Dan Zanes - Catch That Train Concert

Both Nate and Julie are huge Dan Zanes fans, so when we heard he was in town this weekend with his Catch That Train tour, we scrambled for tickets. Four seats together were hard to find, but finally Gina saw a Craigslist.org posting advertising box seats for the fourth and final show in the Herbst Theatre in San Francisco. Bingo! Nate and Julie jiggled and jangled their way through the show. Afterwards we met Dan Zanes and the rest of the band members, and they signed our well-worn CD before we took two tuckered out kids home.

Marsh Hike (cont'd)

Nate & Julie Marsh Hike

Historical Park, part 2

San Jose Historical Park

We met the Martin clan for brunch at Applebee's, then headed off on our own to the Historial Park in San Jose. It was an unexpected treat: the 1920's electric car was running and gave us a ride around the park, the docent/conductor invited us for a private tour in their restoration shop, and we had ice cream in the restored hotel. My favorite: a 1916 Detroit Electric car which looked as neat as anything you see on the road today, and shocking given all the hoopla around hybrid cars. (Good movie btw: Who Killed the Electric Car).

Soup in Redwood City

Beating the cold.

Golden Gate Park Carousel

This was a big weekend of firsts -- after first haircut, and first weekday dinner out, we converted Julie's crib to a bed. We took the Carousel in Golden Gate Park. And on Monday we nervously took the kids downtown Redwood City to their first movie in movie theater to see Happy Feet. We loaded up the popcorn and lemonade, and were surprised they sat through the entire movie. (Favorite part? "I liked the nice elephant seals, but not the mean seal.") We celebrated with lunch at the new vietnamese soup restaurant on Broadway.

Nate's First Haircut

Well, the first one not involving me hacking at it in the backyard as Nate whips his head around to watch Sydney. I left work early on Friday so we could drive to Burlingame's Just For Kids. Nate didn't move an inch, which was probably aided by the Pixar movie on the flat panel TV shown at each station (hey, gotta remember that idea...) But the end result looked great, and we celebrated with a dinner at Steelhead Brewery down the street.

San Francisco Cable Car Museum

After finding the Blue Bottle Coffee Company in San Francisco, we went to the Cable Car Museum on Nob Hill. These are the pulleys that run all the underground lines the cable cars use to get up the hill. Pretty neat!

Nate Quotes, continued

• A few weeks ago, as he was learning to write his name. He now notices letters: "And there's ANOTHER "N"! They keep popping up all over the place!"
• This morning as I was getting ready for work: "Daddy, I love you so much I'm going to sit on your foot."

Our one winery stop in Murphys

At the Arnold rental house

Big Trees State Park

Snow at the rental house

Snowman

Gina and Julie sledding

Gina and Julie sledding.

Sledding

Nate & saucer.

Icicles and hot tub

First Snow Pictures

Los Altos History Museum