Annemarie Spiller (& permanent guest star Winston, too!)

Happy Holidays 2011!

December 19, 2011 – 11:59 pm

By far the biggest change in our lives was the arrival of Winston on February 16th! Having an infant in the house brought back memories of when Annemarie was small… but now with the additional excitement (and complications!) of an older sibling! However, Annemarie has been a great big sister, and we’ve been very lucky that both of them have been healthy this year.

Winston is a good eater, and has been growing by leaps and bounds; sleeping is a different story, but who needs sleep anyway, right? Winston has lots of energy, and is determined to thoroughly explore (and taste!) his surroundings.

Annemarie had an active year, both indoor and outdoor! She is enthused by art projects, and produces more artworks than mommy can keep up with! She has also been a good sport and enthusiastically went on canoeing, orienteering, geo-caching, snow-play, and biking excursions with daddy! Gymnastics class has also been a hit, as well as juggling in the park!

A second child in the house certainly makes life more exciting – but also has had a dramatic impact on free time! Chasing Annemarie and Winston kept us very busy. The frequent chaos has helped us appreciate the simple, unexpected moments of joy or hilarity that sometimes just randomly happen. We are also more thankful for the occasional moments we have for ourselves. Highlights for Mark included the discovery of a wonderful Hapkido school in Davis, and the chance to resume training after a decade+ hiatus from martial arts. Taking Annemarie to “juggling in the park” in the bakfiets was also a lot of fun. Chen-Nee had her hands full through the year, both with Winston and with transitioning out of sabbatical and maternity leave. She found joy in the combination of dance, music, and exercise presented by Zumba classes.

As always, the holidays (and working on this blog!) make us reflect back on the year, and think about how lucky we are. Thank you to everyone who has helped us along the way, in ways both big and small! We wish everyone a happy holiday season, and all the best in 2012.

Annemarie’s school picture:

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Davis is cooling off…

December 4, 2011 – 11:08 pm

The temperature has definitely started dropping in Davis, and the daily questions from Annemarie are “Is it Christmas yet?” and “Who should I invite to my birthday party???” (along with “Can I have a candy from my Halloween pumpkin?”)

For the most part we were transitioning to indoor activities, but we did get to get outside for a great whole-family orienteering excursion! Winston started taking his indoor “horse-riding” lessons as well!

Annemarie (who has also been enjoying geocaching expeditions) loves the concept of “looking for treasure”, so orienteering, which involves finding a series of orange markers using a map, was also a big hit! Over the course of finding the 11 markers on our map, she ended up hiking over 3 miles! We also got to see spawning salmon, lots of bikers on the American River Parkway, and lots of other bushwhackers carrying orienteering maps.

Winston was dubious about the horse at first, but once he put on the hat and started riding, his inner cowboy came galloping out.

Realizing the limitations of a riding-only lifestyle, Winston also started working on assisted walking!

Heading out for a walk in “eskimo configuration”! (Thanks again Jeff & Sandra for the outfit)

Annemarie wearing a cool new sweater from Opa

Another favorite holiday pastime is building and decorating a gingerbread house! Thanks to Shirley for bringing the structure and the decorations, and making it a fun day! (Now added to the list of questions – “Can we eat the gingerbread house now?”)

The kids doing their best to help each other stay warm in chilly Davis

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October 2011

October 31, 2011 – 12:31 am

Fall is in the air, but shorts and cool shirts are still in fashion!

Look at how fast Winston can crawl now, even holding something in both hands! (especially when there is incentive AND competition!)

He has also started cruising! (e.g., pulling himself up on furniture to get a better view of what’s going on!)

Not to mention climbing over things to get to his objectives!

Halloween approaching means pumpkin patch visits!

Someone tell Winston that sunscreen is NOT supposed to be this much fun (He’d probably eat it, if he could)!

We’re lucky – even if he doesn’t always sleep well, he’s generally a happy, energetic kid.

Two hams posing for the camera:

Still chewing on the tools!

Annemarie showing off her fairy princess outfit to Opa and Ed as a practice run for Halloween! (Who knew that Cinderella had rainbow wings!)

Pumpkin Winston looking up to his elders

One of Annemarie’s other favorite fall activities is jumping in (or sliding into) piles of leaves!

Halloween activities included a parade at preschool, trick-or-treating in downtown Davis, and going out in the neighborhood with Josh, Erika, and Winston!

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September 2011

September 30, 2011 – 12:12 am

Winston getting used to new tastes! (and finger food…)

We did our best to mitigate the negativity of the canoe tipping incident – later that week, Annemarie’s sunken folding chair showed up in front of our door with a “thank you from the fishes!” note! (Thank you amazon.com!) This changed her favorite story from “do you want to hear about how I tipped?” to “I tipped, but the fish brought back my chair!!!!”)

Chen-Nee’s nephew Yu Zong came to the US for training in Folsom, and spent a weekend visiting us! We took him out to show him everything that Davis has to offer!

OK, now that crawling is achieved, it’s time to start working on the next stage! (Thanks to Jeff and Sandra for the cool walker!)

The kids always enjoy Opa and Shirleys’ visits! Here Opa and Winston are working on some construction projects! (or is it destruction?)

Thanks to John Hutson, we acquired a “bakfiets” (or Dutch city cargo bike). We were a bit dubious initially, but have fallen head over heels in love with this awesome transport bike! (now called “the canoe bike”)

Winston still needs a little more convincing (maybe because it’s too big to fit in his mouth?):

“That’s more my size!”

“I’ll take a paper bag for now, thanks!”

Paper bag in action (It’s a Ginger Elizabeth bag, for you bag connoisseurs out there):

“Daddy’s blending a smoothie, time to cover up sensitive ears!”

Annemarie earned a scooter by being good and earning a bunch of “fairy points”… It was fun for two days, until she fell… hopefully we’ll get back to it next summer.

Winston finally graduated to riding the giant doggie that Karl and Helga gave him for Christmas in 2010 (before he was born!)

“Let’s practice clapping!”

“These inflatable balls are pretty tricky!”

“Big sister’s toys are SO enticing!”

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Loon Lake Trip

August 31, 2011 – 12:05 am

Canoeing and camping desires inspired a trip up to Loon Lake in the Crystal Basin! Shirley, Grace, and Andy were able to join us as well, which was nice. The Loon Lake Chalet was awesome, but unfortunately we had a canoe tipping incident on the lake, which proved to be quite negatively memorable for Annemarie… Hopefully she’ll have forgotten by next year…

Happily paddling shortly before the tip:

Eating dinner on the patio:

And roasting marshmallows in the fire pit!

Day 2 – “Daddy, I’d rather go hiking instead of canoeing”

Loon Lake:

Who would have thought that Oma’s car would be enlisted to transport a boat? Oma would certainly have been amused…

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August 2011 – Late Summer Fun

August 27, 2011 – 11:42 pm

August was peak “working on crawling” season for Winston! He went from doing “supermans” on the floor to rocking motions on all fours, and then made the transition to a full crawl!

Taking a break on the soon-to-be-outgrown bouncy chair…

Chew break!

“OK, back to work! How about some downward-facing-dog?”

Continuing to work on crawling:

Building up leg muscles:

Sometimes it’s all about finding the right incentives (and for the record, that is Annemarie’s toy blaring in the background – we would never otherwise subject our kids to such music!) :

Temporary loss of balance…

… and crawling success!!!!

Annemarie spent six weeks at a Chinese preschool summer program! She had a good time, with highlights including biking to school with daddy (each direction included four tunnels, one bike bridge, and one off-road section!), making her own super-hero outfit (including cape!), and lots of camping-oriented activities. (Oh, and her Chinese improved as well!)

On the camping theme – we missed the Chinese preschool’s Pt. Reyes camping trip, so we camped in the backyard instead! (and learned that you can roast marshmallows over a fire in a BBQ!)

Amazingly enough, Annemarie slept until after 8am the following morning – much longer than we had expected!

After mastering his crawling technique, Winston moved on to playing with all of the fun objects he could now reach. Nothing is safe any more…

“Good tools should be both useful and edible”

Tuckered out from all the exciting new exploration…

“Hmmm, maybe the other side of the panda tastes better?”

As you can see, Winston also got comfortable sitting upright. However, over-excitement can lead to instability!

We picked up a trail-a-bike, which was exciting, but then got temporarily eclipsed by the bakfiets (see the Sept. post!)

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Summer Canoeing

July 31, 2011 – 6:16 pm

In an ongoing effort to find ways to get outdoors with Annemarie, daddy acquired a used canoe! Joe, Karen, and Julia were kind enough to take us out for some practice paddles on Lake Solano. Who would have guessed that Lake Solano would have such a cool stream inlet with an awesome swimming and tadpole-catching spot at the end! Annemarie had a blast!

Queen Annemarie in her special canoe chair:

Heading upstream…

… to the special spot!

Water play!

Worn out on the way home…

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July 2011 – Two busy summer bugs…

July 30, 2011 – 6:11 pm

Winston took to solid food very easily – what a contrast from Annemarie!!!

Annemarie’s drawings are getting ever-more sophisticated (illuminati hands???)

“the hills are alive … with the sound of horses???”

“zzzzzz… horses…. yum….”

Annemarie adores her baby brother…

“who IS that cute kid in the mirror???”

Recharging… for some jumping later on!

“Jumping is super fun!” (Thanks Jeff & Sandra for the jumperoo!)

Jumping is hard work… more recharging required.

“Is that loud, wild girl really my sister???”

“hmmmm…. how does panda taste?”

“What? They’re endangered? Can’t imagine why, they taste like plastic”

“I can hold it myself!”

“But service with a smile is always welcome”

“Enough milk – how does THIS horse taste?”

Winston naturally grazing in the wild (“how does low-hanging giraffe taste?”)

“I can’t quite seem to get a bite out of mommy’s hands???!!!???”

Annemarie and her buddy Maya at the farmer’s market

“Using my star power on Opa – thank you Opa for the cool shades!”

Some of those rare relaxing moments for mommy…

(Thank you Steve & Tobey for the loan of your hammock!)

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Last Snow Trip of the Season

June 19, 2011 – 5:48 pm

Daddy wanted to try out his new snow pulk, so Annemarie and Josh joined him for a quick trip to Echo Summit for snow-play!

The pulk worked well! It was easy to pull both kids using the hip belt and poles!

We brought a cooler full of snow back, and celebrated our return to Davis with a snowball fight in the driveway!

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May/June 2011 – Time (and Winston) “roll” on!

June 18, 2011 – 5:21 pm

In May, Winston started getting more responsive and vocal!

Happy on his tummy, just can’t get there yet by himself!

Gathering up enough energy for another round of rolling practice!

“Didn’t quite make it this time! Boy, this is frustrating!”

Winston’s first successful roll!!!!

Annemarie, meanwhile, was working on her glide bike skills:

Winston having fun with Aunt Shirley:

Winston falling asleep everywhere was adorable, and something that we now really miss later on…

“yum… chewy horse toy…”

Annemarie practicing her “drama skills”:

Sadly, Winston had his first use of the nebulizer much earlier than Annemarie (due to bronchiolitis at three months old)… luckily, it seems to have been an isolated incident.

“Don’t mind me, I just need to catch some quick naps…”

Just like Annemarie, Winston is very ticklish!

Big sister is FASCINATED with baby brother – “Winston, let’s compare our foot sizes!”

Mommy/daughter and daddy/son same-fashion day!

Saying goodbye to best buddy Teo. Happy about ice cream cake, not happy about losing Teo for a year…

Winston getting dropped into the exer-saucer for the first time! (“OK dad, NOW what do I do???”)

Soon, the exer-saucer also became outdoor exercise!

“Just hanging out, watching the birds and the leaves in the trees – life is good!”

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Whole Earth Festival

May 9, 2011 – 5:17 pm

In Early May, Aunt Shirley came to visit, and we all went out to the Whole Earth Festival. Annemarie had been dreaming of pushing baby brother’s stroller since before he was born, and seized the opportunity to do so!