American Graffiti and Coast Trail

This past Saturday we headed into town for Salute to American Graffiti, since the movie was filmed almost entirely in Petaluma. It was mainly a classic cars cruise, which was pretty fun.


Anja was unimpressed by the revving engines and honking, but then she discovered she could see the "baby in the mirror" in every bumper.


Today Jay had to visit one of his field crews in the Sierras, so Anja and I headed out for our first longish hike alone in a while. Usually Jay carries her for the entire hike, or sometimes we take turns, but today I had to carry everything myself. We hiked a 5 mile loop on Coast Trail from the south end of Point Reyes to a spring-fed inland lake.


Anja did great as usual. She's pretty happy if she has a piece of grass or a dandelion to hold onto while we walk. I'm pretty sure she's not eating them :-)


As usual, gorgeous views, stunning scenery, etc. Only saw one marine mammal (sea lion).


There are actually a bunch of surfers in this photo, but they are really tiny specks. I was thinking of taking surf lessons here until I found out that Bolinas is one of the top 10 shark infested beaches in the world. You know, because the great whites breed here.

Hired!

I was offered a position at Berkeley and will be starting full time there in a month (after I finish the one month field position I just started). Anja has had two full days of daycare this week and did fine. The first day she seemed to really have fun, and the second day she was a little sad for about half the day and was pretty clingy with one of the daycare workers for the rest of the day. I think overall it is going well. Most of the kids there are around two years old, and there is only one infant, so there is a lot of activity appropriate to her age. She is napping well there and eating a lot and getting a lot of interaction with other kids, which is great.

My field job has been fun. We spend all day sitting in a field of flowers, counting violet leaves and buds. Our site is on the side of a hill overlooking Tomales Bay and is foggy and really windy all day long. It is surprisingly cold, today I wore long underwear and was still cold. Meanwhile in Petaluma 30 minutes away it was 80 degrees. And I even saw my first bobcat today! Next week we work with thistles.

And here's a video of Anja putting baby animals to bed in her book:

Shadow

Mother's Day and maybe jobs

We had a very nice Mother's Day weekend here.

Saturday we went for a nice hike (only 6 miles, but very hilly). Anja is getting heavier to carry, but at least now we don't have to carry a heavy cooler with bottles since she does eat a lot of solid food.


She continues to be a great traveler, and even stayed awake for the entire 4 hours we were out there. The weather around here is funny: on this hike it quickly changed from very hot and oppressive to really chilly, depending on whether we were in a sunny valley or on the ridge with cold ocean winds. So we would emerge on each hilltop drenched in sweat, to be chilled by a very cool breeze and have to pull out a sweatshirt.


Here's a great view looking back over part of the trail we just hiked. What you can't see is how it dips down several hundred feet and goes straight back up again! I love this particular area, called the Marin Headlands. It's just north of the Golden Gate Bridge, about 30 minutes from our place. So close and yet seemingly so remote.


I love how Anja walks, arms swinging and so happy. She really is a happy kid.


Anja will be starting daycare this week, at least for a month. I have a temporary field work position at Point Reyes which should be pretty fun. With the cost of daycare I won't be doing much better than breaking even, but it will be good for me to do some science, and possibly make some contacts. Anja liked daycare before, but it's been 5 months now and this is a new place, so I'm hoping it's not too traumatic. I think she will be pretty sad at first. Jay will be the one to drop her off on Thursday, and I'm grateful :-) This is a home daycare, with not too many kids, and I think she will like it once she's been a few times.


I also have a couple of very real possibilities for permanent work, I should find out about both by the end of this week. I have been looking nonstop for work for the last 10 months. The job I interviewed for on Friday was the 47th job I've applied for since January out here. I had applied for 50 in Michigan before we left as well. How odd that this past week I had three interviews in three days after hearing nothing for months and may very well have to choose between two good options. Both would probably work well for us, but right now I'm very excited about the position at Berkeley, which I think I would really love. I was told at the interview that I am their "top choice", but they are interviewing two more this week. Trying not to get my hopes up...

Hats

Anja likes putting on hats sometimes.


But she also thinks it's pretty funny to take them off.


Funnier at home than when out on a sunny hike.

Making faces, playing games

Lots of video today.

Anja is really having fun copying what we do. She learned how to blink:


And how to make a fish face like Daddy:


She also LOVES to play the game where Daddy hides her pirate and she tries to find it:


Meanwhile all things box-shaped must be stood upon:


And a constant vigilance must be kept for hummingbirds:


In response to Beth's request, I will be adding Anja's "reading list" to the blog. It will appear on the right side of the blog, just below the pictures. Her interest in books is very persistent. She brings book after book after book for reading. She has some favorites, but really likes to look at anything with pictures: flyers, junk mail, news magazines. But the books "Good Night Moon", "Big Red Barn" and "I am a Bunny" are probably her favorites right now. If there is much more than a sentence on the page she will usually turn it before you can finish reading.