Dining with the Triplets

Friday night Addie and her pal Clyde along with their parents were invited to dine at The Triplet's house after work. It was a last minute invite so we didn't have time to bring any food for Addie or for me to bring my camera.

My jaw dropped when we walked in and Madison, Kylie and Ethan were all sitting peacefully at the kitchen table eating brocolli with forks. I had no idea that silverware should be on Addie's agenda. Addie was actually rather adept at it for her first time but she still refused to eat the brocolli that was kindly set forth before her on her own plate by our very gracious hosts. She did eat the inside of grape tomatoes leaving the skins, her serving of tofu dogs, and of course the pasta course.


By the end of the meal, Addie had dumped her plate on her lap, exchanged sippy cups with Ethan, and then stolen Kylie's empty plate. After the kids dinner, we let them loose in the backyard where the adults drank wine and beer and devoured pizza. The triplet's house is the perfect place - tons of space, toys and even a brand new puppy who came by for a visit.

Slurpee

Since my Dad noted that it has been almost a week since my last post, I thought it was my duty to fill the Addie-void despite the lack of available material.

After a lovely wine lunch in Los Olivos on the last day of our road trip, we stopped at the local market for a diet coke in a can (I insist on a can over a plastic bottle as I'm convinced it tastes better). There isn't much to say about the photo, but I like that it has a timeless appeal; we could be anywhere in the U.S. at any period of time .

We've almost been home a week, settling back into our normal schedule and routine. Monkey has tooth #10 coming in and last night she shrieked enough that we ended up bringing her into our bed where she flailed around punching me with arms, elbows, feet and knees. I gave up (rather impatiently after about 5 minutes) and slept on the couch. There I only get geriatric Didi waking me up every few hours so I can lift her back up on the couch where she curls up behind my knees and goes back to sleep. I'm ready for a two bedroom and a cat ramp.

the last hurrah

Today is the last day of our 2 week vacation. After returning from our road trip Thursday, we jumped on an airplane Friday to Seattle for my friend Bethany's wedding leaving Miss A in the loving care of Grandpa Mit. Bethany and I lived 2 doors away from each other in Mamaroneck, NY when we were in first grade. We loved Hello Kitty and Strawberry Shortcake and even our cats were best friends having napping playdates at each other's homes. I cried like a baby when I saw her walk down the aisle. I'm out of practice with weddings and forgot I'm a chronic weeper and didn't bring a single kleenex. I had gotten sucked into a free make-over at Nordstroms and was terrified that I now had canyons carved by tears with all the make-up I had on. It was fun though to get pampered, and I learned that there is actually a technique to using an eyelash curler.

This is the first time that we've left Addie and I am going through withdrawal especially after the bliss of spending so much time with her on our road trip. Cold turkey is rough. At the wedding there were 2 little blond haired cherub girls and I wanted to kidnap them. Cap is on his way to the airport now to head home, and I'm so jealous he gets to see her today. I'm staying over one more night and then have meetings all day in our Seattle office. I have that first-day-of-school-after-summer-break nervousness in the pit of my stomach. Maybe I'll try to cheer myself up and get another free make-over at a different counter at Nordstrom's.

Extra thanks to Grandpa Mit and the Aunties for rocking out with Miss A in our absence.

Check out all the photos from our Cali Road trip.

Greetings from the Road: Day 12

We're coming home today.


Good-bye cold, cold Monterey.


Good-bye seals (can you spot 4?).


Good-bye moon jellies at the Monterey Aquarium.


Good-bye Pebble Beach seagulls.


Good-bye Mama carrying an Addie on her back.


Good-bye sand flinging elephant seal.


and thank-you Subie chariot for keeping us safe.

Greetings from the Road: Day 9

Peace and Love, San Francisco!

Addie cruised the Mission on Chris' shoulders after grabbing falafel sandwiches for a picnic in Golden Gate Park before going to the new De Young Museum. Refusing to nap in the stroller, the museum trip was a cut short by a very loud girl named Addie, but we did go up to the observation floor in the tower which rewarded us with truly amazing views of the city.


Afterwards, we watched the tango dancers in the bandshell in the park adjacent to the museum before heading back to Chris and Erene's cool loft in SoMa to grill fish and drink wine. Ahhhh.


On our way down from Humboldt Saturday, we had a fun diversion in Napa where we met up with Birthday Boy Ross, Niki (Baby Sawyer's Aunt and Uncle) and the Armstrong's (Sawyer's Grandparents) for a little wine tasting. Happy 3-0 Old Man!

Greetings from the Road: Day 6

Addie is gonna miss the country life. She loves kickin' around in the dust, roaming the redwoods and wreaking havoc on Jason's abode.
Today we romped around the redwoods along the Avenue of the Giants and then treated ourselves to enchiladas at a biker bar slash Mexican Restaurant slash hotel. The Harley biker babes thought Addie was cute and a typically bearded biker dude wanted to know where he could get a pair of Addie's gold sneakers.

I also got to have one of my dreams realized. I saw my first banana slug. Jason feared I'd be disappointed but I was so excited. I've been hunting them since the first time I was in Santa Cruz in 1996. It took me 11 years to finally see one. Sorta looked like the constant stream of Addie boogers that live on her upper lip.


See ya Humboldt County. We're heading back to the land of the ubiquitious Starbucks - San Francisco.

Greetings from the Road: Day 5

Wow. And I thought Santa Cruz had a lot of hippies. It is totally, amazingly beautiful here so I can see why people come to live off the land. I must say I am very thankful for basic modern amenities and thankful that Jason recently transitioned from an outhouse to a composting toilet at the Octagon, his pad about 15 miles outside Garberville in Humboldt County. Funny because the Octagon, as Jason pointed out, is actually a hexagon but who's counting. The super best part of Humboldt County however is the cool black, plastic Casio digital AND analog watch I found on the bank of the Eel River Wednesday.

The best part of my day today though was spent sitting under a giant fir tree perched on an old wooden skid 20 feet from the Octagon. While Addie napped, I cracked the door so I could hear her and then sat on my flat, read Harry Potter, and peered at wild turkeys through my binoculars. Later when Addie woke up we sat together under the fir and played with sticks, bark, moss and pine cones.

Addie is just so amazing and I've been in awe of her this whole trip. She cracks me up everytime she takes a gigantic bite of a banana, so large she can barely close her mouth. And how she says "more" when she wants another bite. I've also learned that Addie can understand so much more than I had imagined. We can tell her not to stand on the furniture or not to touch the food in Jason's open pantry and she'll obey. And how I can ask her to find me a pine cone and she'll go pick one up. She amazed me the other day when we asked her to find the wooden block with the duck and she was able to sort through a small pile to find it. What is perhaps even more amazing, is that it was the caretaker at the b&b in Santa Cruz that showed me this. I guess it does take a village.

Greetings from the Road: Day 3

Cap and I are watching our second episode of Battlestar Galactica in the living room while Miss A snoozes one floor above. We finally found a use for our baby monitor!


Santa Cruz. Same coast, same bulbous slimy kelp, but oh so so so different from Cambria. Addie got to play the bongos in her first street hippy band and eat tofu scramble. After one night in our "funky" b&b I actually feel more at home. For the first 4 seconds I wanted to hop in the car and drive south again but after a walk on the beach, a hike in the redwoods, an insanely good grilled cheese on oatmeal molasses bread and then green tea ice cream, I was rather liking Santa Cruz. Of course, it also helps to hang with Cousin Nicholas and Alisabeth who graciously chowed down on vegan food with us at our b&b after Addie got a bloody lip from an overly rambuncious romp around the restaurant.

Tomorrow we head to Humbold County to stay 3 nights with Cap's pal Jason D.

Greetings from the Road

We're on a California Coast road trip cruising Highway 1. First stop was gorgeous Cambria for one night, and now we're in Santa Cruz staying at a super funky B&B and by funky I mean there is a 2 foot statue of a nude Hercules with a pinhead in our room. Gotta jet to the tidepools before Addie's cabin (B&B) fever explodes.


Fog over the pines at our lodge in Cambria


The beach in Cambria


Vineyards in Paso Robles

Fashion Statement

I've been trying to write a "real" blog post and not just toss in filler photos, but I'm experiencing writer's block. In desperation, I'm posting this photo of, yes, my underwear. I promise it is clean. See how desperate I am?

Addie first carried it around the house arm through the leg hole like it was a fabulous purse. Then she draped it around her neck like a stole and finally it ended up on her head like a chippy little beret.

I apologize for airing my (clean) laundry in public. It was this, or nothing. Maybe I should have gone with nothing.

Dang, those shoes are hot!

Jealous?

I wish I could pull off gold sneakers and pink laces.

no addie here

Sick as a dog all weekend, I hibernated in bed and didn't snap a single photo of Addie. I did emerge however to see The Decemberists play at the Hollywood Bowl with the LA Philharmonic on Saturday night. I love them, and Cap was able to snag 2 tickets even though the show was sold out. Two awesome tickets super duper close to the stage. Doped up on alka seltzer flu, I had an amazing time and practiced shooting night shots on manual settings. Double the fun!

Grandpa Mit and his bad kidneys watched little Miss A. Addie was so excited when he arrived, that she showed off all her new tricks like climbing on the ottoman and handing him every object in sight. How I love having a Grandpa in town.

O! say can you see

Addie done it right. Hot dogs (tofu of course), star spangled plates, best friend Clara and new pal Pearl the Dog.

oh boy

Up on the coffee table. Yup, that's the worst one. We turned our backs and found Addie perched on the ottoman. Soon after she conquered the coffee table in her commando bikini. The next day the coffee table conquered her. Maybe the table was just mad after being smacked with coasters and remote controls and it finally fought back. Don't worry, she'll show that table who's boss.

The Bounce House

This past weekend was a birthday double header. Two pals from daycare both turned one with a party on Saturday and another on Sunday. Two days, two birthdays, two cakes, two bounce houses. When I was little we called them Moon Bounces and they only existed at fairs and carnivals. Now they appear to be a birthday standard along with cake. Fancy cake. Cake that rivals the most expensive wedding cakes. The best part was that I got to hang out with the daycare parents - something that somehow hasn't happened in the 10 months Addie has been at daycare. Guess what? These folks are awesome! I'm so excited to add new friends for both Addie and myself. I spent most of Rya's birthday being the self-designated party photographer. At Teddy's party the next day I abdicated the photographer's throne to a guy who had a bigger camera and took a break from being the lens. I'm finally beginning to admit that I really might want to do this professionally. Wow. There. I said it. Deep breath.

Okay, back to the bounce house. I was convinced that the bounce house phenomenon is an LA thing. You can drive around to any part of town on a weekend and spot at least half a dozen. But is it an LA thing? Jamie kindly offered an alternative theory that perhaps it wasn't regional but a sign of the times. Interesting concept. Imagine birthdays being different from when I was a kid?! Apparently I am unable to comprehend that birthday parties may have evolved and instead can only wrap my head around the concept that that things are different when you leap coasts, not when 30 years have past. I haven't queried any east coasters, or midwesterners to test the theory. Is it an LA thing to have a bounce house or is just a now thing? Either way, Addie really enjoyed it as did Spiderman, and it was amusing at the very least to see 3 dads, 1 mom and 5 babies squeeze themselves out of a tiny flap born anew from the belly of a multi-colored plastic castle.

put a cork in it

Litter Warden and Medicine Man

The ear infection cleared up thanks to the tasty pink goop that Addie enjoys. She doesn't even mind her vitamin drops either although the smell is rather rancid. Addie is the only baby I know that takes vitamins. I don't take vitamins but maybe I should. After all, I don't think TJ's pizza is fortified with B12. Our pediatrician is a fan of vitamins though. Addie was on them when I was breastfeeding, off for formula, and now back on again since we've almost totally switched to cow's milk. What am I going to do with all the extra cash we have around now that we aren't buying cartloads of formula? Reinvest it in Addie's future? Why, get pedicures of course!

And for the litter warden. It's our new name for Addie who can while away her days picking up tiny bits of trash off the floor. Here she has carried the waste paper basket from our bedroom, where she had thoughtfully thrown away two clean diapers, into the kitchen where she is storing her blocks. I can see this being a very useful talent only so far she's only tossed away things we need. We have to check our trash cans before emptying any of them for fear she's stowed away something valuable. Like the remote to the hi-fi. Where is that remote?

Jungle Fever

Check out paradise, Pasadena style. That's right. Addie's just increased the property value of Mit and Vede's new house by adding a tropical pool.

Happy Father's Day

I gave both Cap and his dad a framed copy of this print for Father's Day. This is my final project for my Photo II class. It's an 11 x 14 print of Cap and Addie in a friend's hot tub that was taken with, gasp, real film and printed by moi in the darkroom.

Happy Addie. Happy Dads.

(Unfortunately I had to scan it in two parts and lost some of the detail in the translation in order to get it on the blog)

everything in the mouth

I think I've dwelled long enough on "the incident" and decided that we could all use a nice photo of Addie and some flowers. Ahhhh. Isn't that nice? Only she's trying to eat the flower. Cap is right there again though to save her.


Addie admirers at Descanso Gardens last Saturday.


Dead Japanese Iris. I played with my macro lens for the first time at Descanso which was fun but very challenging to switch from taking up close shots on manual focus, to jumping back to regular zoom lens on autofocus so I could get Addie. The problem is evidenced in the above photo of Addie and her gang where I didn't remember I was still on manual focus so the shot is a little blurry.



And a cute little ladybug with no spots. this was a tiny, tiny bug about the size of a plump sesame seed. As my photography teacher said, if you get a macro lens he'll just leave some food out on the back step for us because you can spend all weekend shooting every square inch in your backyard.