Gerry's 75th birthday celebration - part 1

Just four days after we got back home from our Thanksgiving trip, the Timms were due to arrive in Palo Alto to celebrate Rich's dad's 75th birthday. This equaled four days of cleaning, unpacking and preparing for our visitors, which turned out to be exactly how much time I needed.

The first things to do were order our Christmas cards and decorate for Christmas. We got home late on December 6th so I already felt way behind.

The only Christmas decoration we brought to California with us was a small mini fake tree, since we didn't have anywhere to store Christmas stuff for the rest of the year. We didn't bring any ornaments, our stockings, or anything else. I ordered a bunch of indoor and outdoor lights from Amazon (I may have a slight obsession with string lights, any and everywhere. They make everything so festive year round!). So our backyard, front yard, and also inside the family room are colorfully lit now, which is plenty of Christmas spirit for me.

We got our first (and probably last) real Christmas tree from the Sea Scouts Christmas tree lot; we thought we would get something very small that might fit in the front window, but they didn't have anything very small, so we went ahead and got a full-sized, bushy 6+ foot tree for the family room.

bringing the tree home on top of the car

We were disappointed that it didn't seem to bring the piney smell home from the lot, and it also required daily watering and crapped pine needles all over the floor. Not a big deal, but just annoying enough to make me not want to do it again. Maybe it would be worth it for a nice piney smell, but I never discerned a pine scent in our house at all, even the first day. I'll be glad to go back to our nice, low-maintenance, pre-lit fake tree next year.

 I decided to do the tree in full Valerie style this year since we didn't have any of our usual ornaments. I got pink and purple string lights and hung various princess and ballerina accessories on it, along with Carter's picture and a Santa hat for the top. It looks a bit sparse but it will have to do this year.

I was a domestic machine that week, catching up on laundry, changing sheets on the beds, vacuuming, cleaning the floors, dusting, hanging lights, making and ordering our cards, and stocking up on all kinds of snacks, drinks and breakfast foods. I got a break on Tuesday night for the second book club meeting at Elise and Véronique's place, where we had wine and cheese and chocolate fondues. It was a great time catching up with the girls, talking about the book (At the Water's Edge), and gorging on way too much cheese and chocolate and cheesecake and wine.

On Thursday, Gerry and Susan arrived and we toasted with champagne before we picked up Valerie from school and attempted to eat at Terun for dinner. They had a long wait so that was a no-go and we found ourselves at Cafe Brioche instead. Rich and Gerry ordered the lobster ravioli special and Susan and I shared the trout special, and for dessert we had macarons, chocolate mousse and chocolate ice cream for Valerie. Everything was delicious. This was clearly a place that did not see a lot of 3-year-olds, but they were very accommodating and kind enough to make chicken nuggets and fries for her.

Friday was a great day. Susan brought me to Costco (for the first time ever!) and we stocked up on wine, champagne and treats for the big fiesta at our house on Saturday night. They had a ton of tasty samples out and so many great deals! I can see why people pay to belong there. I'm sure a Costco membership is in our future.

Then I took her to Oren's Hummus in Mountain View for lunch. Still the best. And we picked up ice cream from Rick's to go with the birthday cake. Rich took Gerry to lunch with his team, and then we all met back at the house to meet the rest of the family arriving from the airport. Adam, Justina, Aubrey and Joe arrived from St. Louis and we all headed over to the Magical Bridge playground to sneak in an hour of playtime for the kids before dinner. David, Jenessa and their kids met us there. We got a great family photo on the slide hill at the park before dinner.

We had reserved a big table at our favorite Mexican place in Los Altos, Fiesta Vallarta, and it was the perfect choice for our group. We had a table next to their aquarium full of huge tropical fish, and a mariachi band came to play Feliz Navidad, La Bamba, and Happy Birthday to Gerry. The service was quick, the margarita pitchers kept coming, the food was excellent as always, and the live mariachi band was the cherry on top of a perfect meal. The kids were entranced by the fish and after they scarfed their meals and danced to the music they glued their faces to the aquarium. It was absolutely perfect.

On Saturday, most of the group headed down to Big Basin to see the redwoods, which we had just done a month before, and I went to the gym instead and enjoyed a lovely, quiet morning before the party.

The caterers were due to arrive at 4 and the dinner was to start at 5:30. We set up videos to play in the play room to entertain the kids and the adults successfully enjoyed a lovely and peaceful meal together, starting with a champagne toast and some group pictures. The catering - Cheat-a-Little catering - was great! The appetizers hooked us and nothing disappointed, although they brought enough food to feed a party many times larger. We reflected on how much things had changed since Gerry's 70th birthday celebration 5 years ago - from zero kids to 6. A slightly different family dynamic these days!  And much to celebrate.

Susan had ordered a spice cake for the birthday cake and we all sang happy birthday and ate cake and ice cream while the boys argued about slinky physics and conducted experiments around the table.

We all agreed the night was a great success.

Sunday afternoon Rich and I stopped by the biodesign holiday party for an hour or so, which was probably the most spectacular party I've ever seen in someone's home. Wow. I wish I had taken pictures of the kitchen. The whole house, but especially the kitchen, was the stuff fantasies are made of. I did get a picture of the dessert spread, which included the most amazing sticky toffee pudding.

skip everything else and just devour as much sticky toffee pudding as your stomach can hold.

how pretty are these cookies and cake balls!

About an hour after we left the party, I went down like the the Titanic, and the iceberg that took me out was the norovirus. For more on our adventures in puking, read on to part 2.

Thanksgiving and two weeks in Cincinnati

We had a fun, jam-packed holiday trip to Cincinnati for Thanksgiving and I am excited to report that Valerie and I both survived our long journeys from SFO to the midwest and back by ourselves. Rich joined us for Thanksgiving week but did not fly with us either way, since he took the red-eye Friday night November 20th and I decided I'd rather brave the trip alone with Valerie than drag her on a red-eye.

I took my first Uber ride by myself (I've always been with other people who've called it before) to the airport and am now practically an expert on installing and un-installing the carseat in different cars. My pickup was delayed after the first driver dropped me and I didn't notice right away, but the second driver finally made it to pick us up, and although I was stressing a bit, we were making okay time when I realized I forgot the kindle. 911!!!!!! It was too late to turn around and get it. Sweet 8 lb 9 oz baby jesus.... we had a 10 hour travel day ahead of us and I had nothing to entertain my toddler except approximately 6 books. I freaked out for a second and, realizing there was nothing I could do about it, decided to hope for the best.

Amazingly, it was probably for the best that I didn't have it. Valerie was actually incredibly well behaved the entire day, only expressed anger very briefly when I told her there was no kindle, and was totally happy with the 6 books, snacks, a nap, and running around the SLC airport between flights. I could not believe my stupendous good luck. The trip out was a smashing success, with the biggest challenge being getting from the Uber to the check-in desk with two suitcases, a stroller, a car seat, a purse, a child backpack, and a Valerie. We are a sight with all our stuff. Once I checked the large suitcase and the car seat, and then the smaller suitcase at the gate, I had a manageable amount of stuff.

When we arrived in Cincinnati, my mom and stepdad were in the airport to help us bring our stuff to the car and boy were we happy to see them. Traveling alone with a toddler is no joke. Especially on a two-week trip to a cold destination requiring coats, boots, heavy sweaters... basically hundreds of pounds of stuff. It probably looked like I was taking my child on an expedition to the Arctic.

I need to learn to pack light.

We made it, and the next morning Rich made it with our rental car, and tried to squeeze in a couple hours of sleep before we had to drive to Lima for a friend's wedding at 1:30. He squeezed in a bit more sleep than we had time for, and we raced about 90 mph north to the wedding but of course did not make it to the church on time, and followed the bride into the nave around 1:32. So close!

It was the biggest wedding and the most people I've ever seen in a church. Someone said there were 380 people there. Both the bride and groom grew up in this small town and their parents still live there, so I guess that makes it probably the biggest wedding I'll ever see.

We knew more people than we expected and were so happy to see old friends and celebrate. It was a great party that went on for hours, with tons of dancing, including square dancing, cheesecake with toppings, stunning flower centerpieces, and seven different speeches from all the maids of honor and best men. Whew! We had a blast but didn't make it to the karaoke after party; by midnight poor Rich was dying on 2 hours of sleep.

The next morning we hurried back to my mom's to get Valerie and start making the rounds seeing friends. It was so wonderful to see and hug so many people we'd been missing so dearly. Valerie was in heaven seeing all her friends and favorite babies.

I was shocked to see how much all the babies had grown in 4 months, and all the men had grown beards. I hardly recognized some of them and felt sad to miss out on so much. Time has been flying by so fast, it's hard to believe our stay here is nearly half over already!

 Our visit flew by in no time as we raced from visiting friends, to appointments (I got my hair cut and my tooth fixed, and I feel like a new woman these days!) and spending time with family. It was so great to see my nephew Carter, who has grown up so much in the last few months, into a sweet boy full of hugs and smiles and lots of babbling and talking.

Carter and me :)

sweet cousins eating their Thanksgiving dinner

Thanksgiving with family <3

Nana with Valerie and Carter <3

The kids helped decorate my mom's house for Christmas and she got them Hershey's kiss advent calendars so we can count down the days til Santa comes... although the concept of counting down the days may not be entirely clear to Valerie yet. She still wants to see her friends and open presents and ride the train and sit on Santa's lap and do everything fun NOW.

Cassie, Sam and Valerie hang ornaments on the tree

She had the best two weeks visiting Nana and Papa; she got to play with play dough, see the trains at the museum center, eat lots of treats and lollipops, watch Mother Goose Club, pet Lucy the cat, and go shopping for sparkly new shoes.

We went to the Festival of Lights at the Cincinnati Zoo one mild Thursday night and got to ride the train, see the elephants and reindeer and sit on Santa's lap. We couldn't believe she actually sat on his lap this year!  She was petrified and when he asked her what she wanted for Christmas, she said "I don't know"... she always has an answer when we ask her! Haha. I think she did it all for the candy cane... she saw the bowl of candy canes by Santa and knew she'd get one. She was terrified of Elsa and Anna at the Frozen display and of the gingerbread man by the entrance so we were sure she wouldn't go near Santa again, but she surprised us and did great.

she did not crack a smile with Santa though.

One of my favorite moments was when she held baby Wesley, who's only six weeks old, when we visited his family one day. I got the cutest video ever ... it makes my ovaries hurt. :)

We had a blast seeing all our friends on this trip. We miss everyone so much and can't wait to be reunited next summer.

these three just could not be cuter!

Harper came over to play on Thanksgiving

so much fun playing with Wesley's big brother, Max!

holding Wesley <3

a rare sweet moment with Hannah - these two love each other to death and also fight like cats and dogs!

same with Oliver - lots of love, but the sharing of the toys is a struggle!

Oliver's sweet baby brother Quinn

 what a fun lunch with Emmett and Lyla

princesses Sophie and Valerie - so sweet together

We headed to Indianapolis on our last day to visit Aunt Tina, Uncle Eric, Carter and Grandpa before flying back home. The kids had a ball as usual, and loved dancing to the Christmas Snoopy together.

All in all, a hugely successful trip, full of friends, family, hugs and laughs and love. By the end of two full weeks though, we were ready to get back home, and were missing daddy after not seeing him for a week. We packed our bags, which were even more full of more stuff than we brought, and loaded the car to head to the IND airport. I entered Alamo Rent-a-car into google maps, which was a mistake; it led me to an empty lot on the wrong side of the airport. So then I entered the airport instead, looped back around to the correct side, and found a gas station to fill the rental car.

We made it to the rental car drop-off, and the very nice man at Alamo found me a luggage rack to load my two suitcases and the car seat on. It didn't go super well though. The car seat kept falling off the rack, no matter which way I loaded it. Valerie and I were a barely mobile struggle bus, making our way from the rental car return to the Delta check-in counter. My faith in humanity was strong this day, though, as no less than five different kind strangers offered to help me push my luggage rack along our way to the counter. Such nice people in Indianapolis!

We made it to the counter, ditched the rack, checked our bags and car seat, fumbled through security (where Valerie threw herself on the floor fussing that she didn't want to get out of the stroller) and finally made it to our gate intact. A big thank you to the man behind us in the security line who told me Valerie is still really cute as she threw a nasty fit on the floor.  This time, we had the kindle, but I had spent all our travel luck on the trip out. Valerie was absolutely terrible on the way home, fussing and crying for daddy and shredding my nerves to threads.

As we got ready to disembark from our second and final plane, she went for the grand finale, hurling herself on the floor of the aisle rather than walking off the plane when our turn came. I arranged my purse, her backpack, and our coats on one arm, picked her up with the other arm, and hauled her off the plane, beyond thankful that we were nearly home. Neither of us was ever so glad to see Rich waiting for us at baggage claim. Valerie made an immediate, miraculous recovery and ran to hug daddy, and I nearly collapsed with relief.

Boy was it good to be home!

Book Club and what I've been Reading

Since we got to California, I've enjoyed some great books. Here are most of them, in the order I read them (I think.... it's amazing how quickly you forget!!):

Happier at Home by Gretchen Rubin

 I loved the Happiness Project so when I saw there was a sequel I couldn't pass it up. I really enjoy Gretchen Rubin's style and I got a lot of ideas for things I wanted to try from this, such as making a gallery of Halloween pictures to display every year. The central message is, figure out what makes YOU happy, and what things are worth the extra effort, and do those. Sometimes I want to just skip decorating for holidays or doing festive activities, but this helped me think about how quickly time is passing, and motivated me to make the effort to start family traditions now, while Valerie is young but old enough to enjoy things like lights and making cookies for Santa. It really does all go by so quickly and I can always use a reminder to slow down and try to make the most of today.

Wild by Cheryl Strayed 

I don't know why I waited so long to read this book, but I absolutely LOVED it. Beautiful writing by Cheryl Strayed, incredibly emotional story, and I cannot recommend it highly enough to women in particular. As a mother especially it spoke to me, and made me want to love my daughter as much as her mother loved her as a child. It even made me want to hike the Pacific Crest Trail for a minute, which tells you what an amazing story this is, since I don't camp.

The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins

This was good storytelling that totally sucked me in, and I definitely did not see the end coming!


On Writing by Stephen King



 I loved, loved this book. I haven't read anything else by Stephen King yet, but I am such a huge fan of his writing. The man knows what he is talking about and tells a story like none other. The memoir section, especially when he got his big break, got me so hard in the feels.

All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr



I chose this book for the first meeting of my new book club. I missed my book club from home and decided to start one with the biodesign girls out here, although this probably wasn't the best choice for the first month. It was a good book, for sure, but so long and so heavy (it takes place during World War II) and more than most people had time to read. Apparently it took the author 10 years to write and I certainly believe it. It took me most of an entire weekend to read it and it left me feeling dark and sad about humanity. This was also Friday the 13th, the day of the Paris attacks, so... yeah.

At the Water's Edge by Sara Gruen

This was the book chosen for the second meeting of book club, by the author of Water for Elephants. It took me a while to get into it... the whole first half of the book, to be honest... but I did like it by the end. The protagonist is convincingly transformed from a person you can't stand into the heroine you're rooting for. I enjoyed the second half quite a bit.

Here's what's coming up on my reading list:

The Martian by Andy Weir
Waking Up by Sam Harris
Fates and Furies by Lauren Groff
Me Before You by Jojo Moyes
A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman
Why Not Me? by Mindy Kaling
Wildflower by Drew Barrymore

So look for another book post sometime in the spring. And let me know if you've read anything good lately, I'm always looking for recommendations!

Climbing Mission Peak

Well here I find myself, just over a month since the day we climbed Mission Peak and still have not written the blog post to go with the pictures. It has been a crazy month!!

It was one of the biodesign fellows, Jonathan's, idea to climb Mission Peak on Saturday November 14th, and we knew we wanted to come along on this hike, although he warned us it was "not an easy hike" and probably best done without little ones.

Rich was unfazed by this warning and thought if we could get our hands on a toddler hiking backpack we could bring Valerie along. Of course, standard procedure for us is to wait until the last possible second for everything, so Friday afternoon, I found a post on Craigslist for a backpack in the price range we wanted to pay only a few minutes' drive away, and I reached out to see if it was still available. A few hours later, I got a response that it was. That was around dinnertime. We said we'd be there to pick it up as soon as we got Valerie to bed, and we headed over to buy the backpack.

It was perfect, and we were so relieved we found it in the nick of time! We definitely got lucky with this one.

Saturday morning we rounded up our things and drove to meet the group for the hike, about 45 minutes behind schedule. I expected it to be cold and windy since it was still morning and I dressed in layers including my winter coat, hat, scarf and gloves.  But when we arrived the sun was shining and it was a glorious day. I left all my winter gear in the car and did not need it after all.

We worked up a solid sweat doing this 3 mile climb, ascending 2100 feet to the peak, taking in amazing views and wishing we had brought more water.

Valerie did great in the backpack! Rich was a beast, carrying her and the backpack for an extra total of about 40 lbs to the top.

 

At one point she asked to get down and walk so we got her out, she made it a few steps up the steep incline and then wanted to get back in the backpack, so that was the end of her climb. She rode the whole way up. Her favorite thing was the cows we saw along the trail and looking out for animals, although we didn't see many others. 

in case we were not sure which way to the peak.

this summit pole made for an awesome photo op, and is hugely popular! there was a constant line to get photos.

so many views from the top!

Some beautiful fall foliage in the Fremont area

The hike was awesome and we were totally beat by the end. We had planned to tailgate at the Stanford football game that afternoon but instead we went to the Freewheel Brewing Company for beers afterwards and since they weren't serving food, Mexican from Los Gallos Taqueria next door. No beer tastes as good as the tall cold one you drink after an intense six mile hike! So satisfying.

By the time we hit the couch, we were not getting back up. So much for tailgating at a Stanford game this year! None of them ended up working out for us. Oh well. We are very glad we chose the hike over the game; it was well worth it!

Grandpa's birthday, Redwoods at Big Basin, children's museum

We were very excited the first week of November to plan a last minute visit from my dad, whose birthday we got to celebrate on the 10th. It was his first time coming out to see us in the bay and we unfortunately disappointed him with unseasonably chilly weather.

After a scorching hot August and September and a gorgeous October, we saw highs in the low and mid 60s in early November and I finally caved and let Rich turn on the heat in the house.

We also saw some strange, foreign liquid fall from the sky several times, which we had hardly seen since we arrived. The first two Mondays in November were washed out and I drove Rich to Stanford and Valerie to school (normally he rides his bike and Valerie and I walk). The first two times it rained I had to dry off the convertible interior with a towel. Schwoopsies! I got so spoiled by the total lack of rain I wasn't prepared. I am now aware though that on occasion it does rain here and I check the forecast and make sure to put the top up ahead of time.

We keep hearing that a crazy El Nino is coming and we should expect lots of rain this winter but I am sticking my fingers in my ears, singing "La La La" and hoping it doesn't happen. I know, I know, this poor state is in dire need of water, but I just got here from Cincinnati, cut me a break!  I so enjoyed the bone dry late summer. I think I am secretly a lizard and I belong in the desert. That climate does so appeal to me.

On November first we turned the clocks back (for real this time) and Valerie amazingly slept in until 8 am (which felt like 9 am), instead of her usual daylight savings wakeup around 7-8 am. I woke up early as always but greatly enjoyed laying in bed undisturbed until 8 in what can best be described as mom nirvana. I know I have done nothing to deserve the greatest sleeping toddler in the world but I will joyfully bask in my good fortune as long as it lasts.

A few days later Dad booked his flights and he arrived Friday night the 6th. We always love having him stay. He plays with Valerie and is ever so helpful in every way, with cooking, dishes, trash, cleanup, vacuuming, shopping.... if only all parents were so lucky to have a Grandpa this awesome around! We could never thank him enough for all he does and know we really are as lucky as can be.

We drove down to Big Basin to see the redwoods and do some light hiking on Saturday. It was too chilly for me with all the shade from the trees, and walking at Valerie's pace did not allow us to warm up at all. When we found sunny spots I would stop and bask in them; it was SO much warmer in the sun!

The trees were pretty awesome though. I would love to do a longer hike there in the spring when it gets warm again, although the winding, twisty drive there had us all slightly nauseous. On the way home, Valerie complained that her tummy hurt, and that she had "ten babies in her belly." Whenever she gets a stomachache she tells us she has ten babies in there. I have no idea where she got that from but it cracks me up every time.

We went out to Fiesta Vallarta, our favorite Mexican spot in downtown Los Altos, for dinner that night and enjoyed a pitcher of margaritas and excellent food on the patio.

Sunday it rained and we took Valerie to the Children's Discovery Museum in San Jose since I had bought some groupons for discounted admission. This was not the best idea because everyone else with a toddler in the bay area had the same idea. They were having a Diwali celebration that day, and I have never seen such a crowded children's museum. I don't typically get claustrophobic but this was a horrible experience, waiting for every exhibit and feeling scrunched by all the people in my personal space. Once or twice Rich and I made eye contact: "kill me now." This kind of place on this kind of day will deter anyone from ever having a child.

I would never go back there again if I could avoid it, but I will admit it didn't seem to bother Valerie; she had a great time. I am just glad we had the discounted tickets because I would have been pissed if we had paid full price for that experience. She enjoyed herself, which is what matters. Rich, my dad and I could not wait to get the heck out of there.

It rained again Monday and we eagerly awaited some sun on Tuesday, Dad's birthday. He said he would like salmon and salad for dinner - two things he and I can always agree on - and I found a recipe I thought he would like, for a salmon BLT salad. It came out really good. Salmon with a rub of brown sugar, salt, pepper and paprika, with avocado, bacon, tomato, ranch dressing and walnuts. DELISH. No bacon on mine, of course. We just gave Valerie some salmon and bacon and she was happy. No lettuce gets past her lips yet.

She "helped" me make the chocolate cake from scratch with ground oats for flour, and I also made chocolate buttercream frosting, with half coconut oil since I ran out of butter. I found a great recipe which I will definitely use again  - no boiling water, no coffee, no creaming butter and sugar - the easiest cake-from-scratch recipe I could find. And it came out so good!

We sang happy birthday, Valerie got to help Grandpa blow out his candles and the birthday was a success! We are so glad we got to celebrate with Grandpa.