Jonah is now in the 2nd grade, and kicking some serious booty.  I mean this kid is a total genius!  Nope, no bias here. Math is definitely his favorite subject, although he really does seem to like them all (o.k. maybe not so much the reading response homework).   He joined the chess club this year as well, and since he’s been playing with Wayne for a couple of years already, he’s in the advanced group!  Seems to really enjoy playing against his friends – at all levels.  Not only is he excelling in school, but he’s also quite the athlete.  He enjoyed his first year playing little league, and is looking forward to starting up again in the spring.   Team names are assigned in line with MLB names.  He was on the Cardinals this year.  So, even though he was born in Boston and now lives in the Bay Area – and has no familial or other historical ties to the midwest, our son has become a St. Louis fan.  Well, I think maybe they’re his 4th favorite team.  But still – St. Louis?!  I’m hoping he’ll be on the Yankees next year (stop snickering).

Dylan will be 3 in March – wow, how time flies!  He is quite the personality.  Definitely keeps us on our toes – and is usually running around the house on his!  Big news for the year – he is TOTALLY potty trained.  Yep, that’s right.  Oh, and only took 2 days to do it.  No diapers, no pull-ups, makes it through the night, yadda yadda yadda.  We’re very proud, to say the least   Dylan is definitely our musical kid.  He’s either playing his guitar, his kazoo, or both!  He loves to sing, dance, and entertain anyone who will listen.  Of course, I keep trying to get him singing on video, and every time he sees the camera come out, he stops being cute singer-Dylan, and goes into being goofy yell/sing Dylan.  Not really something I need on camera!

Wayne is in his 5th year teaching in the Chemistry department at Chabot College….. and really seems to love it.  Nice to see that his students seem to love him back!  If you haven’t been keeping up with his blog, you should check out what he’s been up to this year!  He’s been dabbling at woodworking for a few years now, and after some inspiring (not to mention large and garage consuming) gifts last year, he has really taken to wood turning!  You really should see the amazing items he’s made.  No really, you must check it out.  Click here - in case you missed any of the previous links ;-)

I continue working as a Career Counselor at UC Berkeley.  I’ve been here over a year now – and really enjoying it.  No fun woodworking projects for me.  I continue to LOVE to cook – always trying new recipes on friends and family (usually waiting until large gatherings like Christmas and Thanksgiving to try them out!).  I’m still ‘doing’ Weight Watchers (strange thing to say – doing!).  Hit 50 lbs – woo hoo!  Still have a lot to go, but slow and steady wins the race, right?! September sure did slow me down a bit, as you may have heard.  I can’t even say ‘after a long time dealing with the pain…’ because really, the pain and damage came on so fast, I had to act.  I had surgery on my elbow and hand to repair cubital tunnel, carpal tunnel, and tennis elbow – yep, when I do it, I do it right!  Recovery has been a little slower than I hoped for, but seems everything is healing just fine.

So, that’s about it for now.  I’m going to post some pictures below – some highlights of our past year.  AND, I will do my best to keep up with my blog and with you!  If you haven’t found us already, Wayne and I are both on Facebook, keep up with our e-mails (santina.pitcher@humboldt.edu or wpitcher@chabotcollege.edu) or you could go totally old school and send us something in the mail! (20914 Sherman Dr., Castro Valley, CA 94552).

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!

Thank you to Mom and Dad P. for staying with the kids for 2 WHOLE DAYS!  Wow, what a treat.  Heck, I would have been happy at the local Super 8 just to have 2 free days…. but of course, we were celebrating a big milestone and decided to truly make it memorable   How fortunate are we that we live in such a wonderful part of the world, so close to our pick of wonderful destinations?!  One of our favorite places to be happens to be about an hour away – Napa Valley.  Wine country in our backyard.  I have to say we are truly blessed.

Grandma and Papa arrived early on Saturday morning so we could get on the road and catch the train – the Napa Valley Wine Train, that is!  Totally worth it.  The weekend weather was not starting out great, and I have to say, although it was a little drizzly, the train ride was truly a perfect way to spend lunch.  You’re encouraged to arrive by 10:30 for a brief wine tasting seminar before boarding the train.  A very entertaining educator walked us through tasting one white and one red.  I honestly don’t remember what we tasted (hey, it was over 2 months ago!), but do remember that they were rather decent   At about 11:00am, they began boarding the train.  Being our anniversary, we took the plunge when we made the reservations, and opted for the Vista Dome Lunch Package - which included a gourmet 4-course meal, seating in the exclusive and private vista dome, and a glass of bubbly when you board.  Gerald, our waiter, guided us through the wine list and accompanying menu.  We ended up switching wines we ordered (I liked the Cab better than the Zin).  We both chose to start with the Flourless Yam Ravioli.  Interesting.  Wayne followed with the Red and Green Apple Endive Salad (o.k.) and I had the Portabello Mushroom Soup (highlight!).  Next was the Grilled and Roasted Beef Tenderloin, Wayne’s amazing lunch entree, and my Swordfish (not so amazing, but was fine because the soup totally rocked!).  Before we dug into dessert, we were invited to tour the rest of the train.  By the way, the whole time this meal is being served, we were treated to a slow roll north, 36 miles round-trip, up to St. Helena and back to downtown Napa.  Sitting in the dome car was quite a treat – we were able to see everything!  I would totally recommend that experience to anyone.  Walking on a moving train – not so easy!  Lots of railings, and very happy I wasn’t wearing heals!  The kitchens were all open, so as we walked through the other cars, we were able to see the chefs hard at work.  We headed to the last train, where there was a full tasting bar open.  Our friendly wine educator from the train station was there to greet us.  Wayne and I split 4 tastings – and they way they pour tastings, it was like drinking half a bottle, so that was just fine with me!  Had some fun conversations with other passengers, then made our way back to the dome car (a bit tipsier), to have a little dessert.  Fruit cobbler for Wayne and a s’more pie for me.  The train ride was perfect.  I was sad that the ride was over, but when I realized it was only 2:30pm on Saturday and we weren’t expected home until Monday afternoon – happiness returned!

After tooling around in the giftshop for a bit – mostly to allow the buzz from all the wine and champagn wear off – we headed into town to find out inn.  Remembering a trip our friends Brian and Susan took a few years ago, I booked a room in The Inn on First.  Wow!  Jamie and Jim were amazing hosts and have such a wonderful inn!  Again, being our 10th anniversary, we splurged and booked the Meritage room.  So very elegant.  Everything was truly perfect.  Since we had such a large lunch, we decided to hop over to the grocery store and just pick up some cheese and bread.

Breakfast the next morning was amazing.  Jim is the chef, and is truly gifted.  Homemade donuts, homemade granola, and an amazing egg dish (wish I remembered the name, but the fact that Wayne ate almost the whole thing, says a lot! – he doesn’t particularly like eggs!).  Jamie sat down with us and the other guests individually to find out our tastes and what we hoped to do for the day.  Based on our answers, he made some very wise suggestions for wineries, including making reservations for a tasting at a wonderful family-owned winery on the other side of Callistoga – Vincent Arroyo.  What a wonderful place!  We were met and guided individually through close to 16 wines – and I’m not talking sips…. these tastes were BIG.  And kept coming!  We met Vincent himself, friendly yet very quiet, and then had a private tour of the winery and barrel room.  Definitely a treat.  In addition to wines, Vincent Arroyo also produces their own olive oil and balsalmic - the latter being the most amazingly deliscious and sweet vinegar I’ve ever had!  We will most definitely visit again.  After that, we headed down the road less than a mile to one of the few female-owned wineries in the region – Zahtila Vineyards.  Wayne enjoyed tasting and chatting with Laura herself!  One of his favorites, a dessert wine, found its way into our car.  We’ll be opening that one up for Thanksgiving for sure!

We failed to make reservations for dinner ahead of time, and found we couldn’t get into the place we really wanted – Cindy Pawlcyn’s Mustard’s Grill.  So, we settled for lunch at one of her other 2 restaurants in the area, Cindy’s Backstreet Kitchen.  This was hardly settling!  The wait was almost an hour, but we put our name in and walked around St. Helena for a while.  Wow, what a treat again!  Wayne had the meatloaf and I enjoyed an amazing burger.  No wine – we were still a little lightheaded from all the tastes at Arroyo!  We headed back to Napa after lunch, but instead of taking the ‘main’ highway (Highway 12), we hopped over to the Silverado Trail, which runs parallel to Highway 12.  Of course, I really shouldn’t be giving away this secret, but honestly, if you are ever traveling up and down from Napa to St. Helena to Callistoga, the Silverado Trail is the ONLY way to go.  No traffic at all, easy access, and amazing views.  I’ll guess that it added a few miles to our trip, but probably shortened it by at least 15 mins. time!

After a late lunch, we decided on a late dinner – and headed into downtown Napa to see what was there.  Napa has been trying to revitalize and reinvent itself for a few years now.  Just in the past 4 years we have seen stores and restaurants open and then close.  A lot of storefronts are vacant, while others are just starting out.  I’m hoping this means it’s on a better upward trend.  We settled on Zinsvalley for a light, late meal.  I don’t remember both dishes, but believe we had Some Kind of Spring Roll (actual title of the dish), and a Mediterranean Pizza to split.  All very yummy!

Monday morning.  Can’t believe our trip was coming to an end.  Another scrumptious breakfast by Jim.  Also found out that Jim has close to 100 breakfast menus up his sleeve!  He vows never to serve any guest the same breakfast twice.  Upon checking out, they take a photo of the happy couple to store in their vast database.  When you book with them again, he will make sure you are served another round of unique and delicious meals!  After checking out, and purchasing Jim’s cookbook, we headed out to check out the Oxbo Public Market.  For those in the San Francisco area, it’s akin to what can be found in the Ferry Building – and for those in the Boston area – think Quincy Market, on a much smaller scale.

We had an amazing weekend – to celebrate an amazing 10 years of marital bliss!  Thank you to all our friends and family for all the love and support you show us, and many thanks to Mom and Dad P. for allowing us the opportunity to enjoy some wonderful US time!

The quarters were a bit cramped (we got kicked out of our original venue), but all made due. Jonah was quite excited (as were all the boys), and was able to sit right in front for prime viewing of the races. The official Pinewood Derby track has 3 tracks. Each boys’ car races each track, for an average time, determining their placement in the finals. Jonah’s car earned two 1st place ribbons and one 2nd place ribbon during the first round. Wow, pretty neat, huh?! After all races, his car placed 7th overall. The top 10 cars were off to the finals! Yippee for him!

Unfortunately, due to some technical difficulties, there was a bit of a delay to start the finals. Dylan, although quite the supportive little brother, was in no mood to hang around a cramped basement with screaming kids and so many little things to touch. So, he and I headed out for a drive – and a coffee. Wayne stayed behind to cheer Jonah and his car along.

While I can’t give a detailed account of what happened, I can show you the final round results…

He took home a 3rd place trophy! Yippee for Jonah and his first Pinewood Derby!

Jonah is an amazing 1st grader. He finished off kindergarten with a bang – and a luau. He was blessed with such an AMAZING kindergarten teacher – he really flourished well, and was very well prepared for first grade. He loves to read, excels at math, and of course if you ask him, he’ll tell you his favorite part of school is recess and P.E. (yep, typical 1st grader!). He continues to excel at sports, and loves tennis, golf, basketball and baseball. We signed him up with a basketball academy over the summer, where he got to spend the week with some amazing players, honing in on his skills with kids his age. We also signed him up for little league starting in the Spring – should be fun!

I can’t believe Dylan will be 2 in March! What an amazing year we’ve had. As previous posts indicate, he had such a good time discovering new super powers. He was walking by age 1 – and there is definitely no stopping him now! We now understand so much better when our friends and family talk about how very different each child was. Dylan looks so very much like Jonah did at this age, that we just couldn’t imagine his personality would be different – oh how very wrong we were!! Dylan is such a very special, energetic, and entertaining little guy! His laugh is infectious, and his tantrums infuriating – all at the same time While Jonah was what we called a ‘burrow-er’ Dylan is a climber. He will climb (or try) anything and everything in front of him. I have had to give up my parking space in the garage to make room for furniture. We have had to remove tables and chairs, including our dining room chairs! He has so much energy, Jonah sometimes has a hard time keeping up with him. He loves going to day care, and we love that there are such wonderful people who care and love for him while we are at work. His vocabulary is growing, which is always very exciting. Just like his brother, he loves playing with balls, blocks, and loves to dance.

Wayne continues his work at Chabot College, instilling a love for chemistry on every student he teaches! And, the best part is that all his hard work has paid off! He officially received tenure at the end of the last academic year. Woo hoo! Teaching chemistry isn’t the only thing he likes to do – he continues to dabble in his wood work. A Christmas gift from me last year sent him back to Woodcraft, where he took at stab at wood turning! He made an incredible peppermill - a pretty big accomplishment for someone who never touched a lathe before that class! To top it off, for his birthday this year, his parents were generous in buying him a lathe of his own! He’ll be off to another class at Woodcraft, to take a stab at making a staved vase (looking forward to filling it with lots of flowers!). I’m sure he’ll be updating his own blog with pictures and stories, so be sure to check it out.

I continue to dabble in the career counseling field, and as of October, am ‘back’ at Berkeley. For those who don’t know, I received a layoff notice from Cal State East Bay on February 16th – effective June 30th. I quickly began my own networking, hoping to find something similar at one of the handful of universities in our area. On April 21st, I received a “just kidding, you’re not fired” letter, which slowed down the pressure to find a new job. However, wouldn’t you know that my networking paid off. I was alerted to some job opportunities, all around the same time. Submitted resumes, went for interviews, and was offered a career counseling position at UC Berkeley. While this may be considered a lateral move, I truly do believe it will be a great way to improve my career counseling skills, as well as allow me to gain some experience in a larger center, hopefully positioning me to move up quicker. The job truly was the focus of my last year, although the kids and Wayne will continue and always will truly be the center of my world

As a family, we enjoyed our vacation to Nantucket and the New England area in July, and are looking forward to visiting with family over the holidays. Enjoy the pictures below, and be sure to keep in touch!

Happy holidays!

I’ve titled this blog “Dylan’s Super Powers” – which is a phrase we utter when Dylan has discovered a new skill. I think it was coined when he began to roll over – although I think it might have even been before that, but nonetheless, you get the picture. We like the term “super power” because it really does describe what this new skill is to a baby. I mean, once he started to roll over, watch out. And to roll back to his original position? Well, he was a force to be rekoned with. Don’t even get me started on the day he began crawling, figured out how to sit up, or, one of the scariest super powers thus far – climbing stairs! Yep, he is a master indeed.

Cruising was the next super power – and boy that was a big one. Our house is pretty baby-proof, but definitely once they get that mobile, the test on your attention to detail begins. Our house looks like a tornado has hit on most days, which I suppose is typical for having kids – boys, especially! All of our cabinets now have locks on them (which took Wayne and I a few days to get used to – a few slammed fingers later, and I think we got it!).

This next two super powers came just this weekend – the first was standing without holding on! He’s become quite the master, and he knows it. The first few times he did this, I think he not only surprised us, but himself. Once he realized he wasn’t hanging on to anything – boom, down he went. But then he got excited and wanted to show off. So he began to do it more, and for longer. The best part is truly that he knows he has this super power. To see the HUGE grin go across his face when he does something cool like this is truly priceless. He gets as excited as the rest of us.

The second super power of the weekend was actually taking 2 little steps… then falling forward! Took us all by surprise, but wow was it cute! I think the ‘standing’ power is definitely something he’s got used to rather quickly – the walking part is something he’s going to ease into a little more slowly (which I’m very thankful for!!).

Not to leave Jonah out of this whole thing – because truly, he is such an amazing big brother, and a great helper around the house. We are so very proud of him, and let him know at every chance possible. First, he is doing so very well in school – is a leader in his class, and so very gifted. We couldn’t be any more proud. He continues to play tennis with his daddy and papa, has an amazing throwing arm, a wicked golf swing, and plays a mean game of Wii Bowling. And, he’s had his own milestone moments these past couple of weeks – he’s lost his first TWO baby teeth! I think at some point he and Dylan might actually have the same amount of teeth, as Dylan seems to be cutting a new tooth every week (or so it seems!).

There’s more I’m sure I could write, but I’ll close for now. This will teach me to keep up with the blog on a more regular basis!

Now, some people might be inclined to approach the ‘first family vacation’ as a milestone, something to be cherished, remembered and revered. A vacation that will be remembered throughout time, one that will be measured against all other vacations to come. Well, it will be remembered and measured – but maybe not for the reasons you might think. Don’t get me wrong – overall, it was a wonderful trip, one I know Jonah will remember for a long time… and one Wayne and I will be reminded of until we’re able to catch up on all the lost sleep.

You can probably guess from the title where we went on our FIRST EVER family vacation. We don’t do things small in the Pitcher family. Sure, we could have headed to Half Moon Bay or Santa Cruz for the weekend, or even waited for the first snowfall and went to Tahoe for a weekend of sledding. That would have been too easy. Nope, we decided to do Disney – over a weekend.

Did I mention we hadn’t told Jonah about Disneyland yet? I dropped the bomb about a week before the trip that we were driving down to southern California, where I grew up, to visit some friends and see my old neighborhood. He was less than excited – I think he would rather have gotten a flu shot! Well, on Friday morning Wayne asked him about the trip, and he said he didn’t want to go. He then asked Jonah if he knew mommy grew up near Disneyland. It didn’t take him long to put it together

So, our planning started out innocently enough. I mean, it’s only a trip to southern California – how hard could that be? Jonah had a day off school, so we figured we could be ‘leisurely’ and make it a long weekend trip. Our first instinct was to leave Thursday after work – however a few weeks ago we took a trip to my parent’s house and left after work. They only live a few hours away, and when Wayne got pulled over by a cop at 11:00pm for swerving, we thought maybe driving through the night after a full day of working might not be such a good idea.

So, we decided to leave ‘early’ on Friday. Well, early to some, isn’t the same as early to others. We finally got out of our town at 9:00am – which is actually early to some in my family! No need to drag out the story any longer than it needs to be… Bottom line is it took us 11 hours to get to our hotel. I will never complain about Bay Area traffic again (well, I probably will, but at least I can now put it in perspective!). We got on the other side of the ‘grapevine’ at about 3:30pm…. and we didn’t get to the hotel in Anaheim until after 8pm. All in all, I’d have to say Dylan was an excellent traveler. He was getting a bit cranky towards the end, but heck, weren’t we all?!

The hotel was perfect. Portofino Inns. Not a lot of frills, but was great. It was sort of like a ‘suite’ without paying the ‘suite’ price. Had french doors to separate a portion that had a bunk bed and pull-out couch. No ‘lights out’ for the whole gang – we could relax and unwind after the long trip just fine.

Jonah and Dylan are all smiles the morning of our big day at the park!

After a relaxed morning getting ready, we headed next door to the Sheraton for some breakfast. The place was recommended by one of the clerks in the hotel lobby. I actually had a decent breakfast, but I think Wayne would rather have just grabbed a bagel in the lobby and been on our way.

Jonah enjoying a hearty breakfast to get ready for Disneyland!

I have yet to mention and thank 2 very important people in making this trip happen – Lisa Wittenberg and her mom Darlene. Lisa is a dear friend of mine from high school. Her mom Darlene, has been working at Disneyland for a while now and had graciously extended an invitation to me and my family to come to the park. We are so very grateful to both of them.

While waiting to meet Darlene at the entrance to California Adventure (which, by the way, was a parking lot the last time I went to Disney…. 17 years ago!!), Jonah and Dylan stopped for a photo…

The day at the park was great. Jonah and Wayne went on their way as soon as we stepped in the park, and I hung out with Dylan for a long day of quality mommy/baby time. It was fine with me – I enjoyed walking around, getting nostalgic while eating my frozen banana, and letting Wayne get exhausted while running around the park with Jonah! We met up a few times and I actually rode Autotopia with Jonah.

We left the park around 6:30pm, needing to head back to the hotel (which was just down the block), to get some food for the baby. As exhausted as we all were, Wayne and Jonah managed to head out after our take-out feast and grab some icecream at Coldstone.

The next morning brings us to Sunday… our trip home. As luck would have it, Rory, Wayne’s aunt from Boston, just happened to be in the area for a recruiting trip and conference. We made arrangements to catch up with her and have breakfast that morning. What a wonderful way to spend our Sunday morning!

Before heading back up to Castro Valley, I took the boys on a quick tour of my hometown – El Toro (now known as Lake Forest), and then stopped in and visited with Lisa and her two boys, Tommy and Andy, whom I have never met, but felt like I knew them so well after all the years of picture and story exchanges! It was a great visit – one I wish could have lasted longer. By the time we gassed up, it was 1pm… and we were off on our trip home.

The drive home was less eventful – which was a good thing. With a few stops for necessities, we got home in 8 hours, putting the boys to bed just after 9pm. Although we got into bed just after 11pm that night, giving us just about as much sleep as we do on ‘regular’ work-nights, I think we’re still trying to catch up on our sleep!

Again, all-in-all, it was a wonderful trip. We’re so very glad we did it, and love that Jonah had such a great time. We definitely want to go again, but will wait until both boys are a little older… and will plan for at least 2 days (maybe 3) of being at the park. Oh, and we’ll definitely fly next time!

Two years ago we went to visit Jen and Dave, Jonah’s godparents (and good friends of ours), up in Oregon. It was around Easter time, and Jennifer had bought some plastic eggs filled with Sesame Street characters. Before going to bed that night, Jen told Jonah to ‘plant’ the empty eggs under a blanket in the living room. Magically, in the morning, the eggs ‘hatched’ and there appeared some more toys (dinosaurs, I think). Jonah was completely thrilled with all this. Remember, he was two, almost three.

Fast forward to two weeks ago. Jen came for a visit to see the new baby and spend some time with Jonah. Once again, she brought a couple of plastic eggs, this time filled with Lightning McQueen cars – Jonah’s favorites. That night, she told Jonah to plant the eggs under a blanket in the living room… and yes, the next morning there appeared 2 more cars! I really didn’t think much of this, other than I thought it was cute…. and Jonah is a pretty smart cookie, so I was sure he knew Aunt Jen put the cars there.

Well, Jen left that morning, and so the evening came around – and yes, you guessed it, I caught Jonah ‘planting’ his eggs under the blanket in the living room again. I asked him what he was doing, and he ever so innocently and with complete sincerity, told me he was planting the eggs. I asked him what he thought would happen when he planted the eggs, and he told me, with conviction, that new cars would show up. I tried to break it to him gently that Aunt Jen was actually the one who put the cars under the blanket for him. It was one of the hardest thing I’ve had to explain to my kid yet, if you can believe that! He was truly devastated, and honestly thought the eggs were going to hatch new cars! Definitely a reminder of how sweet my little guy is

Jonah and his Aunt Jen

Fortunately, I was down to working half-days by this point.  I worked in the morning (attended a riveting training meeting), and my water broke as I got up to leave – actually wasn’t even sure it was that until a test at the hospital confirmed it!  Put a halt to my lunch plans with Wayne for the afternoon

I was not having contractions and was surprised when they came back around 3pm and said my c-section was scheduled for 6pm (had a c-section with Jonah, so already knew this would be the case).  6pm came – they wheeled me into the operating room to start the spinal – sans husband   Tried for almost 40 mins to get the spinal in, to no avail. Previous lower back surgery and current herniated discs got in the way – big time. Had the choice of having an epidural or going completely under. Asked to let Wayne come in so he knew what was happening. We chose the ‘safest’ and went with epidural. Took a while for the epidural to work (or so we thought!!). Half of my body went numb (left half), the right half took a while longer. Doctor was given the go ahead to start…. Let’s just say I wasn’t actually ALL THE WAY NUMB.  Didn’t feel the incision, but felt everything after that. After screaming a few expletives (pretty tame, by the way), pumping me with more drugs, watching my blood pressure drop…. they got the baby out.

The doctor said the anesthesia made the baby ‘sleepy’ – which is why he wasn’t crying…. but the pediatrician was able to get him to ‘wake up’ pretty quickly. Fortunately (if you want to call it that), I was so out of it, I didn’t even remember them taking the baby out and showing him to me. Unfortunately, Wayne remembers everything. By the way, Wayne was there the whole time – which is unusual, as they usually bring in the hubby after the incision has been made. He was asked to hold the fetal monitor on my belly and a few other things I don’t quite remember. The anesthesiologist later told me she thought my husband was AWESOME (something he won’t soon forget!!). Since I was only at 34 weeks, the baby was considered a preemie – but weighed in at a whopping 6 lbs. However, he definitely looked tiny. He had a hard time eating and breathing at the same time (it’s o.k., I have a hard time walking and chewing gum at the same time), so they put him on an I.V. for a few days.  We got word on that Friday that he could come home with me – something that both excited and scared us at the same time!  He is a wonderful baby. Jonah is completely enamored with being a big brother, and we’re slowly getting used to having a new baby in the house.

It’s now been 7 weeks, and we’re just trying to get some sleep to stay sane.  Nights are getting better – but days are another story.  He won’t sleep long in any one place – unless you are holding him.  I can put him down for about 5-10 mins. in either the swing or bouncy chair, but usually will have to pick him up after that. Hopefully will grow out of that soon!!  Enjoy the pics…

Looks like Jonah is starting early.  We’ve always had to prod him about information about what he did in school that day.  Wayne read somewhere that since little kids do so much each day, and have a hard time answering an open-ended question like that, we should ask him more pointed questions like:  “What did you talk about at circle time?”  “Did you color something at the art table?”  “What books did you read?”  “Did you go down the slide in the shady yard?”  It was hit or miss most of the time.  He quickly got into the habit of just answering “I played.”  When we asked what else he did, he would just repeat “I played and played and played and played.”

About a week ago, after the usual “I played…” response, I told him, “You know what, I’m just not going to ask you anymore what you did in school today.”  And his response?  “O.k., because I’m not going to tell you.”

We had a leisurely morning at home, no rush to get anywhere, packed up some lunches and blankets, and headed to the city.  I have never seen 580 look so empty- well, maybe that one Saturday I had to show up early for graduation at Cal…  hmmmm… nope, not even then!  We zipped right along, straight through the ‘parking lot’ (which is what they call the area right before the toll plaza on the Bay Bridge), and over to San Francisco.

I have failed to mention up to this point, why the day was so darn perfect.  Well, the night before, the winds came howling through – and I mean howling!  I thought our other fence was going to fall over (however, thanks to some handywork by Wayne, and the tall trees on the other side, the fence should last a bit longer).  It was quite the night – heard Jonah’s backyard toys being thrown around, thought the windows were going to shatter (not really high quality windows, so I wouldn’t be surprised)… but then we woke up to the most amazing day!  That doesn’t often happen in the Bay Area.  The skies were clear and blue – and I mean really clear and blue!  The sun was shining, and the boys actually wore shorts!

So, back to our drive.  As you leave our neighborhood, there comes an opportunity at the top of one of the hills to really check out the views.  They were amazing.  We were able to see the SF bay and the city skyline.  Jonah got a kick out of seeing the Golden Gate Bridge in the background as we drove over the Bay Bridge.  He’s actually learning about bridges right now in his preschool class, which made it even more special for him.

Driving through the city was – well – it was the city.  Van Ness has a multitude of stop lights – but honestly, it was probably one of the smoothest drives through that area I’ve ever experienced.  To top it off, we got to the Exploratorium and found parking quite easily – and right across the street from the grassy part in front of the Palace of Fine Arts.  Perfect place for a picnic.  We grabbed our blankets and the food, and headed down for a spot next to the water.  LOTS of seagulls, a few ducks, and even some swans served as our backdrop.  We figured as long as we didn’t start waving our hands around like we were throwing food, the gulls would leave us alone.  We were right – except that a mom and her two kids decided to come RIGHT WHERE WE WERE EATING and throw some bread.  The flocks came – from all over.  They stayed for about 20 seconds feeding the throngs (no joke), and then left.  Which meant we were sitting targets.  A few brave/stupid birds tried to come up and check out our stash, but we managed to fend them off.  A bit of excitement for a bit, but then were able to just sit back and enjoy the views.

After lunch, we simply headed down the sidewalk and right into the Exploratorium.  No lines, no fuss.  What a great place to explore and open the mind to possibilities!  We followed our usual route – headed upstairs first.  I’m not sure who was having more fun – Jonah or Wayne!  Jonah definitely enjoys the hands on aspect of the museum.  The magnets and pendulum exhibits were especially intriguing.  As we walked further along, we ran into the sound and music area.  Again, a favorite for both boys!  Downstairs we enjoyed so much more as well.  There was the water area, building blocks, and the “Alice in Wonderland” room (that’s what I call it!).  The amazing thing is that we pretty much got to touch and play with everything we wanted to.  Aside from a few children whose parents needed to teach some manners to, we truly did not have to wait or be disturbed for most of the day.

After a couple hours of the ‘museum walk’ we decided it was probably time to go.  We headed back out into the beautiful outdoors and headed over to the view area next to the Golden Gate Bridge.   We parked and stayed for only about 15 mins. – enough to walk up to a point where we could sit on some benches and enjoy the view and the peace and take a few pictures.

We then headed home – again, without traffic or incident – and even caught the second half of the Super Bowl!  I have to say that I felt more relaxed on Sunday than I have in a while.  The pregnancy makes me tired, achey, and miserable most of the time – but on Sunday, it was all forgotten, as I had a most perfect day with my 2 favorite boys!