This was my third time riding my new bike, and I think I finally got the hang of it! Pedal forward to go. Pedal backwards to skin daddy’s shins! Got it! Anyway, I’m havin’ fun on my new ride, and I thought I’d share this photo daddy took of me this evening.
Hi everyone! Well, after what seemed like an eternity of asking my folks if it was my birthday yet, it finally was! I am now 4 years old, and so far it’s been great! I can do a lot of stuff now that I am bigger, older, wiser - and it’s been fun. I got to have two parties, one on my actual birthday and then one a few days after. Birthdays are so awesome - people bring you presents, and you get to open them all by yourself! I told my mom and dad I wanted a Muppet party, so they put up green and purple balloons (for Kermit and Gonzo), and my dad made these neato signs with pictures of Animal on them, and my mom made me a Kermit the Frog cake! I got lots of nifty stuff, like cool books, and new cars from the movie ‘Cars’, and some new sports equipment, and….my very own Big Kid Two Wheel BIKE! Yeah! It’s red, and it has training wheels on it right now while I learn to ride it, and my dad has already taken me out a couple of times and it’s been really fun! I got a helmet to go with it, because that’s the rule (Elmo said so, so it must be true). Birthdays rule! Thank you to everyone for making it so special!
Hi everyone! Guess who’s taking swim lessons right now? ME! That’s right - I, Decker J, have been going to ’swim school’ over at Pleasant Hill Park, and it’s been really fun! My teacher is a very nice person named Corrinne, and we have a great time together! I’ve been learning to kick, and move my arms, and blow bubbles and even put my head underwater! Today I got to put on a life vest and float all by myself while I practiced moving my arms and kicking - it was so cool! Mommy and Sutter don’t get to go in the pool with me, but they sit on the side and wave to me when I look over at them. I get to go all next week, too - and my mom and dad say that they are very proud of me. I’m proud of me, too!
Hi everyone! Guess where I got to go last weekend? Yosemite! Yup, just came back from 3 days in the great outdoors and I had a great time! I went with my mom and dad and Sutter, and Cappy, Katil and Tully came along as well. It was so fun! On the first day we left really early drove and drove and finally stopped at this really cool place called Tenaya Lake. Mommy, Katil and Tully all used to live in a dorm building named after this lake, so they made sure everyone knew how to pronounce it properly! I’d been to the ocean, and I’d played near ponds, but I’d never really been to a lake before. This one was super shallow for a long ways out, and the water was super calm and not too chilly - as a result, my mommy came back from unloading the car to find me, Cappy, my dad and Sutter (in Daddy’s arms) having waded out hecka far into the lake! And it still only came up to my waist! I had a blast playing in the water, especially after Tully brought out her inflatable innertubes, and I got to float around and around with her and Katil. Mommy was a wimp and wouldn’t go in past her knees or so (she says I’m part polar bear like my dad!). I only got out finally when I started turning blue and my teeth started chattering (the wind had picked up). Can’t wait to go there again!
That afternoon we got to stop at some places with amazing views and really big rocks to climb, including a place called Olmsted Point. Sutter napped, and I clambered around and got some energy out. Then we went into the valley and had a yummy dinner and shopped around at this awesome gift store that has this enormous stuff bear that I remember from last year. I like to hide under his legs and talk to him - I named him Winnie the Pooh.
The next day we started off at Bridalveil Falls, and there were more rocks for me to climb! (Aunt Katil was very patient). Then, as we were walking back down the trail, a nice lady told us that there was a bear down in the ravine below us! Sure enough, a little ways away there was this black bear with a yellow earring (so silly!) wandering along! The bears in my Berenstain books walk on two legs and wear clothes, but this bear walked on all four legs and just wore fur. Mommy and Daddy seemed interested but also a little reserved about the bear - Mommy kinda held me tight and Daddy told her later that he was figuring out if he could run fast with a baby strapped to his back! Cappy spent the whole time filming and saying silly things at the bear. Mommy said we should always leave bears alone, because they can be as grumpy as she is in the morning when she first wakes up! Yikes!
We walked on more trails that led to waterfalls, but because it was later in the summer there wasn’t much water to see! Then we went to the new visitors’ center and explored around there, and Daddy bought me a cool patch with a bear on it to put on my school backpack for the new year! THEN we went and played in the water some more - but this time it was iun the river! Another first for me! This was the Merced River, and again, the water was really calm and shallow, so I got to wade out pretty far with a grownup. I played for a while with my dad and a boy that I met and made friends with called Caiden. We threw rocks and pretended to fish! Then I hung out with my mom and aunties while Daddy and Sutter caught a nap, and I pretended to be Mary Poppins flying on a kite. I sang and sang and sang, and then we all got cold and got out and lay on the beach and ate plums from Cappy’s tree back home. Mmmmmm! After that we drove and drove and drove, and finally got to a place called Glacier Point. This was neat because you can see a REALLY far way away, and also because we had ice cream! There were more rocks to climb,which I did while Mommy nursed Sutter. (Mommy says she has now nursed me and my brother is some of the most interesting locations, including Glacier Point, Central Park (NY) and Museum of Natural History (NY)! She says she likes to have something cool to look at). At Glacier Point I told my folks that I had to potty (I went a lot that weekend - it was very hot and I drank lots of juice boxes!). Anyway, it was my mom’s turn, and I think the experience traumatized her - it was one of those potties with no plumbing, persay - you get the picture. Anyway, I don’t think I’ve ever seen her so green! Poor Mommy!
The last day, Mommy went on a hike up to Vernal Falls with Cappy, Tully and Katil, and I stayed in the valley with Daddy and Sutter. We walked all around, including to this really big hotel called the Ahwahnee, and I also saw a helicopter land in the middle of a meadow! Then we finally met up, had some lunch, and drove a long ways home. I slept really well that night!
Hi everyone! In school we learned that it’s summer right now, which means it is very hot outside and you do summertime activities like play in the water and have bbqs. So far my summer’s been pretty busy, but it’s been very fun! I’m in summer school through the end of the month, which is neat because I really like school. In my spare time, I’ve been traveling all over the place! (And I let my mom and dad and baby brother come along). I’ve been to the California State Railroad Museum up in Old Town Sacramento, visited Fairyland (like a miniature Disneyland over by Lake Merritt - so fun!), gone to the park a bunch of times, and even went to a big movie outside in San Francisco one night! (It was a grownup movie, called something like “Cats Blankie”, it was black and white and not the most interesting movie but there was still lots of cool stuff to see outside). Best of all? A couple of days ago it was the 4th of July, and that was super fun! In the morning before it got too hot, my mom took me and Sutter over to the pool at my aunties’ complex - I love playing in the water! I floated in an inner tube and the grownups took turns helping me ’swim’ and kick my legs in the pool! (Mommy says I can take swim lessons very soon - looking forward to it!). Then, that night we went over the park and I got to go on the playground with Daddy, and then we ate ice cream (Yum!) and grapes (double yum!) and then while Sutter tried to fall asleep with Daddy, Mommy and Pammy and my aunties went down to the bandstand with me and we got to listen to LIVE MUSIC! So cool! There was a drummer and a guy playing the saxaphone and a guy playing the guitar and a lady singing and there were all these older girls (like 5 or 6 years old!) dancing in the front. It looked really fun, so I went up and danced for a long time too! I like to shake my groove thing - I like to move it, move it! Oh yeah, and afterwards there were fireworks.
Try to stay cool this weekend - it’s hot outside!
Hi everyone! Been a while since I’ve written, but boy I’ve been up to lots of stuff the last couple of months, including finishing up my very first year at school! Hard to believe, because it seems like only yesterday that I started my educational career - I can remember having to pat my mom and dad back together on that first day of school (they were so cute and nervous!). But the months went by quickly (and I can name all the months for you by the way, because that’s one of the things we learned this year!) and suddenly it was June and time to say goodbye to my teachers Ms. Lori and Ms. Patti. Because this was a momentous occasion, we had a special ‘moving up’ party in my classroom on the last day of class, and all our families were invited! Mommy and Sutter were able to come join me, and it was really fun! We sang songs for our families, and then we each got a certificate and a little goodie bag from our teachers and everyone cheered for us when they said our names. Best of all? We got to have ICE CREAM in the morning as our snack, and cookies shaped like starfish that Ms. Patti made for us - cool!
I learned lots of neat stuff this year, but apparently there is still a lot more to know, so I guess I’ll be doing the student thing for a while! That’s ok, I really like school! In fact, after a week off for summer break, I got to go back today for summer school and it was really fun! I got to see all my friends again, and had a great time. I have a different teacher this summer, but then I get to have Ms. Lori again next fall, which makes me happy. I’ll be going to a second school as well, so I figure with all that school I’ll be learning lots and lots of new things! Can’t wait!
Hi everyone! Well, that’s what you chant at a baseball game! “Let’s Go, Oakland! cha cha cha” (at least that’s how it sounds to me!). This week Daddy surprised us with tix to a baseball game, and it was pretty fun! At baseball games, there are all these people down on the grass, and they throw balls to each other and hit them with sticks (grownups call them ‘bats’, but they didn’t have wings). Anyway, there’s also a really big tv and some speakers that a man talks out of, and there are flags, and concrete stairs you can sit on. At baseball games, you get to eat hot dogs (I tried 2 bites - yum!) and have lots of juice boxes. Sutter is just a baby, so he slept on Mommy’s lap the whole time. Daddy took me to the potty like 10 times! (I love my juice boxes). Sometimes the grownups around you get a little crazy and shout really loudly and say naughty words. I bet they had to take a timeout when they went home. Best of all - the very nice security man standing near our seats gave me a REAL baseball to keep! It had been used at batting practice before the game started - it has grass stains on it and everything! I had fun at the game, but I was tired when it was time to go home, and I slept a LONG time in the car!
Have a good weekend!
Hi everyone! April has been very busy, and it’s been a lot of fun so far! A couple of weeks ago, Daddy went down to Arizona for his cousin’s wedding. Mommy, Sutter and I stayed behind and we missed him but we also kept easily distracted because it was Easter that weekend too! So they wouldn’t be lonely, we decided to go over and have Easter with Pammy and Cappy. Katil and Tully came over too, so it was like a big party! Easter is really cool - first, you decorate all the eggs on the night before. I got to help for the first time this year, and I did a great job! To decorate eggs, you make all these different glasses of colored water that look like juice but you can’t drink them. Then you put the egg on a little spoon-thing and you dip it into the water and let it sit there. If you want to, you can color on them ahead of time, so your name will show up on the egg after you decorate it. Cappy got a little bored and very silly, and so he dipped each of his fingers into a different color! His fingers looked like used popsicle sticks! Then after we decorated the eggs, we left them with our Easter baskets by the front door for the Easter Bunny to find. Then we went to bed. The Easter Bunny and Santa Claus have the same rules, and you have to be asleep or they can’ t come visit your house. (I guess they like privacy). The next morning we all woke up and got to look for all the eggs and the baskets! I was a really good egg hunter - I found almost all of them and I also found mine AND Sutter’s AND my mommy’s baskets! They were all really close to the ground - thanks Easter Bunny! Easter baskets are great because they are full of toys and m & m’s! Mmmmmm!
Then, this past weekend it was my Daddy’s birthday! We all went to the Monterey Aquarium for the day, and it was so much fun! We saw penguins, played on a neat indoor playground that looked like the coral reef in Finding Nemo, and then we actually FOUND Nemo! And Dory! We also saw divers who were inside this big tank and cleaning the windows, and we saw river otters and sharks and jellyfish! It was very crowded when we left, and it was rainy outside, so we took a long drive home through Santa Cruz and Sutter and I napped most of the way. When we got home, it was time for Daddy to open his presents. I helped him, but he takes too slow! Sutter and I gave him a copy of The Muppet Movie, and we watched it together that night. It was pretty funny - there is a frog named Kermit and a bear named Fozzie and a pig named Piggy Fun times!
Sutter is still a lot of fun to play with. Now he can scootch towards me, and I let him ‘chase’ me and then he tries to eat my knees. I can make him laugh and he likes to listen to me read my books. He is still a baby, so he doesn’t get to go to big kid school like me. Maybe when he is bigger. We were on spring break last week, but I got to go back to school yesterday and it was neat to be back! This week we are learning about animals that hatch from eggs. Did you know chicks hatch from eggs? And then they say ‘peep peep’! And they are fuzzy and yellow. Cool, huh?
Have a good week!
I can’t remember why I held out on these things. But they are delicious! Broccoli is delicious! Between broccoli, peanut butter and jelly, chicken, and vienna sausages my pallet has expanded more in the last month, than in my first three years of solid food. Mommy and Daddy are thrilled!
Hi everyone! Well, this whole week at school we have been talking about St. Patrick’s Day - that’s a day when everyone wears green, and there are plants called shamrocks that grow in the grass, and if you see a Leprechaun named Lucky and can catch him, then he will give you his pot of gold! Leprechauns have pointy ears, and we got to make our own leprechaun headbands, and I wore mine proudly all day today! I can sing songs about leprechauns, and we even made a green snack at cooking today! Cool, huh? Mommy and Daddy say that even though my last name, O’Steen, isn’t really Irish, that we can celebrate St. Patrick’s Day anyway. So hopefully we will find a leprechaun and he will lead us to his pot of gold coins! (Mmmm…especially if they are CHOCOLATE gold coins!)
On a side note - I have decided that I am going to start trying bites of new foods, because my mom and dad and Sesame Street and my teacher all told me that’s a good thing to do. SO - prepare to be amazed, those who know me and my eating habits well - I have now eaten CHICKEN! And PEANUT BUTTER! And EGGS! And LITTLE SMOKIES! I know, I know - fruit and veggies are still the tastiest things in the world (oh, and pancakes), but hey I figured it would be a good idea to widen my horizons. And it’s been fun! Yum!
Sutter now lives in my room! (I guess it’s ‘our’ room). And even though he cries at night sometimes, it’s been lots of fun - I really like being a big brother. I take very good care of him, and I can make him laugh like no one else. Siblings are cool - I’m pretty happy that my mom and dad got one for me!
Have a good weekend everyone!