with this photo of coming face-to-face with a pig. Sylvia seemed quite nonplussed that it wasn't pink!


More soon, I hope...