Slumber party!

My brother sleeping in a big boy bed for the first time...on my trundle bed!!!

and one cute video of my brother....

Happy kid, eh?

re-emergence

I cannot believe that it's now been more than 6 months since I gave an update to my blog-reading fans -- who, at this point, understandably, consist of a bunch of Google servers doing keyword searches.  But let's see if I can at least post a few pictures that will be so unbelievably cute that the servers will notify Sergey Brin himself and Sergey will send out a google-wide email telling the troops to check out that cute 4 year old who can write with just a few grammatical mis-steps.

So what's gone on in my life since the last update.  Let me very briefly summarize, and then I'll post a few pictures to get you re-acquainted with my ultra-cuteness and the equally ultra-cuteness of my little brother:

- I finished my first year at my new school and graduated to the last pre-school class I'll ever attend, assuming they don't fail me for poor play-dough skills.  Now I'm an "Etzim" and loving it!
- My brother turned 2 years old -- he's now rapidly approaching 2 1/2 -- getting roughly a day closer each day.  Duh.
- I went to camp this summer across the street, and my brother went to the same camp!  We walked there together a couple of days a week (awwwww picture below).
- My family went to Yosemite National Park and we hiked all over the place -- I even went up 500 steps to the top of Vernal Falls, all by myself.
-  My brother started school, with the same teachers I had last year -- what a coincidence!
-  I started playing organized t-ball, and I LOVE IT.
-  I went on my first fishing trip with my dad and my friend Ashton and his dad, and it was so much fun!  Especially the part when we stopped fishing at ate sandwiches.
-  I've been learning to read, doing tons of math problems, learning to write, and generally representing everything that's wrong with type A Marin County parents.  No I'm kidding, I actually really like challenging myself, so it's really me forcing my parents to show me.  I'll bet by the time I'm done with high school, I'll be able to both read AND write.
-  We said goodbye to Elin, who went back to Sweden after a year with us where she truly became part of my family, and said hello to Malin (no relation), who is also from Sweden. We like Malin too!

Here are some quick photos to get you caught up....

OK, so you're almost caught up...I'm going to add some videos soon too!

Don't forget to vote -- early and often.

Love,
Spencer

I'm dedicating this one to my favorite 3rd party candidate -- my brother

Drew is a cutie petutie. Sorry if that's spelled wrong. I've been looking back at the last 12 months of blog posts, and I've come to realize that Drew has gotten shafted. I was so, so active blogging in the first 18 months after my birth -- my most creative and productive phase to date -- so I have a great record of my activities, but Drew is suffering from the second baby syndrome where there's a lot less proof of his existence. So, I present to you, some recent pictures of my incredible adorable brother, who I love to knock over and urge to do bad things like drop food on the floor and stand on tables.

I feel the need to admit that for his first 6 months I thought he kind of looked like a partially re-inflated California Raisin. But he keeps getting cuter each month.


Separately, we just returned from a fantastic vacation to Mexico, to a town called Mazatlan, which is somewhere between Panama and Wyoming. According to my parents, it was the least productive vacation they'd ever taken -- no major treks to centuries-old ruins, no major shopping excursions, no boatrides to far-off islands -- just beach, pool and eat. Beach, pool, eat. I thought it was glorious. I think my parents did too.


Just like in our country, Mexico is going through its own election season right now, and it seems like every single candidate has signs and billboards up that say, in Spanish, "yes we can." I wonder where they got that from. Given recent history, maybe they should change it to "Yes we can, but only if you also elect a legislative body that agrees with me." That's not very catchy though.

On the way down to Mazatlan, we stopped in Los Angeles for Passover and I saw may cousins, aunt and uncle and grandparents. We did lots of stuff during the 36 hours we were there, but my favorite was traintown!

Here's a picture of me with Sam, Ryan and Uncle Jeff in a very cool locomotive there.

One morning my big cousin Sam crawled into the pack 'n play with Drew. He used to do that with me! I was jealous.

Then we were off to the airport -- I had my awesome tiger carry-on that I pulled around the airports and always got these looks where middle aged women paused and said "awwwww." I need to remember that if I ever need a cougar, I'll bring my tiger.

Like I said, we spent a lot of time on the beach, playing in the sand and in the water, and especially collecting seashells. Every time I picked one up, I showed it to everyone!

And one of the last nights there, I went to a kids party and got to whack the Pinata -- I didn't break it, but I definitely scared it.


All in all, it was a wonderful vacation!

Love,
Spencer

Ready for takeoff...

I'm the pilot. Drew is my co-pilot. Drew's Hootie is on the throttle. Literally. I love southwest airlines, they're nice people.

ok, so this one is worth an update

So I'm biking home from the park this morning on my cool little dirt bike with training wheels, and I look over to my daddy and say "daddy, can you take off my training wheels and i'll ride my bike this afternoon?" my dad's eyes open wide and he trips over himself saying "definitely." ok, ok, so maybe i'm super-competitive and i saw my friend ashton this morning at the park with his new bike without training wheels --- which he rides like one of those pedal-less skut bikes, but he rides it well. so yes, it was a comment born of envy. but not more than 5 hours later, the ratchet set comes out and oua-la.....

sorry that you have to turn your computer sideways to see this right -- my dad and mom are still getting used to their iphones. old people are such technology babies!

i am such a rock star.

so is my brother. more on him later.



love,

Spencer