Kisses from Hula

Uncle Kris is back in town. And this time he brought his ever-loving dog, Hula. Leila and Hula go waaaay back. One might say that Hula is the primary reason that Leila loves dogs (and all furry four-legged creatures) so much. So when Uncle Kris walked in the door with Hula, Leila was ecstatic to see both of them (which means that she got over her strange aversion to her uncle). And when it came to kisses as a token of affection, Hula had an infinite supply to offer Leila.

Waving Hello

Leila recently learned how to wave and say hello. As far as we can tell, this is her first word. Both the "hi" and the wave came about pretty much simultaneously. And she's certainly proud of herself. She loves to show off for anyone and everyone including strangers in the grocery store, her reflection, and trees.

Some of Leila's Favorite Things

Here's Leila in action, doing a couple of her new favorite things... making music, making her nature table come to life, and reading books.

Vainas in Visalia

This is a much belated post, but better late than never. The rest of the visit with Karen and Tony (Nov. 5-11) went very well. We enjoyed two beautiful days in San Francisco and then drove down to Visalia where the whole family got well acquainted. We enjoyed lovely meals and great conversation. And of course, Leila reveled in the tidal waves of love from both sets of grandparents as well as her Uncle Kris.



Here we are, sitting in front of the world's largest box of raisins at the Sunmaid Raisin factory in Kingsburg. Impressive? Hmm, only if you're into that kinda thing. I guess it was a very Central Valley, once-in-a-lifetime (as in, once is enough) kind of thing to do.

Bonding with Uncle Kris

Uncle Kris came up for a visit this weekend. Leila, quite unfortunately, had a very strange and very strong reaction to Kris. Not unlike her dramatic response to all things spherically shaped, Leila cried at the mere and near sight of her loving uncle. Everyone was utterly baffled, especially David's mom who had quite the opposite reaction to Kris. But since his departure, Leila has been feeling some remorse and would like to apologize by asking her uncle to please forgive her and to remember that bit of cuddling that they shared. She looks forward to seeing him again in a couple of weeks.

San Francisco with Grandma and Grandpa Vaina

Karen and Tony flew in from West Palm Beach on Wednesday, and we greeted them in San Francisco. The weather couldn't have cooperated more. We took advantage of the blue skies and sunny warmth to stroll through the Japanese Tea Garden at Golden Gate (the first two pics) and then took a ferry to Sausalito (the next 3 pics).

I Voted!

We took Leila to the polling booth with us. She thought her first election was pretty cool and was proud to sport her "I voted" sticker.