thanksgiving and a return to tahoe...

we had one weekend free between our trip out east and thanksgiving in which we got stuff done. not terribly exciting, but good to do.

we had a preview of thanksgiving festivities on tuesday afternoon at "camp", where they invite the parents to come every year to enjoy all the wonderful thanksgiving foods. greta was sooo excited about a party and even more so when she found out that both mom and dad were going to come. it was good catching up with the other parents and all the wonderful people there.

for thanksgiving itself, we had a fairly leisurely morning of packing the car and watching football and the macy's parade (started late enough that we had the ability to fast forward, which was clutch with a nearly 3 year old). we saved it on the dvr so far, which is good because she is enamored with the rockettes dance routine and the kicks. we've had to watch that bit a few extra times.

we headed up to evan's aunt & uncle's - barby & alan's - in the afternoon to settle in for dinner. greta was very excited to see her cousin aidan and they successfully played and kept each other entertained for most of the day, meal and early evening. it was a wonderful feast, although my stomach can't squeeze quite as much in these days. we headed out after dessert and onto our next destination - the jolly's house. we crashed there and then all caravaned up to start our stay in the tahoe house for the season.

there were a couple of particularly exciting things this year at our "opening weekend". while we couldn't ski yet as alpine opens this coming weekend, there was snow on the ground and more snow came down while we were there. the other excitement included a visit over to squaw valley resort friday night to roast marshmellows, listen to carolers, see santa & mrs. claus arrive by fire truck, light the big tree there and walk up the stairs right by us and give each of the kids a high-five. the kids were all caught up in the excitement (even though greta told evan and i later that she didn't like santa claus - ahh, the fickle nature of a 2 year old). the nice thing is that they continue many activities (free!) through new year's, so i am sure we will return in the coming weeks.

saturday we finished putting things away in the house, did some shopping and had a leisurely day. evan, greta and i took off around 4 so we could avoid sunday traffic and get home. what looked like the reminents of a significant spill and/or crash along 80 detered us a bit from our goal, but we made it home. sunday, we relaxed and picked up all the branches that had fallen over the weekend due to gusty winds (which is amazing given we've already had two storms with wind knock a bunch down already this fall).

onto another week of work and the beginning of december!

last trip for awhile

we returned to work this week after taking three days off last week to go for a long weekend in upstate new york. this is our last major trip (i.e., the last trip involving an airplane) before #2 arrives in february.

the impetus for the trip was to celebrate anne's (our sister-in-law) 40th birthday. we left at a very reasonable time around 11am from the west coast and had smooth and early flights on both legs. greta chose not to nap, which surprisingly, did not turn out to be disastrous for us. fran and mark picked us up from the airport and we were off to their house in vermont for the night. greta fell asleep within minutes and we were off. the only hitch for the night, which thankfully turned out to be minor in the grander scheme of the trip, was that greta got an upset tummy and tossed her cookies two times during the night. all was well the next morning and evan and i got the bleary out of our eyes with some coffee and delicious breakfast at a local place.

we spent thursday in vermont, getting breakfast, visiting some of the family friends that were in town, sneaking out to the outlet mall shops while greta napped, and generally relaxing. that evening we headed back to schenetady and met anne, eric and the girls at a restaurant to celebrate anne's 40th birthday. it was a great meal and even better to get the chance to catch up with them and watch the girls all play.

greta had great fun with riley and hannah and wanted to follow them around and do what they did for most of the weekend. on saturday evening, we were lucky enough to be able to go to hannah's first gymnastics meet and watch her perform. she did great and, of course, we heard all the following week that greta does "nastics" too. following hannah's performance, we all snuck over to eric & anne's friends house where there was a surprise celebration brewing for anne. she was certainly surprised and it was a great way to spend the last night. much of anne's family also came in, making it an extra special surprise.

we departed the party around 10:30 or so and headed to bed to catch the crack of dawn flight out the next morning. travel back was exhausting after getting up so early, but greta napped and we survived. it was a great visit - just the right mix of relaxed and fun-filled.

happy halloween!!!

last night was the culmination of the halloween holiday (except of course, for the eating of the booty). friday was the halloween celebration at camp (aka daycare) and work. greta was quite excited about the fact that she was going to 2 parties in one day.

we got her into her costume without any issues in the morning. this year she dressed as a construction worker, complete with overalls, a hardhat, safety goggles, a tool belt and for evan and my amusement, a sign on her back that read "bay bridge or bust!" (in a tribute to the shutdown of the bay bridge for an emergency fix after a chunk of the bridge fell on the road).

the festivities started with a parade at camp at 10am. the teachers got everyone ready in costume with the help of the parents who came to watch and all the kids walked or were carried along the sidewalk down the street and back. the kids were beaming in their costumes and they all behaved for the parade. controlled chaos is the best descriptor.

in the afternoon they had a party at camp with face paining treats and other fun activities. i picked greta up a bit early to take her to my office, where every year, they have a trick or treat route for kids to go around the office and get some goodies. evan met us there, and greta was a hit. she had a great time.

yesterday, we did our celebration at night. after an early dinner, we went down to san jose and met our neighbors and their kids for a bit of trick or treating down there. greta is a natural. she was a bit shy at the first house, but then caught onto the "trick or treat", "happy halloween", and most importantly "thank you". her favorite line though it turns out was "i want to open it now". so much for the halloween that was about the process vs. the loot - it couldn't have lasted forever. at least she hasn't asked for a lollipop since 7am this morning.

to wrap up the rest of the month, the second weekend my parents were here was mostly low key. evan and i did take another opportunity to go out on a date night saturday night. we headed up to the city for dinner at jackson fillmore (and it was as good as we remembered and were expecting - mmmmm) and a concert at bimbos. oddly enough, neither of us had seen a concert there before. it was a great venue.

we saw jay farrar (son volt, uncle tupelo) and ben gibbard (lead singer for death cab for cutie) who collaborated on an album and were doing 6 shows in the u.s. to promote it. the album is inspired by and takes the words from jack kerouac's novel big sur. it is a great album and we highly recommend it. the concert was amazing. ben gibbard was great and has a wonderfully distinct and soulful voice, but jay farrar just speaks to the soul when he sings. he is amazing. it was a wonderful night to get out, eat well and hear some great musicians (thanks mom & dad for babysitting!!!).

we had great weather to wrap up the month (vs. the 13.5 inches of rain in a day and a half when my parents arrive - and a day and half without power). the last weekend of my parents visit was great for another round of cupcake decorating on the deck and pumpkin carving since "pumpkin face" #1 did not make it the week.

all in all, october was a good, but busy, month.

the pumpkin patch

last weekend was action packed for us. with my parents in town, it was a great time to get out and about and ring in the halloween holiday season.

on saturday after nap time, we headed out to a pumpkin patch down south in morgan hill. it was an absolutely beautiful day - warm with sun. we arrived around 4, and while there were still a lot of people, it was less crowded than it could've been. and while this was a great place to pick up a pumpkin, the real reason we went is the fact that it is a mini-amusement park with a halloween theme.

we got in and decided what rides we would need tickets for. we all got tickets for the enchanted hay ride, and got a ticket for the carosel and train ride for greta to enjoy.

we hit the enchanted hay ride first. it was good fun and greta had a blast. she thought the bumpy ride in the back of the tracker was quite funny. we went through corn fields, pumpkin patches, in a tunnel with various types of gourds hanging down, through a field of beautiful marigolds, a junk yard (which was part of the commentary) and back to the main pumpkin patch. greta had a huge smile on her face the entire time.

we hit the carousel next, which is always a favorite. before taking the train ride, we scoped out the pumpkin patch, which was a ride in and of itself due to the presence of wheelbarrows, and checked out the stacked bales of straw that the kids could climb and jump around on. the train ride was fun and we got to wave to everyone as we wound through the pumpkin patch. once we completed our last ride, it was time to pick out the pumpkin to take home with us. we got one carving pumkin and three mini pumpkins, and hit the road.

we made a quick stop at the nearby gilroy outlet malls to pick up a few things, had dinner and headed home. sunday was spent around the house with a bit of football and playing around the house and yard. our big activies of the day continued with the all things halloween theme. we baked cupcakes in the morning and decorated them with pumpkin themed decorations in the afternoon. the other exciting activity was carving our jack o' lantern. it's been years since evan's carved a pumpkin, and it turned out great. greta "helped" draw the face, color the newspaper it was on and the pumpkin itself with her markers. the look on her face was priceless when we first lit the candle inside that night.

it was the great pumpkin weekend.

the catch up posting

first, an editor's note... i have finally gotten pictures off the camera and loaded into blogs so that i could post the 8 or so blogs i have written between the 4th of july and now, and actually got them posted. so, if you're interested in catching up on what we did for the second half of summer, check out the july, august & september selections.

so, i will take a moment to fill everyone in on the happenings between the last blog and last weekend... unfortunately, the list of "exciting" things that have occurred is fairly short, as the work schedule and just keeping up with everything seems to have taken over in the last few months. that hasn't completely stopped us though.

we had a very nice yom kippur dinner at evan's aunt and uncles along with his cousin's family. greta and aidan got along swimmingly once again and remembered each other more this time than last. we've had a couple of great days over the weekends to go to the beach in santa cruz, walk along the cliffs and check out surfers, go to the park to play and in general do some fun local things.

probably the most exciting news this past month happened the first of october. for those who don't know, we are expecting an addition to the family in february. evan and i went in for the ultrasound and got to see the kiddo (an exciting appointment vs. the typically - and thankfully - mundane monthly check-ins). everything looked good and on track and we found out that it's a boy. we are both very excited that everything is going well so far and that we will have a little boy. we didn't have any huge favorites between boy and girl going in one way or the other, so it was a nice surprise to find out.

we were bold the second weekend in october and went through with camping reservations that we had made in the spring. fortunately, the campground was about 20 minutes from our house along the coast. This turned out to be a very good thing as greta decided to wake up for 3 hours during the night on friday and not nap on saturday. between that and the fact that it is only so comfortable for me to sleep on a mat these days, we decided to skip the saturday night sleepover and head home. that did not stop us from having a great time while we were there. we did hamburgers and s'mores over the fire on friday night, walked the beach saturday morning (unfortunately, not bringing the camera with us), had lunch in neighboring capitola and in general enjoyed our last camping until next summer.

last week my parents arrived for their annual fall visit. greta was very excited to see them and to have more people to play with / audience to entertain. the only unfortunate reaction we've had to this is that she was worried that mommy and daddy were going away while they were here. evidently, their visit coincides with a second round of mommy and daddy attachment (especially mommy), and it also seems a phase of fighting going to bed at night. ohhh, how i hope this will pass quickly!

more on the events with grandma and grandpa next time...

bye-bye binky

the excitement of our labor day weekend was our mission to say goodbye to the binky. it was quite fun comparing anticipated weekend activities with co-workers and friends when they were going fun places, doing out of the ordinary things, and when they ask me, i talked about the drama and battle that was ahead of us for the weekend.

before initiating project binky, we decided to enjoy an evening out sans kiddo. the babysitter came over friday night. greta was none too excited about this and let us know about it, but we got out and were off. a quick phone call to the babysitter a bit later, and we were assured that the crying lasted about 30 seconds before she recovered and was excited to show lynn the garden and play.

we did a typical date night of dinner and a movie. we went for a quick dinner at a chinese restaurant near the theatre, and it was great. we sat outside and, although we were on a time schedule, were able to enjoy dinner with no interruptions. from there we went to see district 9.

saturday morning, we took greta's binky and sealed it in an envelope to send in the mail to the babies. this went well since greta only used her pacifier when she slept or when she was extremely upset/hurt. nap time saturday afternoon was the first big test. while it did not go off without a hitch, she slept and didn't cry the rest of the day. by the time she was going to bed, she was so tired that she went to sleep with no problems.

from there, we've had a few instances where the sleep cycle isn't as smooth, she gets upset, etc., but for the most part, the transition has been smooth.

for the balance of the weekend, we ventured to the coast for a drive up towards half moon bay to check out a local park/preserve with tide pools. it was a cool spot and we'll have to return when the tide is really low to see more of it. from there, we grabbed lunch outside at the half moon bay brewery and headed home (against the ridiculous amount of traffic heading out towards the coast).

music in the park

this weekend we wrapped up august weekends with style. this happened to be the weekend for the second annual outside lands concert in golden gate park. this year, we determined that the friday line up was the one we most wanted to see, so after a morning of work, we headed up to the city for some music in the park.

since there were screaming deals (relatively speaking for sf) on some of the nicer hotels in the city, and evan needed to be up in the city on saturday, we decided to splurge a little bit and get a hotel room for friday night so we didn't need to make the long drive home after a day at the concert. we got to the city, quickly checked in and dropped off our stuff, and headed to the park (while listening into one last conference call for the day).

we got parking, walked to the park and settled in for our first show. we didn't make the first round of shows, but got there with plenty of time to see what we wanted to. i think our favorite one of the day was silversun pickups. the headliner of the night was pearl jam and that was great too.

the weather in golden gate park, which is typically cool and often foggy during parts or most of the day in august, was gorgeous. it was hot and sunny and very pleasant when the sun went down. besides getting great music, there was a great selection of local food vendors and lots of other families there with kids to help keep greta entertained. the big entertainment factor for her this year was a package of balloons that we blew up throughout the day (and she enjoyed popping).

we headed out back to the hotel just after 9. greta was a rock star (appropriate behavior for a concert...) and hung in there the whole time. she was asleep within 30 seconds of the car starting and didn't wake up at all as we carried her to the hotel and put her to bed.

the next morning, we continued our city "getaway" with a trip to our favorite breakfast spot there, ella's. for the first time ever, we were there before it opened at 8:30. it was perfect because we got one of the first tables. it was just as good as it always has been. from breakfast, after a quick visit to a park, we went our separate ways: evan met his cousin todd and friends to go for a day sailing on the bay, and greta and i headed to the east bay where our friends ann & will moved into their house a few weeks before.

everyone had a great day. greta loved catching up with her friend harriet. they had great fun splashing in the plastic pool that was out on the back porch and then taking the water out to help water the plants. we headed home around naptime and spent the rest of the day catching up from our busy few days.

summertime in tahoe

last weekend, we made our way to tahoe in a bit of a last minute trip. our neighbors and friends, brian & smita, took advantage of the buyers market and found a place to buy and fix up in tahoe. they were going up for the first time since closing and recruited us to help as they brought up the truck full of furniture and supplies.

the traffic up friday night was no better than it is during winter (without storms in the mountains). we got there about 10:30 and were the first to arrive. we'll just say that friday night didn't go according to anyone's plan. we were all a bit tired saturday morning, but quickly found the box with the coffee maker and coffee and recovered our energy. the morning was a flurry of unloading, building furniture and putting things away. the afternoon was a bit quieter as naps were in order for some, a trip to the store for others and a trip to the beach down the road for the balance.

we headed out to the beach after nap. the water was cold, as expected, but greta had fun dipping toes, running around and throwing sand into the water. we headed to a local bar on the lake that we had read about for a pre-dinner visit. it was really great and would have been wonderful at sunset without a kid who was determined to run down the pier to the beach every chance she got.

back to the house for dinner out on the deck. greta went to sleep without much drama and we were set for the evening. we helped pick up and put away more on sunday morning and headed down to south lake, where avis, andy & family happened to be for the morning. we had a great lunch with them and the kids got to catch up. we then headed back to the bay and, despite terrible traffic, managed to make it to san francisco, where evan's aunt and uncle, sue & burt, were visiting cousin todd. we had a great dinner with them before wrapping up our whirlwind day and heading home.

quite the weekend prior to a busy week at work...

a couple weekends at home

the last two weekends have been nice as we have spent them close to home without major plans on the books. last weekend, we made a trip back to "our" beach (as opposed to "janice's" beach back in delaware), and generally got caught up on things.

this weekend, we went up to the city on saturday and cashed in the tickets to the academy of sciences that evan got me for my birthday. greta was very excited. she even lasted a full hour and a half before we decided it was smart to head out. fortunately, it seems like the museum was not as busy as it can get. no lines to get in and we started with the tropical rainforest and had less than a five minute wait to get in there.

the rainforest is in a big, three story bubble that is hot and humid. you start on the ground level and see the floor and water full of fish and even a turtle. you walk up the ramp and on the second level, madagascar is highlighted. up to the third level and you get a peak into the canopy and costa rica is highlighted. the walk between levels winds on the inside of the bubble and you get a view of all the flowers, birds and wonderful butterflies.

when we got to the top, we loaded into an elevator (making sure there weren't any butterflies on our clothes or bags), and dropped into the lower level, where we got a bottoms up view of the fish and turtle in the sunken rainforest as we walked through the glass hallway underneath the fish and turtle we had seen from above. we continued through to the big aquarium. the coral and fish were wonderful, and while greta did enjoy sitting at the very bottom of the wall of glass and pointing to a few fish, we knew we'd seen the first sign that she would not make it too much farther when she discovered and became fixated on the water fountain by the restrooms. everything is new and cool to a 2 & 1/2 year old.

fortunately, we still had the touch pool in front of us. she did great gently touching star fish and a purple prickly thing whose name escapes me at the moment. she then became fascinated with the eco friendly hand driers located by the touch pool, so we had to get the hands wet and dry them no less than 5 times. we moved on and had time to catch a few more interactive displays, a rocking bench, and a glimpse at the albino alligator. we then moved on to peanut butter and jelly. all the excitement had been enough for greta and we bid adieu to the museum and moved onto the killer playground in golden gate park.

this was our first visit to the playground and it was spectacular, complete with a concrete slide built into the side of the hill with cardboard peices at the bottom to ride down on. we hit those, the swings and a few of the regular slides before wrapping up with a ride on the carosel (one of greta's favorite fun thing these days). we got in the car, picked up lunch for evan and i on the road, and headed back down. greta didn't even make it through lunch pick up before passing out for a nap.

today was more low key and focused on getting things done around the house. unfortunately, while we were home, we were forced inside most of the time due to the amount of smoke in the air from the big fire, which is probably about 10 miles away from us. it made for a really unique sunset, but we will be happy when it is out and the smoke dissapates.

east coast swing

about a week and a half after evan's parents left california, it was our turn to make the cross country trip out to the east coast. we had a dual purpose in heading that way. the first weekend was the wedding of evan's second cousin in charlottesville, va, and we added onto that the week visiting my aunt and uncle's house near the delaware coast, wrapping up in baltimore with a few red sox games.

we headed to baltimore on thursday, and while our flight was delayed by weather for about 45 minutes, greta was a rockstar and chose to wait until we were in the baltimore airport to have a good (although relatively short) meltdown. we headed to my aunt janice and uncle steve's house about 15 minutes away and were greeted by them as well as my parents, who had flown in earlier in the week, and evan's parents, who decided to make baltimore their stop on the drive from new york to virginia. we all had dinner and caught up.

the next morning we headed to charlottesville for the wedding. evan's brother & sister-in-law and their family were there as well as his aunt, uncle, cousin and family. it was a great weekend to not only catch up with family and give greta a chance to play with her cousins hannah and riley, but also, to celebrate the happy couple and share this moment in their journey. we were able to join them for a lovely rehearsal dinner as well as a beautiful wedding. the wedding was at a local country club that reminded me why the "southern" east coast is such a unique area. old stately houses, beautiful architecture and decor and lovely surroundings with rolling hills melding into mountains in the distance. it was a wonderful wedding and weekend.

that sunday we said goodbye to evan's family and got in the car for a drive up to the delaware shore, where my aunt janice and uncle steve have a house at the beach. my parents and janice and steve were already there and we got ready for a week of beach and pool. on tuesday, we were joined by my brother and family as they were able to snag good tickets and time off to come at the same time. greta had a great time with her cousins austin and chase and it was wonderful to have some time to catch up with ross & april.

the beach was great fun with the kiddos. a bit different from our west coast beach at santa cruz in that the water was actually warm enough for us to comfortably swim in. greta loved running into the water and was quite adventurous, and as usual, showed little to no fear. we had to keep especially close with all the waves. she also loved playing in the sand. she was particular about not getting sand around her eyes and mouth, but other than that, was covered head to toe in sand each day we spent at the beach.

we ventured to bethany beach since the shuttle from janice & steve's went there, but one evening went a bit north to rehobeth beach to eat dinner, visit the boardwalk amusement area and walk around. the kids loved the rides on the boardwalk and it was fun walking on the boardwalk before dinner.

on friday, we bid farewell to the house at the beach and evan, janice, greta and i headed back to baltimore (steve had gone earlier in the day to work). it was nice because it gave us a chance to catch up with my cousin rachel as well over the weekend. we spent friday and saturday night in baltimore since steve had red sox - orioles tickets and we went to the games friday and saturday nights. steve and evan are both life-long red sox fans and were really looking forward to the game. the tickets steve got were phenomenal too as they were about 20 rows up just up the third base line from home plate. before saturday's game evan and i went and met up with duane and devere as well and got to catch up with them and eat before the game. the weather was beautiful, the red sox won and we had a great time both nights (and we missed catching a foul ball by ~2 seats the second night).

we headed back to the west coast sunday morning and readied ourselves to get back to the grind of work. we had a great week off and it was really good to see so much family in such a short period of time.

a visit from mimi & poppy

a few days after the 4th, we got a visit from evan's parents. they came to town for a wedding in palo alto for the weekend and made a longer visit out of it to spend some time with us.

they had a few afternoon's of fun with greta (without mommy and daddy interfering), and on friday, evan and i took most of the day off and we all went up to the city for the afternoon. we stopped in at the ferry building and got a shake and root beer float at taylor's automatic refresher before heading onto pier 39. it has been awhile since evan and i have ventured there (even when we lived in the city, we tended to avoid the area). the two highlights for the 2 1/2 year old were the double decker ferris wheel ride and the sea lion sunning area. greta just loved both.

from there, we said farewell for the day to evan's parents as they had to go a rehearsal dinner that evening. we took advantage of being in the city and caught an early dinner at the citrus club, where greta had her first successful venture with chopsticks and noodles, although not in the conventional sense, followed by a quick visit to our friend's ann & will's place to visit them harriet and clark. a good visit and likely the last in their city apartment as they are moving mid-august to the east bay.

saturday we hosted a number of the "vermont crew" at our house for brunch. many of mark and fran's friends were out for the wedding and we were lucky enough to get to see them and show off our home and surroundings during their weekend trip. it was a great morning with great company. fran and mark headed to the wedding in the afternoon and evan and i took off to berkeley.

we met our friends avis and andy up there (also sans kiddos) and not only took in the death cab for cutie concert at berkeley, but also (with grandparents visiting for both) splurged on hotel rooms for the evening. it was a really fun night away. great concert, no rush or drive at the end, a few drinks post concert and a leisurely breakfast the following morning.

4th of july in the mountains

the calendar was nice enough to put july 4th on a saturday this year, and evan, greta and i hosted our mostly-annual 4th of july party, albeit, a little more low key this year.

we were very excited to host a few out of towners for the gathering. the jolly's (who we shared the ski house with this past winter) arrived friday evening and our friend jeff flew in from new york on saturday morning. greta was quite excited to see her friends ally and alec and get good quality time with them. she was a bit unsure of jeff to start (she hasn't seen him since she was 3 1/2 months old), but was showing off and enjoying the extra audience by the time he left.

blowing bubbles with jeff

on saturday we were joined by our friends barry & cristy and their girls and neighbors brian & smita and family for the 4th of july gathering. we kept it simple this year, opting for the burgers and hot dogs on the grill with some sides, salads and munchies. it was great. the kids enjoyed bubbles, sidewalk chalk and all of greta's toys. that gave the parents a good chance to relax and catch up.

major catch up...

so, given the title (and the date which this post was started), you can see i had the best intentions of getting caught up on my blog with this one. i suppose intentions only get you so far. still way, way behind! let's turn the clock back, shall we, a few weeks...

our latest adventures kept us fairly close to home, which is good since we have a fairly busy july approaching. this past weekend, the cool weather continued in northern california (although we didn't have the crazy rain & storms that moved through many other parts of the country). we woke up both days with temps outside in the upper 40's. probably good for shortening fire season a bit, but i am looking forward to some real summer weather.

to kick off the weekend in style, greta's camp (aka daycare) had a bouncy house brought in on friday. i got there to pick greta up when the toddler room was taking it's turn in the house. greta was loving it! she was jumping everywhere and having a grand time with her friends. it's amazing i got her out of there!

saturday was fairly low key as evan had to work in the morning so greta and i got to hang out and play. we went out to dinner saturday night and didn't have to rush, leave early, chase greta around or apologize once. it was very nice indeed.

sunday, we celebrated father's day in the morning with blueberry pancakes and evan's gift of an upgraded chainsaw (which he found amusing that i chose to stash it away in greta's closet for hiding). a nice leisurely morning, and in the afternoon, our friends from denver, jamie and crissy, came over before catching their plane that night. we headed down to the boardwalk in santa cruz to walk around and let greta ride some of the rides. she had a fabulous time riding the carosel (with my help), the motor boats (solo!) and the cars ride (solo!). her only disappointment was that she kept telling us she wanted to ride the rollercoaster and we kept assuring her, she was not quite big enough yet.

we caught a quick dinner before heading back over the mountain, and although the traffic was miserable, jamie and crissy managed to catch their plane, so it all worked out.

hope all the dads out there had a great father's day as well!

camping

last weekend we did our annual camping/wine tasting trip with our friends the jollys and snyders. while it was a bit cooler and wetter than we had anticipated in june, we had a great weekend with great company.

as is usual with these trips, the aronowitz's brought up the rear for the arrival. we didn't do too bad as we arrived at camp just after 7pm on friday. our destination this year was calaveras big trees state park. it is up in the foothills (probably 3500 feet elevation or so) north of yosemite and south of placerville. as the name implies, it is one of the few places in the world where giant sequoia trees grow (we are lucky enough to preside in another one of those places).

we had some wonderful pasta putenesca waiting for us when we arrived compliments of the snyders and we quickly ate, fed greta, got the tent up (with some help from friends), and thankfully, without too much trouble got greta to sleep in the tent. she was very excited as she was test driving her new sleeping bag (along with a blanket and comforter to keep her warm). evan and i got our wine glasses filled, sat down by the fire, and the weekend was officially kicked off.

after a cold night, we woke up and started the coffee. eventually, those in the pop-up trailers got out of their cozy abodes and joined us. we cooked up some breakfast burritos for everyone, warmed ourselves next to the morning fire and then headed down to the ranger station for the morning activity. greta and alec (also 2) lasted a few minutes and then was off. evan and i took greta on one of the nearby trails and alec and andy soon caught up. greta and alec had great fun on the trail together, walking though a hollowed out tree, in between two giant trees and laying across the trail. we headed back to camp for some lunch and nap time.

the afternoon wasn't as nice to us. during nap time, it started raining, and it continued to rain on and off the rest of the afternoon, only clearing after dinner. this is when it's especially nice to be with friends who have pop-ups. while greta slept soundly in the tent, we were enjoying happy hour margaritas, chips and salsa in brian & jen's pop-up (complete with heat!).

sunday morning was beautiful and sunny (if still a bit cool). avis and i took the kids on a wonder walk through the meadow while everyone else focused on packing up. we saw tons of ladybugs, thanks to colton's great ability to spot them, birds, flowers, dew and many other things to capture our attention. by the time we got back, packing was close to done and we headed out to the town of murphys. it was a great little town. we parked and found a tasting room for a couple local vineyards (this is, after all, our wine tasting camping trip). the kids were entertained in the garden with the etch a sketches - great!! we visited a playground, got lunch, got ice cream and hit one more tasting room prior to saying goodbye to our friends, getting in the car and heading home (perfectly timed with nap time in the car).

greta is now continuously asking us if we're going camping this weekend... i guess we'd better schedule some time in august.

memorial day madness

kinda sounds like a car commercial, but in this case it refers to the crazy productive weekend. in a nutshell we barely stopped getting stuff done all weekend long. the list includes...

clearing off pressure washing the deck (and the drama of renting a pressure washer)

mowing the lawn

trimming the edges of the lawn

clearing a space for an "orchard" (i.e., 2 small fruit trees)

planting the fruit trees

giving our deck table and chairs and rocking chair the start of summer teak oil application

3 loads of laundry

rearranged a couple of kitchen cabinets

made ice cream

vacuumed and washed the carpets

fixed the broken door on our trash can area

trimmed some of our out of control lavender bushes and ferns

spread wood chips where the rain had washed them away

swept and re-stained the flat parts of the deck

a couple of trips to home depot

and posted two blogs (and thought about this one)

aside from all that, we blew a ton of bubbles (that's greta's big thing right now), evan put in several hours of work and we got a visit from ann, her mom kate and harriet and clark on sunday afternoon (happy b-day annie!!). greta and harriet had great fun playing once greta shared her ice cream and showed harriet the bubble collection.

it was a great weekend for getting ready for summer, and even though we were non-stop all weekend, there was still time to reflect on the holiday and remember and think of all those in public service who make our lives so much richer.

whew... bring on summer!

captain underpants

this past weekend was an important one, not just because it was blazin' hot (at least by northern california standards), but also because it was our first foray into underpants for the kiddo. very exciting stuff indeed.

we adjusted to life without a grandma around last week and were looking forward to a weekend at home with no particular plans. we had the second heat wave of the year hit over the weekend and we enjoyed every minute of it. we did a bit of work outside around the house (mostly evan while i entertained the kiddo) and we had a bit of fun built in as well. on saturday afternoon our neighbors called - they were in the pool and within minutes, we were packed up to go join them. it was a great chance to hang out with them and greta loved the pool. i hope she learns to swim early because her ability needs to quickly catch up to her independence.

on sunday morning, we headed down to santa cruz early so we would miss the throngs of people headed to the beach. we grabbed breakfast and then headed to the beach. as we were walking in, greta walked toward another kid and on a double take i realized it was her friend ingrid from camp (aka daycare). she and her sister and mom were at the beach for the morning, so we had the added bonus of built in entertainment. they were kind enough to share their sand toys and buckets and it was a nice chance for us to chat with ingrid's mom. we had fun running from the waves, getting our toes wet and greta even did a plunge into shallow water as she tripped while running to a dry spot when the wave came in. it's a good thing we had lots of extra clothes packed due to our potty training.

we said goodbye to ingrid, thea and their mom and ran a couple of errands on our way back up the hill. by the time we got up here, greta was tired, but still excited about her adventures. the excitement won out and although she was happy in her crib (singing, chatting to herself, etc) she did not go to sleep. while this made her a little sleepier than usual later in the day, it was not a train wreck for the entire afternoon. we took advantage of the weather and blew bubbles, cut back some plants and had a relaxing afternoon.

and.... i know you've been on the edge of your seat given the title... greta did a fantastic job without pullups in her new underpants. she had a few small accidents over the weekend, but was more curious about why they happened than upset. we sent her off to camp monday with just underpants and so far this week, she has come home in the same clothes as she went to camp in!!! i'm sure we'll hit a few snags, but she's a champ!

grandma's stay, a weekend away and mommy's day

may has been a busy month (hence the very long catch up post). my mom arrived for a visit at the beginning of the month. greta was very excited to see and play with "grandma kafy" as she called her this time around. she loved having the extra audience to show off all her new tricks.

we had an unusual may storm move through, so it was raining over part of the first weekend my mom was here. we had fun doing more indoor activites. fortunately, greta had not initiated her tricycle outside yet, so we made a pathway around the couches for her to test it out. she actually did pretty well given that her legs are not quite long enough to pedal efficiently. we went out to breakfast one morning and in general had a really fun time over the weekend.

evan and i survived the work week and looked forward to the second weekend of my mom's visit, which was when we got to get away for a couple of days and greta, carson and grandma got some quality time at home.

we took off in the car friday afternoon and headed to the coast. our destination was the charming town of cambria, just south of hearst castle. i hate to admit it, but i had never before been south of carmel on the pacific coast hiway (hwy 1). it lived up to the hype as we wound around the turns where the edge of the continent tumbled dramatically down to the ocean. it was a very relaxing and beautiful drive down. we saw the elephant seals on one of the beaches and stopped to take a few pictures of the scenery along the way.

we made it to our charming b&b - j. patrick house - before the wine and appetizer hour started at 5:30. it was perfect. we settled into our room and went to meet the other guests and share some wine. the other guests were very friendly and great to chat with. there were 8 or so rooms in the b&b, so it was a nice intimate feel.

we took off prior to the end of the wine hour to head to hearst castle as we had secured tickets for the evening tour on friday night. evan had been before years before (and got a modified tour due to unexpected rain) and it was all new for me. the evening tour hits the highlights of the various daytime tours and gives a glimpse of what guests would encounter while they visited. it is a magical place, which was further highlighted by the setting sun and how it was lit up at night. a truly enjoyable experience, and we even got to giggle at the cranky old lady who was intent on finding ways not to enjoy it and complain about things - hello! read the description of the tour and it specifies exactly how many steps you have to climb!

we rushed back into town after 9, hoping to find someplace to eat aside from the shell station with 75 cent hot dogs and landed in a pizza/burger joint. a great way to wrap up the evening.

the next morning, i would love to say that we slept blissfully until 10am, but alas, living with work schedules and a 2 year old has hampered our abilities to sleep past 7am. but, 7am ain't bad in our book. we got ready for breakfast at a leisurely pace while sipping coffee. breakfast consisted of fruit, yogurt and homemade granola to start, followed by a chile, corn suffle and homemade raspberry scones all of which were wonderfully delicious (and surprisingly in the perfect portions so we didn't overeat).

we headed off to san simeon state park to do a hike into the hills and "woods", finishing on the beach. it was sunny and beautiful and nice not to have to rush through so we are in the right place for naptime. we wandered back taking the route along the beach and then we randomly wandered to a spot that opened up to a preserve along the coast. we did another hike in there before heading into town for a late lunch.

after lunch of soup, salad and ollaliberry lemonade, we wandered through some shops and headed back to the b&b for a late afternoon siesta (so decadent to be able to drift off to sleep during the day!). we joined our fellow b&b-ers for wine hour and got the skinny on what they did during the day, which was mostly going inland a bit for wine tasting.

before dinner, we packed up the camera, tripod and the champagne we brought with us and chilled, and headed to the beach for sunset. this was truly the highlight of the weekend. we stopped along the road outside of town at one of the many pullouts and found a "path" down to the beach, which was deserted. popped open the champagne, set up the tripod and we were ready to soak it all in. we saw 2 or so people up on the bluff overlooking the beach for a minute or so, but other than that, we had the place completely to ourselves through sunset. it was magical. we took a million pictures, sipped our champagne and were reminded once again why california is such a magical place. perfect!

we had a very nice dinner at a local favorite restaurant, called it a night and headed back to the b&b. sunday morning, we had wonderful eggs florentine and pumpkin bread to accompany the fruit, yogurt and granola, and we packed up our stuff to head home.

we took the inland route on the way home and made a few stops along the way. the highlight of the trip back was checking out pinnacles national monument and taking a roughly 3 mile hike there. it was beautiful and a great "introductory" hike to the area. we would not recommend using cell phones as flashlights through the caves (actually not caves but pitch black spaces where you have to climb between rocks that have piled up). but we made it through and it was a great hike.

we returned home to a very happy grandma and greta to finish celebrating mother's day. they had a wonderful weekend together without any crankiness or issues - woo-hoo! we may get to do this again!!