RJ's Second First Day of School

The summer was fun, but the end of summer brings with it the start of another semester. So RJ goes back to school at the Child Development Center and I go back to teaching. The director of the CDC is back from maternity leave so I'm no longer in charge :- ( . RJ is much more of a handful getting out the door this year compared to last:







One of the nice things the CDC does is at pickup we get a daily report on RJ's mood, inputs, and outputs. It is a little insight into his day when we don't get a chance to watch from the observation room:



Since the infant/toddler CDC is only half-day, RJ spends afternoons sharing a babysitter with some friends. It is nice because the babysitters are all current or former teachers at the CDC from last year. On Monday, Tuesday, and Thursdays, RJ goes to Daisy's house and on Wednesday and Friday, Daisy and RJ go to their friend Stella's house. Yes, it's a complicated system, but at least RJ is no longer trying to nap in my office while I try to do work in the dark!

Guess who's pregnant again...

Guess who's pregnant. Relax, it's not Cheryl. My supervisor is going on maternity leave for the next six months so I have been asked to take over as Project Lead for the production pipeline. For those who don't remember what I do, here is a description from a recent job posting for my team:

"The Production Engineering group is responsible for designing and implementing software used in the production pipeline to create animated feature films. Production engineers understand the entire computer animation process and use that knowledge to develop the DreamWorks global animation pipeline."

The Pipeline team is the glue that connects all of the production departments together and build applications that artists use based on the core technologies built by R&D. So, R&D will work on the animation software, but we are the team that helps production build and organize things to animate (called assets), get those assets into the animation software, provide plugins and other systems to solve problems not covered in the animation software itself, and then provide the tools for capturing their work and preparing it as input for the next department to work on the scene. As the complexity of animated movies seems to have no bound, it becomes very important for our department to find not only technical efficiencies but also streamline the artist workflow. This may help explain why I say we work on every movie, but yet can't point to specific artistic contributions that make it in a film.

My new role will be mostly focused on project management and helping to improve the software development process for our team of a dozen developers.

It is kind of interesting that both Cheryl and I have ended up taking over leadership or management roles this year at work. It will be a challenge to keep the balance between work and spending time with RJ.

Happy Anniversary Momma and Daddy

On August 16, Momma and Daddy let me play with my friend Erika ALL DAY LONG. I'm not quite sure why they decided to go hiking up a hot (90 degrees!) hill without me instead of going swimming in Erika's pool with me, but they said it had something to do with me getting squirmy and heavy in my backpack. I don't see what the problem with a squirmy 21 pound toddler is - I have great fun riding up high and getting to see everything in the backpack. There are things to see EVERYWHERE - that's why I keep looking to the right and then leaning to the left and trying to turn around and well, you get the picture...I'm 14 months old...you're just going to have to deal with my curiosity.

But this post isn't about me. It's about Momma and Daddy being married for 5 years. Yeah, 5 - that's my life times 5. Momma has been itching to go hiking since her and Daddy haven't been able to go in two years because of work and being busy and well, me. So Daddy took Momma to Mount Diablo (I've been there!!! Just look!! I wasn't at the top, but I was there! I even ate lunch there!) to hike to the top of the 3,849 ft mountain. They didn't climb up all the way from the bottom, (Remember they haven't been hiking in 2 years) , they just did the Juniper to Pioneer to Summit Loop Trail, which goes up about 1000 ft in a 3.8 mile round trip. Here are some pictures from their hike.

Livermore Valley

North Peak and the Sacramento River

The Bay Area

Then they had a picnic lunch at the summit, where they had a very unwelcome visitor that chased them around the picnic area (literally, they'd run and the bee would chase them) until they finally shoveled their food in and quickly packed up. Momma said that this was not like Barry from Bee Movie or a nice bee that makes honey like Uncle Luke and Aunt Amy's bees!!! This was one mean bee and she did not want to find out that she was allergic to bees like Aunt Amy while atop a mountain. Then Momma and Daddy came home to shower off the mountain stinkies. They were hoping to see me, but I was having WAY too much fun swimming in Erika's big pool. I love swimming. It's so much fun. I just splash and splash and splash. I love my little pool too - it has a tree that squirts water at me! Oh yeah, this is about Momma and Daddy, not me. In the late afternoon, Daddy took Momma to taste some wine in Livermore. Momma really enjoyed the Thomas Coyne port. She was also all crazy happy about the organic wine at Retzlaff too. They had dinner outside at Strizzi's after a recommendation from two of the wine servers and then a yummy chocolate fondue at Simply Fondue. Then they came home, but I of course was already asleep after my fun day playing and swimming with Erika. I think we all had a good time on Momma and Daddy's Anniversary!

Happy 5th Anniversary Momma and Daddy. I love you! Love, RJ

RJ & Momma Explore LA LA Land

On Monday (August 11) Lance left early in the morning to take a bus to the convention center and left RJ and I to explore a little and to switch hotels. After breakfast, RJ and I walked to the Venice Canals, since we hadn't seen them yet and it was a good pre-morning nap activity.

While we were strolling we stumbled upon a location shoot for the TV show NUMB3RS. I could only tell because the little carts the crew were pushing around said NUMB3RS on them. I really only saw a bunch of security and a guy who was dressed like an FBI agent. I doubt that a location shoot needed a real FBI agent, so my guess is that the guy was an actor - I didn't recognize him though. RJ stopped at a playground adjacent to the shoot to see some ducks and meet yet a pretty little girl to flirt with on the swings.Alas neither RJ nor I was "discovered" by a stray agent or director or anything. Heh.

Following our morning walk, RJ napped a little and then we checked out of the hotel and drove to check out the Santa Monica Pier, which is a nice little amusement park built on a Pier. I think in another few months, RJ will be begging to go on all the rides - but for now, he had to settle for Momma holding him on his first carousel ride. Sorry the pictures suck, I was holding him on the moving horse with one hand and trying to snap pictures with the other. At first he was a little scared by it, but soon discovered that it was a really fun thing to experience.

We headed to LA to time nap time for the car ride. As the traffic didn't suck as much as LA traffic is supposed to (it was 1:30pm), I had to drive around a little more so that he could get a long enough nap. The hotel had valet parking, so I couldn't really just park and let him sleep and then check in, so I drove around a little - saw a sign for Echo Park and set the GPS to find it. We parked there and then walked around Echo Lake and stopped at the playground, where he met yet another little girl - although this one was about 7 years old and basically took RJ all over the play structure, helping him with the stairs and everything. She was doing a really good job, so I just stayed nearby and let him play with her. We checked into the hotel and then met Daddy to grab dinner. RJ was a little rambunctious in the tiny hotel room, but found a number of ways to amuse himself. In addition to hiding in the closet and playing with an inflatable beach ball (great travel toy!), he also decided that he didn't need a playground to climb.

This video is not recommended for the faint of heart or for anyone with an anxiety disorder of any kind.




Then, on Tuesday, we checked out of the hotel, drove Daddy to DreamWorks, and then visited Griffith Observatory for the view. We didn't go into the planetarium or anything, but I would like to when RJ gets a little older. We hit Fred 62 in Los Feliz for lunch, but unfortunately didn't see anyone famous. I supposed I will have to hang out in Lauren Graham's neighborhood a little more if I ever plan on seeing her. Then we were back to Griffith Park to attempt a nap.

Needless to say, even with RJ's kick ass sleep tent, a nap in a park is not possible with a toddler. I managed to get RJ into the tent, but then he thought it was a game and tried to roll his tent down the hill. He nearly succeeded too. Anyway, we gave up on napping and played on the massive playground nearby instead. It is a boundless playground, meaning that the whole playground is meant to be safe, accessible, and enjoyable for children of all ages, including those with disabilities. RJ loved it - we were there for over an hour and he didn't even get to parts of it because he was digging the parts he was in so much. It was an incredibly designed playground for a toddler and I could see that even younger and older children alike were having a great time there!

Then we picked up Daddy and headed back home to Northern California.

RJ Goes to Santa Monica...

"All I wanna do is have some fun
I got a feeling I'm not the only one
All I wanna do is have some fun
Until the sun comes up over Santa Monica Boulevard..."
(Sheryl Crow, 1994)

On Sunday (August 10) Evening we drove up to Santa Monica and checked out the Third Street Promenade. If you're ever in Santa Monica, I would say skip the Third Street Promenade unless you're in a mood for shopping. It's an outdoor mall and most, if not all the stores can probably be found in your local mall or downtown area. But, it was a nice little walk in downtown Santa Monica.

We also took RJ to his park. Yes, there is a "Reed Park" in Santa Monica, and it just happened to be on the way toward dinner. Nothing special, it's really just a playground, but RJ is a much easier toddler to take around town if we let him out to play at strategic intervals!

Upon a recommendation off some random local mom's blog that came up when I googled "Kid Friendly things to do in Santa Monica", we ate some yummy mexican food at El Cholo. Not only was the food yummy (RJ dug the rice and beans, and even some of my seafood enchilada), but I also enjoyed my first margarita in over two years. I only finished a little over half (as I still had to nurse RJ at bedtime), but it was sooooo yummy!

RJ Goes to Venice Beach...

Within walking distance of our hotel in Marina Del Rey and just up the coast was Venice. On Sunday (August 10) morning we set out to find a cute cafe for breakfast and to see what we could see.

We stumbled upon Abbott's Habit for breakfast, where we discovered that RJ likes grapes. The one problem was that he really wanted to try the ball-like grapes too, not just the toddler-friendly 1/8ths. Don't worry though - we didn't let him put the whole grapes in his mouth!



Then we walked along the Ocean Front Walk (essentially a boardwalk of sorts). Lance and I got some LA-friendly sunglasses and we visited the Venice Beach Freak Show. See if you can spot the difference between this turtle and a normal turtle.Yep, that is a second head and yes, that turtle is living. Also among the live freaks were a five legged dog, which only walks on three legs, and a two headed snake. I worry a little about the welfare of these animals and hope that they're not being somehow bred for our entertainment, but it was interesting to see them just walking around living life.

We also took RJ to a playground at Muscle Beach Venice. Sadly, Muscle Beach Venice is NOT the Original Muscle Beach, but it was created in the spirit of the Original Muscle Beach. Wikipedia explains why there are two Muscle Beaches within miles of each other. It is pretty cool that there are gymnastics apparatuses and weight machines on the beach! I totally would've played on the gymnastics equipment had I not been wearing a skirt and we weren't already running dangerously close to having a late lunchtime for RJ.So after our cursory glance at Muscle Beach Venice, we continued our loop back to the hotel stopping for lunch at C&O Trattoria, which was recommended by a local we met the day before on the water taxi. It was a good recommendation! We sat outside and watched the people go by on the street.

We spent the rest of Sunday (after RJ's nap) in Santa Monica, which is just north of Marina Del Rey and Venice. The map from the Marina Del Rey post shows you the loop we walked in Venice, outlined in red.

RJ Goes to Marina Del Rey...

RJ and I recently took a trip down to Southern California to tag along with Lance when he attended a conference for DreamWorks. The conference was at the LA convention center on Monday August 11 (Koos' Birthday - Happy Birthday Koos!), but we spent the weekend before exploring the coastal area of Los Angeles County.

We started in Marina Del Rey where we walked around the Marina to Fisherman's Village, which is cute. RJ really enjoyed the live music. He just kept dancing and dancing.
He also enjoyed looking at the boats and as pictured here, riding in the water taxi!

The only low point was that we went to "Angler's Choice" for dinner. Apparently the Angler likes really bland food. I'm sorry, but how does any paid chef screw up a shrimp cocktail??? Defrosted frozen shrimp from the grocery store are better than the "fresh" shrimp cocktail we ordered. Usually, we're good about checking Yelp reviews prior to picking a restaurant while traveling. However, this time we were walking to Fisherman's Village and decided that such a place should be known for their good seafood restaurants. Maybe some of the other restaurants are good, but this one was not. Despite the not-so-good seafood, Fisherman's Village was a cute area and we enjoyed our walk around Marina Del Rey.

This map includes all the points of interest we hit during the whole trip. It also includes the walk we took around the marina, which is the blue line in the Southwest corner of the map.
View Larger Map

What do Journey and Hammer have in common....

Well, only time will tell if we made a colossal blunder or are market geniuses. On 08/08/08 we reached an agreement to buy RJ a house. We have an estimated close date for the first week of September.

Tracy,CA



The house is located in Tracy,CA -- the nearest neighboring town to where we are now. Our commutes will be nearly the same, but it does put us closer to the commuter train that goes to San Jose, the grocery stores, and everything else really.

Pro: 56th safest city in the country
Con: 2,560 miles from our closest relative

Perry vs. Hammer.

I can't decide who would make a better neighbor. Steve Perry, lead vocal for Journey or MC Hammer. Tough call.

Working hard to get my fill,
Everybody wants a thrill
Payin anything to roll the dice,
Just one more time
Some will win, some will lose
Some were born to sing the blues

I'm goin' for all that i can get
Kickin at the top cause I'm too legit to quit...sing!

Oh, yeah, we were talking about a house



Vital Statistics

2378 sq ft
4 bedrooms
2.5 bathrooms
hard wood floors
stainless steel kitchenaid appliances
around the corner from the park
elementary school district regarded as best in town

Deal or No Deal?

We got the house for 95% of asking price with the seller paying for closing costs, points, and home warranty. We also get that little tax credit from Uncle Sam.

We will be paying about 16% less than what the house sold for when it was originally built in 2003. That is about 53% off the peak price paid for another smaller house on the same street back in 2006.

We should also be able to rent it out at market rate and have a modest positive cash flow should we choose to move to a different neighborhood and not be able to sell.

So for now, we're just waiting to close.

RJ Goes to the Garlic Festival...

Do you know where your garlic comes from? Probably China actually, but you may be lucky enough to get some of the good domestic Gilroy,CA garlic.

The garlic festival attracts a 100,000+ crowd to the southern-most stop on Caltrain. It is a 90 minute drive from our place, and I kid you not, from more than 4 miles away up the highway, ac on, windows closed you could smell the garlic.The area's top chefs show up for the cooking competition that even airs on Food Network. We sampled garlic bread, garlic calamari, garlic pesto pasta, garlic pepper steak sandwich, garlic sausage sandwich, garlic marinated mushrooms, garlic chicken stir fry, garlic shrimp scampi, and of course topped it off with garlic ice cream. It sounds scary, but even RJ enjoyed it:

Vampires beware.

RJ Goes to Santa Cruz

We headed down to Santa Cruz to see the beach and the boardwalk and all the rumored "crazy people" that live there. On Friday (July 18) we arrived and got the lay of the land and found a good taqueria for dinner (Thank You Yelp!). RJ was enthralled with the parrot painted on the window there.

On Saturday we hit the main tourist spots.

We started at the Mystery Spot, where the laws of physics check themselves at the entrance gate. I would show you pictures of RJ standing at a slant but, no lie, our camera refused to work while we were at the Mystery Spot. Zoinks.

Moments upon leaving, the camera magically started working again, so that you can enjoy some pictures of the foggy morning at Natural Bridges State Park.

Then we met up with some of the local color in the form of the Kempos (also known as Laura Rosensteel and her hubby Jesse). See what we mean about Santa Cruz attracting "Crazy People"

[Okay the scary part is that I realized that this picture (from Sophomore year Spring Break in Cancun) will be a decade old come Spring Break season...man we're all old now. ]

Laura was still in shock and disbelief that we have a kid. While walking downtown we also were approached by a shabbily dressed gentleman selling a book and childcare. We'll keep that in mind for next time.

We had a very very very yummy lunch at Chocolate, which was just as scrumptious as a restaurant named Chocolate should be! Three cheers for the Chocolate Orgy platter.

Then we hit the boardwalk and let RJ get his feet in the Pacific for the first time, and headed home.

Adios DamnedPump!

I have been breastfeeding RJ for over a year. Given how demanding work has been, I am damn proud of myself for surpassing my goal of breastfeeding for a year. I had at one time a grand idea of letting RJ dictate the weaning schedule, but given how rough this past school year was with pumping and nursing between classes and meetings, which were never at the same time every day, I wanted to ensure that I wouldn't be nursing RJ during the day when the Fall Semester starts. So, I gave the weaning process a little nudge.

Before weaning, here was our nursing schedule:

Pump for freezer/bottles 5am
Wake 6:30
Snack 9:00
Naptime 1:00
Snack 4:00
Bedtime 7/7:30

When school was in session, I was pumping in place of the 9:00 (and also at the 5am pump), but nursing on the weekends. Since June, I have been nursing for the 9:00, but I kept pumping knowing that I would need the supply of pumped milk in order to mix with whole milk when I started weaning.

The goal is to drop the 9:00, 1:00, and 4:00 feedings, but keep the wake-time and bedtime feedings for as long as RJ wants. To do this, I'm using a "don't offer, don't refuse" approach, dropping one feeding at a time. In early July, I started mixing pumped breast milk with whole milk in a sippy cup. For two days, RJ drank 5oz. breast milk mixed with 1 oz. whole milk, which we reduced by an ounce of breast milk every two days until he was drinking 6 oz of whole milk out of a sippy. The first feeding I dropped was his naptime nursing, because of it's close proximity to lunch anyway. Also, dropping this feeding gave me a big chunk of time when I could drive down to campus on my babysitter days. RJ responded wonderfully and didn't ask to nurse at that time at all. There was one time that he wanted to nurse an extra time in the afternoon, but it was the exception rather than the rule. As you can see from this picture, he is a fan of his sippy cups and even plucked this one out of the fridge when I had opened it to get something else!

We are amassing quite the arsenal of sippy cups free of BPA and Phlalates and PVC. We have 2 Klean Kanteens, 1 Born Free Soft-Spout Trainer, 1 Foogo Sippy, 1 Think Baby Trainer, 1 Boon Fluid, and 1 Nuby Easy Grip Sippy. RJ is not as fond of the Nuby as he is of the rest. Seems like he knows which one is the cheap one already. In terms of leak-proof ness - The Foogo and Klean Kanteen are the best and the Born Free is the leakiest. Now if only we could get RJ's chin to stop leaking, we'd be in good shape! Next on the acquisition list is the "Safe Sippy"

Since the first reduction went so well, we only waited a few days to start the process with his 9:00 am nursing, which allowed us to get moving quicker when we wanted to go into the city or whatever. This worked out quite well when Sully was here and we were going into town a lot.

We're down to three times a day now - when he wakes up, when he wakes up from his afternoon nap, and at bedtime. I'm going to hold steady for a little while and drop his post-afternoon nap feeding just before our 5th anniversary next month, so that we can spend the whole day just as a couple.

RJ seems to have responded to this quite well. Every once and a while, he'll come up and lift up my shirt (his personal, very obvious, baby sign for "I want the boobs"), and I indulge him. It hasn't happened often - maybe 3 times total in the last month, so I think he was ready for weaning anyway. After all, many of his feedings were very active, wiggly toddler feedings, so I'm not convinced he was getting a whole lot. What I have noticed is that he nurses a lot better now that we're not nursing so often.

My favorite thing about daytime weaning is bidding adieu to my not-so-good friend, DamnedPump. Now that there is only one more feeding left to drop, and I have a freezer full of breast milk due to my continued daily pumping, I decided that it was time to stop waking up at 5am to pump. I hated pumping and it was never easy for me, as I had to pump at least twice, most of the time 3 times for every one feeding I missed, with the exception of my first pump of the day. (I shudder to think what would've been had I not had a good Medela pump!) I only kept up pumping first thing in the morning because I wanted to make sure that I still could pump, so that I wouldn't have to give RJ formula. I know it wouldn't have hurt him, but breast milk is better for him and I abhor the smell of formula. But now that RJ is old enough not to "need" breast milk, I am going to let the supply of frozen milk dwindle as he drops the 4pm feeding and give him sippy cups of breast milk if I'm ever not around for bedtime (which will happen about 6 times during the fall semester when I have a night class that I have to teach- urgh!) After it's gone, he'll get a cup of whole milk if I'm not there.

So Adios DamnedPump! I'll probably see you again someday when baby #2 needs milk (No, I'm not pregnant. Don't get all excited, Mom!)

By the end of the summer, RJ will be nursing only when he first wakes up and right before he goes to sleep at night. We plan on continuing as long as he wants to. We both still enjoy it and it's still good for him so I am not going to nudge him to keep it up or to stop. If he's still nursing and I get pregnant again or you know, he's still nursing in kindergarten, then maybe I'll think about nudging him toward weaning those feedings. But for now, there are still some daily boobies in RJ's life.

The Mortgage Mess: July Update...

Testing the Waters

It has been awhile since we first found out about the foreclosure. Since our last update we've been looking at houses and doing some research. I thought about going ahead and getting a real estate license for a little while there. Our goal simply put:

rent >= mortgage interest payment + property taxes + homeowners insurance + error

It has been getting pretty close to balancing out, but not unsurprisingly, anything approaching that equation is getting multiple offers. We just looked at a house that has 12 offers already and it has only been on the market for a week. I suspect it is the same dozen people bidding on the few cheapest foreclosures while many others are ignored. We looked at another house this morning that was listing higher but had zero offers and was just as nice.

Notice to Quit

We've been put on notice so we're now officially squatters.

NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that ... (ii) within sixty (60) days after service on you of this Notice in the event you are a tenant or subtenant of the property, and not one of the owners of the property, you are required to quit and deliver up possession of the premises...

We believe the sale happened around July 14, so we actually got a little extra time. Our property manager is returning our security deposit and rent as of the date of the sale. The bank is offering "cash-for-keys" meaning that if we leave in 3 weeks they'll give us a check toward moving expenses.

The silly thing is that

rent > cash for keys

It would cost us more to rent a place for a month than what they are offering us to move out a month earlier. We probably won't wait until the last minute to get out since we want to be settled before the fall semester begins anyway (and I don't necessarily want to meet the local sheriff).

Missed the Mortgage Rate Minimum

Rates have been going up. A recent New York Times article points out rates have hit their five year high. At first I thought this was a missed opportunity for us, but maybe it isn't so bad. The rate increase makes the monthly payment jump $194/mo.

$300,000 @ 5.70 = $1741/mo

$300,000 @ 6.70 = $1935/mo

$270,000 @ 6.70 = $1742/mo

If we assume that the rate increases pushes other buyers out of that price range then the asking price of the house should go down too. The $1741/mo mortgage at current rate translates to a $270,000 home rather than $300,000.

Since we're the saving and pay down debt type, the lower house price is actually a better deal for us.

$270,000 @ 6.70 => $1942/mo = 23 years
$300,000 @ 5.70 => $1942/mo = 24 years

It will just be a question of whether prices will actually dip that much in our timeframe. The housing package passed this week should also help us out:

"The bill includes $15 billion in housing tax breaks, including a credit of up to $7,500 for first-time home buyers who purchase between April 9, 2008, and July 1, 2009"

The traditional home buying season will be wrapping up soon so there are a number of indicators pushing us in the direction of closing a deal soon. We have a couple informal offers out there now so we'll have to see what happens.

Besens, Bubbles, and Bop, Oh My!

Akin to the drought that California is experiencing, we have also experienced a drought of a different kind: A drought of visitors! And then on July 12, like the old adage, when it rains, it pours, we had a house guest and other friends visiting the area!

Bop

Mr. David Sullivan is a man of many names. Others might call him Dave, but we typically call him Sully or Sully-Bot, or sometimes just Bot. RJ caught on and his name for Sully is now "Bop".

When "Bop" was here, we visited Alum Rock park near San Jose, where the most recent felt earthquake (Oct 30, 2007) was epicentered. Here "Bop" taught RJ to play football.


We also spent two days exploring San Francisco. On the first day, we had Dim Sum and walked around Chinatown, walked through Fisherman's Wharf and Ghiardelli Square, where we enjoyed the free chocolate-peanut butter squares, and then walked back through North Beach where we introduced Sully to the garlic laden delicacies at The Stinking Rose. The second day in SF was not as well choreographed, but both Sully and I got a good workout walking up an inordinate amount of hills as we walked from Fisherman's Wharf where we had lunch at Boudin Sourdough, then up and around Fort Mason, through Marina, and then weaved around the edge of the Presidio and through the Richmond District until we ended up in Golden Gate Park. This was quite the walk - about 8 miles of weaving and going uphill and then downhill. Then we had an adventure taking RJ on his first muni bus. RJ met lots of interesting people, including one amputee who was friendly with him. Unfortunately, when the amputee was getting off the bus, at the time we were thinking of getting off the bus, he bumped this fat guy standing there. I had stood up with RJ just after the amputee passed us and I was standing behind the fat guy, who shoved the amputee, who shoved back and luckily RJ and I stayed in an upright position despite the shoving match right in front of us! Apparently I haven't lost my sense of balance! Then RJ and Sully got their first cable car ride back to Fisherman's Wharf to pick up the car so that we could pick up Lance at work.

This is Sully and RJ at Fort Mason:


On one of the other days, I took Sully and RJ to Berkeley, where we went up Indian Rock, had lunch at Barney's Burgers (which is similar, but not as good as, Mr. Bartley's in Harvard Square). In fact, the onion rings at Barney's were actually pretty sucky, which was a downer if you're expecting Mr. Bartley's quality onion rings. We then went to UC Berkeley to check out the tree people, and we missed one of them descending by only a couple of hours!

On Sully's last day, we took a morning drive to Half Moon Bay where it was freezing cold even while wearing jeans and hoodies (the San Francisco Bay area uniform). Despite the frigid temps (it was probably like 55 degrees), hot blooded "Bop" refused to wear a sweatshirt. RJ had some fun blowing bubbles, which is his new favorite thing to do and say.

We then met up with Lance for (free) lunch at DreamWorks before driving "Bop" to the airport. Thanks for visiting Sully-Bop! We miss you already.

Bubbles

RJ has always liked bubbles, but for some reason this week his love of bubbles prompted him to speak the word bubbles pretty much non-stop. He also made the connection between the bubbles bottle (both the green and blue bottles!) and the bubbles that can be made from the stuff inside said bottle. This is no baby-talk word either. It comes out clear as a bell! So everywhere we went, RJ kept asking for bubbles. In the car, at the beach, in the stroller, etc. Clearly the word of the week was, "bubbles".


Besens


Adam Besen is one of Lance's fraternity brothers who lives in Colorado with his wife, Erica, and his 15 month old daughter, Audrey. He brought his family into town on a semi-annual business trip to Google's main campus in Mountain View. The arrived on the same day as Sully and we all met up for dinner that night. As you can see here, RJ and Audrey were fast friends, and they have a similar penchant for KDR's "Princeton Orange" in their stroller fashion.
By the next day, they were hugging in Chinatown!

Click here for more pictures of our fun-filled week!

RJ's First Fireworks Display

For Independence Day, Lance, RJ, and I ventured up to what is described as the "largest show West of the Mississippi". We realize that it was not RJ's first Independence Day, it WAS his first fireworks display because, well, we were exhausted by his newbornliness last year.

We snagged a piece of sand on the public beach in South Lake Tahoe to hang out for a few hours before the show started (it was getting crowded fast). It's weird that we're wearing sweatshirts and jeans on a beach on July 4, but Lake Tahoe is an alpine lake with a surface elevation of over 6000 ft, so it gets cold at night! During this time, RJ found a stray beach ball and tried to walk all over the place kicking it and carrying it. He even shared the stray ball with a new friend named TJ who was a month older than him!


The real fun was trying to contain him on our blanket when it started to get dark - he was a bit active, as you will see in the video. He was VERY overtired since he was staying up WAY past his bedtime. However, the fireworks seemed to make him calmer, because once they started and he noticed them, he settled down in my lap and just watched. He was not scared one bit, probably because the fireworks weren't very loud since they we launched from a barge quite a bit offshore.




The next day we drove around Emerald Bay, looking for a parking spot at a trail head, but due to holiday weekend crowdedness, none were to be found. We did get a few nice pictures of Emerald Bay though. We gave up our search of a good trail to hike and instead found parking at a beach. RJ and I braved the chilly waters of the lake and played on the sand. RJ made friends with some boys who dug a big hole filled with water and some other children who were making "soup" with the sand.

I think we'll have to return to Lake Tahoe when it is not a holiday weekend so that we can enjoy more of the natural splendor of the region.

RJ's First Trip to Grandma D's...

Having seen the Vanderbilt's summer home the Breakers in Newport, RI a few years back we decided to include a stop in Asheville,NC while visiting the South so that we could see the Biltmore with both grandmas and Aunt Amy in tow. Pictures weren't allowed so there are no cute pictures of RJ sitting in the dumbwaiter and crawling down the bowling alley.

After spending the day on the estate eating, wine tasting, and touring we had one more stop to visit Great Aunt "Kissie Kissie" Alice before heading down to Georgia to Grandma's.

Grandma took us all to the local playgrounds and quite a few grocery stores -- including a great natural foods warehouse that had all the organic essentials.



The water was too cold for us, but RJ had no quams about playing in the Chattahoochee River and rediscovered his love for climbing stairs. Whenever we were in the house he was all about going up and down the stairs. Kind of makes us happy we live in a single floor place.

While near Atlanta we decided to check out the Georgia Aquarium, the second best aquarium for kids. RJ was a big fan of splashing the water in the "hands on" exhibits and admired the pretty sea life:

tropical fish


sea lions


and whale sharks


Of course, there were stairs at the aquarium too which might have interested him just as much.

It was a shame we had to head back to California so soon because RJ seemed to be enjoying southern living.

Oh What A Year It's Been: RJ's First Birthday

It has been quite a year. Now, at 1 year old, RJ is 20 lbs. (10th percentile, which is up from 7th at his last checkup) and 30 inches long (50th percentile). He is toddling around independently and can push to a standing position without props now too. His verbal skills are awesome and his doctor said that he'll be talking very soon since he's trying to communicate verbally. He can say Momma, Dadda, this (usually pointing at something and wanting you to either name it or get it for him), cat (still sounds more like at), ball, eyes (while poking my eyes), nose (while pointing at my nose), lunch (sounded more like lunz), water (sounds like wa), the exclamation, "whoa" when enjoying a good swing, among some other words/wordlets, such as mooing like a cow. He has some very clear preferences now too, like swings, slides, climbing, balls, throwing things, running away from us, chasing and petting terrorizing the cats, dancing to music, playing with a stockpot and big spoon, and hugging stuffed animals, just to name a few.

All that developmental stuff is great, but you're probably wondering how we spent RJ's birthday. As you already know from previous posts, we spent RJ's Birthday in South Carolina , and started his birthday celebration with his first haircut.

Then after lunch out at Panera, where he gnawed on a piece of baguette (he LOVES bread), we headed back to the Bryson homestead for his birthday party preparations. I baked RJ his very own organic white birthday cake, complete with organic frosting (okay, the writing icing isn't, but it's not going to kill him). The rest of the gang got an organic (box) chocolate cake, with the same icing.


The party started with pizza - each guest got to make their own personal pizza atop pizza dough that we half-baked first.

After eating the pizzas, RJ opened some presents. We had a bit of a surprise in this area. RJ tore through his Christmas presents with great excitement and aplomb. He even got in on opening other people's presents since he loved tearing paper so much. He still loves paper now, but apparently not when there is a room of people to socialize with. He showed no real interest in the opening process and instead kept walking or crawling away to hang out with his audience. It also didn't help that he was fast friends with the stuffed frog that we opened first. Apparently frog was enough for him! (Thank you Audrey, August, and Gracie!) However, I think that all his new outfits are adorable and he has been enjoying all his other new toys that he received at his party or in the mail! A BIG THANK YOU to all!

Next up was a tradition in my family where the birthday boy gets to choose one of three objects on his highchair tray. His choice is a prediction of sorts regarding his future personality. The objects are a rosary, a dollar bill or coin, and a shot glass. We also added a heart pendant this year as a symbol of love. RJ chose love, and his second choice was the money. I'll leave it up to you to decide what it all means.

Then it was finally cake time. RJ seemed to really enjoy his cake (although he might prefer chocolate since his eyes lit up when we let him try a little piece of the big cake!) and definitely needed a bath following it!


Here is RJ's First Birthday, abridged into approximately 8 minutes of video:

RJ's First Haircut and Momma's Paraben and Phlalate Soapbox

Since he was born a year ago, RJ's hair has been growing and, like me, he has not had a haircut in the last year. For the last month or so, he has been sporting what looked more and more like a mullet, which just isn't cool. Why does hair on the back of one's head grows faster than hair on the top? It's rather annoying.

Anyway, I remembered a little girl that I babysat in Arlington, MA went to a cute hair salon called Snip-It's (which caters exclusively to children) for her haircuts. After some googling on the internets, I discovered that Snip-Its was a chain that had a location in Greenville (but not anywhere in CA). So with 6 adults (Momma, Daddy, Grammie Carola, Grandma D, Aunt Amy, and Grandma D's friend Sabra) in tow, RJ headed to the local Snip-It's for his first of many hair cuts. Interestingly, we learned via the baby blog world that one day later, RJ's buddy Jace also went to a Snip-It's (albeit one in the Boston area) for his first haircut!

First, RJ played with some scissors:



Then he made friends with the other customers. And finally, after waiting a while, he got his haircut. This went very well when the bubble machine was on


and when he had brushes to hold:


I'm satisfied with the result:


BUT, there are a couple of points that I'd like to make about Snip-It's. First, the woman cutting his hair was fantastic - she was patient and made the cut fun for him, and carefully selected a tuft of hair for us to save for posterity. Second, as great as she was, as Heather pointed out in their blog, it is not a cheap little haircut. Plus, it makes NO sense that an establishment for children wouldn't make appointments. We had to wait a while (at least 45 minutes - although I wasn't really paying attention that closely) since they only take walk-ins, and with an active one-year-old, waiting, even with an ample supply of toys provided, is something that I personally like to avoid.

Third, do not call a product "all natural" if it has parabens (synthetic chemical preservatives) in it. While I'd prefer us not using these chemicals at all, I'm not arguing that companies can't use them - but don't call something natural that's not. Some say that the jury is still out whether parabens are dangerous to our reproductive health or not, but I'd rather not take a chance when there are perfectly good natural alternatives out there. Also, while I'm sure a good mousing would've made RJ really cute at Snip-It's, it's also not necessary and he will have many years ahead of him where he can argue to use the not-so-natural products himself. So I declined the use of the Snip-It's spray mouse after looking at the ingredient list. But as a bonus point for our stylist, she did give us the option of product usage and allowed me to look at the ingredient list before just spraying the mouse on RJ.

And finally, for your viewing pleasure, some video clips of the event!

Daddy's First Father's Day

Last year Lance ALMOST had a Father's Day with RJ, but on June 17, 2007 RJ was still "Nugget" and we spent the day walking around San Francisco with my mom in anticipation of his arrival (Yeah, I was hoping all the walking would stimulate labor!), which would come two days later on the 19th.

This year, Lance flew in to meet us in South Carolina in time to celebrate Father's Day with RJ.

I wanted to share my appreciation (and RJ's appreciation) for a year's worth of fantastic fathering.

We love you Lance!

And yes, I realize that we've been behind on the blog...stay tuned, there will be more posts soon. In the meantime, please enjoy this video clip of RJ and Lance on Father's Day: