This Morning

Here are some nice pictures of Jack this morning.  We walked up to the San Francisco Theological Seminary.  The mornings really are starting to feel like autumn.  However, by about 10 it is hot again.  Today is supposed to be around 85-87.  I am ready for the fall weather to begin!

You can see by these pictures that Liz cut his hair again.  It was already starting to look too long even though he just got it cut.

We are showing the house at 2:30 today.  It is someone that has already seen it once which is a good sign.  Wish us luck!

It is now impossible to get a picture of him unless someone is holding him.  This is why we have so many pictures of him exiting the frame.

He loved being able to run around up here.  He made sure to touch everyone of the white lights you see along the posts.

Somehow I got him to sit still for two seconds, but you can tell he does not like it.

After the SFTS we went and ran around a small field for a bit.

He was in heaven because he found a stick.  In all honesty, it was a pretty cool stick.

For those of you that think he looks too big in that last picture, I made sure to take a pic of him with some Redwood trees so you can see he is really not that big.

Hide and Go Seek.  Jack believes that Liz and I are not the smartest because he thinks he has fooled us every time he hides behind something like this.  He is also convinced he has disappeared when he puts a blanket over his head.

San Jose

Jack Hefner getting ready for his trip

I had to go down to San Jose for work last Wednesday.  Liz and Jack were kind enough to come with him.  While I worked during the day, Liz and Jack went to the Gilroy Outlets.  It was well worth the shopping trip because Liz found 1 of the 2 Halloween costumes that Jack will be wearing this year (no hints yet).

The next day we took Jack to the Children's Museum of San Jose.  The museum is wonderful and has many specific areas for kids just Jack's age.  Jack was in heaven when we went to the "Wonder Cabinet."  There were tunnels for him to crawl through, balls to play with, costumes to put on, and many other things that were right up his alley.

Jack weighing and measuring sand - he gets very focused in situations like this.

Dad helping with the sand project.  He dumped about half of it on his head.

After we went to the Wonder Cabinet we took Jack down to the Bubble Room.  They had many different forms of bubbles all over the place and the kids love it.

Jack making bubbles - again very focused.

Last stop was the Bob the Builder display.  Jack was starting to get tired and fussy at this point so I was concerned he would not make it through it.  However, when he got in there he LOVED it.  They had all of the Bob the Builder characters that he could sit in and many different construction projects he could work on it.  Does he know who Bob the Builder is, no, but he loved it just the same.

Jack in his mobile home - hopefully not a snapshot of the future.

Some orange thing that was his favorite.

Working hard to support his 10 diaper per day habit.

Jack kissing a cat goodbye on the way out.

Overall a great mid week trip and a nice way for Dad to have some company on an otherwise boring trip.

Here are some extra pictures I took that weekend:

Jack unpacking the trunk from the Farmer's Market

Jack cleaning out his locker for the first day of school.

Hysterically laughing at his reflection in a window.  

Labor Day Weekend

On Sunday we took Jack to the Discovery Museum in Sausalito.  Jack has been to the museum several times, but as he gets older he appreciates it more and more.  We started off in the "construction zone" where Jack did some heavy labor shoveling gravel into dump trucks.  Thankfully he was outfitted with the correct gear to make sure people knew he was doing construction.

Jack started crying when we took him out of the construction area because he did not realize that there was so much more to do.  He cried until we took him to play with a xylophone.  Jack banged on the instruments for a good ten minutes.  He was very polite and played excellently with the other children even offering them his mallet when they did not have one.

From there he went to play in the small creek that they have there.  He loves this because it is just his height.

Lastly, was the main event - the Tot Spot.  As Jack was getting closer to his nap at this point he was punch drunk and was in his giggly mood.  He had the time of his life playing with the lilypads and noisemakers there.  He is really at his happiest when he is surrounded by people.  He is extremely friendly and waves to everyone.  I am attaching a longer video where you can see the Tot Spot insanity.  Keep an eye out for where he continues to wave to random strangers.

Here's another video from yesterday where you can see Jack's favorite move - waving goodbye and blowing kisses.  You can also see him dancing.  Jack loves to dance any time music is on and always claps when the song ends.  

Today we went to Angel Island.  Liz had been there prior, but I had never been.  I was blown away by how beautiful it was.  To get there you take a 9 minute ferry from Tiburon.  Once you get there you have 360 degree views of the entire bay.  You can see all bridges, San Francisco, Oakland, and Marin.  

The island used to be the west coast equivalent to Ellis Island in New York.  It was used as the first stop for immigrants coming to California.  It had also been used as an army base and a quarantine station.  There are old forts and buildings all over the island.  Needless to say, if you are coming to visit us anytime soon we will probably be going there.

Stains courtesy of a giant smoothie and throwing dirt all over himself as he was changed in the woods.

Jack's Skinned Knee

Jack loved running around the ferry even though he fell down and skinned his knee.  When we got there we grabbed a quick lunch.  There are two restaurants on the island.  Liz ordered a smoothie and Jack ate 80% of it.  This is extremely unusual because he is not a huge eater so we were both blown away.  We hiked up a road and got some great views of the city and the bridges and then had to run back to the ferry because Jack needed to get back for a nap. 

Smoothie Man!

Liz Overlooking Camp Reynolds

First Haircut and Cupcakes

Jack had his first haircut this past Saturday.  He was exactly 17 months old to the day!  It was probably a bit overdue as Mom has not wanted to cut his beautiful curly locks.   Here is the before picture, you can see he has long wings and the hair is down in his eyes.  

We went to the Panda Room in Corte Madera.  They made it a very special experience for a first haircut - Jack got a certificate and his hair to take home!   He loved the play area in the Panda Room, and when it was his turn to get in the chair, he sat very still and played quietly with the basket of toys they gave him.  Such a good boy!

Jack especially loved the blow dryer.  The stylist told us that kids his age are usually very afraid of it and have to leave with wet hair - but Jack was not afraid at all!   She dried a picture of Elmo on the wall first, which Jack thought was very funny.

Afterwards, we took Jack for a special treat of cupcakes to celebrate.   As you can see by the after pictures, Mom and Dad did not let the Panda Room take too much of Jack's hair - so he still looks like our little California surfer boy!  

Construction Time

Jack Pointing at the Workers 

Over the late summer, our sidewalks and streets were repaved.  It's safe to say that this project was the biggest event of Jack's life so far.  At only 16 months old, Jack is a boy already completely obsessed with construction.  He loves when we see  the worker men in their yellow vests and hardhats, and we always have to stop to see what they are doing when passing a construction site.  So, as you can image,  he was beyond excited when the workers and trucks arrived to start working.... on our very own street!

So Happy Trying On His Hardhat for the First Time!

We turned Jack's highchair around so that he could watch the action through the dining room window while eating breakfast and lunch each day.  After finishing eating, he would usually want to stay in the chair as he had such a good view of the workers from up high.  Normally Jack would never stay in his chair for longer than the required time to eat a meal, but with the work going on there were some days where he would sit still watching for hours!   This was a very nice break for pregnant, tired mom... since many days I did not need to do anything at all to entertain him!   Sometimes he would press his face up against the window, and he would repeatedly point at and wave to the workers.

Project Supervisor

After a few days of sitting outside on the curb watching the work, Mom took Jack to get a little chair to sit in while watching from outside, and also a hardhat to wear.  Jack was very excited to wear his hardhat, just like his idols.

Jack Waving to the Workers From Front Porch

A Project Supervisor Needs to Stay Hydrated!

Since Jack logged more hours watching the work than anyone else on the street, we started calling him the Project Supervisor.  All of the workers knew him, and to Jack's delight, would say "hello Jack" and wave every morning.  A few of them made comments to me such as "saw your son with his face plastered against the window again this morning!"  They thought it was hilarious how into it he was.  They were all very nice and even told us that he could sit in one of the trucks for a picture.

































Now the work is all done and we have a beautiful new street.  Jack is the only one on the block who misses the constant noise and ongoing disruption!   The workers have moved onto other nearby streets, and we look for them on our walks so we can say "hello", and of course, Jack always wants to stop so he can survey the work!

Up In Wine Country

Mr. Flip Flops

This past weekend was great.  We decided to take a much needed mini vacation and spend a night in Sonoma.  Although "vacations" are not always as restful as they used to be (we spend most of our  time chasing after a very fast  one-year old), we had a great time.

I left work early and we drove the 20-30 minutes up.  We checked in early and immediately went to the pool.  This being Jack's first real time in the big pool, Liz and I were very excited to see how he reacted.  Jack was very excited to be wearing his flip flops for the first time.  Whenever Liz is wearing hers he is always fascinated by them.

After a couple of introductory steps he was off and running.  He loved the pool and spent a good amount of time splashing around on the steps.  Liz had also bought him a floaty that he could sit in which he liked at first but grew tired of quickly.  The main problem with being in the floaty was that he wants to (and thinks he can) swim on his own.  He has no fear!  The best thing about the pool for Jack was the gate that surrounded the perimeter.  He was obsessed with it and spent most of his time there opening and closing it.  He also spent a great deal of time at the water cooler trying to fill a Dixie cup with water and drinking it.

That night we went to dinner at the Swiss Hotel which was not good.  Sonoma town square was packed and we were lucky to get in anywhere, but it may have been worth the wait somewhere else.  As always, Jack made plenty of friends in the restaurant and was extremely fascinated with the wait staff.

In the morning we went to the Black Bear Diner where Jack proceeded to kiss all of the wooden bears that were in and outside of the restaurant.  Jack is extremely affectionate and is giving a tremendous amount of hugs and kisses.  He has also mastered the ability to blow you a kiss.  He will do this often when he is leaving the room or even when he is going to bed.  It is adorable.

Kissing the Bears at the Black Bear Diner

After breakfast we went downtown again.  Jack had his second experience with ducks.  We took him to the town square where there is a duck pond.  It was early so all of the ducks were on shore and sleeping. Jack did not know what to think when he saw the first one and was a little scared of it.  After about 2 minutes of that he ran right into the pack and started "herding" the ducks on his own.  He loved it!

Feeding the Ducks

From there we went to Train Town.  This is a scale model railroad that fits about 40 people.  Jack was very tired at this point and was not really sure what was going on.  I think he enjoyed the ride and he definitely enjoyed the petting zoo and wild west style town that the train stopped at.  He also had the opportunity to ride his first merry-go-round.

Note the Ever Present Tongue

One Tired Kidlet on the Merry-Go-Round

After a nap we spent the rest of the day at the pool.  There was a wedding reception going on and Jack loved the jazz music that was being played.  He is at the point where he dances the second he hears music.  He has supersonic hearing for music, dogs, and trucks.

We packed up around 5 and headed home.

I wanted to include a picture of Liz too so that you could see the progress on #2!

Liz - 5.5 months