Video 2

This just in: Remember Mowgli from Jungle Book....

Videos

Here are some videos where Anouk is turning and babbling and destroying plastic bags:

First Camping Trip

Another first, this time we went camping with Anouk for the first time. We reserved a campsite at Samuel Taylor State Park in the redwoods, and drove up Saturday with Ed and Adriana. We set up camp and got acquainted with the area:

After lunch, we started on our hike to Barnaby Peak, with lovely views on the way.




At the peak, we have lovely views of Tomales Bay, the Pacific Ocean and the surrounding peaks. Anouk is enjoying the view with Adriana.
On the way down, she finally falls asleep:

After a nice hike, Ed starts our camp fire and we make dinner; the heat from the fire is very pleasant as we sit and watch the flames.


Anouk survives the night after swapping sleeping pads, and we go on a small hike the next morning through the Redwoods. Overall, everything worked out great, and we are happy that our little girl is now "camp-proof".

Anouk Crawling

Finally found some time for a short new post after we got back from our trip to Europe. I'll post some pictures later, but since Anouk has started to crawl, I wanted to share that as soon as possible. Here is the video of her crawling guided by our nanny Delia (it is rotated, so please turn your head):




She has also figured out that rotating while sitting on her butt gives her great views (and it looks really funny):

Zion

We did some more traveling and ended up in Vegas, where I had a committee meeting and a conference spread out over 5 days. It was Anouk's first encounter with the craziness, here she is on the bed of our cheezy room in the Tropicana and on the steps of the Venetian:

We also had another entry for "Best breast-feeding places", this one is at the patio of the Wynn:

After having been kindly asked to continue walking the stroller when Sabine wanted to donate some money to a slot machine, we had enough of Vegas and headed to Zion NP, where it had snowed a few days ago. The mountains were beautiful, and we stayed inside the park in the Zion lodge. It got below freezing overnight, so we had to pack Anouk in our newly purchased overall:

We took her on a hike to some waterfalls, and after a cold start, we got some sunshine and increasing temperatures:




We came across some beautiful waterfalls that looked even better with the sun shining from behind:

Finally, Anouk fell asleep, so I guess she was warm enough..... We took her to the Visitor Center where the Ranger had her wear the official hat:

It got pretty cold the next morning, but it made for a beautiful sunrise, and we hiked along the Virgin river on some snow-covered trails, with beautiful views:

Here are some more pictures from the Zion backcountry:




What a great Park, and we are glad we got to enjoy it during winter time:

Grandpa

Last week, my dad came over for a week to spend time with his grandchild. We had a great time, and walked around the City a few times. We went to the Rec Centers and playgrounds, walked to the beach on my day off, checked out the local coffee shops etc. It was obviously too short, but all of us really enjoyed it. Here are some pictures that he took with his SLR (so the quality is a little better than my snap-and-shoot).


Eureka Valley Rec Center, trying out the Jeep...

Watching the "Ice Bergs" at Ocean Beach...



Enjoying the swing in Golden Gate Park

First Christmas

Anouk celebrated her first Christmas Eve by going on a backpack ride in Muir Woods and unwrapping gifts. We got a used backpack carrier from one of Sabine's co-workers, and she really enjoys it. It is also very comfortable for me, since it is set up like a regular backpack. We hiked along the giants Redwoods in Muir Woods and then up the hill towards Mt. Tam. It was fairly cold (about 10C/50F), so we had to dress her warmly:



We passed by a lot of streams and small waterfalls, and enjoyed the quiet of the forest.


After a few hours, Anouk finally counted all the trees and could comfortably fall asleep....


We finally made it to the sunny side and enjoyed a nice break with snacks:


After we got home, it was time to unwrap Delia's and Miles' gifts, which was a lot of fun:



Merry Christmas to all, and a safe and healthy 2010!