A Visit from Grandma Diane and Great Grandma Helen!

Diane and Helen have been visiting since last Wednesday, and they left this morning. It has been a fun filled week which has included lots of shopping [including stumbling into a huge shopping mall, just 10 minutes away that I had not yet discovered (full of kids stores, and a big 2 story carousel, too!) ], playing, time off for mom & dad, and visiting!

On Saturday Matthew and I left the kiddo with Diane and Helen and headed off to Universal Studios for the day. The rides are shorter than I remember from when I was a kid, but the Waterworld Show and Jurassic Park ride were best by far. We didn't take any pictures there because we didn't want to be bogged down by a camera (and lets face it, we are not the stars of this blog), but here is a picture of the souvenir we bought - a Spongebob Squarepants outfit for Bronson!

Bronson started swimming lessons this week - they are Monday and Wednesday mornings and we're enjoying them. Grandma came to watch the first one and took these pictures. Bronson seems more interested in the other kids than in swimming, though he really doesn't mind the water. He likes to watch what everyone is doing and especially to chew on stuff - i.e. pool noodles, kick boards, pool toys, my shoulder, etc. One of the games we play in the class is called tap and twirl: the kids hang on to the wall, and you tap them on the shoulder until they look, when they do look, you twirl them around in a circle, then go again. Simple enough, except that Bronson won't le go of the wall, so we get into somewhat of a pulling battle. It's pretty funny, the kid is strong!

BTW: in California swim lessons happen in outdoor pools, yes, year round, that's right.

Our Spring Break Trip to OVRO

For Matthew's short break between terms this Spring (or is it still Winter? Because it feels like Summer...) he committed to working on the 40m radio telescope at OVRO [the Owens Valley Radio Observatory]. Since it was break and B and I had no commitments here, he took us with him. You may recall Matt made a trip up last term with his classmates, he visited the ancient Bristlecone Pine forest? Anyways, same place.

So, it was a neat little vacation for us! Owens Valley is ~ 5 hours North East of Pasadena, in the desert. The scenery was different from anything I'd ever experienced before. The Observatory is just outside of Big Pine California (the pine wasn't actuall very big to a BC-er such as myself), population 1,300 ish. Nice small town. About 25 minutes North on the freeway is Bishop, well known for its Rock Climbing community, pop 3,500. A neat little tourist town with the best Indian restaurant I've found so far.

On the drive up we stopped at Fossil Falls, the water is dried up but the lava rock still depicts where the falls were.


We stayed on site at the Observatory in "the cottage" which is a small house larger than our apartment, fully equipped with internet, full kitchen, satellite tv... all the essentials :) Right across the road from the cottage are the offices, a small cafeteria serving the 5 - 10 people up there each day, and the telescopes. It's really neat walking out your front door and seeing ~6 telescopes looming right there.

The OVRO was the site of the filming of much of Contact, the movie which inspired me to marry an astronomer :) The beginning where she hears the signal and rushes into the office was OVRO. That office is actually where Matthew works from while up there.



The first morning there, Matthew mentioned that there was a heard of cattle near one of the telescopes. Later when I saw a giant shadow coming around the corner of the house I wondered what the heck that could be, only to find the herd circling round the house. I woke Bronson to see his first cows up close and he was fairly enthralled for the first minutes. But the herd just kept coming and coming.

After the herd had left our backyard, Bronson and I ventured out for a little walk to the river. The front yard was full of cows, though and we just sort of stared and skirted each other, every mother present watching out for their kids.
When we returned from our walk there were no cattle to be seen in the front yard but we could hear a loud, horrible "Moooooo" ing coming from somewhere, like an animal had been hurt or was in labour or something. When we entered the house, we saw through the back windows, this giant cow up on the back porch, staring in the window, just giving us heck. We of course took pictures. Diane has now informed me that this animal is a bull. Bronson was just stunned by the sound.

All in all we spent 5 days in the Valley. The telescope had some trouble with the focus and Matthew ended up working more than we'd expected, but that was alright and it was an overall fun [free!] vacation.


Bronson practiced his sitting and his crawl stance, though has yet to move forward.



Bronson also became very hungry and needs at least 2 real food meals a day to supplement the mum-mums he gets. We're thinking a growth spurt is near as he is a chubby little mister these days.


We went swimming at the local hot springs pool Sunday Afternoon, it was nice and warm, but not too warm for the kiddo. He seemed to really enjoy his first swim, although did become very jealous when he spotted a baby girl across the pool with a small rubber ducky, I guess his large inflatable turtle couldn't compare to a simple rubber duck!



Dad took us on a tour of the facilities, including climbing up the 40 m scope. Here we are 20m + up the big scope, the climb was interesting as it was a series of small stairwells and tiny doors and low overhangs.
Looking down at the car.
Looking up at where we were.

The stars at night were the most amazingly bright I've ever seen, even better than Tofino and Hornby Island. Bronson and I lounged outside quite a bit and the silence there was wonderful - not a person, nor a cricket, not even a cow after that first day. I really loved being up there in the country, and Bronson was really happy there too. Matthew enjoyed working hands on with the telescope - I mean, that's why he entered this field, so our love of Owens Valley is unanimous. Expect more time spent up there, and more blog entrys of the desert scape!

VAL & TIM - Re: the tablet

And here's one just for fun:

[Matt & I race to the computer/tablet after B goes to sleep each night]

A visit from my friend David!

Melissa and Jonathan Neufeld (Melissa nee Pitts) were in Palm Springs on vacation and came up to visit us for the afternoon in Pasadena with their son David who is 2 months older than Bronson.
Bronson was pretty focused on David, David showed him how to crawl forwards, stand up and eat Cheerios (leaves, grass, specks off the carpet, etc, etc).
We took a walk to CalTech and saw the turtle pond, then laid the kids out on a blanket for some pictures. It's amazing how much David looks like a little boy and Bronson looks like a baby - 2 months makes such a difference.
It was a hot day (32 degrees!) but a good time was had by all and we really look forward to visiting with the Neufelds again, hopefully this summer.

Does this boy look sick to you?

Nope, the doctor didn't think so either, but really, he's had his first fever and is uncharacteristically grumpy - especially in the evenings. Take him to the doctors office or pull out the camera and he's all smiles, however.

Happy Birthday to Jennifer.

March 8 was Jenn's Birthday. She was happy to hear from her friends and parents, and to receive such nice gifts. But she liked my gift the most: I'm sending her to the spa. Ha!

We ordered some Indian food, which was nice, except that when we ordered the veggie appetizers, they must have thought that we meant the meatie appetizers. Fancy that.

Also, I drew a picture of a rocketship with Jennifer's new tablet:

The boy - he crawls?

No... it's more like a slither, and only in the backwards direction. This doesn't so much suit his purposes, however he is enjoying finding new toys as he moves backwards, they're like suprises! So now he can turn 360 degrees and move backwards ... he's sort of like the lady who's afraid to make left hand turns, he can still get anywhere, it just takes him longer to figure it all out.

My soccer ball

Yesterday I bought a soccer ball for, well, not Bronson. For our soccer team to use. Bronson however has taken a great liking of the ball. His eyes are glued to the ball whenever it's around, he grabs it and can barely hold on, then he puts it up to his mouth and slobbers all over it. It's more enticing than even tv! Needless to say we're one part thrilled that he's showing a liking of the sport, two parts worried that he's going to have a hard time watching us kick his beloved friend around.

This evening Bronson was very upset - mom cleaned out his nose and he wouldn't let me hold him. Matthew was having some trouble calming him down too, when all of a sudden everything was quiet. I went to the living room to see how dad had done it, and there was B on the floor with his ball. After playing couch kick for a while, he had recovered from the trauma of snot and had a feed then went to bed.

Caught in the Act!!!


Bronson is a squiggly little guy and will often turn circles in his crib during "nap" time. The other day I peeked in as I was walking by his room and he'd pulled all the blankets into the bed, turned himself 90 degrees, retrieved the blue dog from the far corner and had his feet up on the side of the crib, he was looking up at his fish mobile chatting away.

What a goof!

Goodbye Grandma and Grandpa!

Yesterday Bronson tried green beans for the first time. Last night he was restless and wouldn't settle. Not sure the beans are such a big hit. We'll try again after a few good nights sleeps.

My parents have left on the train up North, after a good 2 week visit. Bronson REALLY enjoyed the company...or should I say attention. He's been looking around for them all day. He really seems keen to have visitors and play with people other than mom and dad. Not to rub it in (prairie people) but wow has he ever changed since Christmas! He's so much more interactive with people, from grabbing their arms to babbling to them, it was great to see him connecting with people other than us.

Bronson shows off for Grandma's camera

Grandma Val, Bronson and Grandpa Tim

Bronson and Grandpa take a rest

Bronson has a runny nose and I am still very much under the weather with the flu... so Matthew's babying everybody :)

As for our trip to Leno - it was short and pretty neat. We might have been in the audience shots, dunno.

Tiny Toes!

Bronson is still chewing anything and everything in sight, he's having an awful time with my hair though, he can't quite figure it out. Here's a shot of his two teeth.