Bay Area Discovery Museum

On a beautiful Friday morning, Spencer and Eunice headed up to Sausalito to meet up with Nancy and the Kaegi's at the Bay Area Discovery Museum, located right on the water at the based of the Golden Gate Bridge.


We had a chance to hang out by the waterfront watching "ducks" (seagulls) and throwing sticks into the ocean as we waited for Nancy, Mimsy, Patricia, Cassidy, and Talulah to arrive.


The Discovery Museum is a fantastic place! Spencer and Cassidy got totally soaked playing with the "fish" in a mock stream, dressing up as ladybugs, watching frogs blow bubbles in the water, and exploring a playground filled with huge wooden ships. We'll definitely be back!

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Easter in Dallas

We headed to Dallas for a special Easter with the Tangs (and Eunice's last plane trip before the arrival of baby #2 - doctor's orders!).


Highlights of our weekend included exploring the Dallas Arboretum in full spring bloom, watching Spencer tackle his cousins with big bear hugs, eating a fabulous brunch at Cafe Brazil, participating in the DTS Easter Egg Hunt, letting Spencer take a spin in various toy cars at the entrance of the dorm, playing soccer with Melody, attending the Tang's church for Easter service, and getting a glimpse into the crazy and full life of being parents of three kids!


It wasn't easy wrangling everybody into one spot for a photo op, but we managed to take a great family photo in front of some colorful tulips at the Arboretum. Thanks to the Tangs for being such fantastic hosts!

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Oakland Zoo with the Cinquegrana's

Eunice and Spencer met up with Faith and Fiona for a fun morning at the Oakland Zoo.


As an added bonus, Eunice had a chance to catch up with Mr. and Mrs. Cinquegrana who were in town for a visit. Eunice hasn't seen them since Williams graduation back in 1997!


Spencer had a great time at the Children's Zoo - though he seemed more interested in the animal sculptures than the real animals!

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Nancy's Birthday

It was great to get together with Nancy and the Barrons to celebrate Nancy's birthday-- the first time we've seen her since her big trip to Africa to investigate microfinance. We celebrated in Marin with Donna and Tom, Ed and Mimsy, Betsy, Nancy and Michelle. It was a special day for Uncle Tom as well-- he hit his first hole in one! It was March 8th, Tom hit his hole-in-one on the 8th hole, his overall score was 80, Nancy turned 58... Could this possibly be coincidence?


After a yummy lunch of Chinese chicken salad and Donna's special Angel food cake, we headed out for a hike at China Camp. It was a fantastic day to be outside for a stroll along the coastline to the beach. Despite the jellyfish washed up on shore, Spencer had a great time throwing rocks into the bay. A great day to be outside... Happy Birthday Nancy!

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Kibbutz Redux: Venice Beach

The New York crew came together again for another "kibbutz" in Southern California, this time in Venice Beach with Jesse, Eileen, Lee, and KB. We rented a great old house on a quaint alley just a block off of Venice Beach. We left Spencer with Grandma Terry in San Mateo, and enjoyed what's probably our last couple's weekend before baby #2 arrives!

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We knew that our first night was going to be rough-- Ryan flew in from Germany, Lee flew in from Singapore, and Eunice and Eileen are both increasingly pregnant. But we rallied in true LA fashion: Ryan spent the afternoon with Jon brainstorming script ideas over beer at the beach. We ate Friday dinner at Three Square Cafe & Bakery‎ on trendy Abbot Kinney Boulevard, and even managed to crash the tail end of a private party to celebrate the end of the writer's strike!

The weather was lousy on Saturday, but we grabbed a foggy breakfast at Figtree's Cafe‎ and set out to see some sites.

Now we've been to LA a lot, but Jesse managed to plot a course through parts of the city we'd never seen before (you can check out all the details on the incredible map he assembled to help us plan, embedded below). We started at the Grand Central Market downtown-- a great indoor farmer's market that was a fantastic blend of Asian and Latino food culture. Next up was the Frank Gehry designed Disney Concert Hall and the very modern Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels (known by LA hipsters as "Cool-Ota"). We ate a late lunch in East LA, sampling the outstanding barbocoa of El Borrego de Oro. We spent the afternoon up at the Griffith Observatory, where we lost Jesse and Eileen for hours as the rest of us napped in the car. We finally met up with KB at the Chinese Theater on Hollywood Boulevard, where we paid respect to our favorite stars. We ate dinner that night at Grace Restaurant‎ in Beverly Hills... good food, but we were too full from gorging on Mexican food earlier that afternoon to truly enjoy it. Everyone zonked out in our minivan on the way home, but rallied for a killer game of speed Scrabble before calling it a night.

Sunday was beautiful-- a perfect day to hit the beach. We strolled along the boardwalk to Santa Monica, relaxed on the beach, walked out to the end of the pier, and headed to the 3rd Street promenade. We tried to hop in a cab to check out Father's Office, our dream lunch spot (30 beers on tap), but actually had to track down a police officer to force the minivan to take all 6 of us (we think the cab was just a front for nefarious activities). To top it all off, the restaurant wouldn't take the cheese off their cheeseburgers (even for someone with a severe dairy allergy!), so we had to cancel our orders and walk out.

All's well that ends well-- we found a fantastic new spot just across the street to grab California - Mediterranean. Then we were off to the airport. Farewell, LA... at least until the next Kibbutz!

Check out Jesse's map, plotting our adventures:

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