Peninsular Grand-Parenting

Lufthansa returned us to the hugs and kisses of three-year-old grand-daughter Penelope, and we spent the next three weeks mostly in her company, helping her mom and dad with child-care and with various other projects around the house. It was the last few weeks of summer for daughter Rebecca, and she had a long list of things to accomplish before the start of the new school year. We had a few notable excursions to San Francisco, to be recounted in subsequent posts, but most of our time was with Princess P, all up and down the Peninsula, and beyond, reading, playing in the backyard or in her room, going to the park or playground or beach, train-spotting, train-riding, hiking, picnicking, shopping, and a myriad other things to keep a very active three-year-old happy and engaged. Assertiveness, independence, etc., are well within her repertoire now, apart from being very social and verbal, but our previous tag-team approach to occupying her still worked; most of the time. Oh yes, as on previous occasions, we stayed in Maggie's cottage, next door.

At Redwood Shores Public Library, one of several libraries
we visited for story-time, craft-time, music-time, etc.

Perhaps our best day was at Oakland's
Fairyland; there's Princess P; Fairyland is
quite a story in itself...the nation's first theme
park, first park for children only, one of
Disney's inspirations for you know what; he
visited in 1950 and subsequently hired
Fairyland's director for Disneyland; yes,
Oakland is not on the peninsula, I know

It's not Guignol, but it is the oldest still running
puppet theater in the US, the Open Storybook Puppet
Theater, where Muppeteer Frank Oz, for example, got
his start; obviously P is enthralled

She was enthralled too by the Old West town and its jail

There are only three rides at Fairyland, but we made the most
of them; here's a contemplative P on the carousel

Clearly the ferris wheel was her favorite; the lines were quite
short this late summer week-day, and she rode it probably
15 times in succession

Two little pigs, with Grandpa

With her favorite princess; we noted that this
exhibit was in the official Disney style, perhaps
a gift from Walt to the park of his inspiration

At a kiddies' splash pad in San Carlos

Splash pad Tai Chi? This is California

Trainspotting, of course

And riding the train...

To another park, in San Jose

On a three mile hike at Edgewood Park and Natural Preserve,
near Redwood City

And, finally, at Moss Beach, near Half Moon Bay; we'd
been promising P a trip to the beach, forgetting that beach
fun in Middle California, even in August, requires polar tech,
a wind-breaker, wet weather gear...but P enjoyed it greatly,
as we do her