Anja and Jay are in Michigan :-(

This isn't a real Anja post, since I don't have any updates or pictures since she and Jay left this weekend. Jay has been away from Anja quite a few times for as long as a week for work, but we realized that I had never been away from Anja before now. It wasn't really planned that way, but what can you do when you're unemployed and can't afford vacations or childcare? It was pretty sad dropping them off at the airport, but she is having a great time in Michigan. The Cousins say she is "cute as ever" and "fascinatingly cute". Apparently they have been playing what Jay calls the gravity game, whereby Anja throws toys on the floor and Kai gets them for her. The other game, played by all, involves everyone staring at Anja and waiting for her to do something cute. Jay will be taking some pictures and video that I can put up next week. She's already spent some time at camp and had a sauna!

In other news, my job is fun. I've been growing very specialized bacteria in .9 pH acid with no carbon. They get their carbon from CO2 instead of organic matter like most bacteria and grow in a solution as acidic as battery acid - cool. They also are the main accelerator of sulfuric acid production in mines, creating acid mine drainage, a serious environmental problem. Our study site was the most polluting acid mine site in the U.S. and is now a superfund site. We don't have our technique perfected for growing the bacteria in the lab yet, but here's what my latest colony looks like:


I also just ran my first ultramarathon today, a 50K( 31miles). Here's a picture of the area where the run was:


As usual I am awed by the beauty. Too much beauty! It was pretty fun, but I think I've had my fill of that caliber of running for a while. I like it, but it's just so time intensive to train properly for something like that. I had to give up a full Saturday or Sunday each weekend just for a training run. Family time is just too important now. Real ultramarathoners get up at 3 or 4am to get in their hours of running, but I also think sleep is more important. So for now I think I'll stick to short fun runs and bike rides and hikes that Anja can enjoy.

Anja recovered from her cold pretty well before the trip to Michigan. Here's a video from last week when she was pretty sad and we were trying to entertain her. A search in You Tube for "kitty" and "funny" is all we needed:

First fever

Anja made it almost 15 months before having her first fever, which was today. She's had some runny noses in the past, but has never really been sick, or had an ear infection either. We've been amazingly lucky about that so far. She was a pretty good sport about being sick today, and still wanted to play, although she had trouble sleeping. Her fever reached 104 in the afternoon (I was in contact with her doctor) and here she is running around in the apartment with the AC on full and no clothes on. Except that she absolutely had to wear her shoes and her new backpack. She was much better by bedtime with her temp back down to 99.


Jay and Anja leave in a couple of weeks for Michigan. I won't be able to go since I don't get vacation for 6 months. I'm bummed, but more happy to have a job than anything. It does mean that Jay will be traveling across the country alone with a very active toddler while dragging a car seat. I picked up this cute backpack that she loves that also has a detachable "leash" on the back to avoid losing your kid in a crowded airport.

Bathtime

In case you missed it on facebook or flickr, here is something to make you laugh:

4th of July and Reading List Complete

I finally finished Anja's current list of books, you can see in on the lower right side of this page. I think these are all the books she has right now, although there may be a few under furniture or hidden somewhere around here.

I didn't take any photos of the fireworks, but for the second year in a row Anja slept right through them.


Here are a few recent photos from yet another beautiful part of Point Reyes where I have been running lately. On recent runs I've seen an osprey nest with chicks, many semi-tame deer on the trail, elephant seals, two different kinds of snakes and many lizards. This picture here is the trail to Arch Rock.


And this is the view facing south toward Bolinas from Sky Trail.


This weekend we went to Tilden Lake Park in Berkeley and Anja and Jay got to see Berkeley's campus (sorry no pictures of campus). But here is Anja sporting some new clothes from Grandma at the park, very stylish.


And checking out a ladybug with Daddy:


Also a video of Anja finding all the clothes that arrived in the mail from Grandma. She loves to play dress-up. She picks out a lovely flower dress/plaid shorts combo here:

Beaches clams and hikes

Since last weekend we've been to Bolinas Beach for the first time. It's part of a "locals only" type of community but it is a public beach. It definitely has a more hippie feel to it, complete with dogs running loose everywhere and the apparently parentless boy about four years old who was running around in the surf with no clothes on. The beach was nice and the water was surprisingly warm. There is a fairly protected bay that is great for first-time surfers and some people were taking lessons when we were there.


Anja loves running around on the beach and she no longer eats sand!


She liked her clam.


Then we went to Duxbury Reef where some of the most impressive tidepooling around can be found. We were there at medium tide so we didn't see the really awesome stuff like sea slugs or sea cucumbers, but we did find a lot of small fish and hermit crabs, as well as a few bigger crabs.


Anja thought some of it was pretty cool, until she became squirmy.


Look, a rare photo of me with Anja! Check out this amazing tide pool. I love it.


We also went on a guided nature hike through Marin County Open Spaces. They are free and there are several a week. Here is Anja looking at an insect in a bottle that was caught on the hike.


And we stopped with the group for lunch here.


Also Anja and her dad on Father's Day weekend. She liked putting the picks into the hole in the guitar.

Sign Language and more videos

Here are a couple of videos of Anja saying bird in sign language. She also says "bird" verbally, but it mostly sounds like "baby."





Also this video is cute for multiple reasons. First, this is the first time we've given Anja these finger puppets from her grandparents and she really likes them. Second, this is her typical morning outfit. She loves to put on clothes, especially dresses. So here she had me put on a dress over her pajamas, and then wanted a sweater put on over everything.


And here's a funny one showing how quickly her tastes change. A few weeks ago she LOVED this whole milk yogurt and now she doesn't eat it at all:

Teeth, more words and new job

I keep forgetting to mention that a few weeks ago Anja got all 4 of her first molars in the same week! We didn't even notice she was getting them until the first 3 were through. Then the 4th came through a few days later. Lots of kids have a lot of trouble ( ie pain and crying for weeks) with the molars because they're so big, but she didn't seem to mind. She is pretty unphased by most things. In fact, our daycare provider was very impressed when Anja apparently did a "face plant" in the yard, got up and kept going. She said the boys were impressed. It's pretty routine around here :-)

More words each day now. In the last few days Anja has added the following: Keys, kitty, cow, car, clock, chair, bag. Today she looked at a clock on the wall and declared "Kwock!" Yesterday she saw someone stamping their feet and said, "Dancing!" (pronounced Dandee) and then she did it back. Oh, and today she pointed to my and her pajamas and said, "Babamas!"


Yesterday I took Anja on a guided nature hike for 4 hours, then we went to Berkeley for a work gathering at my new lab. About 6 miles total in the carrier and she met a bunch of new people. She did great. She slept for the last mile of the hike and was awake for the entire work party. She loved all the birds on the hike and when we stopped for lunch she loved the ladybugs and the cucumber beetles we found.

Here we are on a balcony on campus with the view of the Golden Gate Bridge (not pictured). This is my new lab, Anja is the one with the sippy cup. Really looking forward to starting Monday.


Today I felt very cosmopolitan as Anja and I walked downtown and toured the galleries and boutiques. It's a great pedestrian town. I'm not really much into shopping (not having any money you get out the habit of spending it pretty quickly). But it's great for Anja to see new things and meet new people. They do have a great bookstore here with a big kids' section and a basement for used books. There are also a few plaza-type areas downtown with fountains. Hopefully next year when our lease runs out we can move to a little house that is walking distance from downtown. Prices are pretty high here (for renting, there is NO way we could buy) so if we want to rent a house we would either have to go down in size or up in price.

We are still deciding what to do this weekend. There are three nearby towns (within a half hour of Petaluma) that have festivals with live outdoor music all weekend. Plus there is a another good guided nature hike on a nearby mountain we haven't been to yet. I also recently discovered a great coffee shop that has live music Saturday mornings at 10:30, plus the Saturday farmer's market is finally going here and I still haven't been to it. Stay tuned!