Hike

K-bao hit the trails last weekend with her sister C-bao. Here she is posing coyly at the beginning of her hike, which she handled like a pro.

This was perhaps her fourth visit to Lands End and the first time she handled the walk by herself. A prior visit - where she was carried like royalty throughout - was documented in these pages as well. Looking back, it's clear that her mischievous spirit has carried through bright and strong over the last two years.

Tahoe

A few pics from a recent short trip to Tahoe, where K-bao swam, hiked, and sat on her throne (in our Home Away rented cabin).

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.

Short Hike

After working for some 210 of the last 240 hours, K-Pop managed to get a couple hours today to take K-Mum and K-bao to Golden Gate park for a little bit of R&R. We also thought it would be a good opportunity to test out the Kelty Kids baby carrier that our dear friends A&Z's Mum & Phat Baby Photographer gave us, pictured above.

Now why exactly we thought it would be a good idea to test a hiking backpack at a city park is unclear, given that it took all of 2 minutes to walk from our car to the kids' playground, all on smooth, paved asphalt. Especially since it took us about 10 minutes to load her up in the carrier, figure out all the straps, buckles and other bells and whistles, and another 3 minutes to unload her once we got there.

Of course, our lengthy loading time was due in no small part to K-Mum insisting on attaching the "UV Screen" with its fancy hook and loop system - this despite the fact that the sun was setting and K-bao frankly would probably have been quite pleased to get a few warm rays on her pale, chubby cheeks. All in all, with our hiking backpack, UV screen, diaper bag and other paraphernalia, K-Pop felt like a traveling circus. Barnum, Bailey & Hu.

K-bao appeared to have fun though. It turns out that she enjoys people-watching; she spent a good deal of time staring at the older kids hollering and clambering all over the monkey bars. Hopefully she didn't pick up too much. She also enjoyed the baby swing and slide, shown below.

Golden Gate Hike

K-Mum and K-Pop took the little one on a hike in the Golden Gate National Recreational Area today. Here is the Hu family posing on a little bridge. Our excursion was notable for (i) its brevity, related to (ii) our fear that she would unceremoniously do her business halfway through and we would be forced to lay out the changing pad amidst the thickets in the wilderness and expose her diminutive derriere to the glaring sun and gawking fellow-hikers. Luckily she spared us this adventure.

(By the way, the astute reader may have noticed that there's been a certain theme running through these first three posts. We will try and report on other matters, naturally, but really at this stage of parenting our lives are pretty much dominated by the few, basic rhythms of life - sleeping, eating and expelling. Not much going on with the first, and other than a freezer full of breastmilk, not much with the second either. So guess where all the action is. )

We did come across some nice horses during our hike. K-Bao did not appear to have much interest, gazing as much at the grass as she did at the horse, but here we've recorded the moment in case she turns out to be some magnificent equestrian in the future in which case we'll point to this day, this moment as the source of her love and inspiration.