Our Lucky Optimist: 2011

Saturday, December 31, 2011

Thursday, December 29, 2011

Winter wonderland - desert version

Echo Canyon with Olive and Viv

Tuesday, December 27, 2011

Off we go!

At Midway heading west to see Nana B with her new luggage.

Sunday, December 25, 2011

Wednesday, December 21, 2011

Daddy's girl, Girl's daddy

A precious picture of a precious moment of relaxation....

Olive has introduced a new hat fetish to our household... Amazing that she and Rikki can both look adorable in the very same hats .... Having a good role model always helps. Stay tuned for more on hats.

with her at all times...

Hanukah was a lot of fun (more pictures coming) and this Kailan rollerbag was a really big hit. It is going everywhere with Rikki, include on her bathroom step stool to brush teeth - and with her to play with her new Play-doh (aka "potato") set.

Saturday, December 17, 2011

musical training..

With a little help from Robert Copich, Rikki practiced her guitar during our annual descent on Squirrel Hill for a reunion with Becky Berman's extended family.

Much to be thankful for...

Nana and Pop Pop Jenkins' house in Pittsburgh was the place to be over Thanksgiving... What could be better than a life-size Curious George to share meals with, steps to run up and down in party clothes, and little William, the baby boy who goes "wooshigaga" all night long. Baby Baobao (in pink) is never far behind...

Friday, December 16, 2011

Todays fortune

Rarely do great beauty and great virtue dwell together as they do in you.

Max's bar mitzvah!

Despite having to go to bed before the band even started playing, Miss Rikki was the belle of the ball at her cousin Max's bar mitzvah last month. Here she is dancing with cousin Jake and sitting with Olive and cousin Chelsea.

Thursday, December 15, 2011

Starlet

Also last month I got to visit Rikki's dance class. I haven't been since she started, because her nanny has been taking her on Tuesday mornings. It was exciting to see the little starlet in action. Her teacher said she is fully ready for the modern dance class. So exciting. Although I was a major distraction.

Catching up...

Well, this was from a month ago, but we took Rikki out to the 'burbs to hang out with her oldest U.S. friend, our former neighbor Lizzie, who sadly moved with her parents to the suburbs in late September. It was a very fun reunion, as you can see.

Wednesday, December 7, 2011

Don't hurt me, okay?

A very reasonable request this morning during our trip to the dentist. Fortunately, the dentist agreed!

Monday, December 5, 2011

Self-portrait

Via iPhone

Such a Lucky kid!

Wednesday, November 23, 2011

Flying the plane!

I am way behind on blog posts, but here is a cute one on our way to Pittsburgh for Thanksgiving. Will catch up soon in Max's bar mitzvah plus some videos.

Sunday, November 6, 2011

Belle of the ball... ?

My nephew Max's bar mitzvah is coming up, so the three girls in our family (plus Olive's friend Kaiann, who added the hair bow) were comparing party dresses. I'm not sure I will ever convince Rikki to put this dress on again, so I wanted to be sure to get some good pics.

At the Museum of Science and Industry this weekend...

We went for the Dr. Seuss exhibit, but the trains were an added attraction.

Not quite Indian summer

But the weather has been mostly comfortable lately ... So we keep thinking each visit to the playground may be out last... If you look back on the blog, you'll see some shots of her on this little horse when she was much younger. She loves the playground and she has proven to be an adventurous (and fortunately skilled) climber.

Wednesday, November 2, 2011

What a pair

Here she is with Liangliang the pirate.

Elmo on the run!

Candy awaits! Amazing what a difference a year makes in terms of catching on to the trick or treating. Rikki Panpan and our neighbor boy Liangliang (aka Alex) were a cute pair. Each time some candy dropped in the pumpkin, she had to pull it out to examine it. We went for the early (4:30) shift.

Tuesday, November 1, 2011

Olive makes the screen for Halloween

What a scream! Look for the red cat ears on the left of screen at minute 2:55

http://abclocal.go.com/wls/video?id=8413310

More pics of Rikki (aka Elmo) coming soon.....

Sunday, October 30, 2011

Who rained on our parade?

Though we've had very mild weather all month, the skies did not cooperate with today's Halloween parade for kids. So Elmo went to show off her costume at Trader Joes. She was quite a celebrity.

Wednesday, October 26, 2011

Five minutes later...

Heading home

School shoes

We are reading about Pete the cat who goes to school where he is "rockin' in his school shoes.". We decided it was time to get some school shoes for starting school next year! The balloon is a bonus!

Tuesday, October 11, 2011

Outdoors in October

The weather has been splendid. Sunday we visited the Morton Arboretum in the western suburbs, and Rikki climbed into this house.

She's remaining very active, especially at bedtime when she enjoys sprinting out of bed. And in the bath where she thinks she can jump up and down. And she has all sorts of things to say. Today she told me she has a penis and then she asked me to "wash my backwards."

Wednesday, October 5, 2011

afternoon in the country...

In the Bay Area, to get away for the weekend, it's often a trip to wine country in Napa or a day hike at Pt. Reyes.

Here in Chicago in October, it's a trip to the pumpkin farm ... complete with hay rides, pig races, prairie dog shows, and "pork chop on a stick."

It was, surprisingly, really fun!

P.S. And on a somber note, I'm dedicating this blog post to the memory of Steve Jobs, without whom it is unlikely I would ever have been sending photos and blog posts from my mobile phone... ; ( (Originally we were going to go apple picking, but the pumpkin farm sounded too good to miss....)

Sunday, September 18, 2011

What a day

Great video from Rikki's half birthday

Rikki 2.5

Yes - she's 2 and a half! We celebrated last weekend. This also marked another transition: Rikki Panpan has now spent more than half of her life here in the U.S. and with our family. And boy is she loving it.

We are continually amazed at her cleverness and sense of play. Lately she has come out with things like, "Where ya goin' sweetheart?" when she sees me heading somewhere. When she asks for something to eat, she specifies the quantity. "I want some cheese. Alot." When we're in a restaurant, she is usually the first to look at the waiter, and say, "I want some water with ice." When she needs a spoon, she just turns around to look for the waiter and calls, "Sir! Sir!"

People keep telling me how tall she is, but we just visited the doctor, and I was right: She is neither tall nor short. She is at the 50th percentile in height and 25th in weight. I guess it's those proportions people are noticing.

She loves to sing, and has quite a repertoire now. Lately she prefers to accompany herself on the (Barbie) guitar. She now can pedal her bicycle without any pushing. And she can't get enough swimming. Given that this is September in Chicago, she swam in the lake a week ago, and in an indoor pool today, officially marking our passage into fall. I'm hoping it's a lonnnng fall.

Strangest thing...

People keep saying she looks like me .... I just can't see it. In fact she looks kind of blurry to me.

Friday, September 9, 2011

The moment we've been waiting for.

Our very own TJs, a block and a half from us, opened this morning!

Monday, September 5, 2011

What a difference two weeks makes...

The weather has turned brrrisk. Okay, still in the 60s, but pretty chilly starting today with the wind coming off the lake. Here Rikki is two weeks ago at our nearby "legs" in hot humid weather - and again this afternoon.

We are not sure if this is the reason that Rikki is obsessed with feet and "toesies," but she is constantly asking to sit on our feet or for us to sit on hers.

The legs are also known as Agora, a "group of 106 headless and armless iron sculptures at the south end of Grant Park," per Wikipedia. It goes on, "Designed by Polish artist Magdalena Abakanowicz, they were made in a foundry near Poznan between 2004 and 2006... The Chicago Park District brought the work to Chicago as a permanent loan from the Polish Ministry of Culture."

You can see a better picture below (our building is the second from the left):
http://www.google.com/imgres?q=Chicago+Agora&um=1&hl=en&client=firefox-a&sa=N&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&biw=1022&bih=681&tbm=isch&tbnid=fq7_Sy_JetLV_M:&imgrefurl=http://frontporchrvw.com/issue/january-2010/article/agora-chicago-style&docid=DD7mNAaFqORFaM&w=550&h=425&ei=5otlTprAI9LUgAfUvcmSCg&zoom=1&iact=rc&dur=364&page=1&tbnh=129&tbnw=167&start=0&ndsp=20&ved=1t:429,r:12,s:0&tx=59&ty=80

Week at the Beach

Our trip to Rehoboth Beach, Delaware - scheduled on the heels of Irene - was touch and go for a few days. Davis' parents evacuated their home there and returned to Pittsburgh, and his brother Ted and family vacated after less than 48 hours in town (driving round-trip from Boston to boot). By Sunday, we got word from MY cousins who had driven in from DC that, literally, the coast was clear, so we flew in as planned on Monday morning, and Nana and Pop-pop drove back from Pittsburgh, beating us by about 30 minutes.

We had a nice stay, with good company and lovely weather. Unfortunately, I failed to take enough pictures, but here are a few...