hermes

Hermes:Levi:
Certainly as mischievous. (The photo is from about six weeks ago.)

the blurry line between mythology and reality

Amy was reading to Micah the chapter on Hera from D'Aulaires Book of Greek Myths, and when she read about how Hera's manservant, Argus, had slain the monstrous Echidna, Micah tried to correct her pronunciation. Mama tried to set her straight, but Micah was very adamant that it was supposed to be pronounced the way he had heard it. Finally, Mama had to pull out her trump card-- the fact that she is the only one of us that has ever been to Greece. Micah, ever the skeptic, asked whether she had actually seen the Echidna, to which she replied that no, she had not, and reminded him that in fact that these are just stories and that Echidna never really existed.

Micah then said, no, it's real-- it just happened a long, long time ago, before there were people. Then he spontaneously explained the timeline of the cultures and mythologies to which he's been exposed. First came "Greece", then "Passover" (i.e. biblical stories), then "Norse", then dinosaurs, and only then came people. Wow-- except for the dinosaurs, he pretty much nailed the chronology.


Now, Amy is showing him pictures of her trip to Greece and how she actually saw Pan's cave. Of course he asked whether she actually saw Pan, so we had to explain how the stories were made up by people who live a long, long time ago about things that happened a long, long time ago, and how the creatures were pretend and not real, but they told the stories about real places.

Trouble-maker

Levi exhausts me.

San Luis Obispo stay-cation

We headed up to SLO where the girls from my posse in the 'Mo descended on Stace's house with kids in tow...you had to watch where you stepped all weekend. The best part was kiddie pool and sangrias!

The ever-charming Noam and his mama, Becca, made the drive down from Oakland:


Here baby Fiori (who hails from Santa Cruz) stays above the fray of Levi's "affection" for Cody. He has a LOT of love to share, but an awkward (and often painful) way of showing it:


Here Cody is safe back in mama Stacey's lap:

On the way back south we stopped for lunch at Avila Beach at the old Port San Luis:

Quick family shot with unwilling participants (how many more of these do we have in our future?)
Micah watching the harbor seals:

Levi spots a "Bu! Bu!" (bird)

perspective

Levi is growing up. At his one year check up last month he was 99th percentile for height and 50th for weight (or 23 lbs but he has since dropped further, upon losing another precious pound). This picture perhaps says it all though:



Compare this to one year ago.

Sayulita, Mexico

Our vacation...er, I mean trip to Sayulita, Mexico last month was super fun--but exhausting. Eight days with your own children sans nanny or work reprieve is tiring. Especially coupled with late night margaritas and long days in the pool under the Mexican sun. Somehow I don't think I am garnering too much sympathy, however.

This was our vacation rental we shared with Nikko, his sister and parents. The Patri-Ezra's visited from Berkeley for a bit too! The fact that our vacation coincided with the start of the World Cup only made it sweeter. For the first times in our lives, Zack and I really felt like we earned/ needed this vacation. It has been a busy year...



It was a clothing optional type of affair
Levi thought the sand in Sayulita tasted a bit more volcanic than his usual Ventura-variety, but tasty nonetheless:

Ice cold limonata on a semi-private "secret" beach:
Chillax-ing in our salt water pool:

Yea, yea...we've been busy

So we have been a little busy. Yes, even too busy to blog and I am sure we have lost some of the faithful followers out there. I am not feeling particularly poetic, so I'll just get to what you're all waiting for: the pics. I may as well start with today and slowly work my way backwards.

We have a very active toddler on our hands. He may only be barely over 1 year old...but he walks around town with all the pluck of a 2 year old--though with a incoherent blathering gibberish that gives him the air of someone all together from another country. He is clearly talking...just not in a way any of us can understand. "Da! Da! Da!" is dog, and "Bu Bu Bu" is bird but beyond that we have no idea. He points emphatically, however, which gets him successfully where he wants to go.

These are from today. Hours ago. So this is as current a glimpse as you can ask for.