A couple years ago we went up to Mendocino (about 3 hours north and west of us) for the 4th of July weekend.  We had such a great time, we thought we’d do it again this year! 

We stopped at Navarro vineyards on the way, and took some beautiful pictures.  Alex is loving his new “work” camera, and it is the reason for the incredible upgrade in our photos!

We got up to Medocino around dinner time.  The last time we went we took Milo, and there were a bunch of restaurants that we could sit on the patio and bring him with us.  Unfortunately we didn’t know that for many restaurants they had changed their policy.  So poor Milo spent more time in the car than we had hoped.   

This is our hotel.  We had a great room with a huge bed, couch, and jacuzzi tub.  Both Ella and Milo enjoyed the jacuzzi tub!

The view of the bay.

Ella with her “packpack”

Not sure what she’s waiting for, but love this pic.

On the 4th we took our new and never used beach tent, and set up camp down by the ocean.  Mama enjoyed the shade, and Ella enjoyed the water!

We also had some great dinners.  And although we didn’t take pics of the food (I know only some of you are disappointed), we did take lots of pics of us and mostly E in and around our meals.

Ella enjoyed the bacci as well…

We had a great time.  Ella refers to Mendocino as “the country.”  Swimming, walking, eating… a wonderful relaxing weekend.

So Ella reached the 18 month mark a few weeks back.  She’s a whopping 26lbs, and 31″ tall.  Her weight is perfect, but her height is starting to slip down the charts.  So she won’t be much taller than me, which is just fine.  She runs everywhere, and her vocabulary grows by the day.  Lately she’s added “love you;” calling Milo by his name, instead of Dado; “I got you;” and finding the remote control and saying ever so sweetly “yo gabba?”

A few weeks ago I brought her to Sears to get her 18 month pictures done.  I had no idea what an adventure I had attempted.  She wouldn’t stand, sit, or be still – at all.  The only decent pictures she’s obviously looking at me, not the camera.  Then about halfway through she decided she was DONE, and started bawling — serious crying, eyes turning red, snot running down her face to her dress, meltdown.  I told the photographer that we were done, but she wouldn’t let us go!  She said she had to get her seven poses, and we cannot leave until she does.  Oh my.  So I tried all the tricks in my bag, including treats, and asking perfect strangers to attempt to entertain her.  The last shot had to be on her back (um, whaaaa?) and she’s screaming.  Lovely.  I was able to find 2 shots that I didn’t hate.  This is one of them.  I know she’s not looking at the camera, but that smile and laugh is all Elle.

Our family Saturday morning ritual is the Ferry Plaza Farmers’ Market. This morning it looked like rain and we were groggy from an early Ella wake-up. But this is why we went anyway. We feel really lucky to live where this is a second of May local harvest.

I hope Ella likes it as much as we do. She definitely was happy with the peas and fish we had tonight, but I’m not sure she’s making the connection. But then again, maybe she is, given this response to these apple sculptures in the garden of the De Young Museum on our afternoon walk:

Just a quick picture. This is Alex’s folks Christmas card photo. These two are too much together!

Ella had a big week. She got to show off theOmar Little shirt Jared made her:




She went toJapan Town so mom and dad could get some Ramen (but not the $.10 pack of noodles we remember from our college days):



After dinner, we posed for some family photos in a Japanese photo booth:



Then on Sunday, we had our usual park walk. It was a little chilly in spite of the sun, so Ellie wore a hat. She ended up looking like a celebrity cancer patient trying to avoid the paparazzi:



After the walk, she joined dad for her first ever shower (which she loved). The mist from the water got all over her face, and she just closed her eyes and smiled. But parenting note: Holding a wet naked soapy baby when you’re wet and naked yourself is trickier than it sounds when you’re on dry ground:


Last but far from least: Ellie hit a new milestone this week, as evidenced in this video:

I had a job cancel this week, and so I took the time to spend with Ella. I’m now officially of the opinion that we should pay parents who stay home with children, and let people work for free. The economic returns are way out of balance for the work you put in.

But Ella and I had a great week. We ran errands to the bank, to the post office, had lunch with friends, took some long walks in the park (her favorite), had a trip to the doctor, went to my office, and today took a field trip to the South Bay. I had a work meeting (with someone who was gracious enough to let me bring Ella) and then made a stop to drop off a package, then went to visit our friends Jared and Karen.

Karen is atalented photographer, and she snapped some shots of Ellie and I while we were there:



But it was Jared’s skills that drew us south. Not hisfurniture making prowess, but a side project:



In addition to some mutual friends, and a tendency to long winded conversation, we also share a passion forThe Wire. Jared recently sent me a t-shirt with the likeness of Omar Little, a character on the show that recently met hisdemise. I talked him into making a few more, including one for Ella:






Ella insisted on thanking Jared in person:



It was a great week with the kids. Hope to be able to do it again soon.

Before I go back to work I wanted to take Ella to get some nice photos done. Our friend Robyn has offered to do a whole photo shoot – but I wanted to save that for when she’s a little older and can take direction. I didn’t have very high hopes for this mall photo experience, but it was fun. And she is so adorable. I can’t believe she’s ours.

Thanksgiving is my absolute favorite holiday of the year. I love to eat, and we love to feed people, and there’s something about the simplicity of sharing a large meal with as many people who we love that we can get in one room that does it for me.

This was our sixth consecutive Thanksgiving that Heather and I cooked. I’m responsible for the turkey. She does everything else (I help).

My turkey brine recipe of choice was clipped from the San Francisco Chronicle in 2001, and is attributed toChez Panisse. It’s been our standard, except for one year where we tried an apple cider brine. Not worth the extra labor and expense. This year we changed up our basting and gravy techniques, based on tips from thedark mother herself. Chicken stock and pan drippings were replaced with butter and Riesling, held in place with a folded piece of cheesecloth. Root vegetables and a borrowed fat separator (thanks,Liz and Jer!) helped us season the roux, shaken not stirred, for our first ever gravy success! (The great homemade gravy of ’05 is an asterisk … it was made by Grandma B.)

The other breakout success this year was the stuffing. We used a bunch of artisan ingredients from some of our favorite local sources: apple sage sourdough bread fromArizmendi Bakery; Italian sausage fromBoccalone; and dried figs fromRainbow Grocery.

We made enough to feed 30 people (twice the 14 adults and 2 kids that came to dinner) but that’s as I like it. Stuffing is too rare a dish, and I’m happy to enjoy it for another week or two, especially in the killer pilgrim sandwiches like Heather made for lunch today. Think of at as a Thanksgiving dinner plate on a bun.

This was our first Thanksgiving since 2003 at which none of our extended family was present. 2004, Grandma and Grandpa B. visited. Then in 2005, my whole family—parents, brothers, and spouses—came. Last year, Grandma and Grandpa H. joined us, and Grandpa Harry’s presence doubled the actual number of Mayflower descendants at the table. This year, we missed them all, and hope that next year some of them find their way out here again. We love our life here in San Francisco, but since Ella came along, the distance to our extended families feels a little bit further, and the holidays stretches things out even more.

But our families’ absence didn’t mean that this year wasn’t very special. First of all, we had two friends who have left San Francisco for the great state of Oregon return, and it was so good to have them back.

Our friend Wayne (who used to be our standing Sunday dinner guest) came with news of his great new house, which we hope to visit in Portland soon. He’s been at all six of our Thanksgivings, and his presence is our favorite tradition.

Our friends Robert and Mahjinka (guests at I think two past Thanksgivings, and proudguardians of the teeth of Medford since 2006) made their triumphant return with now two year-old Isaac, who has the energy of ten toddlers. He and Ella made a cute pair.

Shawn andRobyn were back after a year or two away. We missed Robyn’s dad, but played Johnny Cash in his absence, anyway. Betsy was back for Thanksgiving #4, and we had some notable first-time dinner guests: Nate and Courtney made the difficult choice to take a break from family (all local) to join us. We know how important family is to them, and it really meant a lot to us that they came. They are such good friends, and we’ve always wanted for them to be there at our table on our favorite holiday. We also had Jared and Karen, newly returned from the mean streets of Brooklyn, Betsy’s new husband (and all around snake-chasing mensch) Steve, and last but not least our friend Becca, reuniting theOnce and Future Awesome.

And, of course, the most important new guest of all: Baby Ella. She did a great job helping us cook, a two-day ordeal that she contributed to mostly by napping at opportune times, and doing her best to sleep in 4 hour blocks on crucial nights. But she is the thing we are most grateful for this year. Parenthood is already kicking our butts—everything you hear about sleep deprivation is twice as true. But when we look down into that little face, we couldn’t be happier, and she made this the best Thanksgiving yet. (Now just wait until she gets to help dad with the Turkey …)