Orinda

 

 

 

 

Friday we spent the day (and night) in the East Bay looking around Orinda, Lafayette and Walnut Creek. We started with a picnic lunch in Tilden Park, only to find the steam trains closed until the weekend. After driving by a few homes, we found a park to let the energy out, then made our way to a very pleasant hotel stay in Walnut Creek. Not much sleep that night since Nate & Julie shared a bed, but sleep is overrated when you're four.

Miniature Golf

Another attempt at miniature golf, a short five minute drive from our house. Nate sliced at the shots like a butcher trying to stab a steer, and Julie gave up altogether after hole #2 (of 18). At this point, it was adult vs. adult, and I'm not too proud to say that I won. I'm just thankful nobody sliced a shot into the baby ducks next to hole #12.

Joey's #5 Birthday

Went to Pleasanton on Saturday to celebrate Joe's 5th birthday (April 10 like Grandma Dawson!). Was lots of fun to see the cousins, play in the backyard, and help Joe eat cake and open presents. Definitely a four wheeled theme.

Encore! Encore!

Nate and Julie love to put on "shows"...this one complete with audience that they arranged for best viewing.

Russian Ridge bike ride

I took the day yesterday for some quiet contemplation and sweaty exertion by doing a 9 mile loop around Russian Ridge preserve just off Page Mill road. No mountain lions, but lots of skittery lizards, deer, and spring flowers.

Winery work (and I mean WORK)

I spent the day Thursday volunteering at the production/cellar facilities of Thomas Fogarty winery in Woodside. I now have a new, grand appreciation for the manual labor involved during a winery's "off season" period. As barrels were being racked to a huge stainless steel variable capacity tank, we moved the barrels (mainly Nadalie french oak, same as my last vintage) outside to capture any remaining lees and do an interior/exterior cleaning. The steam on the picture above is from the rotating hot water spray inside a barrel which was then followed by an ozone+water wash for sterilization. It was wet, exhausting work, but everyone there including the winemakers were more than happy to answer my continuous newbie questions. And the view and fresh ocean air from the ridge couldn't be beat.

Nate's Poem

As dictated to me the other day:

Happiest Day

We love you
And me and snakes

You and me

Eat, Eat as fast
as you can,
Until your belly is
gigantic.

You and me
And love
And the end.

New bikes

 

 

Google Visit, continued

 

 

 

 

More Google pics, including one of my favorite logos, the fractals.

Google visit

 

 

 

 

I brought Nate to work last Sunday as I tied up some loose ends and cleared my spot. My coworkers threw a very nice surprise going away party / wine tasting, and I wanted to bring home their signed Google print. So this was my last chance to expose Nate to everything the campus had to offer: free food, legos galore, Spaceship One, colored balls, and of course the dinosaur next to our volleyball court. When I told Nate there had been a big debate at work whether it was a Tyranosaurus Rex or an Allosaurus, Nate explained that Allosaurus has three fingered hands and T-Rex has two fingered hands, so we were looking at a T-Rex. (He's right.) Smart kid, I almost had him drop off his resume.

Tulips

 

We love spring!

Hiller Aviation Museum

 

 

 

 

Another year, another European model train exibit at the Hiller Aviation Museum at the San Carlos airport. Gina and I weathered the stormy seas of toddler impatience and short attention spans, but with our second visit we knew which exhibits to visit first (ie, anything that moves). The favorites seemed to be the electric model trains in the lobby, the 767 cockpit, hovercraft simulation, biplane simulation, and that's about it. No one seemed to like the hollowed out Concorde jet as much as me.

Starfall

 

Nate and Julie's new discovery is www.starfall.com, their first bonafide online computer learning addiction. Recommended by some other parents at work, it's a pretty good review of letters and basic reading, not to mention those oh-so-essential computer mouse skills.

Easter picnic

 

We gathered in Fremont to do a quick Sunday picnic on Easter with Gina's mom, her brothers Dan & John, cousin Mimi, sister-in-law Janine (kids: Grace & Joey), and Janine's mom.

Coloring Easter Eggs

 

 

 

Visiting Google

(pics taken with phone) Julie and Nate came to Google recently to sample the ice cream shop and try out our massage chairs. I think they're mostly interested in playing with our large rubber balls that dot the hallways, but we directed their energy outside to running around the lawns and playing near the water fountains.

Pulgas Water Temple

(pics taken with phone). What do you do with two extremely bouncy preschoolers who don't want to nap? Answer: run them ragged around the sloped lawns around the Pulgas Water Temple.

Homebodies

 

 

 

 

I've been slugged by the flu, so with the exception of Gina's planned excursions for the kids, we've been homebodies for most of the last week. Nate still loves his lego sets and recently set up his own admiring line (of people and then later snakes) as he made a jet. Outside, Julie is always eager to give pillbugs rides in the backyard. After one particularly feverish day, Gina encouraged me to look outside: Nate and Julie drew our dining room in chalk in the classic "squished perspective" mode. It was clever: windows, table, chair seats, forks, spoons, and a very 3-D acorn/mulch soup for the plates. Apparently my plate is empty since I haven't felt like eating lately.