humbug

We just spent the last 7 hours of our lives in the car driving up from LA. Stop and go, stop and go... Shhhhhhh Ruby. Stop screaming. Levi, I don't know why it's taking so long to get home. Are we there yet? Why. Is. This. Taking. So. Long. Needless to say, it's good to be back. We tried to get our Christmas card out before Christmas this year, but didn't exactly succeed. Better late than never right?

biting the big apple

Jeff and I joined a few good friends of ours two weeks ago for a child-free 4-day vacation in New York City. I better get something down before it completely fades from my failing memory. It was one of those vacations where we were out of our hotel room by 9:00 in the morning and back no earlier than 11:00 at night. It's amazing how much you can take in when you don't have 2 toddlers in tow.

We got into the Big Apple around midnight Thursday and met up with our friends. Our hotel was just a couple blocks off of Times Square, so we grabbed a midnight snack at a New York deli and then took in the barrage of bright lights and advertising.

(Case in point. We just saw KFP for the first time the other day, by the way. It was actually really good! What a nice, refreshing suprise.)

The next day started with some breakfast in Bryant Park. We walked passed the NYC Public Library on our way to the Empire State Bldg, which turned out to be a quick stop too because visibility was zero that morning. Our next site was Grand Central Station. I can spend hours just sitting there on the mezzanine and watching the crowds ebb and flow, but no time. We got our subway passes and made our way down to the Statue of Liberty. Like I mentioned before, the weather sucked, so we got to see the grand dame without any lines. The ranger collecting entrance tickets made it a point to ask everyone whether or not they had reservations. We didn't, so he made it clear that we lucked out this time and then begrudgingly let us through. Ahhh...New Yorkers. We walked up through the pedestal of the statue, but access any further up has been permanently closed since 9/11. Fine by me. The stairs up and down the pedestal were enough. I'm glad I finally got to see Lady Liberty, but it was windy and rainy and ultimately I just wanted to get somewhere dry and have a bite to eat. Once back on land, we visited Ground Zero. I've never seen the WTC in person, but the physical and emotional enormity of their absence was palpable. At this point, we parted ways with the rest of the crew for the evening. Amy, Matt, Ardie & Jen went off to see Wicked. Jeff and I went to Williamsburg to visit our friend, Melissa, her hubby Drew, and their bear (I mean, bullmastiff). Melissa took our wedding photos back in the day. She still does amazing work with her camera, but now she's all about dogs. They treated us to some yummy grub at a place called Relish. I've never had steak and fries so good. Not bad for our full first day in New York right?

Jeff and I got up bright and early on Friday so that I could check out the Union Square Greenmarket. What can be better than a farmer's market right in the middle of Manhattan? For me, not much. My booty from the market: organic carrots, heirloom winecrisp apples, and a hunk of pecorino fresco. I was giddy. Then I finally got to try the pretzel croissants at The City Bakery, which was well worth the anticipation. By this time, it was becoming painfully clear that I needed better shoes for the remainder of the trip. We walked around (ouch) Soho until I found some very utilitarian doc martens, and then we joined the rest of the group at Central Park. We only had a couple precious hours to see the Met before closing, so Jeff and I decided to peruse the Egyptian and American Wings. No regrets, except we needed much more time. We later got a couple hot dogs from the Papaya King and people-watched the elite of Manhattan go about their evening in the Upper East Side. For dinner that night, we got some pizza at Lombardi's. The real deal when it comes to NY pizza. Then we got some dessert from Rice to Riches, a place that exclusively serves any possible variation of rice pudding.

We took the train to Long Island on Saturday to visit the parents of a friend of Ardie's. They own Lia's Pizza in Oceanside, and they treated us to a feast. We all sat there for a good hour eating all the pizza they served us, but in the end we still couldn't finish. Too much delicious food, too little stomach space. We also got to see their home and look at baby pictures of their son. I love that kind of stuff. When we got back to Manhattan, we also saw the Radio City Music Hall, Rockefeller Center (and The Tree not yet blinged out), Saint Patrick's Cathedral, and so on. It's all getting to be a blur. We spent a good deal of Sunday shopping in Soho. We had a little scare in Chinatown when Ardie & Jen, and Matt & Amy disappeared with a small Chinese woman behind a locked door in their search for some black market coach bags, but they evetually resurfaced without apparent harm. The only thing on my list that we didn't get around to was catching a ride in the Cash Cab. Ben Bailey, where were you???

Here are some recent pictures of the kids doing their thing at Jamba and at home, respectively.

Thanks, Aunt Heather!

Grrrrrr. This goes from cute to annoying very very quickly.

But cuddly sleeping baby is ALWAYS cute.

HMB

Half Moon Bay. As far as I'm concerned, that's a great name for a town. It's so great that I want to visit it just because of its name. It probably helps that the town itself lives up to its title. I love its small coastside town vibe. Luckily for me, the kids love it too because of Lemos Farm. At least around this time of year, Lemos is a kiddie heaven filled with pumpkins, farm animals, train rides, pies and cookies, and all sorts of good ol' fashioned fun. We had such a good time that it made Jeff jealous. He wants to take a morning off later this week so that he can take the kids to Lemos again and try to recreate the memory.

Oh, so exciting! Where to start?!?!



Mommy, this place is amazing. It has leaves!

Big rocking horses too!



And ducks.

Oh yeah, almost forgot the pumpkins. Levi picked this one up and called it his baby.

I made Ruby leave her bink in the car. She thought this pumpkin with little knobs made a good substitute.

"Not half bad!" she says.

Totally unrelated, but awesome bed head.

Mad 2 Electric Boogaloo

Jeff and I manage to get out to the movie theater every 2 years or so, mainly for company screenings of movies made at Jeff's work. We did just that over the weekend when we went to see Madagascar 2. As far as Dreamworks animation goes, we liked this one. There were some genuinely funny gags and it was entertaining. Most importantly, we feel like it's good enough that many people will pay to see it so that Jeff can keep his job.

The other extra-ordinary thing we did recently was go to a rock concert. I can barely remember the last time we did that. It was definitely back in the day BC (Before Children) when we had the time and inclination to drive all the way to Sacto to see U2. This time around we saw Weezer in San Jose. I couldn't see much since it was general admission and we were standing on the floor, but I managed to catch some glimpses of what was going on onstage by alternating my hopping with the frizzy-haired girl hopping in front of me. Jeff was really happy that they performed The Greatest Man That Ever Lived. In fact, as a follow-up to a story I heard on NPR, I asked Jeff later in the week to compile a playlist for me of songs he wants played at his memorial service...someday. Of course, "The Greatest Man" was at the top. Haha! Funny. By golly, if that's what he wants, I'll do it. It'll really annoy his mom, Joan, though.

i scream, you scream

New month, new post. I spend a lot of time cooking at work and at home, so why not write about food that I've been making? Well, let me back up a little. As kids, Jeff and I both loved the same ice cream flavor: Fenton's Swiss Milk Chocolate. It's a malted milk ice cream filled with tiny slivers of chocolate. I think I mentioned this in our blogger profile. Anyway, back to the present. Jeff and I are now old and we're suckers for the nostalgia of our childhood. This week I decided to make Swiss Milk Chocolate ice cream at home although (going back to the growing old part) the extreme cold of ice cream makes our teeth hurt. I made some minor tweaks to David Lebovitz's malted milk ice cream and came up with something quite delicious and not unlike the original. Thank you, thank you, David Lebovitz. This man is my hero. Among many wonderful recipes, he's got one for candied bacon ice cream. I love salt, and I love it in desserts. This guy speaks my culinary language. Here's a pic of my Swiss Milk Choc ice cream. Ok, ok. I'll throw a couple in of the kids too.

Ruby's birthday video

Here's a clip from the birthday "party" described in the previous post. Turn up your volume so you can hear Levi singing Happy Birthday at the beginning!

happy b-day, ruby!

The old girl turns 1 year today. Although she hasn't grasped the birthday concept, she certainly appreciates all the attention. Last night, we celebrated her birthday eve with an outing to Jamba. Jeff and I cracked up when she started drinking out of a straw for the first time. I had her try a straw a couple times at home before with some water, but no dice. Apparently it's all about the motivation. Anyway, I think the Jamba cup was bigger than she is. It was a lovely sight.

Today we've been singing the birthday song all day long. She dances almost every time. Tonight we were going to take the kids out to Yumi Yogurt for some birthday dessert until Jeff came up with what turned out to be the perfect idea. We keep Roo's food and water bowls out of sight and reach of the kids in the laundry room. Without fail, Ruby tries to make a mad dash towards the dog's water bowl whenever she hears me open that squeaky laundry room door. So Jeff suggested that for tonight and tonight only that we clean up the doggy water bowl and let Ruby have her way with it for her first birthday. As you can see, she thought it was the best birthday ever.

living with 2 toddlers

Now that Ruby's waddling around on her own two feet, we suddenly have 2 toddlers running the house. In addition to the ambulating, the little girl has also found her voice (and it's loud and incessant). She likes to say, "Aaaaa aaaa aaaa" all the time. Per Jeff, it's like we've brought home our very own exotic bird. Here are a few other milestones for Ruby, just in time for her 1st birthday in couple weeks:

• Sleeping in real crib away from mom and dad. Up through last week, she's slept next to our bed in a pak n play. Then Levi decided that he likes having someone close by during the night. So now Ruby sleeps in the crib across from Levi's toddler bed, and "Levi's Room" has officially become "The Kids' Room". Phew, that change took 9 months longer than I thought it would.



• Fighting over toys with her big brother. Ruby's starting to assert herself when it comes to getting toys that she wants, which is necessary because she always wants what Levi's playing with. Her strategy is simple but effective: climb on the toy or climb on Levi, and make a lot of parrot noises while doing it.

Sometimes Levi's a pretty good sport when Ruby takes over his toys.

Please, mom, please!

do you know this man?

While Levi was eating a bowl of Life for breakfast this week, he pointed to the Quaker guy on the box and said, "This man has marshmallows on his ears!" How is it that I've never noticed this before?

more kiddo pix

Nothing new to report. We're just enjoying the mundane and taking some pictures of it.

We're repainting and I think Jeff took this shot for reference. It's so funny how the kid(s) sneaks into the picture even when we're not intending to take a kid picture. So typical. (This is especially the case when we're taking photos of items we're posting on Craigslist.)

Almost an IKEA bedding lifestyle shot.

He's up to no good.

Lately people have been saying how much she looks like me. What do you think? Take note of her first pair of walking shoes. Thanks, Grandma!

All this because I won't let her play with the camera.

See, she's happy again! I'm a good parent, right??

check it out

Ahhhh, Zachary's loves us almost as much as we love Zachary's. There are even a few more wedding photos, Holly.

Seattle and Ruby's Crazy Hair

Jeff's parents came out from Utah last week to stay with the kids so that Jeff and I could take a short child-free vacation. We decided to go to Seattle because it was only a brief flight away and Jeff had never been (at least in recent memory). We stayed at a quirky but cute boutique hotel downtown, ate lots of good food at sit-down restaurants, watched an entire movie from start to finish without interruption at an actual movie theater, took in the view from the Space Needle, tried unsuccessfully to fit in at a local bar, visited several museums (the EMP, SAM, Asian Art) and perused the exhibits at our leisure, and managed to hang out at a few cafes that weren't Starbucks. It was fun. It was sooooo nice to get away, but it's also nice to be back. Both Levi and Ruby seemed, well, older when we got home. The changes were subtle but perceptible. Levi's a little more chatty and articulate. Ruby's hair is longer and she wakes up from her naps with aweseome pillow head. Oh, and she also started walking today. I've charged Jeff with getting some of that on video tomorrow while I'm at work.

At Gasworks Park. A good album cover don't you think?

Good good stuff.

Taking the monorail to the Space Needle.

Good hair day.

Silly little human.

Ruby has FUN!

Ruby loves it when I lift her way up in the air, then plop her on a pile of pillows on the bed.


And she loves it when mommy pushes her along the carpet in the laundry basket!

so ugly it's beautiful

Much to Jeff's mom's chagrin, we delight in taking unflattering photos of ourselves. We figure it's better to embrace the inevitable rather than try to fight or deny it. Jeff's been particularly inspired recently in taking pix of himself vigorously shaking his head back and forth while keeping his cheeks as relaxed as possible. He's had so much fun (and success!) with it that several of us had to follow suit. We've also got a few beautifully ugly shots of the kids. No one in the house has been spared.