Happy Thanksgiving!

Step 1. Brine the turkey.

Fashion Show

Over the last several months, Nina has gotten more and more particular about which clothes she will wear. The only way to get her to wear any clothes at all is to let her pick them out. And her fashion sense is .... well .... unique. Here is a sampling of Nina's memorable selections.

Cute, matching, very nice ... except that she wants to wear it in November, outside, with no jacket. She loves this outfit! Whenever it was clean, it was the first thing she would pick from the drawer. We finally had to hide it from her.

The shoes! The purse! The sunglasses! Very glamorous.

But with different accessories, she creates an entirely different look.

Now we are getting to the good stuff. Flowers plus Halloween stripes (which she refused to even look at during the entire month of October) plus leopard print shoes.

Halloween pirate shirt (with "sleebs rolled up") and purple tutu. Just an ordinary school day. (I am pretty sure she has those leopard slippers on too.)

Classic. But it must be an old one because now she hates that jacket with the fire of a million suns.

Yep, some mornings are more of a challenge.

Baka

But first a funny story to tell.... This week, for the first time, Nina corrected me. We were reading a story about a little chick. She asked, "What's dat ov'r dere?" pointing to what was in the little chicks mouth. I said, "It's an acorn." "Dat's not a acorn," Nina replied. Nina know acorns quite well - the play yard at school is covered with them. And this thing in the picture was most certainly not an acorn. She was right..... it was a seed. Crazy.

On our way to the Palo Alto children's library (first children's library in the country - just so ya know). Nina is wearing one of Baka's fabulous creations. She'd wear that sweater for days on end if we let her.

Of course, cooking with Baka was a big hit for Nina as well as for her parents.

On the way to the airport! Bye-bye Bako!

... but the place at the end of the table is still Baka's.

San Francisco Days

Last month when Baka was visiting, we headed up to San Francisco's Golden Gate Park for some real adventures. It was a beautiful fall day, cool air but fabulously warm sunshine.

Nina was gung-ho!!

First we hit the Japanese Tea Garden.

Scaling the half moon bridge

Nina has been super in to tea parties lately, so we took her for a real one.

But by far, the biggest hit of the day was the large statue of Buddha. Nina was absolutely fascinated by him. We had to come back several times so she could just stare at him.

Here she is trying to imitate his hand positions.

We had lunch at the de Young museum cafe which overlooks the sculpture garden.

Resting in the giant clothes pin.

Oh noes!

Zebra butt!!

Pumpkin Patch

Boy, blink your eyes and the next thing you know it is mid-November! I suppose it is time to post these pumpkin patch pictures. Better late than never.... or as Nina would say "Halloween's over?"

The Webb Ranch Pumpkin Patch

Carefully searching for the most sincere pumpkin.

Found it!

Now, let's cover it with rocks!

A gripping ride.

The loot.