Friday, November 30, 2007

Tis the season



The Christmas season has officially begun in our house. This evening, as the boys were getting into their pajamas, Sam and I spontaneously made up our own christmas carol- an ode to Patch and his jiggly belly. And yes, as if Patch weren't enough, I do occasionally refer to him as Eli-bear.

Sung to the tune of "Oh, Christmas Tree"

Oh, Eli-bear, oh Eli-bear,
How lovely is your belly
With skin so soft and smooshy too
We love to kiss and tickle you
Oh Eli-bear, oh Eli-bear, how lovely is your belly.

Parental Milestone

Yesterday Jeff and I hit a dubious milestone in the life of a parent- the first trip to the emergency room. Elias, intrepid little soul that he is, climbed up onto his train table and then promptly fell off backwards, smacking his head on a bookshelf on the way down. Jeff was out dropping Sam off at school, and I had a few panicked moments trying to gauge the severity of the wound, while racing around looking for Patch's pacifier, which are never easy to find on a good day! Once Jeff returned we quickly ascertained that a trip to the hospital was in order and off we sped. Less than two hours and three stitches later, we were back at home. Elias was a little trouper and seems to be healing quite nicely.
Unfortunately, the incident has not seemed to curb his passion for climbing...

Saturday, November 24, 2007

High Flying

For my birthday this year, Jeff arranged for us to go on a two hour flight in a little 4 seat propeller plane. It was so cool! We flew north over the whole Napa Valley, then "took a left" over Calistoga and flew out to the ocean. We continued south and then flew right over the Golden Gate Bridge and SF bay. The valley was beautiful, with all the vineyards in their fall colors and flying over the bridge and by SF itself was just amazing.

Here we are with the plane.
The lovely Napa Valley, with Mt. St. Helena in the background.
A newly built winery, masquerading as a medieval castle.

Here comes the city! Check out the cool fog.
Our beautiful city.
Alcatraz.
Nice shot, Jeff!

I'm flying!!! What a great birthday present!

Thursday, November 8, 2007

Apple Farm

Right next to Hendy Woods park was this fabulous organic apple farm. It is situated in a sunny little glen, with a river running next to it. They have a great market set up right next to their cider press and fermentation barn (where they make 2 different kinds of vinegar). They had a dozen or so kinds of apples to taste, along with jams, jellys, chutneys, juice, and cider. We went a couple of times during our camping weekend- to samply delicious apples and wander through their orchards.

Elias feeding apples to the little stone pigs.


Sheep!

The beautiful Anderson Valley.
Hey- there I am!!

Camping


We are just back from a really fun weekend in Mendocino. We camped at Hendy Woods park, in a cute, rustic little cabin. The park is situated next to two beautiful redwood groves, one of which is old growth trees. We went on a 3 hour hike through this grove- it was beautiful and awe inspiring. The trees are so tall and majestic. Some were bigger around than our car! The boys had such a fun time- they loved playing in the woods, climbing the trees, and getting dirty!

This "log" was right outside our cabin.

Hiking.

Inside a hollowed out redwood.Sitting on the roots of a huge tree that had come down years ago.

That same tree. Can you see Jeff and Elias all the way down towards the end of the trunk?
Mountain man.
Our cabin.

Friday, November 2, 2007

Loot!!

Dad made sure he was home for the candy part!

Holy Candy Batman!!



Well, we really had a blast on Halloween. The boys were so into the whole thing- decorating our house, carving pumpkins, dressing up, and- oh yeah- getting candy! Of course, Elias didn't really know what was going on, but he didn't let a little thing like that stop him from loving every second of it!

Action shot! Ker-pow!!


Ready to fight crime.
It was so much fun dressing up with the boys this year. We make a great team!