Visit to Napa & Sonoma, Part II

After a long delay, we resume where we left off with the adventures of our fearless heroine in the wilds of wine country!

The whole family stayed in Santa Rosa. Fiona loved lounging around in the hotel room.

But the next morning, she was clearly ready to start out on her next adventure. Which was to....

...THE PETRIFIED FOREST! Yes, Fiona got to see what is apparently the largest petrified forest in the world (?), created when nearby St. Helena erupted millions of years ago and buried huge redwood trees in ash. She wasn't initially thrilled with the idea that this might be an educational experience...

...but she soon warmed up when she got a load of the huge petrified tree trunks.

Her favorite part was the hiking, which appears to come naturally to her (picking up the walking stick was her own idea).

On our final morning of vacation, we drove over to Bodega Bay for a morning on the beach. Fiona's response proved once again that we have a beach girl!
Tired but happy, we returned to Berkeley. It was a nice trip!

Visit to Napa & Sonoma, Part I

This past week has been Erick's spring break, so we decided to take a family mini-vacation and explore Napa and Sonoma, both beautiful areas that are fairly close by.
Our first stop was Calistoga, which boasts "The Old Faithful of California" -- a geyser that shoots up every 10 minutes or so. Fiona was fascinated by the geyser, but perhaps more fascinated by other attractions at the geyser site, like....
...fainting goats! (While we didn't actually see these goats faint, apparently they will do so in the presence of predators. Supposedly the predators assume they're already dead and leave them alone, although that doesn't seem entirely logical to me).

...llamas!
...and a bamboo maze that our intrepid explorer led us through.

We stayed in the town of Santa Rosa, where Fiona was relieved to see that she was welcome to hang out on a bench outside the coffee shop (having left her cigarettes, pets, and glass elsewhere).
Santa Rosa was the longtime home of Charles Shultz, of Peanuts fame, and is thus filled with Peanuts tributes. Amazing how appealing Snoopy is, even to a child who has no idea who he is!

Our last stop of the day was an inviting park in downtown Santa Rosa. Fiona has recently discovered dandelions, but hasn't quite figured out that blowing them requires some distance between ones lips and the weed itself....

...so she often finishes dandelion encounters looking like this:

We played in the park's playground, which boasted a nifty camel sculpture.
And then it was back to the hotel, at the close of a busy day. More to follow!

A Visit From Nana & Boom!

Last week, Fiona enjoyed a whirlwind visit from Nana and Boom. This was the first time they'd seen each other since Christmas, so there was much catching-up to be done. In fact, it was such a whirlwind that we were horrible about documenting it in photos! Suffice it to say that Fiona, Nana, and Boom thoroughly enjoyed each other's company from the start. We showed them all of Fiona's favorite Berkeley spots and activities.

Fiona was particularly thrilled that the visit offered her a chance to try on new shoes....

...that Nana and Boom brought her some new socks....
...and that she and Nana turn out to have matching hot pink fleece jackets!

Fiona's Fashion, Part 2

Despite her brief stint as a community activist, Fiona's interest in fashion seems to have continued. In fact, it has expanded to include other members of the household -- like Bear-Bear. One morning, Fiona woke up and made it very clear that it was necessary to dress Bear-Bear in her shoes and fleece top. Bear-Bear, being a stuffed animal, was unable to protest.

Fiona has also been experimenting with different types of headgear.

We are delighted that her East Coast Nana and Boom are visiting us for several days, so postings with many shenanigans will likely follow....

Fiona Cultivates Better Communities

This morning was Fiona's first Day of Peace. Four times a year, the nonprofit I work for, Project Peace East Bay , holds a Saturday community service day; today we had over 100 people packaging food at the Alameda County Food Bank and working on the buildings & grounds of Claremont Middle School. Our family was at the middle school. Fiona did a great job of welcoming the volunteers.
Then she and her buddy Constance got right down to work, filling plastic containers with dirt and mulch in the student garden. Very helpful.
It was hard work, and sometimes a girl needs to take a break! Fiona had some chill-out time with friends (l. to r. Cameron, Constance, and Eli).

Then she decided that relaxing was more fun than working. Ample distractions were provided, one of which was the arrival of Trout, the dog of our friends Kelly & Dani. (You might remember Trout from back in June).
All in all, Fiona seemed to consider serving the community a worthwhile way to spend the morning. She's now taking a marathon nap, after which we need to scrub the dirt out from under her fingers!

Future Fashionista?

If any of you have seen Erick or me lately, you know that fashion is not a high priority in the Gong household. Our unofficial family philosophy is to wear our clothes and accessories until they wear out (although we do have slightly different standards on the size of hole that constitutes "worn out!"). Therefore, it has come as a huge surprise that over the past week, Fiona has become, in the words of a friend, "A shoes and purse girl."

Fiona has two pairs of shoes: sneakers and Mary Janes. The latter we refer to as her "fancy-pants shoes," and she only wears them for special occasions. This week, Fiona has made very clear that she prefers to wear her fancy-pants shoes, and she wants to wear them as soon as she wakes up. Before she even has her pants on for the day. Our past few mornings have involved Fiona strutting around the house, half-dressed, proudly displaying her fine footwear.

Of course, any fashionista could tell you that fancy shoes need a fancy purse to go along with them. Although for the past 15 months, my "purse" has been a diaper bag, Fiona somehow managed to dig an ancient purse of mine out of storage. The purse now accompanies her everywhere.
And we are left to wonder: Where did this come from? When will it end? Are we in big trouble?

NOTE TO GRANDPARENTS: PLEASE don't see this as a call to send Fiona more shoes/purses! She's doing just fine with what she's got!

Gung Hay Fat Choy!

Well, I suppose it's only appropriate, given my glacial posting speed of late, I should be posting about Fiona's Chinese New Year only after New Year has come and gone! In any event, Fiona enjoyed a festive New Year's celebration at Grandmommy & Grandaddy's house last weekend, along with her great-aunt, great-uncle, and second cousins. She got to break out her traditional Chinese dress (gift from Grandmommy) for the event, but was most excited by the envelopes of "lucky money" that were given to her!
So excited, in fact, that the dress didn't stay on for very long! Lots of wiggling....

Once she'd raked in the big bucks, Fiona enjoyed a delicious hot pot meal prepared by Grandmommy. Actually, we were all a little bit surprised by just HOW MUCH she enjoyed it, to the point of demanding food off of our plates. The girl can EAT won-tons!

Grandmommy and Granddaddy were properly thanked.
Dinner over, Fiona moved on to other entertainments, like playing with her Daddy's old stuffed animals....
....and Miko, of course. She was very enthusiastic about feeding Miko with her second cousin Maria!

Happy Year of the Ox!