Aloha!

We recently spent a week at the Hualalai Four Seasons in Kona on the Big Island with our friends Mark and Sarah and their little boy Grant (8 mo. younger than Calista), their friends Perry and Hilary, and a mutual friend Kathy. Calista was in 7th Heaven the entire time. The girl loves water so much, so there was never a dull moment between the kiddy pool, big kids pool, and the pool and hot tub (Calista calls it a "hot pool") at Mark and Sarah's house. Calista loved riding in the golf cart, and would normally fall asleep in it after a morning at the pool on our way back to the house. We lucked out and got great weather (it only rained once) and managed to escape any bad sun burns too. The Four Seasons was amazing -- not only did they come around with cold watermelon, pineapple, Evian spritzes, cold towels, water, ice cream and popsicles --but they had free swimmy diapers and sunscreen. We felt so fortunate to be invited, and that Sarah and Mark were able to get us seats on the chartered Kona shuttle too (the all-business-class seats made such a difference for the 5-hour flight!).

Flight over...busy girl reading, naturally!

Driving the Golf Cart, feeding fish in the Koi pond, dancing to Perry's piano playing and climbing on the lizard (all favorite activities for little missy). By the way, she is saying, "Raaaah" on the lizard to be like the lizard.

Bliss at the Kiddy Pool

The kiddy pool was so great because the bottom was all sand, and they had tons of toys for everyone and lots of shade. We were always able to get pool-side seats in a cabana, since the hotel wasn't full. (Phew!) Calista felt so much freedom being able to splash around all by herself. She also got really good at putting on innertubes and wading around with them. The picture of her on the turtle is when she is pretending to be Jeremy Fisher fishing for minnows with his reed pole (from a Beatrix Potter story that she loves). I think the photo where she fell asleep on the lounge pool is too cute.

The Big Kids Pool
Adjacent to the kiddy pool was a much larger (and deeper) pool for kids and adults. Calista could not get enough of the "hot pool" that connected to the pool. She would go in and out, in and out over and over again. There were several shallow ledges along the edge, and she loved kicking herself in a floaty boat to them. She also decided that she loved the Rasberry Banana Smash (yogurt smoothie) and ordered one for herself at the bar (which is what you see us sharing here).






















Mark and Sarah's Pool - Back at the house there was an infinity pool and hot tub that was easy for Calista to wade into. (We had to keep a close eye on that girl!) But what a treat to be able to take a dip pretty much anytime you fancied! By the way - the video is of Calista being "Super Baby" and blowing on Scott to make him tip over. Scott just told me he remembers playing this game with Matt when they were little kids.











Beaches!

Another great thing is that there was a beach a few steps away from the house, which had turtles every day. Calista loved saying, "Aloha Baby Honu" after a book my mom got her.

Kona Village - One day Mark, Sarah, Grant, Scott, Calista and I took the golf carts to Kona Village (a nearby resort) for a change of scenery. Fortunately for us, there were more turtles!








At Hapuna Beach -- Conde Nast rated this the most beautiful beach in the U.S. -- Scott went boogie boarding and I waded in the water.

Being a very big helper!



Time for adults to relax... at night after the munckins were asleep we would eat dinner outside and wind down. The weather was so lovely and it felt great to be outside in the evening. One night Sarah arranged a babysitter for the kiddos and we went out to dinner at a restaurant at the resort, which was extra special. This vacation will definitely be hard to top!

Grandpa Mike & Grandma Weezie Visit!

Last weekend Mike and Eloise (aka Grandpa Mike and Grandma Weezie) came to visit -- and it happened to be their Wedding Anniversary! Calista loved seeing them, and even paid Eloise the ultimate compliment by specifically requesting her to tell the goodnight Billy and Fido story before bedtime. On Saturday (the one sunny day all month - hurrah!), they took little missy to the zoo while I attended Urban's graduation. Calista loved climbing on all the animal statues (naturally). Since we've been taking her to the zoo for about a year now (?) it's great to see that she is so much more engaged and attuned to the animals beyond the Children's Zoo now.

That afternoon we all went to Ocean Beach so Calista could splash in the waves. Boy did she love that. It is amazing how immune kids are to cold water. She could have stayed in there for hours. Busy day for little missy! That night, we went to Waterbar to celebrate our wedding anniversaries together, and had a great view of the bay from our table. (Nice work, Scott!)

On Sunday, after her nap, we took her to the Ritz Carlton's pool, which she still absolutely loves. This time she pretended that the pole on the stairs was a tree for her to climb. In fact, she loved going swimming so much that yesterday morning when I got her out of her crib in the morning, she said, "Calista waked up so we can go swimming?" Fortunately we know there is more swimming in her future!

Little Baby Brady update: I can definitely feel Baby Brady kick, and Scott did too last night. It seems to especially enjoy our drive home from work listening to NPR, since I can always feel it move then. Tonight I asked Calista if she wanted to be a big sister like "Fancy Nancy" and Eden, and she said, "Yes." I'll take that as a good sign! :-)

Happy Garbage Day!

Claire taught Calista the cutest thing -- saying "Happy Garbage Day" to the garbage/recycling trucks that come by our place several mornings a week.

Favorite Pasttimes & Potty Training Commences

Calista still loves reading - and we think it's darling that she reads to her dolls and stuffed animals now too. In the video she's reading Fancy Nancy (from Aunt Susan) to Cookie (aka "Cuh") here. She has shortened Elmo to "Mo," Turtle to "Tuh" and Froggie to "Froh" too.

Big news! We started potty training on Saturday, June 6. Daiane was able to get Calista to have a pee on her potty again (it had been a while) so on Saturday we went to get her a fully furnished dollhouse I found through a mother's listserve I am on. You might notice the family is Asian. Scott jokes that it might inspire Calista to take after her Aunt Kiki's penchant for cute Asian boys. Eh hem. I will say no more. We told Calista that everytime she had a pee or poo on the potty she could get a new toy for her dollhouse--picking one out of the set. It worked like a charm! That same day she was exclaiming, "Calista is peeing for a new toy!"

When she has the share care with Eden here, then they can have one M&M for going on the potty, which is also very exciting for the girls. Calista has realized that they all taste like chocolate (at first it was very cute because she would only pick the brown colored M&Ms). Claire has done a great job encouraging her on the potty, and basically for the first week stayed very close to home!

Although she continues to have an accident now and then, she is really getting the hang of it, and we are very proud of her. Occasionally she has even told us that she needs to use the potty before we have to ask her if she wants to go. Making progress... Missy has to be fully potty trained by August 1 before she starts preschool at Pacific Primary in September, so we feel confident that she will be ready by then. Phew!

Calista and Ben are Buddies

Calista's friend Ben came to visit over Memorial Day weekend too. Steve, Karen, Peter, Scott and I ducked out to have dinner at Maverick while Daiane babysat the kids. Heaven! Of course, they had to serve a complimentary gin apperitif which was so sad, since I'm pregnant and really wanted to partake. Fortunately, Karen is pregnant too so we could commiserate togehter. Our kids got along great (which we knew they did from DC!), and on Monday we all went to Nathalie and Tyler's for a BBQ and to meet their twin girls, Charlotte and Emilie. The girls are beautiful babies. We were so happy to finally get to see them in person. Nathalie and Tyler live a couple of blocks from a great playground in Palo Alto, which is where the photo was taken.

Uncle Matt Visits

It was great seeing Matt over Memorial Day weekend. We had lunch at Lori's in Union Square where we shared a chocolate milkshake, and then went swimming at the Ritz Carlton pool. She is definitely a water baby (must be the Acquarious in her!).

Ashland Trip!

Over the weekend of May 16th, Calista and I flew up to Ashland to spend time with family. I am heartbroken that some of the photos I took got deleted from the camera, so I don't have a cute photo of Grandpa Charles, Mary, Calista's cousin Allison, or of Calista playing in the sprinklers at Pegi's house. But fortunately there are some nice memories in these pictures...

(Thanks to my mom for getting her to say, "yipeee!" so she is really smiling and having a good time having her picture taken!)

We flew in on Friday morning and had lunch with my mom and the Andersons at their home. Then Calista and I met up with Amanda and her daughter Bella for an after-school playdate. Next we headed over to my dad and Mary's, where we met their darling new bunny named Snuggles. Calista loved seeing the bunny, and watching it eat carrots! And she got busy right away playing their piano again, John Cage style. She was very gentle with Mary's harp too.

On Saturday, we went over to Grants Pass to see Grandpa Charles. He is doing great, and is definitely an inspiration to me. Dad, Mary and I took a little walk to a nearby playground in GP so little missy could climb to her heart's desire. She is getting extremely good at climbing, sliding, balancing on ledges and swinging (she loves underdogs, and my dad was kind enough to do several with her!). Then we met my mom at her new antique store in Talent, where Calista busied herself with stuffed bunnies and a toy horse. We went over to Pegi's for dinner and to spend the night (that's Pegi in the photo with my mom and Calista). We had a really nice time catching up, and in the morning, Pegi turned on her sprinklers in her back yard and Calista was in heaven! My cousin Nicole came over with her daughter Allison and the girls and I ran around and got soaking wet. The things we do for love. :-)

On Sunday, we went to brunch in Jacksonville with some of my mom's friends, and then headed back to my dad's house. Dad and I took Calista to a great shady park in Phoenix (see cute photos here), and Dad gave puppy Chang a walk. That night little missy did really well going out to dinner with us, and ate lots of my salmon!

Monday morning we met up with Amanda at Garden Way park in Ashland, had lunch with my mom, then went to Lithia Park with dad where Calista loved loved loved playing in the creek. She really wanted to go down the "waterfalls" but of course I didn't let her. Fortunately she let me hold her hand the whole time. She was very brave.

All in all, we had a fabulous trip! Calista did great on the plane, was an excellent sleeper at my dad's house, and was really fun to be with. She keeps very busy, and of course, talked a bunch to everyone. We miss you all, and talk about you lots when we are back in SF too. Love you! Thanks for a great weekend!