A Quiet House at 3pm

What do you do when it's 3pm and the house is quiet, the baby asleep, your boys out of town for the weekend? Well, you do what I'm doing, you blog all about it.

Eli took Avery and Zachary to Bryan's family cottage this weekend for what they called a "mancation". I don't know how long it will last since it is looking pretty gloomy outside and I'm sure the kids will be moaning about what to do. They will have Logan and Kaylee to play with, and all the Wii game time they can stomach, so it may come down to how long Eli and Bryan can hold out.

I'm going to try not to waste the whole weekend goofing around on the internet. There is so much to do to get ready for fall and cold weather: organize the house, switch out bedding and warmer clothes, etc. I'm not excited and motivated, but it needs to be done and there won't be any better time.

Photo Fun

Leah was playing with the pumpkins that I put in the foyer and I thought it'd be fun to take a couple of pictures. It turned out that all she wanted to do was destroy my display and knock the pumpkins down and play with the fabric. Zachary tried to help by holding her hostage, but she wouldn't have that either.

Then I thought maybe I could take some pictures of her in the dining room using the new drapes as a backdrop. That didn't work either; all she wanted to do was play with the sheers. The results turned out cute, but in a different way than I expected.

Avery and Zachary Start School Again

Avery and Zachary started their second year of preschool last week. Avery was very enthusiastic about going; Zachary a little less so. Last year he had some problems with one of the other kids in his class, and we think the negative emotions carried over. By his second day he was feeling better about it.

Avery is coming up on five and loves learning. This summer we worked on spelling and he kept up with his ABCs and 123s. But the skill he improved the most was his swimming. He had had such a dramatic change from May to September, and can swim fast and deep for as long as his breath lasts. When we go to my parent's house he loves to jump off the diving board and swim to the side.

Zachary is three and a half, knows his ABCs and 123s and can even spell a few words. Yesterday he spelled his name, which shocked us because normally he spells Avery's and says it is his name or he will say Z and a whole bunch of different letters and say it is his name. In fact, one of the boys' favorite game is to say a bunch of letters and ask me what they spell or what they mean. We can't understand why it's so hilarious. Zach's swimming has improved but he doesn't have the same confidence or buoyancy as Avery. He can push off walls and keep his head above water, but he doesn't kick his legs out behind him so he doesn't have any lateral movement.

This week I have back-to-school nights to learn what the boys will be doing in their classes and meet their teachers.

Steady Growth for Leah

Leah has hit nine months and had her latest checkup. The doctor says she is having steady, healthy growth. Her new stats are:
Height: 27.25 inches (50%)
Weight: 18 lbs 3 oz (50%)

Her personality has become pronounced. She is a happy happy girl. I probably sound like a broken record saying that all the time, but the difference re the boys is pronounced. Or, Eli and I have really just lost our minds; melted away under the stress of parenting.

But back to Leah: she can be mischievous, but smiles wide when caught. She throws little tantrums when something is taken away, but they are short lived and she can be distracted out of them. Eli says he hopes that never stops or we will be in trouble when she's a teenager.

Leah can also speak. She pretty distinctly says maaamaaamaaamaaamaa when she wants me or sees me, and says daaadaaaadaaadaaaadaa when Eli gets home from work, or enters or leaves the room.

At the end of our trip to San Francisco we realized she had cut her fifth tooth. That makes four out of five that came when we were traveling or on vacation. Thanks girlie!

Seth and Rob Wedding Aftermath

After the wedding Dad took us to the Waterfront Restaurant. We sat right on the water with an amazing view of the bay and Treasure Island. The food was incredible, and we polished off several bottles of really good wine along with it.

We finished up with a leisurely stroll back along the waterfront towards Fisherman's Wharf, stopping at Pier 39 to check out the Sea Lion colony living there. The smell was... a stench, really. It was like being surrounded by a thousand cans of rancid sardines.

Seth and Rob Get Married (again)

I mentioned in an earlier entry that we went to San Francisco to visit Nora. Our desire to visit dovetailed nicely with Seth and Rob's desire to get legally married. (For future readers, same-sex marriage was and is still illegal in most states; we hope that will change some day soon. And while I'm at it, please let Barak Obama get elected in November!)

So on Monday morning we all trooped over to City Hall. Seth and Rob had an appointment to fill out the paperwork, and then we waited for about a half hour. They were married by the city commissioner who told us he liked to do a couple of weddings each month to be a part of the joy.

The strangest part of the whole experience was running into Richard and Joan Blumberg. Eli grew up seeing them in Maine every year at Hiram Blake Camp. And then we randomly bumped into them 3000 miles away. They were visiting City Hall because their daughter had recently been married there as well.

A Walking Tour of San Francisco

Nora told us at the outset that San Francisco was a walking town. She was not kidding. We started the morning with a walk to her place, just over a mile from our hotel. We went through Chinatown, which I enjoyed. Yes I know it's all tourist trash and gee-gaws, but I liked it.





After we had a chance to check out her apartment, we walked across town (uuuuuuup, then dowwwwwwwwn) to one of Nora's favorite brunch spots, Perry's. After eating we started back, ducking into boutiques, then decided to shift course and walk to Ghirardelli Square by Fisherman's Wharf. At the time we figured we might take the trolley car back, but when we saw the hour long line Eli convinced me we could walk back to our hotel.



Now technically, he was right. It was not THAT far; we had walked a route that would look like a figure eight from above, and the return to the hotel would connect it up perfectly. But after already walking something like 5 or 6 miles, neither of us was prepared. It was a long slow walk. Oh and did I mention we were pushing Leah in the stroller? :-)

There was a silver lining. We got to look down Lombardi street from the top, and we had some amazing views of Alcatraz and the city. And when we finally got back, the hotel hot tub opened its arms wide and gave us a warm wet hug (as did the beers we picked up at a licquor store about a block away).