First afternoon at the beach

Even though we did not have time, on this trip. to make it up the coast to the wild and beautiful beaches outside San Francisco, we were determined to show QQ a beach while we were on the coast. We couldn't miss her first encounter with the ocean. So on the first day that it didn't rain, we took her down to the piers.
It was somewhere in between warm and cold, so we were amazed to see swimmers out there in bathing caps and swim suits. Guess it's the mountain kids in us...it would never occur to us to swim in a place like this, in weather like this, without so much as a wetsuit. But then, I suppose that there are a lot of people who would never think of climbing a 14-thousand-foot peak just for fun. So there you go.
It took QQ a minute to adjust to walking on the sand...
...but she seemed to enjoy it. Not the she was astounded, or anything, like we'd hoped. I think QQ just expects her world to be full of wonders and marvelous things laid out for her enjoyment.
Of course, daddy had to write her name in the sand.
And mommy had to document it for posterity. Here's the funny thing: we've been home from China eight months, and already I have more photos than we'll ever be able to go back and sift through during her adult life. For whom, exactly, do I think I'm taking all these pictures?


Happy girl, running into the surf for the first time.
Don't you love firsts?






QQ got a lot of compliments for this particular outfit. One fashionable young woman on Fillmore stopped me to tell me that Q was the most stylish toddler she'd ever seen (QQ took the compliment in stride. She's heard it all before). The "capelet" was actually a happy accident - it's a woolen neck cowl that I picked up off the clearance rack at Urban Outfitters one day when I was feeling befuddled by the San Francisco climate. To us high-plains inhabitants who live in a climate so dry that nothing ever goes stale, humidity is puzzling. I could never decide if I was too cold or too hot. So I took off my coat and wore this cowl to keep my neck warm one day while on a long walk around the city. As it turned out, QQ got cold very easily in this damp climate and no matter how many layers we put on her, her little chin was always trembling. So, I gave her my cowl, and it turned out to be the perfect solution. She wore it every day for the rest of the trip.
(btw the striped socks that I'm wearing in all the SF photos were another part of my birthday gift from M. - they're "pirate hose" from 826 Valencia. I love them. He bought me two pairs, and I wore them every day).