Birthday Party at the Zoo

Third Birthday

It is both hard and easy to think of Cara as a three-year-old. It seems little time has passed since she couldn't even walk, and yet here is this wonderful little girl walking, speaking in complete sentences, dressing herself and expressing an amazing range of thoughts and emotions. Given the size of her personality, I am sometime surprised that she is physically so small.

Cara's actual birthday was a fairly quiet affair of spending the day with Dad at the aquarium, lunch with Mom at her office and then a favorites dinner of pizza and cupcakes. And of course some presents. We all enjoyed the time together and Cara, of course, loves opening presents!

Three candles!

Yummy cupcake (the frosting at least...)

Deep concentration while opening the present.

A Playmobil Motorcycle - cool!

A whisk from Grandma and Grandpa for the budding cook.

The train set (some assembly required).

Halloween

Cara's love for lions enabled us to reuse last year's costume for Halloween, with the extra touch of some painted on whiskers. She did a great job of covering almost a block with trick-or-treating, eating three or four pieces of candy and then totally forgetting about the candy the next day. I doubt we will be that lucky next year!

Cleaning out the pumpkin.

Digging into the pumpkin goop.

Here's a fierce lion!

The fierce lion bakes cupcakes.

A little too much candy has our lion on the floor at the end of the evening.

September in Maine

September found Cara and Mom heading east. We spent a weekend on Cape Cod, where J and C lived for two years, visiting some old friends, and then headed north for a mini-family reunion on the coast of Maine. Cara got a full component of family, seeing both her aunts, two great-uncles and a great-aunt. Which was all very well and fine, but for an almost three-year-old, spending three days on the water was the most exciting part of the trip!

All ready to play on the beach.

Burying herself in sand.

Wow - mud!

Cara has to show off her muddy hairdo to her aunts.

Hanging out with Grandpa.

Grandma sharing a peach.

Graduating from Ms. A

Growing up always has happiness and sadness. Graduating from a nanny-share with Ms. A to full time at Co-op was a sad event. Our family, Megan's family and Ms. A's family had party to celebrate the wonderful times our families had together, and looking forward to many more years and fun.

One last morning eating up Ms. A's yogurt.

Reading a book with Ms. A is always a favorite activity.

At the party, the girls get a chance to play ball with Anthony.

And read a book with Marcus.

Of course the girls need to help Ms. A with her presents!

Alameda, July 2009

Spending several days in Alameda with Grandma and Granpa was lots of fun for Cara.

Grandpa took Cara for a walk down to the firestation and scored a seat on a fire truck. Wow!

She also got pose with a firefighter.

Grandma and Grandpa treat Cara to her first ice cream sundae.

Is her mouth big enough?

And who will finish first - Cara or Dad?

Lots of ducks hang out on the canals near Grandma and Grandpa's house, and appreciate being fed.

Getting the bread just right is important.

There a lots of them!

Fairyland

Oakland Fairyland is a treasure of a park tucked away on the shores of Lake Merritt. Nothing too glossy, a little run-down around the corners, but a delightful outing for a 2 1/2 year old! Cara's cousin Ashley joined the family outing.

Looking at the Peter Rabbit's house with Dad.

Riding the Alice In Wonderland Carousel with Grandpa.

Catching bubbles from Ashley's shoulders

Riding the Jolly Trolley

Cara peering out.

San Bruno, July 2009

Our major vacation of the summer was a week spent down in the Bay Area visiting friends in San Bruno for a weekend, and then the rest of the week with Grandma and Grandpa in Alameda.

Serving the ice cream pie!

As an extra treat, our friend D's parents were in town as well. Cara was delighted to make the acquaintance of Grandpa Art and Grandma Penny. The occasion was marked with a specially ordered ice cream pie.

Yummy!

Patting Ginger.

As much as we like to think Cara enjoyed the wonderful company of our friends and their two sons, as far as Cara was concerned, the most interesting member of the party was Ginger. She had played ball in a very limited way in November 2007, but was now able to really throw a ball, as well as pat and hug Ginger.

Throwing Ginger the ball.

Summer Fun

Trying out the new bike.

Summer brought lots of excitement. After much research, we got Cara a glider bike. This will help her get used to balancing on a bike immediately. She is still a fairly basic rider, keeping both feet on the ground and she wheels around, but with time she'll figure out how to go faster. She is also getting used to her helmet, worn both when on her bike and when in the trailer behind Dad or Mom.

Watering the tomato plants.

It was also a very hot summer, which gave Cara ample chance to help Mom and Dad water the garden. She wasn't especially picky about what she watered, so some supervision was necessary.

More watering - so much fun!

Cara's first face-painting.

Mom noticed the company picnic announced "face-painting" and figured out that it might be worth showing up. Indeed, the face painting was a huge hit, as was the horseshoe toss and watching all the other, bigger kids.

With Mom at Big Four Ice not-quite Caves.

Sleeping in a tent for the first time.

While we didn't get out for as many hikes this year, we did manage to get out for an overnight camping trip along the Mountain Loop Highway. We hiked up to the Big Four Ice Caves, although they weren't melted out into caves yet. We should have more photos of our riverside campsite, but somehow didn't get many. But did get a shot of Cara asleep in the tent.