Tuesday, April 18, 2006

Easter Week


Easter week started with the first nice day we've had in a month! Our friend Josh was in town from Boston, so we took advantage of the sunshine to go for a walk around Crystal Springs Resevoir, just a couple of minutes from our new home in San Mateo.


The next weekend brought substantially worse weather. Ryan was convinced we'd get a break in the clounds and the rangers assured us that the weather would clear, but the kiwihapa gang (Alonzo, Grace, Phil, Nikki, Ryan, Eunice, and born / unborn kids) went for a test run for our future travel with the little ones. Phil and Nikki were the real troopers, bringing Gaby out to brave the elements. It was too wet to use her new backpack, but Ryan's raincoat was big enough to keep baby nice and dry underneath in the Baby Bjorn.



"Are you OK in there Gaby?" "As long as I can see, Mom!"


Now we're talking-- nice and warm here in the visitor center. We may have only lasted 20 minutes on the mountain, but that was enough to earn a hearty lunch of 40 spice hummus, cracked pepper salami, and smoked gouda cheese.


Now the real hike begins: trekking through the outlets down the hill at Gilroy. A good way to pass a rainy afternoon.


Mom and mothers-to-be checking out the baby clothes at the outlet store. See anything in size... "cinco"?


Easter brunch at Ryan and Eunice's place. If we look tired, its because we spent the morning dealing with a mini-flood sweeping through our garage, caused by the perfect storm of a rainy morning, high tide, and a clogged drain leading to a full "perc pit." Ahh, the joys of home ownership. We ended up calling the fire department (we're such novices) who were super nice at helping us figure out the problem... we had everything drained in time for our guests!

Thursday, March 30, 2006

Cousins in New York


The 6 Hill cousins live large for a weekend in New York: Adam and Rachel live there, Ryan and Eunice used to, Nate and Eddie had never been before... but none of us have seen the Big Apple like this!

Saturday, March 18, 2006

Brian and Ellen's Wedding

We headed out to Baltimore for Brian and Ellen's wedding... Click here for a slideshow of our photos! (and let us know what you think about this new addition to our site!)


We headed out to Baltimore for Brian and Ellen's wedding... here's the snazzy couple in their stylish "bride" and "groom" hats.


We spent the day of the wedding with Jesse and Eileen, touring the nearby battleground of Gettysburg, the site of the largest battle in the Civil War. We got an audio CD to play as we drove around, complete with historical facts and the ocassional battleground background noise to add to the excitement. Made us _almost_ understand the enthusiasm of the re-enactment buffs who come here each year!!

Eunice, Eileen, and Jesse brave the howling winds to defend Little Round Top

The wedding itself was wonderful. A special surprise was seeing Spencer and Marney, visiting from Cambridge. Spencer is a Australian friend of Ryan's from back in high school-- always fantastic to have some time to hang out!

We spent Sunday with Cora in Washington DC. It was a little too early for the cherry blossoms to be in full force, but we managed to find a single tree with the famous flowers on a great walk around the Jefferson memorial.

Funniest part of the weekend: screaching to the side of the road in rural Pennsylvania after seeing this roadside restaurant: Eunice's "A Little Touch of Heaven" Restaurant. Eunice was the Quaker grandmother who founded the place, and there's still a whiteboard for prayer requests when you walk in (top request: pray for the animals displaced by Hurricane Katrina). We had to get Eunice a hoodie, complete with a halo around the "E" in Eunice. That's my Eunice: a little touch of heaven!

Friday, March 03, 2006

Its a boy!



The doctor is 90% sure... its a boy! Our second sonogram shows a healthy litte guy, moving around a ton and generally giving mom a hard time (not really). The video is pretty incredible-- its easy to imagine a personality already. The real question: does he look more like a Waukegan or an Ajax? :)

Saturday, February 18, 2006

Home sweet home!


Welcome to our new home in San Mateo! Room for our growing family, blocks off a main street with lots of good restaurants, in a cute neighborhood with a good school district, half way between San Francisco and Palo Alto... just about perfect! We saw the open house on the way to drop Ryan off at the airport for a week in Germany, singed the papers in the car 30 minutes later, and took care of the rest via fax and email 6000 miles apart. Gotta love buying at what feels like the top of the market.... Crazy!


Moving day was the next weekend... our moving truck was bigger than our house!


Eunice breaks the record for time till first parking ticket... on the windshield before the moving truck leaves the driveway.


This courtyard is one of our favorite parts of the house: the living room and dining room open out to a sunny brick patio perfect for al fresco dining


The backyard has a nice wooden deck and a small grass yard, perfect for a cozy BBQ.


Finally no running outside to do laundry!


And an entire drawer of the freezer dedicated to homemade dumplings imported from Monterey Park.


A decent size kitchen with a full set of appliances...


Plus a spare bedroom for "junior" (useful for storing boxes in the meantime!)


Our first visitors: Dad and Nancy come down from San Francisco. Things are still looking a little bare, but we're on our way!


Home sweet home!

Friday, February 17, 2006

Brian's Bachelor Party


Ryan spent a weekend away at the bachelor party of his New York roommate Brian Elieson, held in the Cascade mountains of Washington state. I caught the last flight out of San Francisco on Friday after work, which meant carpooling to arrive at the cabin after 2 in the morning, only to find ourselves locked out and without a bed to sleep on... rough start!


The house was fantastic, complete with sauna, jacuzzi, and (most importantly) a fooseball table


Yummy flank steak dinner was complemented by gag gifts for Brian and shots of Jack Daniels.


We got out of the house to enjoy a snowshoeing expedition into the Cascades.


NY roommates reunited a long way from Manhattan... at the summit!


Rock stars on the descent.


Farewell to bachelorhood, Brian!

Friday, February 03, 2006

Arastradero Hike


A beautiful February day for a final hike in Palo Alto with our friends Jesse, Eileen, Lee and KB.


The green hills of the Arastradero Open Space Preserve


Ryan, KB, and Jesse climb the hill to catch up with Eunice and Eileen.


The boys at the top of the hill, overlooking the South Bay, the Dish, and NASA's Aimes Space Center


Jesse, Eileen, Ryan, Eunice, Lee, and KB... winter in California is tough!


Monday, January 30, 2006

Sundance Film Festival


The exhausting 2006 Sundance Film Festival: 4 days, 6 people, ~10 movies per person, 12" of snow, and a little bit of skiing and snowshoeing to top it all off!


Crowds, crowds, and more crowds. Mastering the logistics of Sundance is a fine art-- we'll have to go back to just to exercise everything we learned this year.


Park City turns into a madhouse: we were lucky to score a great condo right in the center of town within walking distance of the Egyptian Theatre, the ski lift, and lots of good people-watching.


The movies-- we were lucky to see many of the audience award-winners:


We were too busy watching movies to really get into the Sundance nightlife, but did have a good but overpriced night out on the town. Here's the crew: Ryan, Alonzo, Grace, Eileen, Jesse, and Eunice.


It snowed the entire weekend, which meant lots of good activities outside of the movie theatre!


Jesse and Ryan on the top of the slopes...


And Alonzo, ready for some fresh tracks on the way down!


Fresh Utah Powder


Jesse and I spent a movie-free afternoon snowshoeing oustide of town


Did someone say fresh Utah Powder? Farewell Sundance!
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