The Blake Family: May 2010

May 22, 2010

Gannon and I attended clay class today. I was so proud of the amazing blue T-Rex that my Gannon created...what a wonderful imagination my son has going on!

Before Daddy took Mila shopping in Grass Valley, Mila admired some of the art being exhibited in the classroom.

After class, Rich and I took the kids to Nevada City for some lunch, a little shopping (Mila and I love PennyLane), and some hot chocolate.

When we were at a nursery, it began to hail big ice chunks...Gannon had so much fun "eating" the ice as it fell from the sky.

As if getting hit with ice and being cold wasn't enough, Rich and I found a Japanese Maple at the nursery that we wanted to take home...that meant that the kids had to drive all of the way home in the jungle.

Gannon thought this was so crazy fun!

May 20, 2010

At the Bay Area Discovery Museum in Sausalito, kids are encouraged to play, discover, create and Gannon and Mila did just that!

Gannon and Mila explored the mock boats and trains of the SF Wharf in Bay Hall.

Always wear protection when near the ocean!

Fresh crab for dinner!!!

Next, onto the wave workshop where Gannon and Mila discovered the waves and tides of the Bay.

Water = Mila is HAPPY.

A fun part of the wave workshop was where the kids could try on costumes and act out underwater scenes (see the TV above where Gannon was "swimming" with the sharks), which helps them to recognize how animals learn to adapt to the habitat around them. Very cool.

Above is Gannon on an authentic fishing boat at Lookout Cove...so much fun in this outdoor exploration area.

Rock basin representing the tides of the Bay.

The construction area represents the work consistently being done to the gorgeous Golden Gate Bridge. I thought it was adorable how they had orange construction vests and hard hats for the kids to wear while working so hard.

Beautiful trails and views of the Bay that were unmistakably SF!

In the art studio, Gannon and Mila were more than happy to get down and dirty and have some fun with paints. Rich and I were amazed at how quickly Mila picked up on what to do.

While Gannon and I stayed behind to continue making/creating art, Rich took Mila to the tot spot...a safe location for babies/toddlers to explore and learn about animal homes. You can see from the photos at how invested Mila became in the waterfall area.

And she thoroughly enjoyed her time in the woodlands as a ladybug.

I mean - look at that view!

That evening we stayed in Japantown. Not my usual choice for the city, but it was fun nonetheless. The whimsical Japanese pop culture-inspired decor was fun...the anime-style wall painting and wonderful view of the city was enough to make my stay extremely comfortable.

Gannon LOVED the fatboy bean bag that was in the room. He jumped on that giant thing practically every moment that he was in the room.

For dinner, we ate at a little Japanese restaurant. Rich and I had our first experience with shabu shabu.

For dessert, we took the Muni to cream haven. Mila ADORES ice cream - I mean ADORES it!!! So it was a lot of fun to buy her her first scoop of delicious and real ice cream from Ghirardelli. She wouldn't let us put the spoon down - if she could speak, she would have been screaming..."more, more, more please!"

We normally don't allow such sweet indulges, such as ice cream, for the kids - but we're kind of on vacation...right?