In early October, Elsa and I joined Arne in San Diego for a conference he was attending. We had a wonderful time. As the plane was taxiing down the runway after landing, the flight attendant welcomed everyone to San Diego. Elsa was thrilled and announce to everyone that we were in "Sandy Lego".
Legoland was too expensive for a short Saturday afternoon visit so instead we went to the San Diego Botanical Gardens. It turned out to be a great place for kids. Elsa got to play with blocks, float toy boats down a stream, explore a tree house, and see a bunny.
Saturday night was warm and beautiful out and we went to Seaport village. The gardenias smelled wonderful. Elsa rode the Merry-go-round and we bought her a music box (Puff the Magic Dragon). The highlight was a short horse drawn carriage ride.
On Sunday, we went to the San Diego Zoo. This was a great adventure with flamingos (fling-a-ming-gos), elephants (la-los) and even a polar bear (Elsa doesn't have a cute name for bears).
On Monday, Arne went to the National Association of Government Defined Contribution Administrators conference and Karna and Elsa went to the San Diego Children's Museum. Elsa got to climb old tires and play with blocks.
Every day there was time to go swimming in the hotel pool and now several weeks later Elsa calls all tall buildings hotels. She really liked the hotel room.
The rest of the month has been filled with other fun activities. Arne went to Michigan to help his brother build a tree house for his nieces. It turns out Arne is an expert at siding.
While Arne was in Michigan, Elsa and I went to a pumpkin patch. She loves her pumpkins.
She also loves petting the bunnies and is very good at being gentle.
Elsa is growing to love her preschool (Downtown Children's Center or DCC) and this month they started doing Yoga. It is quite fun to have her call out Namaste with her hands together in the carseat. I am not as fond of the yoga on the stairs.
Elsa also went on her first big field trip with DCC to Happy Hollow. For days she talked about riding the big yellow school bus. She was so happy during the outing, running and playing and going on rides!
We went to a Stanford volleyball game and cheered on the home team. Elsa is good at focusing on the game. She's wearing headphones because the band is too loud.
Then Arne and I went to the Big Game - sadly Cal lost, but the rebuilt stadium is nice and the team that won 30 years ago in the Play were honored at half-time. Elsa did not join us at the game, but she does have the right outfit for it - her Cal cheerleader dress.
Now we are getting ready for Halloween, with lots of costumes and events.
