Jumping fish, the zoo, hitting the ball, translation and a party

I've been working a lot the last couple of weeks so I'm trying to make the most of the time I spend with my little bug Skyler.

Last Tuesday we went to Crissy Field which is a big waterfront park next to the Golden Gate Bridge. It used to be part of the Presideo military base and is said to be one of the most beautiful spots to walk along in the whole country. It's a beautiful scene with the beach, the bay and sail boats and the view of the Golden Gate Bridge on one side and the city on the other - http://gocalifornia.about.com/cs/sanfrancisco/a/sfmargntoftpt.htm

http://gocalifornia.about.com/gi/dynamic/offsite.htm?zi=1/XJ&sdn=gocalifornia&zu=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.crissyfield.org

http://gocalifornia.about.com/gi/dynamic/offsite.htm?zi=1/XJ&sdn=gocalifornia&zu=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.nps.gov%2Ffopo%2F

We made and destroyed sand castles, walked along the beach front and picked up rocks, climbed on bigger rocks (Sky's balance and coordination are great) and then walked towards the base of the GG Bridge.

We stopped off at the little pier and watched all of the guys that were fishing. Try to explain fishing and why people fish to a 2 year old... an endless string of "Why?", and when you try to explain it to someone that has no idea what you are talking about, it really does sound kind of ridiculous - to pull fish out of the water where they live, and put them in a bucket, when what the fish really wants is to be in the ocean- especially because it would be a lie to say they pull them out of the water to eat them because these fish are too toxic to eat (sad but true).

The best part was when we came to a guy that was just reeling in a fish. So we got to watch him pull it off the line and put it in his bucket only to see the fish jump out the second the man turned his back. The fish was flipping and flopping on the pier so I told him and he quickly put it back in the bucket. Of course that's when Sky and I walked over to see all of the fish in the bucket and the fish jumped out again, right under our noses. Skyler was thrilled and had me tell him the fish story, over and over again, all day long.

Sunday we went to the Oakland Zoo. Far different from the SF Zoo which is very old except for the very few, very new parts that dont all seem to make sense together. The Oakland Zoo is smaller but has animals at every turn and best of all it has ELEPHANTS! In a big spread out, terraced section they had three elephants walking around and playing. The SF Zoo had to send it's elephants (what was left) away because they were miserable and they all decided that they would be happier dead than in the little enclosure they were stuck in (very sad, I know). We had a great time running around the Oakland Zoo, it seems much more kid-out-of-the-stroller friendly than the SF Zoo which is so spread out (yet most of the animals are cramped in little pens from the 30's) that your feet feel like you ran a race when your done.

Skyler can hit the baseball with the bat when Matt throws the ball at him, just like a big kid. Matt also taught him to throw a football and how to do that classic old football pose - you know, pose with his right arm straight out (like blocking someone) while he clutches the football to his ribs (picture those old football cards). I think this is hilarious and a little weird, I didn't think football players did that anymore...

Sunday Skyler went to Damian's 2nd birthday party and jumped up and down in the giant, blow-up bouncer that they rented for just about the whole day. Melissa called and said "he doesn't want to leave the party, he wants to stay and jump" I told her that was fine and he didn't get out of the bouncer until the people came to pack it away! When he got home around 8pm he couldn't stop bouncing up and down like a pogo for another hour (then he crashed hard...)

Final note on how cute Skyler is: most of his days last week were with his old nanny Melissa and her little nephew Damian (not his other old nanny Melissa, we had two). She brought Skyler home at the end of the day and said that Skyler was translating what Damian said for the adults. Damian would say something in two-year-old talk and Skyler would say "He said he wants some juice" , etc. - too cute!

Steph