If you're going to San Francisco ... (Part 2)

... be sure to wear some flowers a giant pink bow or purple tiara headband in your hair.  (Sage advice from Maya and Scarlett.  Emma's sage advice:  when your sister and cousin look directly at the camera and strike a ridiculous pose at the same time, hide and hope nobody notices you're with them.)

Day number two, park number two.

Holding hands and taking in the city on the way to lunch.

Next stop:  the zoo!  Riding the train.

Cruising in the safari "Jeep" wagons.  I'm embarrassed to say that we accidentally grabbed/stole/Jeep-jacked the wrong wagon after riding the train and were busted by the victim when we were leaving the zoo and turning in our wagons.  I'm not going to point any fingers, but let's just say that the culprit's name rhymes with "Fifi" (or "Flydia", depending on who you ask).

Max checks out the polar bear.

Emma takes a snack break.

Posing on the bronze California grizzly bear statue.  (Note that the California grizzly of California-state-flag-fame does not, in fact, have five legs, nor does he wear a shoe on one of them.)

There are various animal renderings on a long wall at the zoo where you're supposed to stand there for a photo while you pretend to be that particular creature.  Here's Maya being some kind of giant spider.  (My guess is that Emma is in this picture to try and save Maya from the giant spider, not to willingly be photographed.)

Maya being a gazelle (?).

Maya being a peacock.

Scarlett refused to participate in any of the photo ops until we had moved past them.  Then she suddenly decided to do it.  But there were no animal pictures around for her to "be."  So here's Scarlett being a fence (note the foot lifted for dramatic effect).

This picture makes me laugh every time I see it.  It was taken in a photo booth, which takes several shots and then lets you pick your favorite to get printed on your zoo-themed background of choice.  This is the second photo, after Scarlett and Maya got a look at the first one that was taken and cracked up (for good reason, although I still can't decide if the look on that lemur's face is hilarious or downright terrifying; it's like he can see directly into your soul and isn't really sure that he likes what he sees).  Anyhow, Emma is hiding her face (that's her hair on the far right) because, well, photos are for suckers.  Max is not so much hiding as he is just sitting there out of the shot with absolutely no idea what's going on, probably wondering why in the world we shoved him into a tiny dark room where a bright light keeps flashing in his face every 10 seconds followed by a torrent of giggles.

San Francisco is exhausting!

Kiss Me I'm Irish!

My Mom says I'm 1/8th Irish.  My Dad says I'm 99% German.  I can't do math yet, but that sounds a little inconsistent.  The truth is probably somewhere in the middle, but to be safe, I'm going to go with Mom on this one. 

Here's Scarlett sporting her green so she won't get pinched today (at least not for forgetting to wear green ... I might pinch her for some other really good reason.)

Notice that Scarlett is the only one brave enough to refuse Mom's demands that we wear a ridiculous get-up while she takes our photo.  Scarlett is so brave, in fact, that she insisted on wearing her hot pink tennis shoes when Mom strongly suggested otherwise.  Teach me your ways, Scarlett (Dad's obviously a lost cause).

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Love,
Max

Dallas Blooms

Grandma came to visit last week during Spring Break and help out with the kids while Chris was in trial in New York.  One day we went to the Dallas Arboretum with the Kovacs to have a picnic and check out Dallas Blooms, the Arboretum's spring flower festival, boasting tulips, azaleas, and daffodils as far as the eye can see, along with the ever-present grassy fields, fountains, and trails.  The weather was as gorgeous as the flowers.  

Can it be?  A photo with all of them smiling and looking at the camera?!  Henry (4 1/2), Stella (2 1/2), Scarlett (3), and Michael (6 1/2).

Lunchtime!

Hugs for Stella (Stella looks iffy about the whole thing, but Scarlett went all in).

Scarlett did her best to get Max to look at the camera, and in the process, forgot to look at the camera.  

Stopping to smell the roses tulips.

Strawberries and Hugs

Here are Scarlett and Max earlier this week standing in the Learning Tower and sharing a plate of strawberries for their afternoon snack.  Scarlett gave Max a hug, and as is often the case, the hug got a little ... well ... overenthusiastic, shall we say?

The City by the Bay (Part 1)

We headed out to San Francisco at the end of February for a long overdue visit to see Cousins Maya and Emma (and their parents Mark and Monica, of course!).  Mimi and Papa Tig joined us, and it was so nice to have everyone together.

Look at how big the girls have gotten ...

Maya (age 6)

Emma (age 2)

Day one of our trip took us to Golden Gate Park, one of the San Francisco's many amazing parks.  There were lots of fun things for little kids and big kids alike to play with/climb on/dangle precariously from/leap off/climb through/slide down.

Chris and Maya bravely climbed up this rope contraption.  Chris asked Maya, "Do you think it will hold my weight?", to which Maya responded, "I think it will.  And that's a LOT of weight."

And here's where I got in on the action.  There are two long cement slides at the park that are covered in a fine layer of sand (sort of shuffle board-style) that you ride down on a piece of cardboard.

Maya thought it was really cool that Chris and I would ride it with her.  Only problem is that she wanted us to ride it with her approximately 327 times.  And I screamed all the way down and looked like a complete goober each and every one of those times.

Like this time.

And let's not forget this time.

And don't think for a second that Chris managed to look cool going down the giant slide.

(Don't worry, that little girl managed to get out of the way.  Barely.)