Ryan's 35th Birthday

Getting older happens to everybody, but not everybody gets the chance to celebrate their 35th birthday with friends and family watching a fabulous sunset from a catamaran underneath the Golden Gate bridge. It was a pretty amazing evening, and I'm very grateful my Dad for making this happen and to my sister-in-law Lauren for sharing her birthday with me!

The boat ride was spectacular, but the best gift of all was a happy birthday poster that the boys made for me-- the first time that Spencer had done so much writing.  Its still hanging up in my closet!

Check out the full set of photos....

Susan's 60th Birthday Visit

December 22 is a pretty lousy day to have a birthday as my mom knows all too well. Her special day half-forgotten in the midst of holiday travel, I can't even remember ever having a birthday cake for her. Adam and I decided that this year-- mom's 60th-- would be different. We gathered a bunch of photos from each stage of her life, put together a slide show with music from each era, and booked a private room for close family on the big day, the night of her arrival from San Diego.

Alas, it wasn't meant to be. A bumpy flight in meant that my mom was laid low for the evening (Remember, this is the woman who spent the night leaning over the side of the boat at her dad's Navy formal when she was a kid. On an aircraft carrier. In calm seas. At dock. In Pearl Harbor).

We didn't let that stop us from having a fantastic week. Dinner itself was a still a lot of fun with the Hills, and we did watch the slideshow with my mom on the couch later that night at Adam and Rachel's. We also got in a great hike at Edgewood, some quality time with the boys, some intense after-hours gift assembly of a cool workbench (an awesome Christmas gift for the boys from Susan and Jim), and of course the annual Christmas Eve party at Bob and Kathy's.

The best part? Susan and Jim were inspired to start a house hunt up in the Bay Area.... let's see if we can get them up here for good!

Here's the birthday slideshow:

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And here are some great photos from Susan and Jim's visit!




Click here for the full slideshow....

Hudson's Birthday at Marvin Gardens

You might not guess it, but Marvin Gardens is just about the perfect venue for a kid's birthday party... Beer and pizza for the adults, a huge, contained play area for the kids, and, best of all, thundering trains that whiz by practically overhead. Hudson had a great day, as did his best bud Spencer. The favorite activity of the afternoon? Coordinated jumps off the side of the patio to the gravel below. Simple pleasures, what could be better?

Click here for a slideshow....

Julia's Princess Party

Our friend Julia has ALWAYS wanted to have a princess party. What better opportunity than her 40th birthday? It was a costume party, with the theme of "royalty." She encouraged creative interpretation, so the Nichols and Canadas came dressed as a pride of Lions ("king" of the jungle, get it?). The boys were adorable in their lion outfits, but their parents looked like complete freak shows at an event where most adults came dressed as princes and princesses... But the Princess party theme was flawlessly executed, with a castle jumpy house, pink decorations everywhere, and fantastic ribs to gnaw on, medieval-style.

Click here for a slideshow...

Lionesses Eunice and Grace get a photo with the birthday girl, pretty in pink.

Adam & Therese Share a Birthday

Now that not one, but TWO of the most important people in my dad's life share October 2 as a birthday, what better way to celebrate the big occasion than a dinner party in the Marina, complete with juicy steaks, tasty wine, and carrot cake?

We all decided to spend the night in the Marina...with all 3 kids - a fateful decision that worked out well enough at first, but for which we paid the price the next morning after Ryan and Adam were out half the night. Ryan paid penance by taking the extra early morning shift with the boys, heading out to the beach for some play-time without waking up the rest of the house.

Theo's Third Birthday

We were very happy to host Theo's 3rd birthday party at our place this year. It was a beautiful day to be hanging out in the backyard-- highlights included yummy BBQ, the balloon man's amazing creations, trying to get the kids posed for a group picture, and, best of all, some quality time with Spencer and the birthday boy in the hammock after it was all over.

Click here for a slideshow...

Birthday Song for Po Po

Spencer took a moment during lunch at Sea World to wish Po Po a happy birthday... Wish you were here!!!

Eunice's 34th Birthday

We had the Paris' and Canada's over for a mini-reunion on July 11th - it had been nearly a year and a half since our families had gotten together over at our house - in fact, it was the night before Jane went into labor with Nathan. If history repeats itself, Grace and Alonzo may have a new addition to their family tomorrow!

Coincidentally, the 11th also happens to be Eunice's birthday. Grace surprised us with a delicious two-tiered homemade chocolate cake with frosting to die for. :) The saga of the cake-making would take longer to retell than we have room for on our blog, but suffice it to say much love, time, and creativity were put into the making of this cake. Something that is much appreciated, in particular in light of the fact that Grace could be hours away from delivering baby #2!

After another night of fun mayhem at the Nichols' pad, we ended the evening with baths and bedtime stories for the boys.

Hopefully it won't be another year and a half before we all get together again!

Tangerine Dinner

KB's birthday is on the 9th of July. Eunice's is on the 11th. So Lee put together a dinner celebration right in between on July 10th at Tangerine, in the Mission district of San Francisco.

The festivities got off to a rough start for us. The plan was to head up to the city early and go for a walk by the water. Eunice fell asleep on the ride up to the city in the afternoon, so Ryan thoughtfully let her nap in the car in the driveway of his dad's place while doing some work inside. Amazed that Eunice was still soundly asleep an hour and a half later, he went to the backyard to read. When Eunice woke up minutes later, she discovered the front door locked. Ryan couldn't hear the doorbell from the backyard... and had left his cell phone by the front door. Eunice passed the time talking to her mom on the phone waiting for Ryan to come out. An hour later, Ryan emerged from the house bummed that Eunice had slept the afternoon away. Meanwhile, Eunice was mad that Ryan had left her in the car and locked her out of the house.

Agreeing to put the incident behind us, we got in the car to go meet our friends for dinner... only to find the car battery had died from the radio Ryan had left on for Eunice while she was napping. After knocking on a few neighbors' doors, we finally found someone to help us jump start our car just in time to make it for our 7:30pm reservation. Nowhere to go but up from there!


The rest of the evening went without a hitch as we enjoyed good food and even better company, shutting down the restaurant at 11pm. Thanks, Lee for coordinating such a lovely dinner, complete with cupcakes for the birthday girls. :)

July Daycare Birthday Parties

Juanita hosted two birthday parties at daycare for Spencer and Kyle this year. As always, there were amazing quantities of food, lots of kids, fun gifts, and tasty desserts. Spencer was excited to have some special guests show up at his party including daddy, Cora, and Nani! All the kids were excited that Angie brought a jumpy house to spice things up for Kyle's second birthday bash.

Besides the amazing love and care Spencer and Tyler receive from Juanita and her colleagues, it has been awesome getting to know the parents of the kids that attend Little Kingdom Daycare, including Evan's parents Caroline and Dave, Kyle's parents Angie and David, Kyra Grace and Isaac's parents Aliya and Chris, and David's parents, Affi and Ameka.

Spencer is going to really miss his buddies and all the caring adults here when he starts pre-school in a few weeks. They have played such a pivotal role in his life these last three years. The good news for Tyler is that with Spencer and some of the other kids heading off to pre-school this fall, Tyler will go from being one of the youngest at daycare to being "king of the hill." Just what he needs to coax him out of his quiet shell. ;)

Click here for a slideshow of more photos from Spencer and Kyle's daycare birthday parties.

Spencer Turns Three on the 4th

Why mess with success? The Gates were kind enough to offer to host a 4th of July party for Spencer's birthday again this year, and we couldn't refuse. An afternoon in the pool, an evening of Nichols family ribs and margaritas + lots of other goodies, and a house fit to host our crowd of 50 friends and their kids.

Spencer relished the attention, mostly. We've been preparing him for months that his third birthday would be marked by fireworks, cake, the loss of his beloved pacifier AND the transition from his "office" at daycare to Mandarin immersion preschool.... so we weren't so sure how he'd react to the big day.

Success on all fronts-- he lost his pacifier the week prior, making the transition a non-issue. We made a successful visit to the playground at his new school to get him used to the new environment. AND, on the big day itself, Spencer didn't seem to mind the fireworks at all... the bigger issue seemed to be the birthday singing, which put him in a VERY serious mood, as you'll see in the video below. We like to think of it as serious contemplation of the meaning of turning three.



Here's a shot of the birthday boy, getting his favorite present, a big bear hug, from Theo.


And here are some shots from around the party: swimming pool fun, Ryan and Corey manning the grill, Tyler and Evan cruising around in the wagon, Spencer and Joey playing in the dirt,Spencer sampling the feast, red white and blue Nichols boys, Spencer watching fireworks with mom, and the crew assembled for Eunice's trademark homemade banana chocolate chip birthday cake.


Three sets of special guests worthy of special mention: Cora flew all the way from D.C. to join us for Spencer's birthday festivities. Adam and Rachel brought out 2-week old Lilah for her first public appearance... she completely stole the show. And Nara and Tracy came down from the city with our friend Lee-- they're expecting their first soon, and we thought a little shock and awe was in order by inviting them to a party with so many toddlers!

So happy birthday Spencer, and happy 4th of July, everyone! Click here to see a slideshow of more photos from the party.

Introducing Lilah Beth Nichols!

What a thrill to meet our new niece... Lilah Beth Nichols! She was born on June 16th at 2am after 18 hour of natural childbirth, weighed in at 7 pounds 2 oz, and already shows off a shock of white blond hair. Adam and Rachel are doing great-- they're back from the hospital as of Thursday and getting used to life as parents. Fantastic to have them just down the street!

Tyler's 1st Birthday

In all this weekend's excitement, we almost lost track of the fact that it was Tyler's first birthday! Tyler's really come into his own these last couple of weeks: starting to walk, saying his first couple of words with conviction (e.g., "hi" while waving, and "yay" while clapping), and playing peek-a-boo with abandon.

He had a good birthday, starting with some quality time in the morning with Nai Nai, banana cream cake at Adam and Rachel's baby shower, a rendition of Happy Birthday that Adam claimed sounded like a professional choir, and best of all, he got to spend most of the day in his birthday suit thanks to our heat wave.

Sunday was more of a personal celebration, with a tasty 3-layer chocolate cake from Nara and some dedicated attention from us and our friends Andrew, Laura, Finn, and Abby in town from the east coast.

So let's hear it for Tyler... happy one-year birthday, little guy!

Adam and Rachel's Baby-Que

It's almost baby time! We helped Adam and Rachel host a co-ed Baby-Que at their new place in San Carlos, bringing together almost 40 friends and family for an afternoon of tasty BBQ, refreshing beverages, non-traditional games, and of course lots of thoughtful gifts for the little one.

See below for details, or click here for a full slideshow!


Adam and Rachel were remarkably relaxed, given they just moved into a new home and are expecting a baby in another month. Their new place was fantastic for a party... we spent most of our time either in the interior patio or on their wonderful deck.


Here's everyone on the deck, playing game #1... the Baby-Quiz at the Baby-Que! Everyone was asked to bring a baby photo, and the contest was to guess which guest matched with which photo. The full set of photos are below... see anyone familiar?


Here are the babies, in alphabetical order: Abbot, Adam, Alexander, Anna, Bob, Brett, Brin, Ed , Emily, Eunice, Meghan, Michael N, Michel, Mimsy, Nancy, Rachel, Rob, Ryan, Spencer, Steven , Susan, Terry, and Tyler.

Top prize went to Susan and Nancy... both of whom got 17 out of 23 correct!


One of the best parts of the day was getting the extended family together. Susan came up from San Diego, Bob and Kathy came down from Oakland, Nancy, Donna, Ed, and Mimsy came down from Marin...we even got to see Kevin M and Steven K, whom we haven't seen in ages.

Click here for a full slideshow!

Tahoe Weekend

What's makes a great spring weekend in Tahoe? Assemble a great group of old and new friends, find a house with a great deck and views of the lake, bring up some fantastic food and wine, and maybe even squeeze in an afternoon on the slopes. That was our recipe for this weekend with Lee & KB, Nara & Tracy, Charu, and our new friends the Chappellet's, from Napa. See below for details, or click here for a slideshow!

We spent a lot of time hanging around the fantastic house that Eunice found on the North Shore in Carnelian Bay. We assembled an enclosed cruising circuit for Tyler in the living room, and used the coffee table for crazy lego creations. The house had enough quiet corners to allow Lee to study for his CFA exam, enough games to keep us entertained at night, and a great kitchen for cooking up all sorts of fine creations.

While Nara and Ryan were off catching their last day of skiing for the season, the rest of the crew explored the area, going for hikes, checking out Tahoe City, playing miniature golf, and instigating snowball fights with the remaining snow around the hosue. The snow on the slopes was a little better, but it definitely felt like spring skiing. A beer and some great funk music on the deck at Alpine made skipping the afternoon session of skiing seem very tempting! (We skied, and were very sore the next day as a result!)

It was also Ryan's birthday weekend: we surpised him with a birthday cake and chocolate covered strawberries, washed down by a fantastic bottle of Cabernet from the Chappellet cellar (they're in the wine business... another helpful ingredient to a great weekend in Tahoe!).

Here's the full group on the grass behind our house: Jon Mark, Colleen, Owen, Tracy, Charu, Nara, KB, Lee, and the 4 Nichols..... a great crew for a great weekend!

Click here for a slideshow...

Happy Birthday, Jesse!

Spencer made a "pie" (with no milk) for Jesse's birthday. Click on the video below to see Spencer's special message to Jesse!

Visit from Susan and Jim

Susan and Jim came out to visit for the holidays. In addition to the rest of our Christmas festivities chronicled on these pages, highlights of their visit included sorting through the U-Haul full of furniture and memorabilia they brought up from San Diego, Jim's regular morning bagel and coffee runs, Nai Nai reading Spencer Ryan's favorite books from childhood, and a fantastic birthday dinner for Susan in Mill Valley.

Happy Birthday, Nai Nai!!!

Spencer made a special cake to help celebrate Ryan's mom's birthday. Here he sings Happy Birthday to Nai Nai with much gusto before helping her blow out the candles.

Birthday Message to Po Po

Spencer has been excited about Po Po's birthday for quite some time now. This morning when he woke up, I told him it was finally time to sing "Happy Birthday" to grandma. Click the play button below to hear Spencer's special message to Po Po.

Spencer and Kyle's Daycare Birthday Party

Spencer and Kyle both have birthdays in July and shared a birthday celebration at daycare on July 18th. Juanita provided a feast, including spaghetti, salmon casserole, filipino eggrolls, shrimp chips, fruit, and cupcakes.


The highlight was watching Spencer and Kyle jointly blow out candles for their respective ages on the birthday cake.

Click here for a slide show of more photos from the party.