Sand, steps, scales, and smiles

There are lots of pics to cover the last month or so ... the first week of which was spent with all my cousins up at Grammy's and Grampa's house in Michigan. We played on the dunes ...

... on the new jumpy toy ...

... on big farm equipment ...
... we all sort of agreed to happily gather in the backyard ...

... and finally but not leastly, we watched movies on the Open Space's big screen!

After a fun but exhausting fest of film, the Finns returned to his happy self after a few nights' sleep on his own mattress ...

... and then, out of the blue, he started doing this:

At first, I thought Finnerelli's newfound skill was great ...
... but after a few minutes I was dreading all that this development meant for my freedom and peace and quiet!
After another couple of nights in our own beds, Mom, Finn, and I headed up to the Woods to see GDO, GMO, Jane, and Larry.

While Finn stayed on shore to show off his bipedalism, I grabbed my Princess Pole and headed out in the rowboat with GDO and Larry to learn all about their newfound fishing prowess.

Larry helped set up my lure, sinker, and bobber ...

... and lo and behold, my bobber went under, I started reeling, and I CAUGHT A FISH!

At first I wanted to keep it and eat it. But then GDO and Larry told me the fish would die when we ate it ... so I opted instead to let the fish grow a little bigger before I come back and catch it again when it's all grown up.

Finn's 2 footin' was getting better and better and he had fun extending his range during our visit ...

... which came to an end after we did some wild raspberry picking along the side of the road. Hooray for the Woods! Hooray for fish! Hooray for the Princess Pole! Hooray for raspberries!

Our last week of summer before Mom went back to work was as busy as could be ... we headed a bit north with a couple of friends to see a real-life circus and play on real-life circus things ...

... and even ride on a real-life circus elephant!

... after which Finn did what Finn does best: destroy picnic blankets!

We spent a couple mornings having inside picnics in the dining room ...

... followed by polish ...
... followed by another real-life picnic with Dad at work ...
... at which I climbed a tree and couldn't get down!
Last weekend we headed to Chicago for our last Cub game of the year (they won ... and I'm starting to understand baseball rules! I know where the outfield is, where the infield is, who pitches, who catches, and who hits. Outs? They're still a bit confusing. But I did understand the Cubs got a big hit and won with 5 "points" while the Cardinals only had 4! Hooray for the Cubs!)

After the game we briefly checked out the Bean before nature called me away ...
... but we eventually returned to the park and had fun with the fountain faces.

We decided on an early morning picnic on our last summer Sunday, settling on a spot next to the river ...

... so we could have easy park access after we finished our yummy monkey bread.
Our summer concluded with a final backyard hummus picnic and a trip to the zoo!

Hooray for summer! Hooray for travel! Hooray for picnics! Hooray for Finn! Hooray for Me!

California here I come!

Well, after eventually escaping Denver, we at last made it to San Francisco ... at 4 in the morning. Since Finn had only slept ~1 hr since leaving Wiscoland, we decided to get a good morning's sleep from 6 to 8 before heading out for our first day in the big city.

Fortunately, we found a cable car stop just outside our hotel, so we hopped on ...
... and loved it!
It took us down to the Bay ... where we checked out the fun piers and fountains and people ... but despite my new short 'do, it was a bit too windy to get a face + Alcatraz pic. (Notice my new haircut? It'll look better in later pics)
Most of us ate breadbowl chowder at Fisherman's Warf ...
... although the Finn man caught up on his zzz's.
Day 2 found us once again using cable-based transportation ...
... this time to the square made famous for its chocolate and ice cream.

Before heading out of the city for Mom's family's reunion, we stopped by a museum and learned how cable cars work ...

... and took a trip down the curviest street I've ever seen ...
... and headed across the Golden Gate bridge. After a long hike up the hill, we snapped a few pics from a neat vantage point.

Our fun in SF done, we crossed back over the bridge and headed south to Santa Cruz and then over a ways to a little camp - Monte Toyon - in the middle of a redwood forest.

The Finns met a lot of distant relatives for the first time and generally enjoyed the fact that the buffet-style meals were all-he-could-eat.

During the reunion we took a day trip down the road to a neat little seaside locale ...

My favorite parts of the museum were "everything" ... but I particularly liked the ocean things you could touch. Finnerelli did, too, although he had more fun splashing than touching.

We left Monterey and headed south to a spot just north of Pebble Beach for a little rocky coast time and my first real introduction to the Pacific ocean.

We had so much fun at the beach that the next day we grouped up with Mom's "cousins" and headed out in search of a sandier spot. We found just the spot - lots of sand, lots of wind, and lots of WAVES! For an idea of how much energy fun I had, click on the pic below - it comes to life!

Finn was also a big fan of the beach and had fun chasing all the birds and splashing through our kid-made "swimming pools."

On our walk back to the car the "boys" and I discovered a mini sand dune and just had to climb and run down it four or five times. Of course, the boys' legs are of sufficient length to handle the bottom of a sand dune. Mine, however, are apparently not ... so at the end of each descent ...
... I did a faceplant. 3 showers and 2 baths later and I just might have all the sand out of my nose by now.

Before leaving the reunion, we took a brief hike through the forest and stopped by the biggest tree we could find ...

... and then headed back to San Fran and the airplane home. But along the way we took a break next to one of the most famous golf courses in the world.

Hooray for cable cars! Hooray for redwoods! Hooray for oceans! Hooray for California!