San Francisco

Chad and I spent this past weekend (Thursday-Sunday) in San Francisco. It was the first time away overnight from Maggie and I think we all did OK. The reason for the getaway was because our good friends Russ and Carolyn were getting married. The groomsmen and their wives all stayed in the Presidio at the general's home called the Funston House. We each had our own bedroom and bathroom and there was a full kitchen, dining room and two living rooms. Tons of space for a large group.  The weekend was all about great friends, delicious food, and fun. Lots of fun. More photos to come, but quickly here are a few of the highlights:

A perfect Thai dinner in the Marina District Thursday night

The rehearsal dinner at The Greens Restaurant in Fort Mason: an amazing ocean front dinner with a million dollar view of the Golden Gate Bridge

The handsome groom and groomsmen killing time outside our home on the afternoon of the wedding

Chad and me before the wedding began

Giorgio's Pizzeria in the Richmond District for a quick Italian lunch

Sushi

Now that Maggie has a firm grasp on picking up food with her hands, we've decided to work on honing her chopstick skills.

Chad's Toy

Last week Chad got an iPad for work. He's allowed to bring it home and play with it nights and weekends too. And for the first few days, that's what he did. A lot of playing. He let Maggie fool around with it too. And now they're both slaves to the darn thing. I totally get how cool it is, but I'm going to resist as long as I can.

Grapes

The good news is that our grape vine grew really well this year. It produced a bunch of big sweet grapes that were fun to watch grow. The bad news? The vine brought with it a billion bugs. And gross bug poop. Like a ton of it. After Chad gathered a large boxful of grapes to clean and sort to give to friends, we gave them a closer look and decided to dump the whole lot. And I think we're going to pull the vine. Bummer! 

With that said, the grapes we did eat were delicious.  But so much for our organic, pesticide-free grape experiment.

Um...

This elementary school is in a district that has a good academic reputation among the local folks. It just so happens that I walk by this sign every morning and lookie here what I noticed today. Maybe tomorrow I should go talk to the school libarian?

Happy Campers

In Front of Our Tent

This past weekend we spent our days at Hume Lake with friends. It was Maggie's first time sleeping in a tent and our first time as a family camping in the beautiful mountains. Now that we know what a great camper she is, it definitely will not be our last.  Even though we stayed for two nights the time went by so quickly that we weren't able to experience everything we wanted to. We aren't complaining though because it gives us lots to look forward to for next summer.We had such a great time.

Our Families During the Nearly 3-Mile Walk Around the Lake

Before Heading Home

Maggie Eating Breakfast in Her Jammies

Stumped

On Wednesday Maggie and I went to the Sequoia National Park with my parents to tour an area from a recently published book called Timely Exposures by Jackie Weiner. The walk was guided by the author. Despite the chilliness in the shade we had a fun time in the mountains hiking, looking at old Sequoia tree stumps, taking photos, enjoying the flowers, spotting a couple spotted fawn and hearing about the area from an expert researcher and a forest ranger. Maggie enjoyed herself too, but the walking part got a little rough for her. Most of her walking was assisted by one of my parents because falling became a frequent occurrence. Darn bumpy trails.

Happy Weekend!

Last week Maggie was having a particularly good time in her pool so I decided to grab my camera and get a few shots. As you can see she's having a blast and couldn't stop hamming it up for the camera.

Maggie's Tree

Earlier this summer my dad decided he wanted to single out a tree at the cabin and designate it "Maggie's Tree". He had a sign made (by a local Shaver Lake dude) and he cemented a rather large post into the ground to secure it. We had a fun time debating which tree it should be and, after extensive analysis and voting, we chose a pretty white fir. The location is great--clearly visible from the driveway and entrance to the cabin.  Each year we're going to mark the post with Maggie's height and get her photo in front of it. This year was special because we were able to get a photo of her with both sets of grandparents. Hopefully future photos will be just as great.

Family Reunion

Last Thursday Chad's folks came for the weekend to visit. We had a great time and are so glad they were here. They took Maggie swimming and watched her on Friday so Chad and I could have dinner at Slates (yum!). Saturday we all went to the cabin. We had lunch with my parents before they headed back down the hill. That afternoon we went for a nice hike and enjoyed the gorgeous weather and clean mountain air. All in all it was a great visit and Maggie loved playing with and getting to know her grandparents from sunny San Diego. I'm pretty sure they felt the same way about her. Unfortunately we didn't get many photos of the weekend because video seemed to take priority. Maybe someday I'll learn video editing and get something interesting here on the blog.