Author Archives: Vale

CAS Day At Clarendon

13 May 2011


(click any of these smalls to see larger)

CAS is Community Arts & Sciences Day. It was a extremely well organized day, run by parent volunteers. I volunteered to be an escort, so I chaperoned a group of 6 kids to different workshops.


First we did a session called “insects” (my favorite, first thing in the am).


Not pictured: a hissing cockroach. Not kidding.

Next our schedule sent us to “Silly Putty” – run by Lucas & Rachel’s dad Robin!

Next was a fun flash mob of dancing, led by the Italian teacher, Barbara

Some older kids were doing fencing, which looked fantastic!


This was an arts ‘n’ crafts workshop, making “Eco Friendly Pins”.
With more than half the stuff made in China, I kept my critical
comments to myself, and enjoyed helping Oscar.


The last scheduled workshop was on the upper yard, with the SF fire dept. I secretly wished we had gotten assigned something that Oscar didn’t know so much about already. But it ended up being hilarious, because Oscar was the know-it-all who answered every question (correctly) and told at least 10 stories. A firefighter in the making.


Last was the Egg Drop, which was great to see. Oscar didn’t make an egg package, but maybe now that he knows the deal, he’ll be excited for one next year.

Fun in San Francisco Today

12 May 2011

Mark and Oscar took Omi and Opi to the ballgame today. The Giants with Matt Cain beat the Diamondbacks, and have won 7 of the last 8 games! Go Giants! Oscar is REALLY into them these days. (After everything last season, can you blame him?!)

[insert cute photo of Oscar with grandparents here] :)
Update:

Later in the evening, we found ourselves out in Russian Hill, Craigs Listing. Fun to be on this side of town!


All photos taken with mark’s handy iphone. (and here’s the item we were after.)

Mothers Day 2011

09 May 2011

I think Mothers Day is better than my birthday.
It’s the same “hook up” but with out the aging!

Oscar drew me a card:

and wrote a lot of nice things!

Mark gave me a very sentimental gift! And it was a surprise, too.
The first time I saw it was while shopping in Denver last summer with Kristi and Melissa.
It was love at first sight, but I did not think I would ever see it again.
I guess I got a little help from my friends! Thanks you guys! xoxo

Flowers for Ava’s 8th Birthday

07 May 2011

My happy tradition (and means of coping through May 7th) is to head over to Bloomers for some Kick-ass Peonies.
We had them for Ava’s first birthday, and pretty much every year since!
(Last year’s was especially nice because Lucy was there, and our family finally felt complete.)
Here’s this year’s pick, paired with a sweet princess cake from Schubert’s.


(click to enlarge)

This sweet package came in the post:

Nana and Chief brought these gorgeous blooms to Holy Cross:

(If you ever want to go, the grave is all the way back, all the way to the right, in a place marked “holy angels”.)

____________
UPDATE:
Omi sent this photo in. It’s a peony she planted in Sebastopol. (See her writing in the comment section below.) These flowers don’t really thrive in SF, it’s too cold during the summers. But the heat in the country is ideal! And, what a pretty color!


(click to see larger)

A Girl and Her Doll in Paris

05 May 2011

It’s a chick flick for you. A slideshow! I just love it!

Click on the photo – you’ll be taken to the photographer’s site:

The link: http://private.stephanierausser.com/kiki_and_coco/

In case you want the doll, or one like it anyways, prepare to dig deep into your wallet… The doll maker (Artist?) is Jess Brown. Read a nice article about her.

(When Lucy gets this age, I’m so doing this.)