Summer Sessions

Aren't things supposed to slow down in the summer time - meaning activity wise? I think we went the opposite route. We've had KT enrolled in swim classes since March of this year. We decided to keep her going for the summer so that we wouldn't have a gap and regress. Plus, duh, summer = swimming.

Then, I decided to come up with this hair-brained scheme to start her in dance class too. A local studio offered a 7 week program of tap, ballet and tumbling to acclimate children to dance - so why not, right? Why not indeed....

Three days a week we've been busy, busy, busy. I've scaled back for the fall and decided to just stick with swimming until she can learn to swim on her own. She loves dance, so maybe we'll eventually put her back in it sometime next year. Is this what I have to look forward too for the next 15 years? #idoitforlove

My beautiful swimmer! 

Lessons with Coach Isaac

Balancing

pas de bourree

and we are....dancing!

Introducing BK

BK, otherwise known as Baby Koenig v.2 will make his/her debut in late January/early February 2014. We're very excited and even more so to see how well KT adapts to being a big sister. Things are fixing to get REAL interesting up in the Koenig Haus.

Special Announcement!  

BK v2 - due 2/14/14 #vdaybaby

San Francisco (3-year old edition)

I like the title of this post. It was a gauntlet I laid down to my brother before we came to visit. Make sure we do kid-friendly things and keep her amused.

Challenge accepted. 

Before arrival we received an awesome itinerary from JR and Ashley that laid out our plans. I think we hit most of it, if not all. 

Checking out the view down below.

We flew in on Thursday, June 27th and landed at a decent hour (yeah for 2 hour time differences!), so after touring JR and Ash's awesome condo we headed out to the Exploratorium. What a cool place. So many interactive science models to play with: sound, light, touch, etc. They had neat things like a whole room that would "capture" your shadow, a slow motion camera (awesome), a water "tornado" according to KT, a rainbow reflector,  a fog machine, and even more fun, the fog bridge. KT had such a blast, but we were all beat and headed back home to relax. KT was so tired, she fell asleep on top of Jeff's shoulders headed back - it was hilarious. 

We made it! View from the roof deck with Uncle JR and Aunt Ash

KT's first subway ride with Uncle JR

Asleep on top of Dad's head

The next day we had breakfast at Tartine - an awesome bakery near JR and Ash's place. I remember visiting here once before on a previous trip. It was yum. After breakfast we packed up water and lunch and headed out to explore Golden Gate Park which is over 1,000 acres in the middle of the city. We had not seen this park in our previous two visits out to SF, so this was something new for us. What an awesome place this park turned out to be. A total gem and I would recommend this place to anyone. We picnicked in a beautiful grassy are with some hiking trails nearby and huge redwoods and other trees providing some gorgeous scenery.

Afterwards we headed to the California Academy of Sciences which is one of a few museums located inside the Golden Gate Park. Absolutely loved this museum. They had an earthquake simulator, a rainforest dome, an aquarium, a living rooftop and so much more. Such a cool place and KTs favorite was Claude the albino alligator. He was neat to see.

KT posing in front of one of the many murals down Clarion Alley (JR and Ash's backyard)

KT sitting on a fallen tree in Golden Gate Park

Checking out a butterfly inside the Cal Academy rainforest dome

KT, Jeff, Ash and JR at CalAcademy

Surprise. She crashed.

On Saturday we explored a little bit of downtown San Francisco before we caught the BART over to Oakland for an A's game. To say it was hot was a complete understatement. Our butts literally were on fire the moment they hit the stadium seats. We had to do a make shift shade structure for KT and I don't remember much of the game as I was obsessed with try to keep KT and myself cool. But, I'm happy that Jeff got to check off another stadium from his bucket list. 

O.co Stadium - home of the Oakland A's and the Oakland Raiders. Don't look to closely at the guy in the front. iPhone panoramic doesn't do well with motion. 

One of our favorite past times - people watching from the roof deck. 

On our last full day, we spent it the day down at the wharf doing touristy things. On our previous 2 trips, aside from a drive over it, we have never been up close and personal with the Golden Gate bridge, so we took a bay cruise to check it out up close and personal. That was a lot of fun and VERY windy. We also checked out the seals, or lack their of (there were only 3 - apparently they migrate out in summertime). After lunch down on the wharf we headed over to Ghiradelli Square to grab some ice cream and let KT run around San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park - which had some great views of the bay and the Golden Gate Bridge. 

Koenig's on the Bay Cruise

Up close and personal with the Golden Gate Bridge

These windsurfers were everywhere and loved following the wake of the big boats

On Monday we headed out - but not before a quick stop at the beach to put our feet in the Pacific Ocean and say hello to Karl the Fog. KT has now been to the Atlantic, the Gulf of Mexico and the Pacific! #futureworldtraveler

KT and Mama's toes in the sand

KT at the Pacific Ocean

So long San Fran - you were fun as always! Hope to see you again some day! 

View from JR & Ash's rooftop

Night view of the city - gorgeous

That's a wrap - headed home!

Family Camping

Some of my most favorite childhood memories growing up were of camping - Lost Maples, Enchanted Rock, Big Bend, and Inks Lake to name a few. I distinctly remember a very windy and very wet experience down on Mustang Island in where our tent was pretty much ripped out of the ground from the force of the wind during a storm. Scary at the time, maybe, but it's left a pretty awesome memory for me!

When Jeff and I married and started discussing having kids and what was important for us to have them experience, camping was one of my main priorities. I want my kids to appreciate the outdoors and most importantly I hope they'll build memories that I have of quality family time together. 

Our first camping experience with KT was when she was 10 months old. It was November and we headed to Lost Maples State Natural Area with our tent and, in retrospect, not enough firewood. For having such a young child with us, the probability of us having a rough time was pretty high. But, KT was a super trooper and hardly made a peep during the wee quiet hours of a community group camping area. I was inspired. 

Time was not however. Between job responsibilities and our busy life, we never made time for another trip. Until Mother's Day Weekend 2013. I begged Jeff to camp and made reservations well ahead of time. We packed up the tent, borrowed some cots, bought enough s'mores supplies for a family of 12 and headed out to Perdenales Falls State Park, just the three of us. 

Our site - loved the lights Jeff remembered to pack.

And... we had a blast! We only did one night, which in hindsight I wish we went longer, but what fun. We hiked, we roasted hot dogs, we made s'mores, and made s'mores, and made more s'mores. We set up our screened tent completely wrong and noticed halfway through the trip and made a quick fix to remedy (who knew those things were so complicated?). We brought PLENTY of firewood and after KT went down, Jeff and I just sat around the fire together, completely content to just talk. It was awesome.

One of my favorites snaps from the weekend - Daddy's girl. 

Well mostly awesome. Aside from the sleeping situation which included a broken cot, a restless 3 year old, and what I think was a raccoon making some sort of "chirping" noise at 2:30 a.m...... But other than those things, it went awesome.

I made sure to get in front of the camera too - eek! 

Bubbles on camping trips are a must. KT trying to pop them with the tent poles.

On the following Sunday, we headed up to Longhorn Cavern State Park to visit their caves. I had seen pictures on the tpwd site and was totally tempted. We took a 2 hour tour and KT handled it like a champ - even when the guide turned out the lights so we could "experience" what total pitch black darkness felt like. Maybe I was more scared then her.

Longhorn Cavern SP Historic Building

Posin'

Inside the caverns - a little blurry but still so beautiful. 

All in all, what a fantastic weekend! Happy Mother's Day to me!