Hollister Airshow

Today we went to the 2nd Annual Hollister Airshow. Its much smaller and less crowded than some of the other airshows we've been too, I liked it much better that way.

Anthony's favorite act was the P-51 Mustangs flying in formation. He's been a big fan of the warbirds since he saw "Mike Da Mustang" over a year ago.

We took a break from airplane watching to jump in the bounce house area for a LONG time. Anthony was pretty wiped towards the end. We were getting ready to leave but Anthony decided to sleep on Daddy's lap through the end of the show instead. You'll notice he is still clutching his yellow Mustang.

I Want to Ride My Bicycle

Santa Claus brought Anthony a balance bike for Christmas. At first Anthony was kind of unimpressed--it didn't have pedals and it sure didn't compete with his Mary Poppins umbrella.

Then spring came and all his pals had their bikes out. Now he LOVES his balance bike. He's getting pretty good at riding it. We had it at the campground Bob's birthday weekend and he was doing all sorts of tricks. My (least) favorite was propping both feet up on the front fork while riding downhill. Fortunately we haven't had any wipe-outs yet.

Later this summer we'll get Anthony a real bicycle with no training wheels. That's what makes these balance bikes so great. He already knows how to pedal, now he's learning to balance with confidence and then he just needs to put the two together!

Mommy comes to preschool

In the spring Anthony's preschool began inviting parents to come and volunteer in the classroom, basically to see the kids in their "natural environment." So I played hooky from work and spent the morning with Anthony. He was SO excited to have me there!

It was a special day, they were celebrating May Day. Someone left a May Basket at the door of the room and then each child got to bring flowers home to "surpise" their parents. Daddy was actually home first, so we put the flowers on the doorstep, rang the bell and ran. He was so surprised!

Instead of his classes' regular gymnastics time with Teacher Kim, they got to dance around a May Pole. Honestly, Anthony didn't seem to react much to the May Pole. On May Day we saw pictures of a May Pole in the picture and he started talking up a storm about how they did it in preschool.

I had a chance to talk to his teacher about his progress. She said that he's clearly one of the youngest in the class, but that he's doing well. She also said that he and his pal W from daycare goof off together. Sure enough, in circle time W started making faces and then Anthony was too.

I didn't get video of Anthony's favorite part of circle time--dressing Wendy or Willy for the weather. We act that one out a lot at home.

The MayPole video is kind of boring. Oh well.

Male Bonding

Today Bob and Anthony set off in the airplane to Columbia State Historic Park for some "man time".

Columbia is a preserved gold rush town, one of the few that survived intact. Bob and I have always enjoyed flying there for dates.

It sounds like the two of them had a good time. They had ice cream at the Fallon Ice Cream Parlor (mint chocolate chip for Anthony), but the best was yet to come.

Anthony really enjoyed the street musician who was fund-raising for the local school's music program. He knew ALL of Anthony's favorites--anything from Wizard of Oz or Mary Poppins. Bob said they spent a long time there tipping the guy.

Anthony also enjoyed the stagecoach ride, but was afraid of the robber who held them up, guns ablaze. The robber assured Anthony that he wasn't going to hurt him, but then proceeded to hold up all the other passengers. Bob was safe because he used Anthony as a human shield. "Is that wrong?" he asked.

Art at the Farmer's Market

Now that spring is here, the Los Altos Farmer's Market has re-opened.

We go to the Mountain View market every Sunday, but we're still out of fruit by Thursday! (Unfortunately, the prices are CLEARLY higher, even from the same vendors!)

The downtown association had a craft table set up, Anthony had a great time painting. He had a great time eating, too. We came home with Bing and Rainier cherries, organic strawberries and apricots.

A Jungle Safari

Anthony came home from preschool today showing off his binoculars and SO excited about his jungle safari.

As explained by Kathleen, one of the teachers own a good 200 stuffed creatures and set up a jungle safari for all the kids to enjoy. Anthony chattered on about the parrots, the spiders and especially the crocodile, who evidently eats Turkish caviar.

Heifer Sunday

In addition to Mother's Day, today was Heifer Sunday at church. 4-H brought in some animals for a petting zoo for the Sunday School kids. As expected, Anthony really enjoyed feeding the chickens.

Bob's favorite was the little duckling. Its Mama was a chicken.

Jay's Birthday Party

Jay's birthday party was today. Anthony was pretty over-tired from last night's pajama party, but still had a good time. The pinata was the highlight, but his party blower was a close second. Its the simplest toy, but so much fun.

Jay had a space ship party. His mom created the a great set of cakes. It was the sun (big and yellow) with the planets and a space shuttle. We decided to stick with the theme and gave Jay a stomp rocket for his birthday.

Afterwards Anthony looked at his underpants and announced, "I have spaceship underpants, just like Jay's cake!"

Take Me Out to the Ball Game

The San Jose Giants** had an afternoon game yesterday. When we got home from our night out, we found that Jessica had dressed Anthony in Giants' orange, so we went to the ball game.

It was a blast! Anthony was pretty much spellbound for the first four innings. It was pretty funny watching him cheer every time the catcher caught the ball. While I explained a lot to him, its unclear how much he understood.

Then he got restless so we took a bounce house break. We went back for another inning or two, and then it was time to sing "The Baseball Song". As expected, Anthony was an enthusiastic singer!

We then went back to the bounce house area where Anthony tried his hand at bouncy t-ball, with the ball suspended on a stream of air. Bob finds batting lefty hard. I can bat lefty, but I don't think I can hit the ball!

We stayed until the end of the day so that Anthony could run around the bases like the real baseball players.

Afterwards Anthony talked at length about how much fun he had--eating peanuts, jumping, batting, cheering for the game... We just had one complaint--how on earth can the stadium not sell Cracker Jacks???

**Yes, the World Series winning San Francisco Giants are a train ride away. But minor league baseball is so much better. We paid $10 for our tickets, all seats are close in, the food is affordable, there are bounce houses... Really, all we could have asked for were Cracker Jacks.

Jessica came to visit

Jessica from daycare babysits for several of Anthony's friends. He's been so jealous, he REALLY wanted Jessica to come to his house. Meanwhile, I REALLY wanted a night away.

Then I remembered the gift certificate to Campton Place in San Francisco that I had won at a Roche party right before Anthony was born. Fortunately the hotel still honored the gift certificate and we were set for a nice evening out. We had an amazing dinner at Scala's Bistro and a nice relaxing morning with breakfast courtesy of the hotel.

It was a very nice treat.

Meanwhile, Anthony had a nice time with Jessica. He went positively ape when she arrived and was up at the crack of dawn to play with her.

I estimate that between breakfast, parking and the room, that our gift certificate was worth over $500!