Best of Will 2009

People keep telling us we need to capture Will's cute moments while we can. We were finally looking through all the videos we've taken of Will so far. These last two were taken in the same day and just too adorable not to share.

Dr. Seuss' Mr. Brown Can Moo is a favorite. This is me making lightning... splatt splatt splatt! Will thinks it's hilarious. I've never seen him laugh so hard before!


This boy loves to dance. (wave his arms around) I have this song stuck in my head all day. Now you will too!

1st Birthday and Bad Booboos

The time has finally come to celebrate Will's first birthday!! Our chubby baby is stretching out into a pudgy toddler. He's still working on walking, and has taken a few steps and stood by himself once.

Some of his favorite things:
Brushes. His current favorite is the toothbrush. Take it away from him and he will start wailing!
Piggyback rides
yogurt, bread, and strawberries
doggies
attention from adults, but more especially kids

His new favorite toy is the Little People airplane that his Aunt Erin got him. It sings an annoyingly catchy song that Will loves to dance to. As I type this he's pressing the button and waving his arms around.

For the double birthday celebration (Will shares his birthday with his Uncle Alex), the Olson clan rode the carousel and train at Tilden Park.
Like mother, like daughter!
We spent a little time in the sand and surf at an Alameda beach. Not the same as the real beach, but it met the requirements. (sand, warm weather, and not too disgusting water, although Alex did get sick...)
And we wrapped the party up with some more swimming, pizza, and ice cream cake at our place. There's 11 candles for Alex, and one for Will.
As you can guess from the title of the post, life is not all fun and games for the Willster. Yesterday morning I was holding him in the kitchen and he reached out and put his little hand right on the burner. Not even the musical airplane could distract him from screaming.
There's a blister on each finger, but the one shown here is the worst. It's pretty much the size of his finger! It's been over 24 hours and still hasn't popped. Hope no one is eating right now...but any advice for severe blisters?


A note for worriers
Will is fine. After a nap yesterday he was back to his normal, happy self. I'm using antibiotic ointment and band-aids on him.

Japantown すごい！

My long search for Melon Pan in America is now over. You can buy it in Japantown duh! Why didn't I think of that before? I didn't really know Japantown existed. But we had a GREAT time yesterday wandering through the different Japanese shops, eating adorable sugary snacks, and taking dorky photos.

I know many former missionaries who said they lived off of Melon Pan during their time in Japan. My favorite was the chocolate chip kind or チョコメロンパン。What is Melon Pan? A sweet bread with some kind of sugary topping. There must be some addictive chemical in the topping because Americans just can't get enough of it. Does it really taste like melon? Who cares?
I'm also standing in front of a store completely devoted to Okinawan goods! I was in Okinawa for a year so it was so fun to see all the shisa (lion type figurines) brightly colored fabrics, beni imo (purple potato), goya (bitter cucumber), kuro sato (black sugar), etc. and excitedly explain everything to Britton. Talking to the woman at the register made me realize how many words I've already forgotten. My brain felt like I had just poured cement in it.

Here's the Peace Pavilion. It's where you stand in front of the pagoda and do the peace sign while someone takes a picture of you. Very Japanese.

Britton enjoyed many Japanese snacks. One of the most popular in America is the Pocky. Here Britton is modeling the Men's Pocky. He let me try a little bit of one. It tasted very manly.
Here we have the Japanese crepe. It's like an ice cream sundae stuffed in a warm crepe. You have to eat it quickly.
So you don't think we ate sugar all day we also tried one of the authentic Japanese restaurants, Mifune. Will tasted his first seaweed, mmm... We had steaming bowls of udon, and Britton tried the chicken and egg bowl (Oyako Donburi). They also had Okonomiyaki which I've tried to make on my own, but failed miserably.

For all you Hello Kitty fans they also have a Sanrio store. (Erin...) Did you know Hello Kitty is celebrating her 35th anniversary? That's like 245 in cat years.

Another part of modern Japanese culture is taking pictures at the Puri Kura (picture booth).

Oh yeah, there's two more poses where that came from.

Britton says we don't need to go to Japan anymore.

See Michelle Read--Book Giveaway

Meet my book-addicted friend Michelle. I met her at BYU as the wife of one of Britton's fellow nerds. She's a librarian and avid reader so I love to to check her latest witty, honest review on Goodreads, and I found out lately that she also has a book review blog. She reads a TON!

There's a giveaway for Twenty Boy Summer by Sarah Ockler on her blog. Book giveaways are the ONLY giveaways I've had any luck with. It sounds like a perfect summer read. Here's Michelle's review.

Anna and her best friend Frankie are ready to embark on the Absolute Best Summer Ever (ABSE) - a twenty day long vacation in sunny California with Frankie's mom and dad. Convinced Anna's lack of experience in the boy department will finally be fixed in California, Frankie institutes the 20 boys in 20 days plan.

Typical teenage summer love story right?

Wrong. If Sarah Ockler had just left it there, you'd have a fun, light novel but let's just add another layer here, shall we? Anna and Frankie's lives have been forever marred by a horrible tragedy that has become the proverbial pink elephant in the room - one they don't speak about and try to forget ever happened - but which haunts their every day. Feeling like she should be there to support Frankie, Anna has despaired to watch Frankie basically fall apart for the past year all the while holding onto her own secrets and pain. Their summer, although in the guise of meeting boys and escaping the watchful eye of parents, is full of pain, love, loss, forgiveness and just depth.

There are so many breathtaking moments in this book. Anna is a compelling narrator who brings such meaning to a understandably complex and heartbreaking story. Even with these elements of pain and loss, Anna's youth still shines through in her often hilarious interactions with Frankie. Take this scene between Anna and Frankie for instance:

'"Frankie, are you serious?"

"Maybe." She half grins, the devil that sits on shoulders in all the old cartoons. The one that's way more cute than scary and therefore causes infinitely more destruction and chaos.'

I mean, just listen to that voice. Ockler has done a fabulous job of creating such a exquisite narrator. Anna's descriptions of people and place - especially the ocean - constantly blew me away. The ocean becomes a living, breathing integral part of this book: it holds secrets, dreams, fear and pain and a never-ending supply of colored sea glass. I loved this book - it made me think of the brightness of each new summer and the inherent possibilities of youth. Such a wonderful story that I couldn't have enjoyed more. And the cover? Parfait.

Don't move, Sarah Ocker. Right now, everything is perfect.

Home Again Home Again

We are back in
And I thought there weren't any grocery stores in my neighborhood. Every other store in Chinatown is selling produce! I've only shopped in one of them so far.
This area isn't the most take-a-walk-with-your-kid-friendly place I've ever been, but we have to get out of the house at least once a day. Mostly we walk around Jack London Square on the waterfront path. I started noticing these mysterious rock towers appearing along the path. Finally one morning I saw their creator. I guess even homeless guys need to express their creativity.
Another decent walk is to the city center. We meet Britton's aunt Aileen for lunch sometimes. She's working at a nonprofit organization nearby.
Sometimes it's worth the walk just to get our Jamba fix.

A walk I try not to take is the Madison Park/Lake Merritt area. I took this picture of the Madison Park Apartments because I like the look of the brick and wrought iron. It's a historical landmark believe it or not. I handed the camera case to Will to distract him from crying. We continue walking past the Lake Merritt Bart station, and I notice Will dropped the camera case. (He always does! I don't know why I expect him to hold on to stuff.) Two minutes! It's gone.

Here's another interesting landmark in the area. The Light of Buddha Temple. I wonder if monks live there...
So this is our 'hood. I'm over it. I'm ready for Stanford again.

Getting Our Nerd on in D.C.

Britton has a CSGF (Computational Science Graduate Fellowship) Conference every summer in the fantastically busy metropolis that is D.C. He went alone last year since I was working and 6-7 months pregnant. This year I got to tag along with Will in tow. Plus, this year Britton's sister is living in Arlington so I had family to hang out with, and a friend from Stanford is living there this summer. Perfect!

The real reason we were in D.C.
Britton is presenting his research at the poster session. His poster/presentation made it to the final round! I think there was about 60 students from around the country that have the CSGF fellowship. The hardest part of the presentation for them was making the presentation short enough for the average attention span and simple enough for others to understand. I had to be careful not to look too interested in their posters or they would give me long explanations of their research while I was holding Will.

The Touristy Stuff:

The National Zoo (It's FREE!)


Erin was a great sport and tour guide. She has enough experience with all the people she's had visit her in the last year!
She also took us to Mount Vernon, and made sure we saw the best parts of the area.
Here we are in front of the Potomac. It was a hot day so the Washington's shady back yard hit the spot.
She also took us to the Udvar-Hazy Aerospace Museum with both Sam and Olivia even though they have all been there countless times:) Aerospace museums are always better with Britton.
Britton and Will are posing in front of a giant rocket engine (thingy). Britton's research has to do with simulating the turbulence and shock waves that occur in these bad boys.
I had to post these next two pictures because Olivia took them! They're very cute Olivia!
I also went to the American History Museum, the National Portrait Gallery, Gallery of American Art, the National Gallery of Art, and the Holocaust Museum. Here's Will enjoying some Monet.

Lessons learned:

Book tickets to the top of the Washington Monument weeks...months in advance
Get tickets online for the Holocaust Museum and get a time earlier in the day. (there's so much to see)
Be prepared for a long line at the National Archives. I really wanted to go here for the constitution and "BIG exhibit" but wasn't up for standing in the line forever with Will.

I guess I have reasons to go back then:)

Finally I was told it was best to see all the monuments at the mall at night. I thought about booking a bike the sights tour, but decided we could bike it on our own! We put Will to bed, and biked into the city from Arlington.
We saw EVERY monument and memorial! And it didn't take too long. The only problem was figuring out what to do with the bikes while we walked up to Lincoln. He was so much bigger that I imagined.
Britton convinced me to lay down, block out my peripheral, and pretend like I was walking up the side of the Washington Monument. It works:)

So that's all our vacation this summer. I have to figure out what to do in Oakland for the rest of August...

Self Control?

I am looking in the fridge for something to munch on for lunch.

Conversation inside my head:

Oh, Pineapple Upside-down Cake.... I should save that for dessert tonight. Why not eat it now? It doesn't make a difference if you eat it now instead of later in the day. OK. Munch, munch, munch.
I should save the other piece for Britton.

You can guess what happened to the other piece.
This is why I try not to even buy junk food. Win the battle at the grocery store.

Getting Back to Nature

There's nothing like spending a few days sleeping on the forest floor to help you appreciate modern conveniences. I appreciate clean carpet which keeps my son from covering himself in dirt every day.
I was in charge of the Sommercorn reunion this year...not sure whose idea that was. I think it went pretty well for my first reunion planning. We camped in Hidden Springs in the Humboldt Redwoods State Park. We were within walking distance of this river.

This is the BEST swimming river I have ever encountered! It was surprisingly a pleasant temperature, pretty calm water, clear, plenty of skipping rocks, and a large rock and tree to jump off of. It was perfect for Will's first river swimming experience. There was also some fish that would swim by your ankles so Britton took Alex fishing one morning. (We brought Britton's little brother Alex along for the fun.)
Alex kept himself busy falling into rivers and bugging Hailey. (Or was Hailey bugging him by pushing him into rivers?)

Camping in the redwoods we saw plenty of big trees. Here's the famous drive-thru tree. (I think there might be more than one drive-thru tree.) It's big enough for minivans and suburbans to fit through! Most of the bottom part is dead, but the top is still living and climbing higher! These trees just don't quit.



It seems like you spend half your time camping making food. There's nothing like s'mores to bring the family together.
Here's the whole Sommercorn-y group.

Why do I look SO short!? I'm wearing heels for the next family picture.