Elephant ride

Hello from Phuket

Thanks to the wonders of modern technology I'm typing this aboard a
beautiful catamaran nestled right off a coral covered beach near
Phuket. We just came in from exploring some amazing caves and rock
formations, as well as wading as deep as knee high in mucky mud. It's
pretty warm- the sun just set and I'm still sweating. The water is a
perfect temperature. You never feel cold for a moment when you jump
in.

We managed to get a sim card when we got in so we can receive calls
but a friend's iPad is our best connection home for now, so send email
if there's anything we need to know.

Plasma car

Another weekend of great weather! It was a fun one too since all the grandparents were in town. Here's one of the things we did (in our back "yard"):

Video thanks to Cece!!

This weekend

So this past weekend was especially fun so I thought I'd say a few words about it and not just give photos.

On Saturday we went to visit friends in Lafayette and as you could see from the car thermometer, the weather was amazing. It was sunny and warm and the kids (Geneva and Sinjin) really enjoyed playing in the sand in our friends' back yard. We went from Lafayette to Oakland and got to spend time with Brandy and her family. All in all just a lot of hanging around outdoors.

Then yesterday morning we decided to take Geneva to the climbing wall for the first time. I'd been talking to her about it a lot so she knew just what was going on when we got there. After she finished throwing herself down on all the floor mats, she wanted to go up the wall. We got a little harness and you can see from the picture she knew just what to do! She got up about as high as having her feet at Daddy's head, and then wanted to come down. You'll notice we tied a rope to the bottom of her harness also because she weighs too little to come down on her own - we had to pull her down. Anyway, she just climbed that once but I bet she'll do more on future trips. She had a great time at the gym overall - there's kind of a kids area with a little tunnel and she ran in the tunnel and got adopted by a bunch of girl scouts who were all excited to help her climb around in the tunnel. Also I did something with her that I saw some other parents do once - I found an area where the ropes hung out into space, hoisted Geneva up, and let her swing in free space. She seemed to love it! Although I suspect the harness wasn't that comfortable because she wanted to come down again after not too long. Anyway, I just love that we took her climbing because it's something I've always kind of looked forward to doing with my kid(s).

Yesterday evening we went to a new friends' house for the first time and I failed to even notice who won the Super Bowl. Geneva loved riding her plasma car around in the backyard and poor Graydon was having a head trauma day - his parents ended up having to take him to the doctor to get stitches. Learning to walk is dangerous!!

So that was it. Lots of time with the kid and spending time outdoors. Next weekend all the Grandparents come to visit and the weekend after that we head to Thailand (!!!). Exciting times!!

Look who's climbing!!

Why yes, our car thermometer is working. Why do you ask?