Recent Video

Two of Tessie's recently acquired talents, both recorded this morning:

Tessie climbs into her high chair, and [drum roll] Tessie WALKS!

The Division

Tessie, in her first full season as a Red Sox fan, has now seen them claim the title of American League Eastern Division Champions. After the Sox won last night to reduce their magic number to one, the Yankees blew a three-run lead in the ninth inning, then lost on a two-out, bases-loaded bunt in the 10th. Much rejoicing followed. Tessie and I danced around the room (o.k., I did the dancing; Tessie just hung on for dear life), while Hannah sat back, temporarily relieved to know that any subsequent emotional breakdowns on my part are at least a full week away.

Another Passport

We decided to get Tessie her very own National Parks Passport, and it already bears the stamp of the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area. We had all visited the SMM NRA previously, but the Visitor Center is not actually within the park, so we made a special trip to get Tessie's passport, and to stamp ours as well.

Our real objective on the day was a trip to the Reagan Library in Simi Valley. We didn't give ourselves much time to take in the whole museum, what with Tessie's nap & feeding schedule, but we were able to see most of the exhibits and even enter Reagan's Air Force One, a retired 707 that forms the centerpiece of a vehicle collection on the grounds. After the museum closed, we then spent some time on the scenic terrace, feeding Tessie (Lasagna! From a jar!) and watching crows soar and dive. Before leaving, we paid our respects at Reagan's gravesite.

Then it was off to Babies 'R' Us to buy a new stroller! Pasadena's sidewalks are a little too rough and bumpy for our current stroller, and I need one that doesn't require so much bending over to push, so we got an urban assault stroller with big pneumatic-tire wheels, a steering wheel for Tessie to play with (it's got a horn -- look out for baby road rage), and speakers we can plug an iPod into. If we had an iPod. Which we don't. Tessie seems to like it, although we haven't gone anywhere with it yet.

Tooth status update

Surprise! Lots of dental progress in the last two weeks.

Family Saturday

Now that the family's all back together, we can do things like visit the Container Store, and then hit Gordon Biersch for a beer (or two).

Tessie's Back!

Tessie now has a stamp in her shiny new passport. Guess where:

Tessie and her escort/chaperone/mother Hannah visited Hannah's hometown of Ottawa, while I had to stay behind and work (all out of vacation time, you see), so this post comprises several days of adventure that actually took place last week. Think of as like the 'old days' when you actually had to wait to get photos back from processing.

To recap her travels so far, most of which predate this blog: Tessie has been to five states, having been born in California, visited American grandparents in Massachusetts, vacationed in Hawaii, and changed planes in Nevada and Illinois. Canada is the second country on her list, and she visited the provinces of Ontario, where her Canadian grandparents live, and Quebec, where she visited the Museum of Civilization [below].

There's a Children's Museum within the Museum of Civilization, and it had an Egyptian exhibit that Tessie enjoyed. There were pyramids to climb on and through, a brass mortar and pestle that made REALLY GOOD NOISE!, and a camel to play with:
There were also some simpler pleasures, like playing with some of Mommy's old toys:

And eating yummy Czech food (ed. note: the meat's almost gone, but there are still veggies. Hmmm.):
And playing in the grass:

And power naps:

Lastly, Tessie got to play at a small children's museum at O'Hare airport. It was a nice opportunity for her to get to move around both before and after being strapped into an airplane seat:

Over the last week, Tessie not only grew (she can see the top of our kitchen table now; she couldn't before she left), but she learned a few new things. We'll try to capture her new talents on video and post them soon.

Frequent Flier Tessie

Pictures from the trip so far:

"Yes, I'm strapped in; please stop nagging me."

"This has got to be the least interesting board book yet."

"Please wake me for meals."

"Ah! This is what those annoying tooth things are for! Maybe it's worth it after all."

Tessie's Travelling...

...without me.

Tessie and Hannah have gone off to Ottawa to see her Canadian grandparents. I am all out of vacation time, so I had to stay behind. Hannah tells me that flying was uneventful, except for a long delay in Chicago, and that Tessie was her usual well-behaved self.

They'll be gone for a week, which will be the longest time we've been apart since she was born.

It's so quiet here.

Pictures will be posted when they get back.

Another Sticky Day

I promise you: No PhotoShop was used in the creation of the above image. That's our thermometer. On our balcony. In the shade. At least this ridiculous heat is abnormal enough to make national news.

We have an air conditioner, but it can barely keep up, so we made another beat-the-heat excursion, this time to the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County. There are dinosaurs in the background of the photo below. The museum is actually quite nice, and is probably another of Los Angeles' underrated attractions, but its most memorable feature today was the cold blast of air which greeted us as we came in from the parking lot. Well worth the price of admission.

Can't Stand the Heat...

Today's adventure in avoiding outrageous temperatures (today's high in Pasadena: 103 F) took us to Santa Ana, where the weather was really not much cooler, but where the air conditioning at the Discovery Cube was on full blast. The Discovery Cube gets its name from the giant solar panel-covered cube that serves as its signpost along Interstate 5. Inside, it contains a wide array of hands-on science exhibits for kids and their parents. Most of them were designed for kids a few years older than Tessie, but she really liked the "Gravity Well."

I can see us going back to the Cube often in the future, but probably not again for a couple of years.

After leaving Santa Ana via a most convoluted series of freeway on- and off-ramps, u-turns and missed exits, we drove ourselves to Seal Beach, where the weather was distinctly cooler. We walked out to the end of the pier to watch anglers haul up some good sized fish, and to observe the massive crowd both on the shore and in the water.

Dinner took us to Hennessey's Tavern, a threshold I have not personally crossed in about 15 years (i.e. since my bachelor days). Not much has changed, right down to the playlist on the jukebox. Tessie was her usual charming self, well behaved and cuddly. So cuddly, in fact, that our waitress told us as we were leaving that although she thought she didn't want to have any kids of her own, Tessie may have gotten her to reconsider!

Earthquake!

Tessie experienced her first seismic event this morning, a 4.7 quake near Lake Elsinore. She slept right through it, like a true native Angelena.

Tooth status update

Ugh

In the interest of fairness with regard to the previous post, it also gets too darn hot here:

At least it never snows.