PRITCHARD LIFE

My little girl can count to one. Starting at five, four, three, two…

One of Autumn’s favorite books is Curious George and the Rocket. In this weighty tome George is selected to become the world’s first space monkey. The technical inaccuracies of the book will be forgiven considering its pre-Mercury publication date (1957). Of course, Autumn’s favorite part is the countdown and BLAST OFF!

Our trip to watch the (repeated, failed, painful) STS-128 launch attempt rekindled my interest in the space program, which had waned a bit since its apogee during my SpaceCamp and Estes rocket days. Since then, I’ve been watching the shuttle launches online and Autumn loves to join me. Recently, we watched the successful test of the PAD-1 Abort and STS-132. And the Curious George book is in heavy rotation.

Autumn’s generation will consider civilian space travel an exciting and totally accessible activity. For now, books and videos will have to do. Lately, she’s points to the computer several times a day and says “Blast Off!” It’s enough to make a geek dad cry.

Photo: This is the nozzle of an F-1 rocket engine, the single most powerful rocket engine ever built. It was used to take a couple fellas to the moon back in the summer of ’69. I took this photo forty years later, during our trip to the Kennedy Space Center.

Tradition says to decorate the egg. But after the blue dye spilled all over Marley and Mason had Autumn covered in stickers, we decided decorating the kids was a helluva lot more fun.

Easter was a full blown weekend affair with egg decorating on Saturday and Easter egg hunts on Sunday. By the second egg of the hunt, Autumn had it all figured out and was looking for anything else the Easter Bunny might have decided to bring her beyond the bunny, dog (both stuffed), and stickers. She even got a smidgen of Scharffen Berger chocolate. Next year she’ll build on her experience and will give her cousins a run for their money when it comes to the egg count. See more photos from our holiday here.

Last year was Autumn’s first Christmas. But at three months, I think the sights, sounds and smells of the season come off more like a heavy acid trip than a time of joy and celebration. This year she was aware of the celebration, and it was so much fun to include her in the ritual of the season. Also, we simply know her much better than we did a year ago. We decided to try something different to record the celebration: a time-lapse video of Christmas morning and some preparations from the night before. It allowed us to enjoy each other without being stuck behind a camera. This might become a tradition.

May not be 100% appropriate for Santa’s faithful.

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Chapter One of our origin story centers around the Fiesta Bowl, an ill-advised lodging choice and ample sofa space at my friends Pete’s house in Tempe, AZ.  Over the past nine years, we’ve traveled to watch the Beavers play at Cal, Stanford, Fresno State, USC, UCLA, the Fiesta Bowl, the Emerald Bowl and a very memorable trip to Baton Rouge, LA.  Oddly, we’ve never watched an OSU game together in Corvallis, but we’re going to address that in 2010.  Autumn attended her first OSU game in utero and was born a few weeks later during halftime of a huge upset win over USC.  Our story is inextricably tied to Oregon State football.

To say we were excited about Autumn’s first live Oregon State football game is a huge understatement.  OSU and Cal are both great teams, with OSU exceeding expectations this year and Cal falling a bit short.  Memorial Stadium in Berkeley is a favorite venue and gracious friends (Cal alums) invite us to their tailgater every other year.  Our outlook was realistic.  Three-plus hours in the bleachers isn’t terribly stimulating for a one year old.  If Autumn managed two quarters of ball, we would give ourselves a W.

No offense to Jacquizz, but Autumn takes MVP for the day.  Geared up in orange and black, she managed two hours of tailgating and four quarters of football with minimal fuss and a passing interest in what was happening on the field.  And the Beavs kept their Memorial Stadium winning streak alive.  Final score: OSU 31, Cal 14.

Changing seasons and holidays come along whether we’re ready or not. It didn’t matter that I have a nasty cold, that traffic was sure to be brutal, or that Autumn isn’t even old enough to participate in the preparation of a Jack-o’-lantern. It was the last weekend before Halloween and Matt insisted we were going pumpkin patching at Half Moon Bay. I am so glad he did.

We pulled into Farmer John’s Pumpkin Patch, grabbed a wagon, and started hunting. For those we haven’t seen in awhile, Autumn has three words these days: Dada, Mama, and BALL! Where Matt and I saw pumpkins, Autumn saw bright orange balls everywhere for the taking. She trotted all over the place calling out “Ba-Boll, Ba-Boll”! And though I doubted it would work, she seemed to really enjoy being pulled around the patch in a wagon by her dad. It didn’t take long though until she decided sitting didn’t present enough of a challenge. When she tried to stand we pulled her out and she was ready to help Dad push our treasures to the car.

We came away with one gigantic pumpkin we plan to carve tomorrow morning and two pint sized “pumpkinitos” hand selected by our little girl. But the best part was a simple day together and seeing Dad and daughter having a blast. Here’s to new family traditions.

Happy Halloween!

See more photos from our day at the Pumpkin Patch

So much change lately.  It seems that every day brings something new.  Autumn decided she wasn’t going to let her first year pass without a few more notable milestones.

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Kids who grow up in San Francisco are bound to have a poorly calibrated seasonal clock. Summertime in this city brings blustery fare, marked by ominous fog banks that creep their way across the city every afternoon.  In July, the height of summer is usually greeted by grey skies and hordes of rosy-cheeked tourists wandering about in hastily purchased “Escape the Rock” sweatshirts.  It’s not until the late, lovely days of August  that we join the rest of our statesmen in a celebration of bluebird skies and clement days.

Crissy Field overflows with families and Golden Gate Park plays host to the weird and wonderful: Paddle Boats on Stow Lake, Roller Disco at Sixth Avenue and music at the Polo Fields.  We enjoyed this last weekend of August and the heatwave it brought.  Autumn has many more weeks to smile at the sun before her namesake arrives, and the temperature mellows.  Alas, she’s still a bit young to enjoy that San Francisco summertime rite: the It’s-It ice cream sandwich.  We have to save something for next year.