Dan, Carrie, Viv, Lil, Visit: Part 1 of 2

We had a great visit with Dan, Carrie, Vivian, and Lillian when they came up to Livermore June 28th - July 6th. No, the stated post date is not in error. I am a nearly month behind in my blogging. Less than one week after departure of the SoCal crew, Frank and I traveled to Oklahoma July 12th - July 20 to visit Robin, Jeremy, Autumn, and Isaiah. Frank and I were barely recovered from the visit of the 2¼-year-old and under-2-month-old from SoCal when we immersed ourselves in the ensuing pandemonium of the 3¾-year-old and 1-year-old crew in OKC. I thought I would finish composing and publish my backlogged posts during our time away. No way. Four grandchildren under four within the same month is exhausting. There is a reason  couples have their kids while they are young. Combining my energy level with the small screen size of our travel tablet, I chose to wait until we were home to relax and catch up my blog in a more conducive setting. So here is the SoCal crew visit immortalized in WanderOrPonder – better late than never. More about our OKC trip in a later post.

Tuesday, June 28th – arrival and music
Carrie arrived with the two girls at 12:10 pm. Yes she was crazy brave enough to travel unassisted on an airplane with an infant and toddler. Dan was staying behind to finish his work week and then fly up Friday night. We started the visit at home by getting acquainted. Although we had been down in SoCal for Lillian's birth, we'd had the opportunity to visit only briefly in the hospital NICU the evening before we left to return home. At seven weeks old at the time of their visit, now was our first chance to hold her.

Lillian, then seven weeks old was curious about Grandpa.

Frank did have a bit of a knack for soothing her when she fussed. Several times during the visit he would walk with her outside and she would calm and quiet.

Grandpa then introduced Vivian to Wima. Wima is our traditional fraidy-cat but she took surprisingly well to Vivian, letting herself be stroked. She even remained in place when she was basking in the sun on the window seat in our bedroom and Vivian approached her, poking her nose practically up touching Wima's and calling her name.

Even after traveling with the two little ones, Carrie is not one to be still and let the grass grow under her feet. Never to let an opportunity pass her by, that evening we all went to a satellite branch of our local Livermore library for an outdoor music concert for children, singing and guitar playing performed by rural California native musician Nancy Cassidy.

You may have heard the song Chicken Lips and Lizard Hips. Bruce Springsteen recorded the Cassidy original on a Pediatric Aids CD. Nancy Cassidy performed it that evening at the free event. Here are the lyrics to the chorus:

Mama's Soup Surprise

Oh, chicken lips and lizard hips

And alligator eyes

Monkey legs and buzzard eggs

And salamander thighs

Rabbit ears and camel rears

And tasty toenail pies

Stir 'em all together

And it's mama's soup surprise.

The weather was beautiful and breezy, not too hot in the early evening and we sat on colored tarps spread out on the ground behind the library.

Most of the songs Nancy Cassidy performed that night were very familiar kids songs, generally audience requests like Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star. There were some old favorites too such as You Gotta Sing (...when your spirit says sing), Brush Your Teeth (... ch-ch-ch-ch, ch-ch-ch, ch-ch) Apples and Banana (... eat eat eat eepples and beeneenees). She also sang the Down by the Bay song made famous by Raffi and let the child audience supply the rhymes for the end of each verse.

Down by the Bay

Down by the bay

Where the watermelons grow

Back to my home

I dare not go

For if I do

My mother will say

"Did you ever you ever see a goose

kissing a moose?"

Down by the bay

At the concert's end, we filed into the library's children's area and did some coloring. That night, while I was helping with her bath, Vivian sang me the song Down by the Bay. She just turned two in April and yet she had memorized and could sing those long lyrics with the correct timing. The pronunciation of her version of "watermelon" to fit the complete word into the metric required was amusingly creative, but consistent. I could not recall her permutation but it was quite logical, actually. I was impressed by how accurately she knew and could sing those long lyrics with no prompts. It had been a full half-day with a very pleasant evening outing, closing with that even more amazing night-time serenade by Vivian.

Wednesday, June 29th – memories, stories, and the fair
The next morning Vivian did some tower building before we took started the day's scheduled activities. The stool she is sitting on while she intently builds was painted by her dad, our Dan, at a child's wood finishing class we had signed him and his sister up for as a child. He was nine years old at the time.

Dan had shown the same intensity as Vivian when he was painting his stool and insisted that it have fifty stars. He patiently stamped them on and counted them – forty on the top and, when he ran out of room in the blue area, five on each side.

Here are his and his sister's creations side by side. Go ahead and count. There are forty stars on top of Dan's. Robin painted thirteen for the thirteen original colonies.

On the underside are their initials and the year 1992. Robin printed but Dan was quite proud that he knew how to write script and how to abbreviate the year "92" in quotes to the right of his signature. I think when he inherits his stool he may need to refresh that "92". It has faded a bit.

Enough of this strolling down memory lane and back to the day's activities. The main branch of our local Livermore Library was hosting a mid-morning music and movement story time for toddlers. We packed up the crew and drove the few blocks to check it out. The kids danced and pranced around with instruments and scarfs and various calisthenic like movements. This is the only non-blurry picture I was able to muster. My best shot was a rear view of Vivian in her bright lime green top flaunting her sheer red scarf. She loved it.

Her sister Lillian slept contently through most of it. She had to. How else was she going to be able keep her mama up all night?

After an afternoon nap for Vivian, Frank dropped Carrie, the girls, and me off at the Alameda County Fair. A pair of strolling minstrels not far from the fair entrance paused to give a special performance just for Vivian, but she clung to her mom, not at all sure about that really, really, tall guy, making noise. Frank went on to pick up Alex. The plan was that we girls would meet up with the two guys once they arrived.

We headed to the arts and crafting pavilion first, knowing that once Alex arrived it would be all about the animals (mostly rabbits).  I liked the uniqueness of this bench made from the tailgate of a truck.

I took some photos of a few of my favorite quilts. The method of display at this years fair, hanging them as banners from the high ceiling, made it difficult to see up close and to take good pictures, but I did the best I could. I liked the multitude of "You Are" sayings on this one. You Are:  the sugar to my tea...   the icing to my cupcake... the bubbles to my bath... the water to my ocean... the ketchup to my fries... the hot fudge to my Sundae... the fortune to my cookie... the marshmallows to my cocoa... the remote to my TV...

The bright colors of the cabana beach house near the water's edge caught my eye and I thought the simple diagonal quilting grid was effective.

The baby-soft-but-not-pastel colors of this baby quilt are appealing and I liked the pebble quilting. The clever stitching pattern of flowers and balloons in the trunks of the lowest row of elephants added a touch of whimsy.

Vivian was proud of the coloring she did while her Grandma was looking at quilts. See? She likes the same colors as her grandma. Notice the similarity in hues between her creation and my favorites.

Frank and Alex upon arrival at the fair caught up with us in the arts and crafts building. Uncle Alex seemed to enjoy pushing his youngest niece around in her stroller.

We took one last whirl around the arts and craft building, pausing for a group photo, and then we were off to the small animal building. Vivian was still expressing her artistic talents coloring and so is not in the photo.

The rabbit cages are still Alex's favorite area. This year, fair management had relocated the small animals to a different building, one that was air conditioned. It made for a much more pleasant time while Alex got his fill, or at least got a huge dose, of the bunnies. His desire to be with them is insatiable.

Divide and conquer to keep everyone happy. As a group we pretty much stayed together and viewed attractions in the same sequence but dallied longer in areas where any one member of our party was engaged. Vivian, too, liked the bunnies and chickens, but was ready to move on to other areas sooner than was Alex.

In a farmyard play area, while Vivian climbed on hay bales and did puzzles, ALex got to meet his newest niece up closer. He held her for the first time. Both Alex and Lillian were a bit more tentative about the whole holding experience but they were both willing to try for a bit – and for a photo op.

Then it was on to the petting zoo. Vivian had moved on to there earlier – been there, done that so to speak –  so I have pictures only of Alex. Pygmy goats are the norm at a petting zoo.

A llama is a bit more unusual, especially a friendly, tame on, not inclined to spit.

But the real rare presence at this petting zoo was a deer.

It can right up to Alex and ate out of his hand.

It waited patently as he doled out food to it, bit by bit.

We meandered over to the large livestock pens and then had dinner. The plan was for Frank to take Alex home after we'd eaten, and then return for us girls. While he went off with Alex we'd planned to take Vivian to the kiddie rides now that the heat of the day was dwindling and they were up and running. A fly in the ointment compounded the dinner delay when there was difficulty locating the car. Apparently cars had been directed in through a BLUE gate but then rerouted and parked in a RED lot. With the help of a fair volunteer Frank and Alex were given a free ride via a parking lot "rescue" vehicle to the temporarily misplaced car. During their scouting adventures, or maybe I should call it a "car scavenger hunt", Carrie and I were in the kiddies' amusement area giving Vivian her promised rides on the carousel, boats, trains. She was thrilled and was having a blast!

All was well until the effect of that one hour delay from dinner set in. The nearby amphitheater show started up. I had been holding Lillian while Carrie took Vivian on some rides. The huge amplifiers blared out music that startled Lillian awake and set her to wailing inconsolably. The music and sound effects from the rides added to the terror – not merriment as intended. To compound the situation it was dusk, so lights and motion of adjacent rides were added to the equation, making it overly stimulating. What had been a joyful, curious excursion, was now a bombardment against all of her senses. It was also starting to get quite chilly. The 2016 theme, The Spirit of Summer was no longer in effect. Definitely a change in plans was required.

We called Frank on his cell phone (with its timely dwindling battery) to update him on the situation and made our way to the fair drop off point out front. Frank with Alex, by now in the thankfully found car, drove around to us instead of taking Alex home. It was the conundrum story of the fox, the chicken, and the bag of grain crossing the river. Frank got out of the car and we left him at the fairgrounds. I got in and drove Carrie, the girls, and Alex back to Livermore. I dropped an overly-stressed Carrie back at the house with Vivian and Lillian, leaving her to deal alone with two wailing kiddos up about an hour past their 8:00 pm bedtime. By 9:07 pm I was making a beeline back to the fairground with Alex to pick up Frank and then return Alex to his home. Staff usually like him in well before 9:00 pm but we called and explained the situation and they were understanding. Alex was perfectly OK with the extra car ride and Frank did not seem to mind the time alone to chill at the fairgrounds waiting for me to return for him.

When Frank and I got home after dropping off Alex, Carrie had the situation well in hand. Both girls were asleep and Carrie was nursing a soothing bowl of chocolate pudding. Whew! We agreed the next day needed to be less ambitious. The majority of the day had been great. Meltdowns are a normal part of babies, toddlers, and frazzled moms and we would not allow them to take away from the other memories. Just possibly in the future – in the far future – this tale of woe might become comical in retrospect, kind of like a comedy of errors.

Thursday, June 30th – recuperate and toy store
Folks were a bit slow in getting up. Lillian had had a very wakeful night and made sure her mom kept her company in that endeavor. Vivian sought out Wima first thing and enjoyed petting her in Grandpa's lap.

She also intently worked on doing a train puzzle. It made a train sound when the final pice was put in place.

Vivian also liked a Little Tikes barn from my kids younger days. From a wooden block set, she built a very involved linear roadway heading toward it.

To get out of the house at least once during the day, I'd wanted to do a toy shopping expedition at Cooleykatz Toys a local shop in downtown Livermore.

We went in the cool of the evening. Vivian picked out a vehicle set with road signs. Once home, when we got them all out of the packing box she lined up those nine signs precisely in a row. She sure is a lot organized  like her mama.

I absolutely love the way Carrie summed up the the girls' trip to the toy store in her Instagram feed.

Toy shopping with Grandma. One was super excited, one was less than thrilled.
One pooped her pants, one threw up a gallon of milk.
Not bad for a short, nearby outing.

Aah... the memories...