Heather takes a nap

March 15, 2014 12:02 pm

Heather got up at her usual time this morning (about 7:30am) after going to sleep at her usual time last night (around 7:30pm).  She had breakfast, watched some Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood, and we played outside a little bit; a fairly normal morning.

Jess and I were just hanging about when Heather wandered off.  The quiet was suspicious and eventually Jess went looking for her.  She was lying in bed cuddled up with her blanket and pacifier trying to fall asleep.  So we asked her if she wanted us to close the blinds (she said, "Yes").

We left her alone and about 20 minutes later she fell asleep (about noon).

Apparently she decided she was tired and so she went to take a nap.

What a goon.

Edit @ 4:10pm:
She just did it again! She was playing in the living room and just went back to her bedroom and closed the door. After about 10 minutes we went to check on her and she was in bed again, with her projector on, cuddled up with blankets.

We asked her if she wanted to go to the store and she said, "No, I'm still sleeping."

Wisteria

11:00 am

The wisteria has started blooming and it attracts these huge bees.  Decided to try to get a picture, but they're quick and unpredictable.  Here's the best I managed to get:

200mm, f/8.0, ISO 200, 1/100s
200mm, f/8.0, ISO 200, 1/100s

And some pictures of the wisteria itself:

200mm, f/5.6, ISO 200, 1/160s
200mm, f/5.6, ISO 200, 1/160s
200mm, f/5.6, ISO 200, 1/160s
200mm, f/5.6, ISO 200, 1/160s

Breaking California's Drought (or, Mom & Dad visited)

March 1, 2014 5:49 pm

We decided it was time to make Mom & Dad's travel calamities work for us.  So they came to visit in the middle of a major drought.  It hadn't rained any appreciable amount in 14 months.  But, it started raining the day after they arrived and has been continuing to rain fairly regularly since then.

IMGP1643aHeather was enamored of Grandpa.

We tried going up to the Redwood Valley Railroad again.  It seemed like Heather was going to be okay with it, but the moment Jess tried to lift Heather into the car Heather lost it.  With every shred of vocabulary she could muster she demanded that she didn't want to ride the train and that Jess get off the train.  I wasn't allowed on the train either.  So Grandma and Grandpa took a train ride while the rest of us tried to calm Heather down.

IMGP1658a

We also visited Duarte's Garage which seemed like the kind of thing Mom & Dad do (it's an old garage along the original Lincoln Highway that runs through Livermore).  They have restored, old-timey fire engines and various related relics.

If you look closely you can see the sparks being generated by the hand-crank starter.  The spark plugs are at the top of the metal brackets on the right-hand side of the contraption.

We also went to the Rosicrucian Egyptian Museum in San Jose.

Before they left we took a few pictures of them with Heather, this somewhat candid shot (taken in between "real pictures") ended up turning out best:

IMGP1766a

Come back and visit again anytime!