The Brookston Family Blog
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Sunday afternoon, with nice spring-like weather again, we took the kids to Blackie’s Pasture in Tiburon for a walk along the water’s edge. We hadn’t been there since last summer. The first place we stopped was the park that’s about a ten minute walk from the parking lot. There’s really two kid’s play areas next to one another. Porter wanted to go to the back one.

There were some other kids there that Porter tried to play with, but they weren’t interested in including him. They weren’t mean or malicious about it. It seemed like a group of kids who had known one another for a long time and didn’t want anybody new in their midst. He dealt with it pretty well and I’m glad he didn’t give up, as you’ll see in a later post.

He was dancing around in the sand.

He and Alice climbed to the top of the fort.

Sarah and Porter in the fort.

Alice at the top of the slide.

Trying to decide whether to go down the slide.

At first Porter tried gentle persuasion.

Then pushed her aside.

And went down the slide himself.

So Sarah went down the slide with Alice.

Which Alice seemed to enjoy.

Spreading their wings to fly.

I got up with Alice this morning and she was having something of a bad hair day, not that she seemed to mind.

Alice in the morning.

Not sure about that hair.

A profile view.

When I got home from the beer festival, I discovered the kids had spent the day at the park and were very much in need of a bath and a hair washing.

Porter and Alice get a much-needed bath.

Sarah washes both of their hair at one time.

After our romantic dinner, we resumed our date at IKEA and the kids continued to have as much fun as we did.

Alice needed to use the lounge after dinner and afterwards relaxed in the restroom.

We had a hard time coaxing her from the comfy chair in the baby’s lounge.

Then it was back to the toys for more playtime as Alice hides in the tent.

While Porter jumps on the portable trampoline.

Finally, at the end our night Porter got the ice cream he’d been hankering for since we’d arrived.

But he was kind enough to share some with his Mommy.

No date night is complete with a romantic, candlelit meal and ours was no exception although the atmosphere was decidedly more fluorescent. We’d been talking earlier about reports of elderly retired people on fixed incomes, especially in parts of Europe, that were eating their meals at IKEA because of how inexpensive their cafeteria food is. Naturally, when we walked past the cafeteria we decided to sample the cuisine for ourselves. It was pretty inexpensive and not altogether bad. As cafeteria food goes, it was decent enough. And highly romantic, of course.

Alice has the chicken nuggets with french fries for a mere 99 cents.

Porter did likewise and happily dipped his nuggets in ketchup.

As usual, Alice didn’t eat her own French fries but instead fed them to me.

Which is fine by mean, as I don’t think I’ve ever turned down more french fries.

For a real taste treat, Porter decided to combine dessert with his chicken and ketchup. Yum.

Porter decided this wasn’t the kind of ice cream he was in the mood for so he gave it to me.

And I gave it to Alice.

Who was a little unclear on how to eat an ice cream bar.

According to FlyLady, Friday Night is Date Night! So naturally, we went to the most romantic spot we could think of: IKEA. We had to look for some things to help with organizing the house, and in particular all of the kids’ toys. But we turned a task from drudgery to a bit of cheap fun for us and the kids. As we walked through the labyrinth of the store, Porter was chomping at the bit to get to the toys. After what must have seemed to him like several millenia we finally arrived at the slide, which marks the entrance to the kids section at IKEA.

Alice, having lost her fearof slides, climbed the ladder to the slide effortlessly.

Then waved and began her descent.

Hurried along by her big brother.

Porter was very happy to have reached the slide, and rode it many times.

Friday, with some warmer weather, Alice spent a great deal of time waiting and watching by the window. I’m not sure what or who she was looking for, but perhaps it’s the journey, the searching that’s important.

Reaching out to the world outside.

Watching TV, but keeping near the window.

Porter, of course, took his favorite train, Gordon, with him to school. But Alice didn’t seem to notice the difference yet, when I gave her Edward as a substitute while she watched “The Best of Gordon” DVD (her choice) and played with Edward and a tunnel. She’s getting to be quite a train fan.

Alice and Edward.

Setting up the tunnel.

Edward’s coal car went through the tunnel first, followed by Edward a few minutes later.

Alice was lying in Sarah’s arms this morning in such a way as to suggest she might now appreciate the bean bag chair. So we pulled it out and sat her in it. She seemed very comfortable in it and sat quite still (which is unusual in the extreme) for a long period of time. When Porter saw her sitting in it, he of course wanted it to be his turn, but we told him he had to wait.

Alice in the bean bag chair, as Porter impatiently waits for his turn.

A few months ago I got Porter this pirate-themed bathtub toy at Costco. One of its features was a cannon that squirts water from the bathtub by means of a plastic tube attached to a squeeze rock that you hold under water to fill with “ammunition.” Porter never seemed to quite grasp how it worked. He could make it squirt but not consistently. It was hit or miss, so to speak. But over the last week, he’s figured out how to squirt water with it alarming consistently. Now he’s no longer using the cannon. Instead he’s aiming the plastic tube … at me! And more often then not, he’s hitting me with a burst of water. He can make it shoot clear across the bathroom and out into the hallway, which is about five or six feet. He’s having a great time. I’m just getting wet. So it was with some amusement that last night while playing around with the squirter I watched as he accidently and unexpectedly tagged himself in the face.

Alice in the tub, oblivious to the fact that Porter just squirted himself in the face.

Unlike Waiting for Godot, Porter actually shows up when you wait for him each day around noon. Alice and I, along with Grandma and Grandpa, only had to wait a few minutes in the sunshine for him to arrive. And Porter seemed very happy to be home and even happier to see Grandpa and Grandma.

Alice awaits her brother’s imminent arrival.

Dashing off the bus.

“Look, there he is!” Alice and her shadow point out Porter’s arrival.

“Here I come!”

A hug for Grandma.

Alice is showing more of her natural talents today. I guess if we ever get strapped for cash we can sell her to the circus as a sword-swallower. The giant five-foot Apollo Saturn V rocket looks to be no problem for Alice’s apparently bottomless stomach as she can swallow almost the entire spaceship. Only the very top of the Boost Protective Cover and Escape Tower can be seen sticking out of her mouth. I have no idea how she fits it all into her iron stomach. If you want to learn more about sword-swallowing, check out this Wikipedia article or read Cecil Adam’s Straight Dope column about it.

Alice, the Spaceship Swallower!

Once we got back in the obstacle course room, Alice kept wanting to join in the fun. She climbed (with Theresa’s help) up on top of the giant pillow and then into the lycra swing that Porter was in.

Alice climbs in with Porter.

Where the two of them shared a bounce and a swing.

The kids were surprisingly well-behaved yesterday at Barclays, despite having to wait at the table for an hour or more. So when we finally were done and could leave, I decided I’d take them for ice cream since Porter had been asking for some since I’d picked him up from school. Dreyer’s Ice Cream has their headquarters virtually across the street from Barclays and they have a store there, too. I crossed my fingers that they’d have pumpkin but they didn’t. They did have orange sherbet, and Porter approved when he tried a spoonful. He happily devoured his cone of orange sherbet all the while convinced it was pumpkin. I was beginning to think his taste buds were askew. But when he asked me to try my ice cream, he correctly and unhesitatingly identified it as peanut butter flavor. So he can certainly taste different flavors. Maybe he thinks the word pumpkin means orange colored ice cream? Nah, he knows what a pumpkin is from Halloween. So this thing with the pumpkin remains a bit of a mystery.

Alice surveying the various flavors and trying to decide what she wants.

Alice enjoying his cone of orange sherbet.

Last night, the kids and I went to Barclays, a great pub in Berkeley. A friend of mine, Shaun O’Sullivan, who’s the brewer at 21st Amendment, was tapping a firkin of a new beer, his Double Trouble Imperial IPA. You can read about the beer aspects of it on my beer blog. Shaun was late and the kids were starting to get a little antsy, so I ordered a plate of french fries for them both to feed them and more importantly to give them something to do while we waited. Porter had his own routine, of course.

First, a generous helping of ketchup.

Then dip the fry into the ketchup and swirl it around for maximum coverage.

Eat. Repeat.

Alice looking amazed when Porter used a fork. She didn’t actually eat very many preferring instead to feed me.

Porter using a fork to eat some of his fries.