John & Anne Wiley

2013/02/16

Maybe One

I know, no more baby stuff. But I had to do this one more, a few favs from our family trip to the beach for Lulu’s first experience of the Santa Barbara coast.

4284 Right Here

4284 Right Here

I thought she’d be drawn to the water, but being totally Here and Now she instead wanted to run on the grass chasing the birds. As we walked a short path across the dune, her interest was beneath her feet.

4293 First Glimpse

4293 First Glimpse

Approaching the surf, she ran into the chilly water and immediately fell face first to the great alarm of everyone but Daddee who calmly fished her out and walked her back to Mommee for comfort and reassurance.

4306 Chase & Evade

4306 Chase & Evade

Then he introduced her to the giggly Chase & Evade game with the waves, so that soon she had a healthy caution but no terror of the surf. Bumpa loved watching (and photographing) all this. Later she settled down next to those of us watching from the beach, and played in the sand with a yellow flower Bumpa had provided.

4313 Careful Cultivation

4313 Careful Cultivation

She very carefully prepared the sand, planted the flower, then repeated the process moving it to a different spot. I’m so endlessly fascinated, seeing my daughter at that age all over again with wiser eyes.

2013/02/15

Baby Channel

This may be my last post that’s all about Baby. It’s been so fun to wallow in our addiction to everything she says and does. We’re even beginning to speak with each other in baby language, and I occasionally notice we’re all staring blankly at some of the baby shows she watches on TV. Here’s a toy house she gleefully discovered on our quick trip to Costco.

04_277 Playhouse Delight

04_277 Playhouse Delight

I’d never noticed them before, but her child eyes saw nothing else. Her pure joy opened my eyes and heart, but thankfully not my wallet. 🙂

Yesterday my fashionista daughter dressed her up for Valentine’s Day, and it was fun watching everyone else go gaga over her as we had in the morning (including our mama & paparazzi photo session).

4209 Heart Winning

4209 Heart Winning

She loved our brief visit to Painted Cave, and again opened my eyes to things I hadn’t noticed during our many previous visits there.

4218 Cave Explorer

4218 Cave Explorer

Then down to town for lunch at Andersen’s, where her Dad tried the pickled herring and the rest of us enjoyed the more typical delicious fare. Now he knows it’s not his favorite food. Then we shared three of their best yummy desserts. Another nourishing Family day. 🙂

4238 Family Day

4238 Family Day

2013/02/14

Outing

A great outing for kids in Santa Barbara is our wonderful zoo. It’s the perfect scale for families, and Lulu loved it! We began with Bumpa (that’s me) taking her on a detour from the others to look at the ducks that never cease fascinating kids. Especially after I fascinated the ducks with a tiny bit of crust from a sandwich.

4145 Ducks

4145 Ducks

There were many other highlights of course, not least the elephants. We also spent a lot of time with the gorillas, and it was interesting how their dignified Presence calmed her.

4150 Gentle Giant

4150 Gentle Giant

We rode the cute little train, and the family also made their own train with the engine-that-could powering them up a hill.

4193 Training

4193 Training

2013/02/12

Perfect

A perfect day. Take a perfect wife, daughter, grand-daughter, son-in-law, sister, niece and her boyfriend. Then add perfect weather. Sprinkle on some loving chalk art dedicated to Grampa & Grammy.

4130 Chalk Art

4130 Chalk Art

We were asked last year what names we’d like Lulu to call us, and these are what we chose. Today it turns out she’s modified the pronunciation to Bumpa & Bammie. It’s so sweet the way she says them and as the saying goes, we don’t care what you call us just call. 🙂

To cap this Perfect day some of us flew to Santa Ynez to meet the others who drove over for a family dinner, then our little family of five came home (half by air, half by car).

4131 Perfect Flying Day

4131 Perfect Flying Day

Now we’re about to watch Groundhog Day. Again.

Life is So Sweet.

Perfect.

2013/02/11

Delight!

A dear friend advises anyone who’ll listen, to skip all the challenges of raising children and instead go directly to Grand-children. Having experienced the joys of a Daughter I have to disagree. But I must say that our little Grand-Daughter is a pure delight!

0808 Musical Magic

0808 Musical Magic

Everything is new and magical for this little angel, and I can humbly attest that like her mother she is a truly exceptional child. 🙂

She quite simply melts the hearts of everyone around her, but “Grammy” and “Gumpa” are putty in her hands.

0823 Melting

0823 Melting

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