Mark's former co-worker Doug moved to the east coast with his family a couple of years ago, but he still works for The Aerospace Corporation and on 29 September 2004, after Cheryl and Lura had returned to California, he dropped by while in town on a business trip. Doug and Yuri got married right after we started dating; seeing Doug taken off Mark's list of "undeservedly single" friends was something he took as an encouraging sign!
Once again, Cheryl's Mom accompanied her and Lura back from Hawaii and stayed with us for several days. Here's our photo of three generations on 2 October 2004, with Lura 13 months old. From now on, we'll post these photos both on the separate webpages and on a new page so you can look back in time at previous ones. How Lura has grown!
Cheryl and Lura have a lot going on these days; there's a Mommy and Me class at the South Bay Adult School, there's a group of mothers and babies who stayed in touch from a previous session of that class (with some overlap between these two groups), and there's a separate Redondo Beach Moms' Club. Whew! Since the babies of the second of these groups all were born within a couple of months of each other, they decided to have one big birthday celebration for all the kids on 8 October 2004. Here are the gift bags that were set out so each mom could drop in a small gift. Lots of loot for each baby!
Here's a real parking lot of strollers!
Lura also has plenty of friends outside these groups. On 22 October 2004, Mark joined her and Cheryl for lunch at the house of his coworkers Bill and Sue and their daughter Emma, and Lura stayed to play out in their backyard.
Of course, October means Halloween! Grandma made Lura her first costume, a clown suit with big pompon "buttons" down the front. Every year there's a pumpkin patch set up at a former car wash to the south of us, and Lura went there twice this year; here's a photo from the first visit, with the Moms' Club. Does this look like an Anne Geddes shot, or what?
A few days later, the class met there, and Mark drove from work to join them for lunch.
Lura's little friend Ivy and her mother Erica are on the left in the previous photo. Here are Lura and Ivy, among the pumpkins.
And here are Lura and Daddy, ready to hand out candy to Trick-or-Treaters. Happy Halloween!
Of course, Lura's feline friends are a big part of her life too. She has graduated to a big inflatable ducky tub that we place inside the Jacuzzi in the master bathroom, and it is awfully hard to persuade her that bathtime is over while there's still water there to splash. However, a kitty looking over the edge of the tub is often enough to entice her to lift her arms and say "Up!" so she can go give chase.
Lura has enjoyed music from the very beginning of her life, whether it be recorded or live, instrumental or vocal. (Mark hasn't yet introduced her to some of the noisier stuff that he likes, Richard Strauss and Rob Zombie...) Some friends from The Aerospace Players parked one of their pianos with us while they are traveling around the world for her job, and just before Halloween we let Lura sit at the keyboard. If you're seeing this, Brian and Andrea, don't worry: not only did she not bang on it, but she played two-finger chords (here a minor third, looks like), with a steady rhythm! She figured that out for herself, too; we just let her experiment. Yes, we're proud of our little musician, though Mark hasn't been brave enough to let her handle his violin or dulcimer yet!
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