What Just Happened?

Having a great time on our California Adventure. The first leg; Los Angeles, is behind us. We had a great time staying with the Kolchins family who were our gracious hosts. It was wonderful getting the opportunity to catch up with them and to let our kiddos play together. Cannot wait for this summer for them to get the opportunity to run around together in Sandpoint when we all get together again.

The first night was a casual night at the house some fish tacos by chef David, delicious. On Sunday I was able to make my long awaited pilgrimage to one of the largest photography stores on the west coast; Samy’s. It was literally 4 times larger then Glaziers, the largest shop in Seattle…pretty impressive. (Now I just need to make it to NYC for B&H…oh momma!) Afterward…David, Alex and I met up with the ladies at the Grove for dinner. LA has THE BEST people watching…just things you’d never see most other places…it’s great!

Monday was a work day for David and Tiffany, so Sarah, Maria and I packed up and headed to the beach. Santa Monica pier…then time in the sand…walking along 3rd Street…lunch…then a perfectly timed nap while driving home. In the evening we participated in Passover with David’s family…this was a unique experience…it’s always wonderful and interesting to see how other cultures observer their special days. It was nothing like I expected…there was definitely a plan to the madness…but with lots of interaction with the group and quite a bit of sarcastic banter from group, it was unlike any religious experience of my life. As a Catholic, we are all about repetition and procedure…and you don’t mess with either. No joking around, just get it done. That was not the case here. Two hours later we were done with the readings, songs, questions and other ceremonial elements and it was time to eat…unfortunately those 2 hours were just too much for our little one so we had to depart before dinner. Sorta awkward to crash David’s uncle’s Passover dinner and then to leave without eating…but our baby was exhausted (8:00 when we left). A quick stop by Ralph’s got us a few items for dinner and we headed home to get Maria to sleep and to bake up our frozen pizza and prep our fruits.

Speaking of fruit…what a magical place California is for produce. $0.88 for a pound of strawberries? And the Champaign Mangos….oh momma…I’m hooked and can’t stop eating them! David also made the most amazing guacamole for us with tree ripened avocados…wow.

On Tuesday we departed for San Diego. On the drive down we had the opportunity to visit Sarah’s cousin, Thomas, at his new beach front condo. WOW…what a place…not 30 feet from the beach…4 blocks from some local bars and restaurants. Not bad. Maria really put on a show for him, she was in great spirits…he seemed quite taken by her. The rest of the drive to San Diego was pretty nice…beautiful views of the ocean…just amazing. Maria again timed her nap nicely so that she woke up after I had checked into the hotel. After settling in our room, we headed to the beach. Armed with more mango we decided to take a leisurely beach walk in Torrey Pines Beach Park. Afterward we found this random Teriyaki joint (which was NASTY) for dinner…picked up some groceries from Whole Foods and headed home to the hotel.

Today was Zoo day…I think Sarah’s been looking forward to today more then any other day of our trip. We got to the zoo just after it opened (9:15). It was great timing as the park was pretty empty when we got there…and was definitely starting to feel “full” by the time we left. The San Diego Zoo is definitely impressive…but it also helped me to appreciate our Woodland Park Zoo even more. While the San Diego zoo might have more (quantity & types) animals…most of them were in older style cages, where the Woodland Park Zoo focuses on trying to create habitats for the animals to roam around in. Now…with the cages, you definitely know that the animals will be right there in viewing range…but it just doesn’t seem nice. With all that said…we had a great time checking out the Pandas, Elephants (Maria’s favorite), Polar Bears, Hippos, etc. After the zoo, In-n-Out Burger for lunch. I’ve had In-n-Out before…but I had forgotten how good it is….good fries, fresh lettuce, plenty of pickles, a nicely toasted bun…heck, I even ate the tomato. Might give Dick’s Drive-In a run for it’s money if In-n-Out came to Seattle. Afterward, a short drive to the hotel where Maria took her nap (she’s been AMAZING about being flexible with her nap schedule on this trip!). After waking up, we freshened up and went to check out Old Town. My only memory of Old Town when I was here last was of my mother drinking this monster margarita and being very giggly afterward, probably the first and only time I’ve seen her truly drunk. So of course I had to have one with my dinner….they did have an “El Jeffe” version that was 56oz, I just couldn’t do that…so I had a large in her honor. It was probably one of the best restaurant experiences we’ve had since Maria was born; there were lots of kids that Maria enjoyed watching, a mariachi band and then there was this cute older couple that talked with Maria. No chasing her around the restaurant or anything…almost like “normal” people.

So we’re now back in the hotel, tired after a long day. Tomorrow is Sea World (if it doesn’t rain)! I’ve done some photo culling and editing on the road…they’re uploading as we speak. The internet connection in the hotel is a bit slow…they’ve been uploading since 3:00 this afternoon (it’s 9:30 now).

http://photo.tomdos.com/2010california

Missing our fur-child Lucy…and the rest of our friends and family.

An afternoon with Daddy

Sarah was FINALLY able to schedule some time with Shannon…which means that Daddy and Maria got to have an afternoon together. It was a great time. We went to the park and played on the swing and slide…then we went to the Edmonds waterfront and watched the ferry and other boats (Maria LOVES boats)…we even got a quick errand in for Dad, a trip to the camera store. After our travels around town, we came home and ate some homemade pot stickers and fried rice while watching the Huskies beat New Mexico in the NCAA Tournament. As Maria says, “GO DAWGS!!!”

Sunny Day!

Last night, the weather was gorgeous. Broke out the camera…took a few pictures. Hoping to do some more today.

Maria can now navigate the patio in "Beep-Beep" all by her self!

And today, it’s supposed to get to…SIXTY EIGHT!!! Whaaa? Happy sunny day to all!!!

March Madness

In honor of March Madness, Maria had something to say…

Biking with Maria

A few weeks ago a teacher in Sarah’s school district posted an advertisement for a bike trailer. It happened to be the same one we looked at at REI…and it was a GREAT deal! Sarah made the call, went to check it out and it was ours! We also picked up a cute duck helmet for Maria…we were set for biking!

Last weekend…we got the trailer hooked up to my bike…got Maria dressed and loaded, we were ready! As I mounted my bike, I realized that my bike brakes were broken. Don’t want broken brakes, especially when taking your little one out for their first ride. Today I took my bike in to get new brakes…came home, re-attached the Burley trailer…and took a test ride with Maria. It was a short 3 mile ride…but it was fun. Maria had a great time riding along eating pears…and the trailer was easy to pull. You don’t notice it until you go up a hill. Even though I didn’t go up any major hills, I was very appreciative of how small Maria is.

Both of us are VERY excited to give it a longer test ride. Who wants to go biking with us?

Mazatlan, Samantha & Mitch

First off…I don’t think I’ve mentioned it yet…but we’ve booked our summer vacation plans! A 9 day, 8 night trip to Mazatlan (July 10th – 18th). As usual, we’re planning our vacation around the Fourth of July…so that we’re IN town for that day. Our poor doggie is a wreck with all the fireworks…we can’t imagine how she’d be with us out of town AND the fireworks show that our neighborhood puts on freaking her out. Anyways…we’re very excited to check out a new city in Mexico…and to get some quality beach and pool time! YES! Since we had such a great time with my parents last year, Sarah’s Mom & Ken have decided to join this year! To further add to the fun…our niece, Samantha is going to join us too! I’m sure the six of us will have a great time…yes it’ll be HOT…but that’s what the pool, ocean and cold beverages are for…right?

Changing subjects…

This past weekend we had the opportunity to watch our nephew, Mitch, participating in the 2010 State Cup…the club soccer championships. A few months ago, Mitch was asked to join a pretty elite team, Crossfire’s Premier U-15 squad. I was able to make his semi-final game, which they won, on Saturday. Then for the big final, Sarah and Maria came out to show their support! It was a great time…and a great game! They ended regulation tied 2-2…and then moved into a 30 minute overtime period (no golden goal). Mitch’s team took the lead early on a bobbled ball by the other team’s keeper…but with seconds left, the other team was able to equalize. Then…penalty kicks. Ugh. Mitch’s team lost in PKs 3-4. What a bummer…but they played great and Mitch seemed to have fun.

Now that the weekend is over, we’re back to the usual grind. Ken & Judy left our house yesterday to start their southern adventure. They’re taking their trailer and heading to the deep south for 2 months to explore and experience the south. Seems like an amazing trip…cannot wait to see all their pictures and hear their stories. We are just counting the days till spring break so that we can get some time away in the sun (hopefully SoCal will have sun by then)!

Spring has sprung…

It has been so nice here in Seattle…yesterday it even approached 60! To celebrate, Maria, Sarah, Grandma and Lucy walked to the grocery store for a few things…and as a treat, they stopped by Baskin & Robbins for ice cream. Fun!

A year ago today...

Maria had her first flight in a plane…was introduced to sand…and met the ocean.

Oh how time flys…

Happy Valentine's Day!

Happy Valentine’s Day from Edmonds!

To celebrate V-day, Sarah and I enjoyed a morning date with Maria at my parent’s house (Thanks Mom & Dad!). Our date included breakfast out as well as a leisurely trip to Pike Place Market and University Village. For breakfast we tried Tilth a certified organic place in Wallingford. The menu didn’t have your usual breakfast favorites…example the french toast was made with cardimon bread with a mint cream sauce, mint syurp and orange batter. Maybe it’s great…just doesn’t sound appealing. With that said, both of our meals were excellent…Sarah had a scramble with herbs and feta cheese and a side of roasted potatos…I enjoyed their biscuts & gravy which was made with roasted chicken instead of pork, all over a fresh made cheddar biscut…and of course Cafe Vita coffee. YUM!

After breakfast, the original plan was to go see “Valentine’s Day” a movie with every actor under the age of 35 in the cast…but with my frequent coughing attacks…it seemed like it might make for some awkward movie viewing, so we opted for Pike Place and University Village. It seems incredibly cliche to visit Pike Place…but we love it there. We went with a vision of buying foods to create a wonderful Valentine’s Day Dinner…we walked away with tiny cheesecakes, wine, strawberries and 2 grapefruits…and then none of them made it onto our dinner menu. HA!

Returning to my parent’s house…Maria had just started her nap, so we had lunch and played some Canasta with my folks. We gave then a sound beating, a surprise after a significant hiatus from cards for us. (I’m hoping this trash talk will inspire more games with them!)

Other happenings of this weekend…my nephew, Tane, had a 1st birthday party. We had a great time at the party…Maria LOVES hanging out with her cousins…she is a little shy with them…but loves being with them and watching them in action.

On Friday we watched part of the Olympic Opening Ceremonies. Unfortunately, for Vancouver, a couple weeks ago…in “preperation” for these winter games, we decided to watch the DVD of the Bejing Opening Ceremonies…WOW…what a spectical that was. I doubt that anything will match those for a very long time…so the Vancouver ceremony seemed almost bland. It’s sort of a bummer that they’ve made it so hard, and so expensive to go check out the games. Heck, we wouldn’t even need tickets to go see an events…it would be fun just to be in Vancouver to be around the excitement and energy…but with $500 hotel rooms…and border crossing nightmares…it’s just not worth it. With the games so close, I figured it would be easy to keep up with all the events since they’re all in our time zone…but stupid NBC comes along and time delays EVERYTHING…nothing live. So unless we keep off the internet for the day, it’s useless to try and watch. How sad…they might as well be on some other continent in a different time zone.

One last thing before I sign off…we booked our Spring Break plans this week (March 27th – April 3rd)! Funny to mention that today because it was exactly 1 year ago today that we took Maria on her first plane flight…heading down to Mexico. Sigh…we’re in desperate need of some warm sun…so for Spring Break we’re going to take a week and fly to California to visit the Kolchins’ clan for a few days…and then we’ll drive down the coast to spend 5 days in San Diego. Should be a blast! One of Maria’s favorite bath toys is an Orca Whale…so I can’t wait to get her to SeaWorld!

Well…I am trying to keep this short because it’s late. In addition to not having MLK day off…we at Liberty Mutual don’t get President’s Day off either. Yeah…on it’s face it sounds lame…but they give us 2 additional floating holidays to make up for them…so I COULD take those days off…but I’m choosing to save them as extra vacation days, I actually prefer it that way. It’ll also be a REALLY nice commute since no one other then us will be working.

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