Merry Christmas!

I'm in Indiana right now visiting my grandparents on my dad's side and having a great time. I've been taking a lot of pictures and will post a chronicle of my adventures when I get back home. I went on my first plane ride to get here and it wasn't as exciting as I thought it would be. In fact, I'm not totally convinced that I was on a plane at all. I would just sit in a chair with mom and goto sleep and then when I'd wake up they would say things like, "we're in Denver!", "we're in Indiana!" But it really all looks the same to me. The only things that are different are the people here and the fact that there are no pets. It's kind of refreshing to put on PJs without cat hair on them.

I hope everyone had a Merry Christmas. Mine was happy. I tried to stay up the night before to see Santa Claus, but around 1:30 my parents told me that if I didn't go to sleep then Santa would never come. That scared me, so I decided it was best to sleep. And sure enough, when we woke up the next morning Santa had come! So, I guess everyone was right, it's best to be on the good side of the Big Guy.

Here is a picture that my grandpa took with his cell phone. I'm wearing a new hat that Grandma Janet gave to me. I think the shirt says it all, don't you?

ePen Pal

I have a friend named Peyton who lives in Oregon. My parents tell me that it is too far to drive in one weekend so unfortunately I haven't met her in person yet. Instead, we will sometimes send each other messages and photos over The Google. Peyton is a little older and wiser than me so she helps me understand some things that are confusing to me. After she read my last blog entry Peyton sent me a message and told me all about Christmas trees and "ornaments". She said her two cats brought their tree in and then her parents decorated it with ornaments. Now I know that Mini and Zimby brought in our tree and Mom and Dad added all the fun stuff. I'm still not certain about this Santa guy but I plan to ask Peyton about him in my next email. This year Peyton got to help her parents light their tree with all of the sparkling lights which I think is super cool. I hope my parents let me help them next year. Here are some photos that Peyton sent to me which I thought you might enjoy too.

What Christmas Means To Me

There’s something funny happening at my house. For some reason there is a tree in our front room. Maybe my parents were inspired by our trip to Sierraville and are trying to bring the forest into our house. At night our tree lights up – do all trees light up at night? Does anyone know? Their tree also has all these weird things hanging from it. Some of them are sparkly, some of them are round but I don’t know what they are. Maybe they are “elves” or “reindeer” which my parents keep talking about. And what’s the deal with Santa? They were so excited for me to meet him, but he’s just this old guy dressed in red. Let’s just say I was not impressed. I’m much more impressed by this sparkly tree growing in our house. Mini sure seems to like it too and guards it when we go to bed at night.

I’ve also noticed that there are boxes and bags under the tree. And each day there is at least one more than the day before – I just can’t figure it out. Is Mini putting them there? Maybe she’s dragging them in from outside like I see her dragging in moths.

And what’s the difference between Halloween and Christmas? We went to Grandpop and Nana’s house over the weekend and they made me wear a snowman costume. I thought costumes were for Halloween. But everyone seemed so happy taking pictures of me in my snowman suit that I decided to just deal with it. Grandpop and Nana also had a bunch of lights in their house which I continue to find fascinating. They also had a stuffed Santa – again, I’m not sure of the significance of this guy, but he’s growing on me.

Grandpop and Nana had colorful bags and boxes too so I guess Mini beat us up there to bring them into the house. When I went to bed they were in front of the fireplace, but when I woke up they were all gone and in their place were toys and the snowman costume. Christmas truly is a magical time.

Staring at the lights on the tree

Still Staring...

Mini guarding the tree and bags that she bring in.

Me and the Big Guy

Making The Parents Happy. Ho Ho Ho...

Transportation

If you look real closely at the picture below you can see that I have a lot of vehicles that are used for construction on my shirt...tow truck, cement truck, flat bed truck... and it got me thinking about transportation. Of course there's the usual modes of transportation that I use - stroller, baby carrier, car... but lately Mom has taken me on other exciting modes of transportation as well. Last month we rode BART for the first time when we went downtown to meet her coworkers. I guess technically, I was in two modes of transportation - I was in my stroller AND on BART. Truthfully though, it put me to sleep so quickly that I don't really remember the ride. I was really glad that I could stay in my own seat and not sit directly on the scuzzy chairs.

Last week Mom and I went for a really long walk, but then she got tired and didn't want to push me back up and over the hill so we took the bus home!! That was a lot more exciting than BART since it stopped and started a lot and Mom had to lock my stroller wheels so I wouldn't roll around (although that might have been fun too). There were also interesting people riding the bus with us. When we got to our stop, Mom carried me off the bus and my pink toy got stuck in 'giggle' mode as we walked away. It even made me want to laugh.

Unfortunately yesterday when I wore my truck shirt I pee'd through it before we left the house, so ironically I couldn't wear it on any modes of transportation!

Thinking about modes of transportation

Riding BART right before I fell asleep

Riding the bus (notice my pink giggly toy on the right!)

Sierraville

A couple of weekends ago we drove up to Sierraville (which is north of Truckee) with Grandma Janis and Grandpa Jim. It was my first time up in the country and I had a great time! The drive was long, but I slept a lot and felt very well rested by the time I got there. My parents were worried that I might not sleep that night, but between the fresh air, high altitude and the warm fleece they put me in, I was out like a light. It was a very quick trip since it was almost dark by the time we got up there, so we just stopped by Grandpa and Grandma’s property really quick and then went to our little cabins to unpack. Then it was off to dinner. The next day we had breakfast and went to the property so that my grandparents could “winterize” their trailer. Unfortunately Grandpa Jim got real sick from food poisoning so he didn’t have a very good time, but Dad helped them put the cover on the trailer so hopefully Grandpa didn’t have to do too much. Mom figured out a way to feed me while walking around the forest (with a bottle of course) so we were able to walk around and see some trees. I was really surprised by how tall they were since I never see anything like them in San Francisco. I’m looking forward to spending more time up there when I’m bigger and I can run around and play. You can see all our pictures from the trip if you follow this link, but I've also posted some of my favorites below. Sierraville Photos

Mom feeding me in the forest

Dad helping to "winterize the trailer"

Hanging out on Dad's chest

I love my Dad