Betsy and Marco | better together...

Road-Trip Part One

Dec 282008

Betsy and I planned a trip to visit a few friends in the Oregon and Washington state area, and after talking to Carlos, and Wendy and Martin it was decided that a road trip might be fun! Diego has flown about 14 times since he was born (7 trips) so an airplane would not have been a challenge at all! Diego needed something different and he got it! We took off at 3am, when I took him from his crib, he was asleep and as soon as I open the car door, he woke up! He was confused but stayed up for about an hour before he decided to go back to sleep. Needless to say, he was a model kid; we stopped twice (and he did his business then, and only then!) and the rest of the time we all sang songs, read books (he loves them!) or simply watched the snow. Whenever I put my brakes suddenly, he would say “Oooooh…oh Daaaad!” so I kept doing it every hour or so (safely) just to hear his beautiful voice. We got stuck on the snow only once (close to high centering the Outback!) but it managed to free itself, and off we went to our destination… We arrived in Sandy, Oregon just as the snow was starting to melt and rain took over; our friends Carlos and Diane were waiting for us with a full dinner along with some other friends. Diego was once again feeling spunky and at home. Despite an ear infection that was draining heavily he was in an incredible upbeat mood all day! We will have pictures uploaded tomorrow after we get close to a high speed internet… satellite internet service just doesn’t cut it… until then, I hope you all plan to have a wonderful celebration this New Years’ eve, and that 2009 brings happyness, love, luck, a good job, incredible friends and family; but most important the fortune to be yourself! Love you all!

Don’t forget, if you need a good tax write off, you can donate some moola to the Heart Gallery of Sacramento, my favorite organization.

P.S. We have updated our galleries here, so stop by…

The quest for the perfect (small) Christmas Tree

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Dec 142008

The weathermen had painted a bleak dreary picture of the weekend so Diego and I were delighted when a brilliant sun appeared Saturday morning with no rain or fog in sight. We headed to McKinley Park for Stroller Strides and there was a GREAT turnout thanks to the beautiful weather (and probably a little post-Thanksgiving guilt). Class was awesome as always and Diego konked out about halfway through class like he always does. After class (and a shower), Mom and our friend Alex joined us for a late brunch at Tres Hermanas before we headed up to the mountains in search of a modest Christmas tree at our favorite tree farm in Pollock Pines. Diego was uber cheery as we headed through the foothills thanks to his morning cat nap and chatted the whole car ride. We first headed to Coloma for their small but oh-so-charming Christmas fair (Marco and I stumbled upon it last year while driving aimlessly so Diego could finish his nap). It was an exceptional experience to be there with Alex, who is from Australia. She was charmed by the old-timey costumes and the little houses and shops that look like the set of “Little House on the Prairie”.

We then headed up to Pollock Pines for some tree hunting. When we got to Placerville, a mini snow storm just light enough to be charming surrounded the town. We weren’t swayed, however because we could see blue skies both ahead and behind us. The snow had stopped by Apple Hill and we were all in great spirits as we snugly chugged up the hill in the Subaru. The mini blizzard returned just in time for our walk through the “forest” at Robert’s Christmas Tree Farm. My favorite thing about this place is that it’s not some neat little farm with straight rows of Christmas trees one after the other. It really looks just like the forest only you can tell that little trees are growing up where older trees have been cut down. The trees are a mish-mash of California evergreens and some are so lopsided that they wouldn’t even be called “Charlie Brown” Christmas trees. Still, they are the lucky ones, really, saved from the saw by their awkwardness. It was bitterly cold as the snow blew around us but we marched on, vowing that we’d go further this year than we’d ever gone, feeling like we always stopped short of the “perfect” tree because we chose too quickly. Of course, we’d loved all the previous trees, just couldn’t help thinking that there must be some elusive best tree that we’d missed. We forged on until we found it…

Just as we were leaving, the scenic, you-couldn’t-fake-this-if-you-wanted-to, snow stopped as abruptly as it had begun. Our beautiful sunny day was waiting for us when we returned to Sacramento.

It was another day for the record books and I wouldn’t change anything, I mean ANYTHING about it and that is saying a lot because I can always come up with something that could have been improved upon. And for all of you who noticed that Diego’s socks don’t look like they match – I wouldn’t change that either -they’re this crazy pair of opposite socks that aren’t supposed to match. What will they think of next…

I have at least one other blog that I’m dying to get posted about the many members of our family that are so strongly connected to horses but, so far, I’ve been writing in my head but the words, frankly, have yet to make it to any page. I’ll keep working on it and hope to get it up soon. Stay tuned!

Fearless

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Nov 012008

As you saw in Betsy’s last post, Diego did a few things that were beyond our understanding while we were in San Diego. We worry, mostly because we think he is too young to even understand what he did, but also because we realized that he is completely fearless, to the point of possibly getting hurt. WE watch him all the time, but he does things that baffle us and then we feel we need to let him try them… if anything just because we know HE thinks he is perfectly capable of doing them.

In the following series of movie clips you will see him facing a BIG doberman (while being tied, he looked at it straight at his eyes, with a unfazed stare…) and then went on to “temporarily borrow” someone’s long skate board and actually pretended to skate… he has observed this from neighborhood kids, so I assume he figured out how to adapt what he saw to his size…

Then, I decided to ask him to get on the boogie board (see pictures from last post) and he did, no questions asked (actually no fear shown) and as I pull him into the water his face turned serious, focused and as I let him go into the wave, he grabbed the board and off he went! I run behind him, with one hand on the board just in case, but he was completely fine! and did it twice more!

Anyway, enough talk, here they are…

San Diego

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Oct 272008

Just home from an amazing 5 days on Mission Beach in San Diego with Wendy, Martin, Sandy, Michelle, Susanne, Jason, Meera and Matt. What a great time we had! No matter how much time we schedule to vacation together, it never seems to be enough. It was great to hear about Martin’s new bike shop – they already have their first employee! Meera and Sandy keep pounding away at their research and soon they’ll be double doctors. All I can say to that is ….WOW – what a tremendous accomplishment! It was great to meet Jason and I really hope we all didn’t scare him off. We are quite a boisterous and outspoken group when we’re all together. It was awesome to hear about Michelle’s new adventures in the world of private practice. She seems to have settled right in. Everybody is doing so many cool things. We are lucky to have such amazing friends! We uploaded some new pictures to the gallery. Hopefully you can see what a grand time we had at the beach. Diego was totally fearless and ran for the waves even after being pummeled multiple times. He even took a turn on the boogie board and tried skateboarding! Sometimes it scares the crap out of me that our kid is so fearless. I can’t even imagine what he’ll be up to when he’s fifteen. Rest assured, Marco and I will be totally grey-haired by then.

Visit to Bloomington

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Oct 062008

While I was in Bloomington visiting Ellen, I had a great visit with Aunt Nancy, Abby, Mike, Madeline, Bethany and Ryan. It was fun to see Ellen and Matvei’s new house, and to see the campus. Check out the gallery to see Ellen and Matvei’s engagement pictures…

The best weekend

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Oct 052008

It was an October weekend for the record books. Rain was forecast and while a few drops did fall from the sky it didn’t slow us down in the slightest. Friday evening we had AWESOME mole at Bita Olga and Bito Gilberto’s house. Diego adores his Bita and Bito and spent the whole evening playing with them so hard that he wouldn’t even slow down to eat dinner. Diego, Marco and I started the weekend early Saturday morning going out for coffee. The air was brisk and everything smelled fresh yet Autumn-ish with the recent showers. After that, Diego and I headed for McKinley Park for our weekly Stroller Strides class. It was a great workout (my quads are still burning some from the “wall sits”). Daddy took some pictures around the park while we were in class and then he took some shots of Diego at the playground. Note that Diego is sporting Laguna Seca gear courtesy of Chito and Grandma DiDi!

After that Diego took a nap and then we had a great visit and Chinese take-out for lunch with Nana Judy. Saturday evening we ran some errands and enjoyed a quiet evening at home. This morning we got up early and took our usual Sunday bike ride to Temple Coffee for coffee and scones. Diego absolutely LOVES hanging out at this downtown hot spot because of its laid back patrons and wide open floor plan. He can pretty much have the run of the place without getting too far into anyone’s space. The baristas are pretty cute with him, too! Then we stopped off at the Capitol and listened to a marching band send off a huge group at the Walk to Cure Diabetes. It was hard to tear ourselves away but we had to head home for a nap…

Here are more favorite shots of the morning. A special thanks to Bronwyn for giving Diego this great sweater. We love it!

I know I say it every day but I can’t believe how fast Diego is growing up. Most used words of the weekend: boat, ball, duck and hot.

Being away

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Sep 152008

I’m on a long flight to Las Vegas, NV, returning home after being gone for 5 days. I know, I know, you’re all thinking how short 5 days is but I keep imagining what 5 days looks like, FEELS like, really from the perspective of a 1 year old and from the perspective of a 37 year old Dad whose spent every waking moment with said 1 year old. I, of course, can’t wait to get home and hold my squirmy not-so-little Diego in my arms. I know, FOR A FACT, that he will only submit to a few precious seconds of cuddling and then will wiggle out of my arms to explore the glorious wide-open-spaces known to us as Sacramento International Airport. Then, I can keep one eye on Diego and take Marco into my arms, giving him the most loving squeeze and smooch I’ve got. Does it seem to Diego like I’ve been gone for a lifetime? Only a few minutes? Sometimes I long for a glimmer of his thought process. Last week, before I left, he changed solidly and tangibly in only 3 or 4 days. What will he be like now? How many new words does he know? What about Marco? Does it seem to him like I’ve been gone a lifetime or only a moment? Does he know how assured I feel knowing that Diego is with him and how grateful I feel that they have had such an action-packed fun time without me. Marco has told me over and over that Diego calls and looks for me occasionally but is in no way devastated by my absence. Marco knows me well, because that is just how I would want it to be…that Diego notices when I’m not singing him to sleep but goes to sleep happily with his Dad.

I’ve been a little awed by technology this trip, and not be anything new or innovative. Rather, my amazement lies in the simple fact that my son will never know just what the world was like before “iChat”. Seriously! One thing I don’t have to wonder about is how different and grown up Diego will look when I get home because I saw him almost every day thanks to video conferencing and the internet. We sang “Hello Thumbkin” and he wiggled his fingers for me and the camera. The very best thing he did, though, was blow me a kiss across the miles. Cliches aside, it made my heart swell so big it nearly busted right out of my chest. I was happy and sad and proud and lonely all at once. Mostly, though, delighted that he saw the me on the computer screen as ME and sent me just a little bit of mommy-love. Sweeet!

I know I’ll have to get back to traveling more and more as he gets older but I hate how I feel like I’m missing tons of major yet fleeting 1 year old moments. I should probably just get over it because lots and lots of moms have it way worse than I do and I pride my self on not whining too loud or too long. Happily, I’ll see Diego and Marco in just a few hours and can bask in the whole happiness that is my little family.