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!

Fogarty Winery Dinner, Pescadero, Time Change Fakeout

It was a busy October for the Timm family! We kicked off the weekend of the 24th and 25th with a crazy mishap-filled Friday night adventure.

 The biodesign program hosted its annual dinner at the Thomas J. Fogarty Winery for all the fellows, faculty, sponsors, and their spouses on Friday night October 23rd, so we had secured our babysitter for the evening and were looking forward to a fancy date night out. I picked up Valerie from school, made sure the house was clean and started getting myself ready, and then the misadventures began.

I had asked the sitter to come at 6, and at 6:10 there was no sign of her, so I sent her a text to make sure she was still coming.  She responded, "Hi! I'm so sorry! I'm at the hospital! I fractured my ankle. I wasn't even thinking" ... so we began to panic. First I called our other sitter, who was just leaving to go to her school dance. No dice there. Then we thought of Rich's colleague with a one-year-old son, who also had a babysitter for the evening; maybe we could share their sitter? We were brainstorming options when our sitter said, "I just talked to the doctor and will be leaving soon. I can be at your house in 20 minutes." WHEW! She would be a half hour late, but at least we could still make it. Crisis averted!

Rich had called Andrew, his colleague with a little boy, and he and his wife were looking for a ride to the winery, so since we were running late anyway, we agreed to give them a ride. Rich told them we would probably leave around 7.

Our sitter showed up just as she said, about 6:35, and seemed to be walking just fine, thankfully. Then we waited for Andrew and his wife Katie, who were taking an Uber to our house. We got in the car so we were ready to go, and they came a few minutes after 7, so we headed out. The event started at 7, and it would take about 40 minutes to get to the winery, so we were running about 45 minutes late but hoped to still make it before the sit-down dinner started.

We had just started the winding ascent into the mountains when the gas light came on and we realized we needed to stop for gas, and there would be no more gas stations on our route. We would have to turn around, drive 10 minutes back to the main road, get gas, and start again. At this point we had to laugh at the comical progression of the evening thus far. Would we ever make it to this doomed dinner?!?  And why didn't we bring some hard liquor!?

We found gas (unfortunately, no liquor), and started back into the mountains, with a new goal arrival time a few minutes past 8:00.

This time, we made it all the way there. It was pitch black out, but we could see this was an absolutely breathtaking spot with an incredible view of the bay from the mountains. We walked around for a bit trying to find where we were supposed to go, and made it just after everyone had taken their seats for dinner.

We were sorry to have missed the delicious wines at the cocktail hour, but so relieved we made it! The rest of the night was wonderful. They featured an excellent chardonnay (which I usually don't like) and pinot noir, and a server brought me a fantastic green pea soup when I asked if the regular soup contained meat (it was made with beef broth). She asked what I would like for the entree, since the regular entree was a steak and halibut duo. She could either bring a vegetarian meal, or a double halibut - I went for the double halibut, and I am so glad I did!  The fish was melt-in-your-mouth perfection. I was so impressed; they are clearly accustomed to dietary restrictions around here!

The food, wine, atmosphere and company were outstanding. It turned out to be a great evening after we finally made it there. We definitely want to go back for a tasting one day so we can see the place in daylight! What a beautiful setting.

We had nothing planned on Saturday, so we did our usual workout shuffle in the morning; Rich went to the gym and I went to hot yoga, and we had a lazy afternoon of napping, relaxing and straightening up. After Valerie woke up we decided to drive to the beach at Pescadero for a quick hour before the sun set and then grab some dinner before driving back.

By the time we got to Pescadero it was after 5 and the temperature was dropping fast. The wind was blowing and I wished I had a hat, coat, scarf and pants. Sweet Valerie was happy in her bathing suit, running back and forth across the sand, until she wanted to cuddle in my lap under the towel at the end. Rich was in shorts and thought it was fine. Minnesotans.

After an hour I'd had my fill of shivering and we headed into town to find dinner. There were approximately 3 options, as Pescadero is an extremely tiny one-stoplight town. We chose the Pescadero Country Store, which looked cute from the front and had a sign that said "pizza." We had some tasty brick oven pizza, split a large beer and then the apple pie a la mode for dessert, which turned out to be HUGE and mostly crust. Then we went home, full and happy.

Sunday we had a full day planned, and I intended to go to hot yoga at 9 am before our lunch date in San Jose around 11, but it was not meant to be. The alarm clock next to our bed is one Rich had long before I met him, and it's programmed to automatically adjust to daylight savings time - but on the old schedule, before it got moved out a week. And Sunday, a week before the time change, was the day the clock thought it should fall back. This has been happening for years now and I still haven't learned to anticipate it. I laid around all morning, thinking I had time before I had to leave at 8:45, and then it hit me while looking at my phone that it was an hour later than I thought. ARGGG!!! I missed the 9 am yoga class so I went out for a short jog instead.

We drove down to San Jose at lunchtime to see our friends Anjuli and James, their daughter Kalinda (Valerie's same-age bff / sister from another mister) and their new house. It was a perfect afternoon. The girls ran shrieking around the house and the backyard, drawing with chalk, pouring water into cups, dressing up in tutus and having a ball together.

Our hosts made a most awesome lunch of wood plank salmon on the grill, salad with grilled carrots, bread and butter and fresh raspberries. It was all soo yummy, and even Valerie, the pickiest eater this side of the Mississippi, devoured every bite on her plate!  She does love salmon, carrots, bread and butter and raspberries, so the menu was perfect. It was so great to see them in the last few weeks before their new baby arrives, and so generous of them to offer to host us in the midst of getting settled in their house and preparing for the baby. We can't wait to meet the new addition when she's born!

We brought an extremely worn-out Valerie home for a late afternoon nap before our dinner guests arrived; one of Rich's colleagues and her boyfriend who was in town visiting from Belgium came over and we had a lovely evening talking and breaking bread with them (in spite of constant interruptions by Valerie until she went to bed).

I made a sweet potato/apple/pumpkin soup topped with spiced candied nuts and a dollop of goat cheese, grilled cheese sandwiches with apple, and caprese salad with balsamic glaze. I had a minor disaster and burned some of the spiced candied nuts but was able to salvage enough for dinner. Hate that! Burned wasted food just gets me right where it hurts, every time, and of course I feel the need to go through every last nut, saving what's salvageable. All that time spent sorting through the mess is the worst.

Anyway though, dinner came out pretty well, and Véronique and Moïse brought the most spectacular pear and Belgian chocolate tart with vanilla ice cream for dessert. My weird child did not like the tart and just wanted ice cream. I can only assume she will eventually grow out of her frustrating toddler-y food preferences. Lord knows I only wanted chicken fingers with honey mustard for the first twelve years or so of my life so there is hope for her.

It was another superb weekend with a few snafus thrown in to keep things interesting!

Oktoberfest 2015

We had such a fun weekend! A nice recovery from last weekend's hiking debacle. We started out by checking out the free movie in Downtown Menlo Park on the Chestnut Paseo on Friday evening, which was Big Hero 6. Rich and I had seen it before, and we knew it would be a little scary for Valerie, but we figured she could handle it. She did great! When she got scared we told her to look away and cuddle up with Daddy.

We brought camping chairs, blankets, popcorn and candy, and it was the perfect Friday night family activity. We're planning to go back again this Friday for the last movie in the series, Cinderella.

She was cracking us up on the way home from the movie. She kept interrupting us and saying, "Stop talking Mommy and Daddy! I have a question about Baymax" (the robot from the movie).

"Okay, what's your question?"
"What does... he... do... like... save the day." Every time she would say, "I have a question about Baymax" and we would ask, "okay, what's your question?" And she would make some vague statement. We tried to turn it around by asking her questions: "Is Baymax nice, or scary? Who programmed Baymax? Who is Tadashi?"

In spite of the scary parts, she loved getting to watch a movie with Mommy and Daddy while eating a lollipop. It's so much fun for us to finally be able to watch a movie all together! We'll have to take her to a real theater soon... maybe when Frozen 2 comes out.

Okay, I just googled Frozen 2, and apparently it's not coming out before 2018. We'll probably go see a movie before that.

Saturday morning we took turns getting our workouts in (Rich at the Stanford gym, me at Core Studio) and I made a quick trip to the Palo Alto Farmer's Market for fresh bread, fruit, herbs, fish, avocados and some rosemary almond butter (yum!!).

After a relaxing afternoon and some naps, we got ready for the Redwood City Oktoberfest. We love Oktoberfest in Cincinnati, where there are so many free events around the city every weekend through September and October, and we knew we wanted to find an Oktoberfest in the bay area this year. The big one is in San Francisco next weekend, but it's fairly expensive ($30/person) and we would need a babysitter for the evening one. We'd need a sitter for the daytime one, too, if we wanted Valerie to get her nap that day, but we really wanted to bring her if we could. She loves the music and dancing, and sausages. Redwood City is closer, cheaper, and allows kids, so we decided to go to that one.

don't miss the balloon beer hat on the woman on the left.

We fortunately purchased our tickets earlier in the week because the event was sold out when we arrived. A few of our biodesign friends were planning to meet us there, but hadn't bought tickets in time, so we were bummed about that. We waited in a long line to get our 1-liter steins and bracelets at the entrance, and then got in the beer line. Lots of waiting in the hot sun, but it was worth it! We really had a great time and were impressed by the solid glass beer steins that came with admission. I was expecting something cheap and plastic. There was live music and a few dancing shows, log sawing, and an open dance floor, which Valerie TORE UP.

She is becoming a maniac on the dance floor lately and I LOVE IT. We have dance parties at home all the time now. We'll definitely have to get her in dance classes in the next couple of years.

She was the star of the show. A photographer wanted some pictures and video of her dancing and had us sign a waiver (so maybe we will see these pictures sometime?), and lots of people commented on how adorable she was dancing in her German girl costume, which was actually a Little Red Riding Hood costume I found on Amazon. We left the hooded cape at home, but were not spared the red glitter on the skirt that got everywhere.

The beer was cold, the pretzel covered with havarti was the size of my torso, the music was loud (a bit too loud... my ears were ringing when we left), and Rich convinced me to participate in the women's stein-holding contest at the end - in which I made an impressive (for me) showing! I was one of the last 3 or 4 women standing, and the winner was crowned just a few seconds after my arm gave out. I felt pretty proud of myself. Rich tried to be in the men's stein-holding contest that followed, but he was too slow - all the men wanted to volunteer and they only allowed ten. At that point, Valerie was starting to melt down anyway so we made a hasty exit.

By then it had cooled off and felt wonderful outside. We put the top down on our new (to us) convertible and enjoyed a refreshing ride home in the evening breeze. Such a fun and memorable Oktoberfest this year!

Sunday morning I was inspired to make waffles, and Rich had the brilliant idea to top his with almond butter and nutella. I took it even further by adding some of the fresh strawberries from the farmer's market to mine - YUM! There's a whole post about the waffles on my new blog at Wordpress, LizZestLife - check it out!

I have the best waffle helper!

waffles topped with almond butter, nutella, and fresh strawberries - YEP

Our friends Brett and Ali came over for lunch and Valerie got to meet their 5-month-old daughter Amanda, which was really the cutest thing ever.

We had the loveliest afternoon catching up with them in the backyard even though it was blazing hot outside. We sat in the shade and brought a fan out to keep the air moving so it wasn't too brutal. I am so ready for some of this "not scorching" California weather that I have been promised! "You don't need A/C in the bay area," they said. "It doesn't get that hot here," they said. "You won't be sweating to death in your house for six weeks." LIES.

We had sandwiches with the fresh bread and ingredients from the farmer's market, along with tuna salad and truffle mayo that I made, and of course Sunday Funday style beverages.

Valerie and Amanda timed their naps perfectly so the parents could eat lunch in peace, and we bonded over our shared misfortune that in both our houses, the closet rods are hung too close to the shelves above for hanger clearance. An incredibly frustrating problem I never even knew existed! But we are not alone! There are others out there suffering with us! Seriously, who hangs the closet rods too close to the shelves above?!? Combined with an already too-small closet, this makes the hanging of clothes a hellish task.

Anyway, we had a blast with Brett, Ali and Amanda, and a quiet evening at home Sunday night since Rich had work to do. It was so hot in the house I decided something deliciously ice cold would be necessary.

It was a great weekend of family, friends, tasty treats, dancing and relaxation despite the heat. Next weekend's forecast is a refreshing high of 80 degrees. Bring. It. On!!!!

Labor Day weekend adventure Part 2 - Sonoma and Novato

We made it back to our hotel in Novato after our hike at Muir Beach and Valerie crashed hard. She didn't even walk most of the hike but it still wore her out! Rich and I ordered some late evening room service before they closed at 10 and enjoyed it on our little hotel balcony before we crashed too.

We had a lovely breakfast by the hotel pool on Sunday morning and then headed to Sonoma, about 20 miles away. Our first stop was at Train Town, which was Valerie's dream destination. We rode the train through the park, and it stopped halfway through at a little miniature town with goats and alpacas for the kids to feed and some little buildings to walk through. By noon it was hot, hot, hot and getting hotter in the sun. The train tracks went mostly through the shade, though, so the ride was still pleasant. Valerie loved that train.  It was probably the best train ride she's been on, and she has been on a few train rides in her day! The Cincinnati Zoo, Hogle Zoo, Danny the Dragon at Happy Hollow, EnterTrainment Junction, and Lemos Farm all come to mind, but this was such a nice ride, with waterfalls, tunnels, the stop halfway through, pretty scenery and lots of shade. And a real steam engine at the front with the conductor blowing the whistle!

Train Town!

She also got to ride the carousel, the flying airplanes and the ferris wheel, which was fun for all three of us. We were the only ones on it for a bit and we got to go zooming around several times at top speed. I can't remember the last time I rode a ferris wheel! I'm glad we got to ride it after we missed out on the one at the St. Cecilia Festival in Cincinnati because of thunderstorms.

she never figured out how to make her plane "take off" but still enjoyed the airplane ride

Once we had used up our ride tickets we headed over to Hopmonk Tavern a mile down the road for a free live show and lunch in their beer garden. It was so nice in the shady beer garden, although it did still get quite roasty in the 90ish degree heat by the end. We enjoyed their delicious beers and huge lunches of beet salad and sweet potato fries (me), a chicken naan sandwich and fries (Rich) and chicken fingers for Valerie. The live musician played Old MacDonald along with other chill songs so Valerie and I had to get up and dance a bit after we stuffed ourselves, and then we waddled to the car to make the 20-mile drive back to the hotel for a nap.

Valerie crashed from about 5-8 pm so we found what appeared to be the only place open late in Novato on Sunday nights for dinner, Moylan's Brewery. We had a flight of seven different beers and were impressed by how good they were.

Basically, we drove to Sonoma, one of the best wine regions in the world, to drink lots of beer.

They had crayons for Valerie to color so she was pretty well behaved for her late night dinner out at a brewery. 

so cute all wrapped up in her towel

That was the end of our Sunday, and Monday we got up for the hotel breakfast and then a quick dip in the pool and hot tub before we headed back south over the Golden Gate. We were relieved to find much less traffic on the way back, and decided to stop at Nick's Crispy Tacos in downtown SF for end-of-vacation lunch, or, brunch, because they had bottomless mimosas. Score!!!!!! The best thing in life for only $15!

I loved this place.  It had a really cool vibe with red walls and chandeliers all around the bar, extremely delicious mexican food (my huevos rancheros were the bomb), and most importantly, fantastic, ice cold refreshing mimosas to complete my vacation happiness. Rich had a horchata because he is a responsible dad and driver and I adore him oh so much. :)
We ordered a bean and cheese burrito for Valerie which she refused to touch, and then it was time to go back to reality, to unpacking, cleaning up the house, applying for jobs and catching up on laundry (for me) and biodesigning and weighing all his food (Rich).

All in all, a great family vacation success! I can't wait for our next weekend adventure here in pricey but beautiful California.