J is Thirty-One!

Last weekend we celebrated another year of J by going to the SFMOMA and having dinner at The Grove (a favorite combo of ours). It was a delightful day (although very rainy, we had to nix our plans for an early morning hike) and it reminded us how much we enjoy each other's company. Which is pretty amazing. The kids are getting to be more of themselves and able to join in these types of experiences more; we enjoy their observations and reactions to the art and their conversation at dinner. We were all stuffed from dinner (and a giant chocolate chip cookie) so we decided to have J's special birthday dessert -- a homemade Nutella cheesecake -- for breakfast the next day, thus spreading the birthday love out a bit. Always a great thing.

he was very impressed by these giant utensils

C showing Daddy his favorite works of arts

Some of our favorites:

Jim Campbell

Rechnender Greis

one of C's favorite

a cool light installation

birthday dessert for the cheesecake fan --

we learned he passed it on to B and C as well

almost vegan (couldn't find a vegan substitute for the Nutella)

Uncle Tony is in a music video!

A good friend of Tony's made this video for American Tomahawk. We think its cool.

Reason #3865 why life is good.

Actually these are reasons #3865 and #417: children's museums and picnics. Oh, and #68: the Golden Gate bridge; because it always makes us smile. There is something extra joyful about having that beautiful bridge in the background of our day.

using dad as a wind shield

watching a couple of seals play

music mancub

"Um...I might be afraid of heights..."

a great climbing tree

happy little spiders

a quick bite to eat and a stroll around Sausalito

Oregon Summer 2011: Eagle Crest

We were so thrilled to join Papa and Nana and all of T's brothers and sisters in Central Oregon for the vow renewal. It was a beautiful event, very full of love.

B all dolled up for the vow renewal ceremony

almost all of us...we're a big group!

And it was so wonderful to get to spend an entire week with family; especially since its constantly changing, everyone growing up and moving around. Our niece, Taylor, graduated high school last June and so was about to begin her freshman year at OSU (she's doing fabulously and is a now a proud member of Kappa Alpha Theta). T's sister (the rest of Taylor's family) was getting ready to relocate to the Seattle area. And another niece, Hayley, was about to start her senior year of high school and then...well, destination unknown. (We're sure its going to be some place of high academic standard and creative freedom.) The kids loved playing with their cousins. Lots and lots of time in the pool, running around the golf course and endless friendship bracelet making.

We were very lucky and happy to have Gramma and Grampa come visit us for a few days. They got some one on one time with B and C, which allowed us to go on the hiking and rafting.

And the good time didn't end there! Our great friends, the Ciftcis came to stay with us a couple of days. It was only the second time we had met their beautiful baby girl, Leyla. And B and C really have not had enough play time with their son Demir! It is hard to organize play dates when we live almost 700 miles apart. It was a wonderful, and much needed visit. Oh, and G got C hooked on Nutella.

two cool dudes, just chillin'

B's sad about saying good-bye, no good with the forced smiles

In the end we felt that the week flew by much too quickly. But we had preschool to get back for so there was no dawdling allowed. We were able to stop over at T's brother's house in Eugene to sleep a few hours and also to meet up with our dear friend Bret; so that meant more time with Aunt Jennifer and cousins Julia and Jackson (Devan was unfortunately called out of state on urgent business early in the vacation and Hayley had to keep the blizzards frozen at her job at Dairy Queen that night, so we didn't get to see any more of them).

just like when they first met, only they're 10 years older

(not much has changed really)

how so much of our (much too limited) time together is spent