Stan-Amel Planet (Stanley and Amelia)

Happy Labor Day

Partying and playing catch at Dolores Park. Stanley's dancing involves lots of jumping. Enjoy

Downtown

Our first adventure by myself downtown with my two kids was last week. So much fun especially when it involves trains!

Papa Doug's birthday

We celebrated Papa Doug's birthday when they were in town. We had lots of fun celebrating for a full week!After it was over, Stanley thought we should still have cake and candles every day.

Lele and Papa Tom came out the same weekend to celebrate. It was fantastic to have all of the grandparents together at once.

They seem to be getting along really well so far. Stanley tells us what he thinks she is saying all the time. For instance, she was pooping the other evening and had stopped for a bit. I asked Stanley if he thought I should change her diaper now and he said, "not yet." Amelia proceeded to push another couple poop/farts out for a few minutes. Good call, buddy.

Car Ramp

Papa Doug built an improved version of Stanley's car ramp while he was here. It is much sturdier and the cars really zip down it. Stanley loves it and will play for hours at a time lining his cars up along the top of the stairs and then sending them down the ramp one by one. He really likes when a few of them pile up at the bottom and then the rest just crash into one big pile.

A few days ago we decided to move things a little further and build a jump at the bottom of the ramp so the cars could jump over some other cars lined up Evil-Kinevel-Style, before landing gracefully on another ramp down. The results were more impressive than I had assumed they would be. Most of the cars were able to clear 4-5 car widths and actually land on the down slope. Pretty fun. We have about 10 more videos like the one below. Stanley loved making movies of the cars jumping the gap and then watching them on my phone.

The Zoo

Stanley, Amelia, Lolo, and Papa Doug, and I all went to the zoo a week ago. Stanley took us on a great tour of the zoo. Amelia slept through most of it, except to eat when the rest of us ate our lunch.

When we were eating our lunch, we saw a really weird scene. A mother gorilla did not want a male to get her child, so she took the child by the hand and dragged the baby bouncing over the rocks and was throwing the little baby around. Finally the male got the baby and quickly put the baby on his back and walked away. The baby seemed quite happy on his dad's back especially after the mother dragged the baby all over the place. Very strange scene and a bit difficult to explain to a 2.5 year old child.

Lonely at home

This has unfortunately been a weekend of saying good byes. On Saturday Papa Doug left for Rochester, on Sunday Lolo left, and today Flounder left to move to Salt Lake City. We are all sad, but Stanley is particularly sad and confused how this all happened to quickly. Papa Doug and Lolo have been around since the day Amelia was born and we all have loved it. Lolo spent a LOT of time playing baseball with Stanley. He has become quite a good baseball player and can now hit the ball when Lolo throws it to him and he can even catch a basketball sometimes.

Them at home has made my maternity leave wonderful and relaxing. I have gotten to spent a lot of time with Amelia while they did all of the laundry, played with Stanley tons and cooked, cleaned, and held Amelia and put her to sleep. Things are not going to be run as smoothly anymore.