Saturday, December 12, 2009

Monday, November 2, 2009

Halloween: Part 2











Halloween: Part 1
















Halloween has traditionally been one of the big four holidays in San Francisco, ranking right up there with New Year's Eve. For several decades it was an adult event, best known for the massive street party on Castro St.

But things are changing in the City. As Halloween on Castro evolved into a primarily hetero event, gang bangers from out of town crashed the party, bring with them their mindless violence. Things got so out of hand that two years ago the City finally shut the event down. The City elders now promote "Halloween at home" which is a polite way of saying "the party is over."

However, change isn't all bad. Families with toddlers, who a decade ago would have moved out to the suburbs, are now staying put. The massive adult oriented events are giving way to smaller block parties for kids. For several years now, a neighborhood on the other side of the hill has closed a street for a big trick-or-treat event with hundreds of kids roaming from house to house.

When we moved into our neighborhood 11 years ago, there was not a single toddler or elementary school aged kid. Now there are probably 15 toddlers within a two block radius, enough for our own neighborhood trick-or-treating. Although the turnout was sparse (parents with older kids made the trek over the hill to the larger event) nearly 20 households on our street participated by having candy and perhaps even some scary stuff on tap for the kids.

For Li Na, this was all one great big series of new adventures. From the haunted pumpkin patch in Half Moon Bay, to carving the pumpkins, to the costume party at school, to trick-or-treating on Saturday night, Li Na was totally down with this Halloween thing.

She even insisted upon dressing up as a bumble bee. Finding a bumble bee costume was a bit more challenging than we anticipated and her costume did not arrive until Friday afternoon. Thus, to her great disappointment, she had to dress up as daddy's little sous chef for school on Friday. However, come trick-or-treating on Saturday night, and she was all decked out in full bumble bee splendor.










Sunday, November 1, 2009

Birthday Party For A Monkey Girl
















Although inspired by her fondness for Julius the Monkey (think Small Paul clothes) Li Na's birthday party had a more general monkey theme. Many thanks to Aunt Julyn, Uncles Sef and Doug and all of our other friends who pitched in to make the monkey girl so happy on the occasion of her third birthday.

Thursday, October 8, 2009

FEELING THE LOVE







While she is not quite ready to make the jump from Itsy Bitsy Spider to Tiƫsto, Li Na was feeling the love Saturday at the SF LovEvolution.

Monday, August 24, 2009

Wednesday, June 24, 2009

Obama's House

EXCORCIST STAIRS



Cue the Tubular Bells and break out the holy water. No demonic posessions and no head spinning, just a happy little girl. Not quite so scary in broad daylight with a smililing Li Na, are they?

More From Baltimore







Li Na took to the Old Bay seasoning on the blue crabs and the corned beef from Attmans like a native. The girl has a little Bawlmer in her!

A Visit With The Family In Baltimore





Thursday, May 14, 2009

Tuesday, April 14, 2009

Easter






Li Na learned a few valuable lessons this Easter. First, she learned that mixing red, green and blue dye does not result in some exotic rainbow of colors. Second she learned that soaking her hands in the red dye results in pink fingers. Third, she learned that the Easter bunny, despite being six feet tall, is not Harvey the giant pooka come to life. Finally, she learned that chocolate Easter eggs are better than broccoli. All in all, it was a very enlightening weekend.

Monday, April 6, 2009