Giants game with Ito

The big outing planned for Ito's visit was going to a Giants game at AT&T Park.  Tom stayed home with Serafina, while Leo, Ito and I headed to the game.  The logistics of seeing a game at this park are a little tricky, so I was a bit anxious.  It all went smoothly though.  We left early and missed the end of the game, which was fine because the Giants got slaughtered by the Oriels during that time.  Our early exit allowed us to get out of the parking lot and onto the freeway with no traffic.  It was great.  

It was grey and cold when we got there.  It eventually warmed up a bit.  Here are my dad and Leo across McCovey cove as we walked over to the stadium.  

 Happy to be there!

 Watching the game.

 Ito was a little chilly towards the end.

But we enjoyed ourselves.

Silly Leo.  

Evidence that I was there.  Leo sat on my lap during most of the game so he could see better.  He kept me nice and warm.  

Saturday with Ito

It was another mellow day with Ito. Our big excitement will come tomorrow when we head to San Francisco for the Giants game. But today, it was business as usual, which included a trip to Raynor park.

Ito is here

My dad arrived late Wednesday night. Since he's been here, we've had a lot of ordinary, day-to-day activities and errands to take care of. He doesn't mind tagging along and spending time with the kids.

Today the kids went to the dentist; we let Ito sit this one out.  Good thing because Serafina screamed bloody murder and I had to hold her down like a sanitarium patient.
Here they are before the madness playing a video game in the waiting room.

Leo, on the other hand, was the perfect patient.  Despite his good hygiene habits, he has to have a couple cavities filled.  I'd feel bad about this except every kid I know his age has had to have cavities filled.  I'd also be worried about how he'd do during the fillings, but look at that smile.  This kid will do fine.  He hasn't lost any teeth yet (so no tooth fairy visits have happened), but the hygienist claimed she felt a wiggly one.  I think she was just giving him some hope.  

Later in the day, we went to the sporting good store so Ito could try out some golf clubs.  Leo watched very interested.

First movie theater experience

 Summer vacation is quickly coming to an end (Leo starts kindergarten on August 19th), so I'm trying to squeeze in some last bits of fun.  I wanted to take them to the beach today, but it was so overcast and gloomy, I decided to save it for next week.  It will probably still be overcast but maybe a few degrees warmer if we are lucky.

So today we went to the movies for the first time.  Leo has been asking about it for a while.  He occasionally sees movie trailers and though he's not interested in specific movies, he's been interested in the experience of seeing it in the theater.  I'm glad he wasn't too concerned with which movie we saw, because we ended up going to one that was pretty awful (Turbo).  It also happened to be in 3D.

Leo was very happy to be there and enjoyed the movie; Serafina was bored and squirmy and only interested in the snacks.  I brought a giant bag of food with me.

We were joined by our friends Ana and Navid (and their mom).  Here they are waiting for the show to start.

I'm glad we went.  I'll probably take Leo to the movies again for a mom/son date at some point; though hopefully we'll find a better flick to see.

Neighbor Pool Party

At some point during every summer, I realize I should invite the kids on our street over to swim. I realized that earlier this week and Leo wrote a little invitation. The kids came over today; they ate popcorn, popsicles and played in the pool. It was really fun.

Popsicle time.

Here are the past parties: 2010, 2011, 2012

Last day of baseball camp

It was the last day of baseball camp. They played "scrimmages" the whole time, which the kids love.  It was different than t-ball, because there were outs, but no strike outs.  The coaches leading the camp were better pitchers than the t-ball coaches.

Relaxing before things start.

Listening to coach before forming teams.

Coach helping him put his glasses back on after putting on the batting helmet.

He was using a bat that was way too big for him.

He also got to play catcher, which he apparently thinks is played by sitting in the dirt.

He looks so little, but the batter was the biggest kid at camp.

The coaches gave us a feedback form and they were very positive about Leo.  He really enjoyed it too.

Campsite puzzler

I think I mentioned in my last post that our camping situation wasn't ideal.  But beggars can't be choosers, and we were lucky to find any place to camp.  Plus it was cheap.  

It was also like a parking lot.  I think you can see from this picture how close together the campsites are and how little privacy we had.  Plus, it lacked lush nature.  

Oh well, at least we were camping, right?  The kids were very happy.  

Check out this picture.  

What is that, you are probably asking.  We'll that's a piece of furniture with a towels draped over it, obviously.  I guess the better question is "what the heck is it doing at a campsite?"  We were pretty weirded out by that piece of furniture sitting there in very close proximity to our campsite.  Well, it wasn't filled with clothes or bombs or body parts.  We know because Tom checked while its owner was away.  We asked the people in the tents just beyond the dresser (or armoire or bureau) if they were with the owner, but they weren't.  Apparently he told them it was his mother's antique.  He returned in his white station wagon (you can see it in the top picture) around dusk.  He had no tent or gear; he slept in the back of the station wagon. In the morning, he slept in a little later than us, but when we were in the bathroom, he loaded up his furniture and was gone.  I guess he had to get it out of the back of the car so there was room for him to sleep.  I also have to guess that if you need transport a piece of furniture, it may be cheaper to drive it where you need it to go and sleep in the back of your car than have it professionally shipped.  Anyway, it was quite strange.