Last week my brother Nate came out from New Hampshire for a long weekend visit. We tried to keep him well entertained with fun stuff to do and great things to eat.

On Friday Ella, Nate and I went to Alcatraz. They have this great audio tour that comes with your ticket. Narrating are former guards and former inmates. We took this picture outside the guard station.



We tried to fit in as many different types of food as possible. I think we did well — we had Burmese, Spanish tapas, Vietnamese, ballpark food (that counts!), burritos, and sushi. Unfortunately we only took a picture of the sushi – mostly so Nate could brag to his coworkers that he actually ate it (and liked it!).



On Sunday we went to the Red Sox (and A’s) game. Too bad they don’t play the Giants, cause that stadium is amazing. But Ella had a blast!!



And then passed out from all the excitement!



We took public transit all the way to Oakland and back. Ella loves to hold on to things…



And we had to throw in a bunch of park walks, including one to the swings.



We had so much fun — come back soon Uncle Nate!!!

 Yes! We finally have a court date for Ella’s adoption hearing!!!!!!  Yeay! 

June 9th at 8:45am. 

It’ll all be official.  We are beyond thrilled.

I’ve recently become a gMum.  Exciting, eh?  Okay, what that means is that I must spread the great word of gDiapers.  Easy enough — I love them!  I tell everyone I know about them anyway, so why not here too?

What is a gDiaper?  It is the equivalent of our car — a hybrid.  It’s a cloth outer diaper, plastic snap in liner, and flushable insert — which equals our diaper.  Plus they are super cute.  We have a bunch of colors (blue, green, brown, pink, orange, and white).   

We’ve used them on Ella ever since we came home from AL.  They take a bit of getting used to — but not long.  And when you’re a new parent — everything is new!  We choose to toss the wet inserts, as flushing uses a lot of water for every wet one.  But we do flush dirty ones.  But I feel good that even the ones we toss will biodegrade in like 90 days instead of 500 years.  I was once told that the best thing you can do for the environment is to not use disposable diapers.  I love that we found a great solution that works for us.

Anyone interested in trying?  Send me an email, or comment and I will mail you a $2 off coupon to try them out.

We recently travelled to New Hampshire to surprise my mother for her birthday.  While we were there we also threw her a surprise birthday party.  Lots of fun.  Here are some of the pictures.

The first thing that my mother did was to put Ella’s hair in twists. So super cute.

Ella has also perfected the “sitting up.”

Friday night we went to dinner with my folks, and Nate, Grace and Ethan. Of course, to the Weathervane, so Alex and I could get some lobster. We elected for rolls, and not the advertized “twins.”



Grace and Ethan shared some chicken fingers, and Ella selected her usual.


Ella got a tubby — her favorite thing — from her Meme.

Saturday was the big party. We had a great turnout. It was so fun to see folks we haven’t seen in years.


The big gift was a book I put together with about 20 submissions from friends and family with memories and thoughts for Mom on her birthday.

Here’s one of me and my Ellie.

Here’s my Aunt Susie and Elle.

And Uncle Steve.

The whole family — for the first time in almost 8 years.

Sunday Grammy came over for dinner. Ella took to her immedately — sat quietly in her lap for the longest time….

Monday we spent the day in Boston — which meant we had to see our dear friend Heather Marx! They used to live down the street from us when we were in Mountain View. They’ve been in the Boston area for years, but this was the first time we’ve gotten together. It was like a day hadn’t passed.


We had to get Ella her own Red Sox hat — we’re going to the Sox v. A’s game in a few weeks, and she needed to be properly outfitted.

That night we went to Nate’s house. Here’s Alex, Ella, and Ethan checking out the chickens.

Here are Alex and Ella checking out the river.

Here’s Ethan, Grace and Ella.

And one exausted Ella.

It was an excellent trip. We got to see so many friends and spend time with the family.