Ocean Beach

I have really been missing my beachfront walks and playtimes with the kids that were part of our weekly routine in NZ, so it was very exciting for me to finally make it to a beach here in California. My sister has been staying with us for the past few days, and so on Thursday we ventured out to find Ocean Beach, on the west side of San Francisco. 

It is a beautiful long stretch of fine sand, and both the kids loved playing in it.

It was a bit windy and chilly, but Ross was determined to get in the water, so he had to strip down a bit.

He still enjoys eating sand...

Madeleine loved digging, watching the kites, and running around.

At first, she was very hesitant to go near the water, but after I was wading in it for awhile, she joined me and then it was hard to get her to leave! She would run in as the waves went out, watching her footprints, and then wait for the waves to reach her and run away from them... over and over. 

Ross did lots of walking on his own and kept standing up like this, clearly so proud of himself. It was such a fun day, and even if it is a 30-40 minute drive, I think I'll have to make this one of our more regular outings.

Getting Settled

Here are a few more pictures of our time in our two week rental on Colusa Ave... 

... where the kids had lots of cuddles and fun with Kristin and Polly.

Kristin went away for a couple of days and left Polly with us.  Here is Madeleine reading a story to Polly...

... and here Madeleine put a luggage strap over her, dolly, and Polly and said she had buckled them all in for their airplane ride.

There have been a few nights when Madeleine doesn't want to fall asleep in her bed, but wants to read Curious George by herself on the couch. Eventually she lies down with the book under her and falls asleep.

On Feb 1st we moved into our new home! It was deliciously sparse for about a week and the kids loved having the entire house as a playroom.

This IKEA easel was on the side of the street with a "free" sign on it, so M has been having fun using it for painting and drawing, although she would rather paint the easel itself than any paper.

After a week of eating, sleeping, and playing on the floor, my parents arrived with a UHaul truck of goodies for us. Ross helped Grampa assemble a temporary table...

... and Madeleine used this little rocking chair to nurse her dolly. This is a little chair that my sister and I had growing up.

Ross has started to make a "cheeeeese" face for pictures, and he loves the little table that Grampa built.

Our new couch was also ready for us while my parents were here, and my parents brought us the piano from their house, so our living room is no longer an empty playroom. My parents flew back today, but we have my sister coming back in a week, and then Steve's sister and her family are coming in March. It's so wonderful to have family close enough for all these visits!

Goodbye, Hello, and Happy Birthday

I am finally getting the chance to do another blog post now that the dust has settled and I found the camera cable in our luggage.  It's also helpful to have both kids asleep before 9pm! The last few weeks have been full of memorable events, and I could easily have filled several posts about our last week in NZ, our few days in BC, and our first week here in Berkeley. Instead, I'll recap here and hope to stay on top of upcoming adventures. 

Our last few days in NZ were not too busy with packing since we had done the majority of our packing a week before we left in order to know what we were sending via cargo. This meant we were able to enjoy fish and chips at the park with Emily, Matt, and Jac...

And of course some special story and cuddle time with our dear neighbours Mike and Carolyn...

The day we left was filled with tears for me, but seeing Madeleine so excited for every little thing - the visits from friends, the shuttle van, the airplanes, the luggage trolleys - certainly helped lift my spirits. Both kids did wonderfully on the long flights, and we were all so happy to see my Mom and Dad at the Vancouver Airport. Our few days with them and visiting my grandparents were a wonderful taste of familiarity and comfort in the midst of the big move.

My Dad drove down to Berkeley alongside us, and after two long days in the car, I think the kids were wishing they were back in the airplane. However they did extremely well considering they had no screens for entertainment and the scenery outside ended early with dusk at 5pm. As we drove into Berkeley on the five-lane highway, at around 8pm the second day, Madeleine exclaimed "the sun's coming out! It's not dark anymore!" We told her no, it's just the big city...

We spent the day exploring San Francisco on foot yesterday. Madeleine got to stretch her legs at a playground in Civic Square - a far cry from our local park in Eastbourne.

Ross and Kristin climbed one of the hills together.

And Madeleine and I looked out at the Bay Bridge.

One of the highlights of California for Madeleine so far has been the presence of Polly, my sister Kristin's dog. Kristin and Polly are with us for a couple of weeks, and are adored by both kids.

In the midst of all this, Ross turned ONE! The blue star blanket that I use for his monthly photo is packed away somewhere, and there is little chance of him staying still on it anymore. He is cruising everywhere and starting to stand on his own.

He absolutely loved the chocolate cake made by Auntie Kristin. He continues to charm us with his cuddles, kisses, and unending curiosity.

We are staying in a short-term rental house until February 1st, when we'll move into our more permanent rental in a suburb called El Cerrito. After a few days of looking at many houses, Steve and I settled on one, and are happy to have that behind us. Tomorrow Steve starts his new job, and I'm very happy to have my Dad, Kristin and Polly here for another week to help with getting settled.

Happy New Year!

We took advantage of a sunny New Year's Eve to make the short ferry trip to Somes Island, in Wellington Harbour. We look out at this little island every day and yet we had never made the trip over to it. It used to be a military post in WW2 and later became a quarantine centre for animals imported into NZ. Now it is a historical and conservation area with lovely bush walks and a lighthouse that still operates. 

After a snooze in the backpack, Ross woke up to enjoy some of our picnic lunch.

Madeleine did some walking, but also took her turn snoozing in the backpack.

The power of ice cream (and bribery!)...  she was completely refusing to pose in front of this young Ngaio tree until we mentioned that we could get an ice cream later if she stood there for a picture. She turned into a little angel and stood there patiently, saying "cheeeeeese!"

Our days have been full of packing, purging, and selling all of our belongings. As we sell off our various items, and tell Madeleine someone is coming to pick them up, she asks, with a bit of sadness and hopefulness, "but we'll get a new one in California?" So far, she has coped really well with saying goodbye to all our things. We have five days left here, and the reality is starting to hit. It is a very bittersweet time for us - so very sad to say goodbye, but exciting to start this next adventure.

Merry Christmas!

Despite the forecast for rainy weather, today turned out to be warm and sunny and we made the most of our last summertime Christmas. 

It was chilly enough this morning for the kids to wear their new Christmas pyjamas from Grandma Georgia. However, after about 30 min, Madeleine carefully unbuttoned and removed her top and declared that she was not cold.

With the impending move, we kept gifts to a minimum and ended up not getting a tree this year. But last night Steve and I had some last minute guilt about the kids not waking up to a festive Christmas morning, so we made a paper tree and put Christmas lights on a chair to hold what few gifts we had for them. It worked - both kids thought it was fun and exciting and they thoroughly enjoyed the little gifts we had for them.

We skyped with lots of family today, but this is actually a picture of the kids (and Steve) completely absorbed by the advent calendar sent to us by Steve's Aunt Joanne. It had some amazing animation and Madeleine would ask to watch them over and over.

After a little hike in the hills behind our house, we took our salmon dinner down to the beach.

Madeleine loves throwing stones in the water, and is getting much braver at venturing into the water (which is actually really cold).

Aside from our Christmas celebrations, we have been really preoccupied with organizing things for the move. We had a garage sale last weekend, and we have listed a lot of things on Trade Me, the online auction site within NZ.

We made a trip to the zoo this past week with Emily and Jac. Jac and Madeleine both loved the humongous spider exhibit and the lion eating his lunch. We have a similar picture of the kids from our zoo trip last December... hard to believe how much they have changed in a year!

11 months!

Ross' 11 month birthday was slightly overshadowed by Steve's defense, but here are some pictures of him from this past week. 

He loves Madeleine's little dolly (who never wears clothes and whose hair is in unintentional dreadlocks) and is always thrilled when M lets him hold her. I'm not sure what he loves most about Dolly, but her moving eyelids and chewable limbs seem to be what he usually goes for first.

He is into everything these days, much to Madeleine's dismay. She is great at imaginative and independent play, but Ross just wants to barge in and tear things apart and climb all over everything. It leads to many tears. They still love to play chase and tackle though, and crawl through tunnels and tents (tables and couch cushions) together.

He is standing and cruising a lot now and has even started crawling up on his knees more and more.

He says "daddy!" with great enthusiasm when Steve comes home from work, and is making lots of new sounds lately. He loves the bathroom - the toilet, M's potty, the toilet brush... M never got into those things, so this is new territory for us. He also loves Steve's guitar, books, and paper. It's hard to believe that next month he'll be one year old, and we'll be celebrating in California!

Steven Ross Gibson, PhD (!)

Here was the scene this past Saturday afternoon, as Steve read through his thesis one more time in preparation for his defense on Monday.

Steve spent all day Monday in Christchurch for his defense, and he passed with flying colours. One of the two reviewers flew in from Australia, while the other skyped in from his base at Harvard. They had many positive and encouraging things to say, and also some thoughtful and challenging questions that Steve answered very well. He has some relatively minor corrections to make and then the university will formally issue his degree (although just through the mail since he won't be flying back from California for a graduation ceremony). The next adventure (aka the real job) starts on January 20th in Berkeley.