Tis the season to visit

Now that we're back on the East Coast, our Christmas touring is done in a car instead of a plane. Diaz commented, "This is the longest trip I have been on in my whole life." The flight from San Francisco used to be just as long, but there's no use arguing that point with her. Drive time aside, we had a very nice, very relaxing time with our families, and once again proved to ourselves that you can survive on cookies alone.

A few photos from the trip are here.





Loud and proud at Nana and Pap Pap's: Diaz on Kelly's drum kit in it's new home in Pittsburgh.

Tampa models Diaz's Holiday 2007 styles

Perfect for any occasion

From San Francisco to Brooklyn at light speed

It's crazy. We've moved three times since the end of 2005, and two of those moves have been transcontinental. Gone are the hills of San Francisco, returned to their keepers so that we could return to the people, noise, electricity, and general wonderfulness that is Brooklyn.

But, without getting too gushy, moving to SF for a few years was one of the most fantastic experiences we've ever had. We made great, great friends that we'll have for life. We lived in short sleeves, surrounded by independent book stores, real burritos, and water. Lots of water. New York and San Francisco are very complimentary, and we're glad we've tasted both of them.

I wish that I had better documented our moving experience in photographs, but in the frantic handful of weeks between the decision to move and our Brooklyn arrival, it just didn't happen. Some good moments were captured, however. During a weekend visit to NYC to apartment hunt, Donna took us to the classroom where she teaches at the Museum of Natural History so we could play with some baby chinchillas.





Diaz sharing Tampa with the chinchillas



Then a few weeks later during our actual move, Kelly taught Diaz how to throw snowballs in the same yard where she played as a kid.





"Pack it really tight, like this. Now aim for daddy..."



A few others are here. As soon as there's less slush and ice outside, we'll be sure to capture Diaz out and about in her new neighborhood and share those as well.

Any chance to stand in a puddle...

A spot of tea, Ladies?

Kelly and Cindy picked up Diaz and Margot from school a bit early to surprise them with a real tea party at San Francisco's Lovejoy's Tea Room. I hear that they were by far the youngest table in the place, and that a good time was had by all. Naturally, this served an a fine reason for the girls to wear their princess costumes in public. A small set is here.

Call in the professionals!

After almost four years of Kelly and Don chopping away at Diaz's hair, Kelly decided it was time for a professional cut. This place in the Mission was full of dozens of distractions-- which seems to do the trick when it comes to keeping a 3 year old sitting still for more than two minutes. A few pictures of this first are here.

(Old) Navy Blues

Q) How many clothing designers does it take to bring a schooner back in to port?
A) A lot.

OK, OK, let's be fair... the boat hit some mud near the dock that would have been challenging for anyone.

As a farewell celebration, Kelly's workmates booked a sailing vessel and tooled around the San Francisco Bay laughing, eating, drinking, and watching the sun dip into the Pacific. They may not be the captains first choice for a crew, but they're our first choice. Nice set here.





Arrr... thar be a lot of Kellys!

Princesses, dirt, and Aloo Gobi

We packed up the family and headed out to the East Bay today to join Sara and Margot’s families for some fun. How could we miss the First Annual Molina Halloween Gardening Party and Indian Food Luncheon? You know it was fun, and here are some pictures to prove it.





The girls in the playroom



Maria fighting with the gardening tools



Diaz, in rare form

Finally, a Halloween with Diaz

Diaz was sick for both of the last two Halloweens. A bit of a double bummer for Kelly, who has been missing her favorite holiday. But this year, Diaz was in fighting shape. The season's festivities included a couple trick-or-treating runs and a pet parade. A small set is here.





Diaz and Margot, staying up late and eating Snickers bars

Rocktober is upon us!

It's October again and time for the our second annual visit to Webb Ranch in Palo Alto to pick out pumpkins. Margot, Sara, and Diaz entertained each other and the rest of us as usual. There was a haunted house (tent?) that Diaz absolutely wanted to go through, so against my better judgment, I carried her through. About 80 feet and several black-lit, rubber monster masks later, I emerged from the spooky tent with a shaking and crying daughter. I guess she is only 3.5, we'll see how she does next year.

A few photos of the activities are here.




I heart pumpkins



Mauricio pulling the "pumpkins"



places to get to, people to see

Star for a day

Over a two-week period, every kid in class gets to be "a star." This honor entitles them to choose the songs and games for the day, and to bring in a parent or two to talk about things the star likes to do. For Diaz's day, we first read house-favorite "The Lorax" to the class. After wrapping up this classic, Diaz shared her photo-fascination with the class by snapping off Polaroid portraits of her classmates. A couple shots are here.

School Picnic 2007

We had a good time at this year's family picnic (hosted by Diaz's school.) We got a chance to see Sara-- who recently moved out of the City-- and Diaz learned firsthand that spinning around as fast as you can on a carousel makes you dizzy. The minor head injury that resulted from the aforementioned spinning was quickly forgotten once the cupcakes were brought out. A couple shots are here.





Diaz clapping along while "Ms. Kitty" plays the guitar

Out of the courtyard and on the streets

Look out-- Diaz is allowed to pedal the sidewalks

Too cool for school

A totally rad East Coast vacation

Our long, long-time friend Fuzzy got married this summer and hosted an awesome party on a very rural plot of land he and his wife Libby recently bought. We had been planning to attend for months, and by the time the day rolled around, our trip back East was expanded to include stops in Morgantown WV, Pittsburgh and Hershey PA, and New York City. It was a real treat to see all of our family and lots of friends. New York was the perfect cap on the trip since we've never been back as a family since our departure a couple years back. The City romanced us into submission and let us helpless and laughing in her grip. It was like we never left. Some photos are here.





Kelly and Diaz at Fuzzy's party




Amy, Diaz, and Kelly entertaining the masses




Diaz getting a true taste of NYC life-- waiting on the local

Diaz for the decades

We must have missed the memo; by the time we discovered that Diaz's school was having "Decades Days", we had no time left to prepare. The 1950's through the 1990's were represented, although our 50's outfit never made it out of the house and we were out of town for the 90's.

Hey, three out of five ain't bad.





The protest kid




The commune kid




The Ridgemont High kid

Photogenic

This photo was supposed to be something else, but I couldn't get Diaz to stop charging the camera. I think it ended up being better than what I was planning.

SF Marathon 2007

As marathon spectators, we've been exceptionally lucky. In our earlier NYC days in Williamsburg, that city's marathon passed right through our neighborhood at the end of our block. In our later NYC days in Gowanus, we were one block away from the marathon as it trucked up 4th Avenue in Brooklyn. Now in San Francisco, we're once again a couple blocks away from the course, this time in this city's Dogpatch district.

Two friends of our were runners and we took to the streets to cheer them on! A small set of photos are here.





Diaz with our sign




Diaz and Margot cheering for the runners




Our heroes, Chris and Duncan

110 minutes of sitting still... plus previews!

This weekend brought another first for Diaz: sitting through a full-length movie in a public theater. All three of us had a great time, and surprisingly, it was almost effortless! Diaz spent the rest of the day pretending to cook just like Remy, the story's lovable rodent protagonist.

Sonoma County Fair

When our friend Jeff suggested that we join his family at the Sonoma County Fair, our mouths started watering instantly at the thought of junky fair-food and beer drank from plastic cups. The fair delivered with cheese fries, nachos, churros, pizza, tostados, tacos, margaritas, and beer. We had a good time in spite of the mid-nineties temperatures and total lack of shade. Oh, and Diaz got to touch a cow. A small set of photos are here.

Baker Beach: a good reason to love San Francisco

Cities with beaches. What a rad combination.

Southern Shores, NC

OK, it’s been a week and I think I’ve recovered from my case of post-holiday egads-its-back-to-real-life-again. I’m probably fit to post an entry.

About this time last year, my sister suggested that our entire extended family meet in the Outer Banks of North Carolina to spend July 4th week soaking up the sun and brushing off the sand. After we groaned a bit about how far away that is from home, we said “aye” and a vacation was born. Sis did all of the planning and hard work—the rest of us just sent her checks. Thanks for the sweet deal!

Getting to the North Carolina beaches from San Francisco was a bit of a production, but totally worth the effort. With 7 bedrooms, 9 bathrooms, a private pool, and a two-minute walk to the beach, everybody stretched out and relaxed. We spent mornings with the ocean, afternoons by the pool, and evenings on the decks taking in fireworks and stars. Hurray for vacation!





This was about as “in the ocean” as Diaz cared to be




Firecracker enthusiasts, Diaz and Luca

Day of the Dads

Father’s Day… Mother’s Day… Administrative Assistants’ Day. Around here, it doesn’t matter who’s on the marquee; every holiday of any magnitude revolves around the kids. In honor of dads everywhere, this weekend included visits to a playground and a waterfront park as well as a pizza party. Only a couple pics though—if I can’t be lazy on Father’s Day, when can I?





Mauricio: dad or kid?

A life aquatic

Where is a good place to play? To hang out for ten minutes and waste some time? When you see the world through the eyes of a three-year-old, every place is the right place. Sitting on the water's edge and watching ships go by starts great conversations, too.

Real friends

All three of them sharing a seat and nobody’s crying or barking orders. Take it when you can get it.

What did you do today?

Stars, stripes, and goats

Holidays and the zoo—a classic pairing in parenting. This Memorial Day was no exception and the girls didn’t mind one bit. While the children’s mini-farm / petting zoo is always a favorite of Diaz’s, her enthusiasm was amplified on this visit and her goat-feeding apprehensions faded away. A small set of pics here.







This black and brown goat was Diaz’s favorite. He looks pretty happy about the attention.

Diaz turns three!

We can’t believe it’s been three years already. But the calendar tells us that it’s true. Diaz is three.

Kelly’s parents came out to visit for the birthday weekend. They were very flexible and mellow even though we invited about twenty people over for a birthday party while they were here. With this visit, Diaz got to see all four grandparents within a couple weeks of her birthday and that was great.






Diaz’s cousin Luca was into Spider-Man last Christmas when she last saw him, and ever since then, she’s had the same interest. The birthday girl got a handful of Spider-Man-related gifts and they’ve been getting a lot of use.






Besides Diaz’s birthday itself, another highlight of the trip was getting to do a touristy double-decker bus ride across the Golden Gate Bridge. Diaz bailed to the bottom level of the bus when the wind really started blowing, but she still had fun. Find a set here.

Easter weekend in LA

There are a few posts I’ve been meaning to put up for a couple weeks, but spare time has eluded me as it so often does. So when I woke up this morning to a beautiful, sunny Sunday I thought, “what better day to hide inside and stare at a computer for a while?”

I’ll start my short-term recollecting with a lovely trip we took down to Los Angeles for Easter weekend. Culturally, LA is very complimentary to San Francisco as it offers a lot of things the Bay Area doesn’t. And when we are homesick for the very large feeling of New York, LA is just a one-hour flight away.

A friend of ours from NYC recently relocated to LA for a few months to work on The Green-- you should watch it if you don’t already. Anyway, he was kind enough to give us a place to stay (and a cool bungalow in the Hills, at that.)






Aside from some early shopping, the trip was really about seeing friends and many laughs were had. And of course, what SoCal trip would be complete without visiting a Studio City farmer’s market where Ed Begley Jr. manned his own booth to sell environmentally friendly cleaner. The same market gave Diaz a chance to get close to some farm animals. A very small set here.

Pack up the Grandparents, there's science to see!

Don’s parents braved the airports and came out for a few days last weekend. It was great to see them, but the real joy is watching Diaz with them. Naturally, the grandparents try their best to spoil her rotten and usually succeed. But who are we to talk.

One cool thing we did with them was check out the Exploratorium. If you’ve never been there, it’s a science museum of sorts where you are allowed to touch—and in some cases, operate—everything. A few pics from this excursion are here.

Diaz and Kelly get close to the action

Zingo

So the grandparents show up with a game called Zingo! for Diaz. Little did any of us know that we would end up playing this game (with rules dynamically created by Diaz) several dozen times over the course of the weekend. Don’s parents were saints for taking most of the load.

Mani / Pedi

She was interested, and what’s the harm anyway? Diaz wore nail polish for the first time this past weekend—Kelly gave all 20 fingers and toes a coat of translucent sparkle.

Making Diaz understand that she had to sit still while her nails were wet took a little effort. After she decided to use her grandmother as a lounge chair, she was more comfortable with the idea.

Plastic egg season is upon us

After Kelly loaded up the plastic eggs with goodies, we unleashed the kids for the second annual Egg Hunt. We live in a condo building these days, so the lush garden setting has been replaced by our living room—city living, I suppose. As far as I can tell, the indoor setting didn’t keep anyone from having a good time. As expected, everyone ate too much candy. A few pics here.

Totally nuts, I tell you.