Good to see you too

K-Pop's favorite 10 seconds of the day.

Lands End

The K-family took a trip out to Lands End over the weekend with good friends Chris and Dave (who was visiting for the weekend from NY). Incidentally, K-bao has been a big fan of Chris ("Krih! Krih!") for some time, and also took quickly to Dave ("Day! Day!") as well. As the K-folks have noted with alarm, she tends to like the boys.

During the trip K-bao got to ride in her hiking backpack, otherwise known as her palanquin /royalty carrier (bequeathed to her by Phat Baby Photographer's family some months ago). From this vantage point she would alternatively tug on K-Pop's ears, sway from side to side while shouting "ABCDEFG" at the top of her lungs, pretend she was sitting in a swing and rock forward and backwards vigorously, or whisper in K-Pop's ear "pao-pao" (run! run!) as if she were Mr. Jakes urging Black Beauty to go faster.

K-Pop is paying for it in his sore calves now but the beautiful views, fresh air and good company were well worth it. At one point our little group even saw a family of dolphins swimming in the Bay.

The Grapes of Joy

Grapes are the new cheese in K-bao's diet - the one snack or dessert that she will gobble up, in excessive quantities, without any prodding or coaxing.

You can see her loading up below, one piece after the other (after grunting out Pu-tao - grape in Chinese - at K-Pop's insistence). She loves all varieties; whenever K-Mum asks her whether she wants green or purple, she insists on both.

By the way, there was a time when sharing was a real dilemma in little K-bao's life. We chronicled her general approach to this subject (i.e. "I'm into sharing as long as it's you sharing with me") in her art episode last week. As you can see below however she has discovered her generous genes when it comes to her parents, and now will willingly give a token grape or two to the folks who provide her food, shelter and clothing.

Modern Art

Below is a clip of K-bao at the canvas. We call her style "Vigorous Impressionism." As you can see, she takes a rather forceful approach with her strokes. At least we know that lack of boldness in execution of artistic vision won't be one of the criticisms of her work.

Wine Country

Last weekend we took K-bao to Sonoma wine country and spent some time hanging out at Viansa, a charming winery specializing in Italian grape varieties. Below is K-bao running around on the grass by the villa, trying to be stand-offish but ultimately unable to resist K-Mum's charms.

Art & Morals

We took K-bao to check out ARTifact (a children's arts school in San Francisco) this morning. K-bao had no trouble getting into their painting-on-the-sidewalk activity, snatching up a brush and proceeding to paint happily not only on the pavement but also on her shirt and pants as well as all over other kids' little sidewalk creations. Incidentally, K-bao's modus operandi with older kids is to walk up and loudly assert "Share!" - not the expression of any altruistic desire on her part but rather an unabashed guilt trip to get the target kid to give up a toy or some other desired resource. Today for example K-bao would run over, dip her brush in another kid's colors while simultaneously yelling "Share!" Stunned and unable to muster up any retorts that appealed to higher principles, the older girls would quietly let K-bao take over their paint jars. The K-folks clearly have a little work to do on the scruples.