City walks with kids

We recently moved back to San Francisco and Betsy bought us City Walks with kids, San Francisco edition, to get us reacquainted with our city. Skimming through the adventures I noticed we have completed most, if not all, the walks. But since Charlie is new around these parts, what better way to introduce him to the city sights. I'm not too excited about some cards, like the Pier 39 (#10) or Fisherman's Wharf (#13). I plan to hit these up on weekdays so the amount of tourists should be at a minimum. It's sad to think so many people visit San Francisco and only visit the wharf, missing out on the Mission, Noe and the like. On the other hand, where else can you walk with a fanny pack (and the ever-popular neck pack) and look at an open map and totally get away with it? Bonus. I may even proclaim "Frisco is so pretty."

Anyway, the first card in the series is the Ferry building. We have been here numerous times and even Charlie visited once while in the womb. Charlie was very excited to walk around and explore.

He was so excited to look at all the wares in the shops. He is getting very fast at walking and now prefers it over crawling. Our little boy is growing up.
As it turned out Charlie's favorite activity of the day was to chase the pigeons. Charlie loves them because they are the only birds that linger and don't fly away the moment he approaches. He can almost get to them. Almost. I have yet to tell him pigeons are just rats with wings because I don't want to ruin his fun. He'll get it someday soon.
We ate lots of fruit samples and even a breakfast sammy. The sammies are still tasty and filled with some of Charlies favorite foods, eggs and cheese.

Unfortunately, Charlie didn't seem too impressed with this useful historical information plaque. I guess he gets that from his mom. The disdain for all things historical.
We had a wonderful time and Charlie loved walking around trying to get birds and people to smile and wave at him. We love the ferry building early on a Saturday morning.
I'm super excited to get going on the cards. I want to do one adventure a week if possible. There are so many fun adventures to take Charlie on in our city, with or without the cards.

Goodbye mullet, AKA "the bob."

When Charlie was born, he had a fine layer of darker brown hair that quickly fell out. Well, most of it did...All of it fell out except the old man ring around the back. It's like the old man ring of hair got a jump start on everything else and kept growing and growing and growing until we ended up with this:
Charlie's hair has been called a mullet for months now. We've been battling lots of peer pressure to cut it but we weren't budging. Even when people called him Frasier Crane or Terry Bradshaw, we didn't care. My plan was to arrive at my parent's house in Utah this Christmas with Charlie sporting a pony tail (just to prove a point). But then one day I realized it wasn't a cool mullet. It had turned into a full-blown bob overnight. A bob that looked like we took time every morning to blow dry it and used a round brush to get that perfect under-curl. That's when we decided it might be time to swallow our pride and take our good friend (and my hair stylist) Preston up on his offer to cut Charlie's hair whenever we decided it was time for his first cut.
Notice that perfect curl under...girls from 1991 would pay good money for this look I'm sure.
The best part of the bob is that it's not even at the actual base of his hairline. It's like one inch up from the base of his hairline. Look close...you can see his actual hairline under the mullet-bob.

Sometimes Charlie likes to play telephone with his spoon that's covered in yogurt in the morning and the mullet-bob gets matted and slimy.
Last Thursday we met up with Preston @ acme Salon in downtown SF and we were ready! Excited even!
Charlie had no idea what was going on, he was just excited to visit Uncle Preston...
Then he started to figure out what was happening and was less excited to see Uncle Preston...And then it became obvious that Charlie was disappointed in mommy & daddy. Charlie was ready to rock his mullet-bob all the way to the finish line.
But then Charlie caught a glimpse of his new look in the mirror and the tides started to change.
He started to embrace the idea of a slick new hairstyle to sport for the ladies at the playground.And soon he was totally on board.
Goodbye.
So handsome. Thanks Uncle Preston!!!
We thought a little follow-up proof that he loves his new look would be appropriate. So happy. Instantly turned from a baby to a little boy.

Family Reunion: Park City, UT 2011

Waaaaaaaaaay back in early August we enjoyed a week in Park City, UT with my family. We've done this for about 5 years in a row now (except we missed last year due to a pending baby delivery). My super generous and awesome parents rent a few condominiums and we spend our days enjoying the pool and summertime fun Park City has to offer. And of course, good food, good times, good people...just all around lovely. I'm such a horrible blogger these days but wanted to post all the fun pics we had.

Charlie and Cole in their matching car-seats heading to dinner (Cole actually looks BIGGER than Charlie and he's 3+ months younger).
Jen & JoeAunt Suzy sharing her dinner with Charlie.Ma & Pa Santos.
Pool time! Charlie hated the pool initially but warmed up quickly.
Olympic park...The Comet!

Grandma & Cole.
They had this great observation area where you could sit out on this patio, buy soft pretzels and soda and watch all the kids practice their aerials. It was so fun...Charlie could have sat there all day.While we were observing, the dare-devils went to ride the alpine slide and zip lines.The next day we hit up the Park City resort and rode the Alpine Coaster. Emma & Ryan are ready to go!
Sophie, Emma & Allie hanging out w/Charlie.
Sophie is not excited.
We also spent lots of time at the condos just hanging out. Cole & Charlie became great friends.

Allie was such a great helper with Charlie the whole time...she's made to be a babysitter!!!!!
Charlie taking advantage of Allie's niceness.
Jen, Ethan & Charlie celebrated birthdays during Park City week this year.
Charlie getting harassed about his mullet (notice the pony tail).Weeeeeeeeeee! They have swings in Park City too!
Steve screen-printed shirts for everyone and on our last evening we gathered everyone together to take some family pics...our family is not big on the big, huge, posed family pics but we tried. Note the rolled up sleeves the guys were sporting.
Thanks mom & dad for such an amazing week!