Micke Grove Zoo

On Memorial Day this year, we decided to take an adventure out to Micke Grove Zoo, in Lodi, for Kaitlyn's first zoo trip. Micke Grove Park itself has been around for many years, and is a 258 acre area with a Japanese Garden, an amusement park called Fun Town, an historical museum, lots of picnic areas, and of course the zoo. I had never heard of this gem of a park until this month. Once I heard about this park and zoo, I kept hearing about it and seeing the name Micke Grove plastered everywhere. I took it as a sign that we should take Kaitlyn there.

It only took us about 35 minutes to get to the zoo from our house, and Kaitlyn took a nap almost the whole way. While we waited in the parking lot for her to wake up, we listened to monkeys "whooping" from a nearby cage. Once Kaitlyn woke up a short time later, we headed into the zoo to our first stop at the pool with the California Sea Lion who was doing tricks for his breakfast of fish. Kaitlyn enjoyed watching him twirl in the water.

Then we went to see the Bald Eagles, monkeys, turtles and water fowl. Taking a turn around some bamboo, we went to see more large birds and some lemurs. Down the way, we came to an aviary with numerous types of birds swimming at the bottom of a small waterfall. Kaitlyn seemed to like watching the birds swimming, but really liked the wooden railing keeping her out of the water. We left the aviary to see the rest of the animals. We saw more lemurs and turtles from Madagascar, hissing cockroaches (yuck!) and lizards. We headed on down to see the endangered snow leopard, many more birds, and another endangered animal, the Chinese Alligator. While stopping to look at the birds, one in particular caught Kaitlyn's eye. He kept flying back and forth in his cage, and she kept watching him. Watching his flight path was like watching a tennis match.

On our way out of the zoo, we saw some tiny monkeys who were very active. For a while Kaitlyn liked watching them jump around, but then found the ever-fun wooden railing that kept her away from the animals. At that point, we had seen all the animals in the zoo, so we headed out to the car for a snack. Kaitlyn nibbled on some Cheerios then we headed to the Japanese Garden. There were some small ponds where few koi fish swimmed, and there were lots of paths that led you through all different types of plants. It was very quiet and serene. Back to the car for a quick lunch then a walk through the rest of the park. We saw the rose garden and Fun Town, where Kaitlyn and I took a silly picture.

After about two and a half hours, we decided to pack it up and head home. Kaitlyn napped all the way home, then we played until it was bed time. We all had a great time on our holiday, and got to add another to Kaitlyn's Firsts. Micke Grove was a great "starter zoo" for Kaitlyn, preparing her for her big trip to the Sacramento Zoo this Friday with her friends at daycare.

First Biscuits, Stairs and Words

We've been feeding Kaitlyn Cheerios for a couple of weeks and today we decided it was time to try something bigger, so we gave her an Arrowroot Biscuit. She knew exactly what to do with it and ate the whole thing. Of course, it took about 15 minutes to eat 1 biscuit, but without teeth, what do you expect. After she finished, she was a little messy, but very happy and proud of herself - until it was time for the cleanup. Pictures below.

That pales in comparison to what happened next. Kaitlyn has crawled around every square inch of the downstairs in our house and has pulled herself up on everything she could reach. Well, it seems as though she has had enough of the downstairs and decided she would try to explore upstairs for a change. While I was close behind, she crawled to the bottom of the stairs and cautiously made her way up the first step. Then she continued to climb all 16 stairs, one at a time. Not only that, but as she was climbing, she was saying, "up" over and over. That's the first word she has said and really knew what she was saying (after mama and dada, of course). Luckily I caught it on film.

Talk about good timing, I had just purchased a baby gate this past week, so I put it together immediately after this little adventure and blocked the stairs. I just added a couple more baby gates to Kaitlyn's Birthday Wish List - we need to keep this baby contained ;-) This was a BIG day of firsts. Can't wait to see what tomorrow brings.

5 Years Living in Tracy

Five years ago today, we left our rented condo in Fremont for the dream of home ownership in Tracy. Why Tracy? We had family and a few friends here, it was a quiet community with lots of open space and not many crowds, the ACE Train stopped here which could take us to work in the Bay Area, and the housing prices were WAY lower than the Bay Area.

Looking back on the last 5 years, it's obvious to me that we made the right decision to move out here. I absolutely love to come home to our very own house every night and spend time as a family. We go for walks around the many parks and uncrowded streets, kayak in the private lake and shop in the spacious stores (it was a shock the first time I went to Costco and only had to wait 5 minutes in line, but it's easy to get used to). In general, it just seems a lot more relaxing in Tracy as compared to the Bay Area where we both grew up.

Of course, to gain something, you have to give something up. In our case, moving to Tracy meant moving 50 miles farther from our families and jobs. It took some adjusting, but we've gotten into a groove of visiting our families in the Bay Area and having them come to see us in Tracy on a regular basis. We don't see them as much as we would if we lived closer, but we make do.

We solved the issue of having a long commute to work with a combination of working from home and taking the ACE Train instead of driving. Over the years, Shawnna and I have alternated working from home a couple of days a week, but the current setup is that I work from home 2 days a week and Shawnna goes into the office all 5 days. When we have to travel to our office in the Bay Area, we make almost exclusive use of the ACE Train (we've only driven approximately 15 times in 5 years). The train allows us to relax and not have to deal with traffic. While riding the train over the last 5 years, we've watched about 400 movies, I've read about 50 books and we've made some good friends.
The time has gone by so fast, but we have done a lot in the last 5 years (not in order of significance):

• Attended 40 sporting events
• 23 Sharks games (hockey)
• 11 Stealth games (lacrosse)
• 3 A's games (baseball)
• 3 Giants games (baseball)
• Attended 7 live concerts
• Performers included: No Doubt, Blink 182, Night Ranger, Tim McGraw, Carlos Santana, Five For Fighting, Def Leppard, Bryan Adams, Bon Jovi, Counting Crows, Goo Goo Dolls
• Took several vacations
• Destinations included Hawaii, Las Vegas, Disneyland, Monterey / Carmel, Lake Tahoe, SeaWorld, San Diego Zoo, Hearst Castle, Universal Studios, Yosemite
• Shawnna started her own business (Thyme Deserved Personal Chef Service) and closed it down 2 years later because...
• We had a baby (Kaitlyn Belle Cutforth born 7/1/07)
• Countless other good times

Who knows what the next 5 years has in store, but if the past is any indication, it should be a fun ride.

Video of Kaitlyn Walking with a Walker

For the past few weeks, Kaitlyn has been pulling herself up on things and "cruising." To help her take it to the next level of walking, we got her a walker and I assembled it tonight so she could test it out. She was pretty quick to catch on and she walked across the family room on one of her first attempts.

Grandpa's Visit and Fun With Diapers

Yesterday, Grandpa Cutforth stopped by for a visit. Kaitlyn had a fun time hanging out, showing off her crawling & climbing skills and even drank some Cherry Coke (not really). Tonight, Kaitlyn thought it would be fun to take everything out of her diaper caddy and play with it on the floor. Below is photographic evidence of the aforementioned activities.

Kaitlyn's Birthday Wish List

With Kaitlyn's 1st birthday coming up soon, people have been asking what she would like for gifts. I sat her down and talked to her about what she would like and we made a list here:

Kaitlyn's Birthday Wish List

In addition to the items on that list, she would also enjoy receiving clothes (18M size). Oh, she just told me that she accepts cash as well - she'll keep it in her piggy bank ;-)

Stop to Smell the Roses

Kaitlyn had a good time on Mother's Day visiting with both Grandma's and, of course, Mommy. Below are some recent photos.

Video of Kaitlyn Standing Up!

For the past week, Kaitlyn has sporadically been able to pull herself up to a standing position. Now she seems to be able to do it at will. Once she's up, she's even managed to shuffle her feet a bit to move closer to where she wants to be. It's only a matter of time before she's walking.

Dave in (semi) Real-Time

Have you ever thought, "I wonder what Dave is up to now?" Well, this is your lucky day - I created a Twitter site.

What is Twitter?
It's a site where you can post short updates (less than 140 characters) about what you're currently doing.

I already have a blog and website. Why do I need a Twitter site as well?
My website is rarely updated and is really for historical reference. I update the blog usually once a week and can post pictures and videos. Twitter is text only and I'll try to post updates daily (or several times a day) about my experiences.

Do I know exactly how it's going to work and what I'll write about?
No, it's an experiment and I'll see how it goes.

How do you keep up to date with my latest Twitter posts?
There's several options:

1. Look to the top left of this blog and you'll see my latest Twitter posts


2. Go directly to my Twitter site: http://twitter.com/1dave


3. Subscribe to my RSS feed using your favorite RSS reader: http://twitter.com/statuses/user_timeline/14630995.rss


4. Sign up for Twitter yourself and add me to your "follow" list

Welcome aboard the Web 2.0 bandwagon...