Four hours at the zoo

Jack was not ready to leave the zoo yesterday after four hours! Emma and Jenny met us at 10:30 and we set out for Grizzlie Gulch, which is full of wildflowers, a pond, a waterfall, and of course, the two young bears. Jack loved sitting on the bear statue and pretended that the bear was walking to Chenery Street. We saw warthogs, peacocks, swans, a rhinoceros, a hippopatemus, and of course the goats in the farm. We rode the carousel and then started towards the exit. But Jack wanted to go to the giraffe house, so we said good-bye to our friends and sat eating a snack in the empty giraffe barn. Jack fell asleep on the way home and slept for two hours on Mommie's bed.

Today, Jack got a surprise from Nana--a Playmobil man with a compressor and a jackhammer. He has a red hard hat and tiny ear muffs. At the end of the day, Jack could not quite believe he got to keep "Turkey" and his equipment. All the other working people took a turn at the jackhammer and Chew taught Turkey how to drive the logging truck.

Adventures of Jessie

Jack's friend Jessie was awakened by a loud noise this week. She thought a wrecking ball had struck her house. But it was only Boy dropping an I-beam! Jack tells Jessie stories with great amusement and gusto. Jessie, of course, had a birthday last month so the logging trailer and tractor actually belong to Jessie. She lets Jack play with them. Chew, who came with that set, is fond of driving the tractor. When Jack and I had our hair cut this week, Jessie did not need a haircut.

The working people have many jobs every day. Chew has been climbing a tall ladder, sometimes with Jessie or Boy holding the ladder, but sometimes with no help. Buddy Boss is a fireman who loves to squirt Nana from the bucket on the red ladder truck. All of the working people love the barn. In fact, they have decided to sleep in the barn at night. The barn itself has been under construction. It is being wrecked and a new barn built for the animals. Jack enjoys playing with the little people, the blocks, and all of the machines so much that it is hard to persuade him to leave the house or to eat a meal.

I am trying to encourage Jack to put things away when we finish playing with them, and to put them away consistently in the same place so he can find them again. It is great to have the new bins!

This week we played with Emma at the library and the park. Wednesday after our hair cuts, we visited two construction sites on Laidley Street and Surrey Street. Dump trucks were delivering gravel on Surrey Street. Thursday we went to the new playground in Golden Gate Park. Be sure to take sand toys to that playground and shoes that can get wet. Jack and Emma choose to ride in the sled on the carousel. Neither or them like going up and down on the carousel animals.

Photos from 7/14 in Capay Valley

Hi!

Jack and I had a great time out at Jennifer, Tim and Kelly's farm last weekend. There are a lot of photo's on ofoto.com plus there was a professional photographer there who sent around these shots.

http://carolineschiff.com/capay

There are some great ones of Jack!