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!

Click here for a slideshow.

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!

Click here for a slideshow...

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!

Click here for a slideshow of our photos...

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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Po Po's Solo Weekend with Spencer

Eunice's mom flew in to town on February 25th to spend some quality time with us. Her real purpose, however, was to make it possible for us to take off for our weekend Kibbutz LA Redux trip unencumbered by Spencer!


Spencer had a great time with Po Po eating yummy Chinese food, playing games, singing songs, reading books, taking walks around the neighborhood, pretending to drive the Xterra, and going to the park! Thanks for everything, mom - what a treat to spend a rare weekend away with friends, knowing that Spencer was in capable and loving hands back home.

Click here for a slideshow...

Brian and Cora's Visit

We had a full house last weekend-- we both had our post-college roommates out to visit! Brian (coming from New York) and Cora (coming from DC) were here all weekend... we also had a chance to catch up with our friends Spencer, Lee, KB, and Iein.



Activities over the course of the weekend with Brian and Cora included meeting up with Iein and his kids to check out the San Francisco Zoo on Saturday, hanging out the beer garden at Park Chalet with Lee and KB, playing frisbee at Ocean Beach, a beautiful drive down Route 1 to Half Moon Bay, clam chowder at Barbara's Fish Shack, hot pot at our place with Spencer and Lee, and dim sum at Joy Luck. The weather was fantastic (can you believe it's February?), and it was great to have so many good friends together in one spot.

Click here for a slideshow..

Happy Hollow Petting Zoo

We took Spencer down to San Jose for his first trip to a petting zoo, meeting up with Theo and Gaby for an afternoon of petting goats and watching parrots (which Spencer insisted were "ducks.")



The highlight of the day may have been lunch in nearby Little Saigon--- fantastic Vietnamese sandwiches on hot French baguettes washed down with yummy smoothies. The low-light of the day was certainly Spencer's open-mouthed faceplant into the dung-covered dirt in the petting zoo, neccesitating a rushed trip to the bathroom for a mouth washing. But overall, the kids did great with the animals!

Click here for a slideshow...

Meeting Fiona

Spencer and Eunice finally had a chance to meet precious Fiona, Faith and Erick's daughter, who was born just under four pounds on 11/18/07. Faith and Fiona seem to be thriving in their new life together...


Spencer poses with Faith and Fiona.


As Spencer gives Fiona a kiss, Eunice gets a glimpse of the loving "big brother" she hopes Spencer will be!

Hawaii Vacation

We headed to Hawaii for our first major vacation of 2008. What a fabulous trip! Click here for a full slideshow.


Eunice's childhood friend Jerry and his fiance Emily provided the perfect excuse for us to head to Oahu. They had a beautiful outdoor wedding at the Waialae Country Club, officiated by the federal judge Jerry clerked for when he first moved to Hawaii. We had a great time catching up with old St. Louis friends, including Loretta, Anthony, and their two kids, Pat, Gloria and their daughter, Sunru & Anne, and Mamie.


We had the best accommodations imaginable on the island - at Eunice's cousin Susan & Steve's new 20,000 square foot home pushed right up against Diamond Head with views of the ocean. We've never seen Spencer happier than running around with his cousins Mckenzy and Hudson, playing on the swing set, throwing balls out on the basket ball court, swimming in the heated outdoor pool, getting rides in Mckenzy's "barbie" jeep, and chasing after their two huge Akita dogs!


We also had a chance to do a bit of island exploration. Highlights included a hike up Diamond Head with Sunru and Anne, getting a local-perspective on Hawaii from our friends Dave, Caroline, and their son Evan, eating a spectacular 5-course meal at Alan Wong's (a Hawaiian-Asian fusion restaurant), visiting a hopping farmer's market, and tasting local specialties like shave ice, mochi ice cream, Portuguese donuts, and pork/mac-salad plate lunches. :)


Last but not least, the bulk of our time was spent on the beach, whether at the fantastic Outrigger Club (where we had a guest memberships thanks to Steve & Susan), on the beaches of Waikiki, the lagoons of Ko Olina, or the wind-swept waterfront of the north shore. We watched Spencer go from being fearful of sand and salt water to gleefully running in and out of waves for hours and hours. What a perfect way to start off the new year!

Click here for a full slideshow.

It's Another Boy!

Eunice had her second-trimester ultrasound on January 17th. In addition to getting some great photos and videos of our healthy baby, we found out that Spencer is going to have a little brother! They'll be 22-months apart. Click here for videos of the ultrasound.

Pulgas Ridge Hike

Taking advantage of a beautiful winter afternoon, we decided to explore a new trail off Edgewood Road with the Canadas.


The major difference on hikes these days is the need to incorporate a lengthy break for our boys to burn off some energy. Theo and Spencer had a great time running up and down hills and exploring mud puddles.


Spencer stops to get a snack from Auntie Grace.


Yet another beautiful Bay Area afternoon outdoors...

Date Night Swap

One of our new year's resolutions has been to get more nights out on the town - without Spencer in tow. One easy way of doing that has been coordinating "date night" swaps with the Wangs and Canadas. We watch their kids one night while they go out, and then they watch our kid while we go out. We took full advantage of our first date night of the new year by grabbing appetizers at 6pm, watching a 7 pm showing of "Kite Runner," eating dinner at a Vietnamese lounge/restaurant in Redwood City afterwards, and then heading back to the theater to catch a 10:30pm showing of "No Country for Old Men." Can you tell who's been movie-deprived lately?!


We didn't feel too badly for Spencer while we were out having a great time. He was living the good life with his buddies Gaby and Theo.


What a blessing to have such good friends nearby!

Best of 2007

Our fondest memories from 2007...



What better place to start off 2007 than in Kauai with the keikis, hanging out with our best friends and their babies, hiking to deserted beaches, riding helicopters over rugged coastline, and cooking ribs and seafood in a private beach house!

Back at home, Spencer became more and more of a little person every day, whether he was working out in his exersaucer, making friends on the couch, wowing us with his belly laugh, discovering his tongue, doing laps around the coffee table, posing as a flower child, learning to play bongo drums, trying on crazy sweaters, hanging out in central park, watching fireworks, or going for lots of hikes around the Bay Area.

Our next big trip of the year was to San Diego for President's Day Weekend. Jesse and Eileen were stranded by JetBlue, but we got lots of time with friends and family… and Spencer rolled over for the first time!

Ryan got in a few trips of his own—visiting with the other Spencer in Germany, and (much to Eunice’s chagrin), doing a day trip to Dallas to meet our newest nephew… Paxon!

Our summer started with a whirlwind 3 stage trip: First a fantastic long Memorial Day weekend with Jesse and Eileen on the Cape. Then Spencer’s first trip abroad—a 2 week trip to the incredibly kid-friendly town of Heidelberg, Germany (Spencer adjusted to the time zones better than we did!). Finally, on the way home, we stopped at our Williams 10-Year Reunion, a great chance to catch up with old friends and meet everyone’s growing families.

Spencer took his first steps at Bob and Kathy’s place in June, just before his first birthday celebration and 4th of July fireworks in the Marina. (Spencer's day care also threw him a wonderful party).

We had lots of other things to celebrate over the summer: Eunice’s first mother's day, Adam and Rachel's wine country engagement party, music in central park, Phil's birthday bike ride, Theo's 1st Birthday, Henry’s 1^st birthday… and of course Eunice's 32nd Birthday, celebrated at the clothing optional ocean-side spa in Big Sur.

Our next big summer trip was a family reunion in St. Louis and Eunice’s childhood vacation destination of Branson, MO. It was great hanging out by the lake, despite the heat wave!

A highlight of the year was Adam and Rachel's Wedding on a picture perfect day in Rachel’s hometown of Westport, MA. We were kept busy during the beachfront ceremony by our duties officiating (Eunice) and delivering a message (Ryan), but were definitely able to relax over a clambake and fireworks that night. We also spent a wonderful weekend in Sonoma for Matt and Julia’s Wedding.... Spencer is learning to have a good time at these events!

Not all of the action was on the road—over the course of the year we were very lucky to have lots of friends and family out to visit-- Dr. Hem (twice!), Grandpa Fran, Mamie and Cora, Nara, Adam, Fran, Adam, and Rachel , Susan and Jim , Karen and Erin, Josh and Kimberly, and Mimi, Steve and the kids.

Ryan was called for jury duty in the fall, and ended up taking 4 weeks off work to serve as Juror #7 on a murder trial. A once-in-a-lifetime experience, and it has to be said that the work/life balance of a juror isn’t so bad. We had lots of time to play in central park every day, eat our backyard apple harvest, (also every day!), enjoy Spencer's first puddles, try on adult shoes, hang out with the grandparents, and of course go trick-or-treating for the first time…with Spencer dressed as a lion.

We spent Thanksgiving in Vancouver (where it wasn’t Thanksgiving), eating monstrous amounts of food with Eunice’s family. Eunice’s mom came out for a fantastic visit in November, giving Spencer lots of time with all of his grandparents this year. He’d better enjoy the attention while he can, because our big news this fall was learning that we have another bun in the oven! Eunice is due in May, and we had lots of fun sharing our news with friends and family… starting with the New York gang at our Kibbutz LA road trip to Joshua Tree.

We got into the holiday season by finding the perfect Christmas tree to chop down in Half Moon Bay and attending the wild Ideo Children's Christmas Party thanks to Grace. Then we were ready for Christmas Eve Festivities with our community group (+ our traditional get-together at the Hills) and a 12-person crab and filet mignon dinner with family on Christmas Day. Then it was off to Tahoe with the Nichols for Spencer’s introduction to the snow, and more of the same with the Kiwi Hapa gang on Donner Lake for a Tahoe New Years. Eunice finished a great 2007 by going “all-in” on Texas Hold ‘Em… and winning!

Tahoe New Years

We met up with the Canadas and Wangs in Tahoe for yet another fun vacation together - this time to bring in 2008 in style!
Click here for a full slideshow.


Alonzo's aunt and uncle, yet again, graciously let us use their fantastic cabin, located right on Donner Lake. Highlights of our time together included skiing and sledding with the kids at Sugar Bowl, hiking around Donner Lake, late-night games of poker and speed scrabble, lots of delicious home-cooked dinners, celebrating Gaby's 2nd birthday, and watching the kids play with one another around the cabin.


Looking forward to more Canada-Nichols-Wang adventures in 2008!

Tahoe with the Nichols

After Christmas, we headed up to Tahoe to spend a few days in the snow with Michael, Terese, Abby, Adam, and Rachel. Click here for a full slideshow.


This was Spencer's first time in the snow. After a tentative start, he ended up having a great time putting on his cool new snow gear, sliding down hills with Abby, and going cross country skiing (dragged in a sled by Ryan!).

Tahoe with the Nichols

After Christmas, we headed up to Tahoe to spend a few days in the snow with Michael, Terese, Abby, Adam, and Rachel. Click here for a full slideshow.


This was Spencer's first time in the snow. After a tentative start, he finally got the hang of it and had a great time putting on his cool new snow gear, going cross country skiing while being pulled in a sled by dad, and sliding down snow-covered hills with Abby.

Spencer's First Haircut

We could no longer deny that our boy was in desperate need of a haircut. We made a trip to Burlingame's “Just Kids Cuts” to make sure we could find somebody who would take good care of Spencer's precious curls. Click here for a full slideshow.

BEFORE...


AFTER...

Family Christmas

We hosted Christmas at our place this year and invited Ryan's family from all over to join us in the festivities! Click here for a full slideshow.


We started off the morning with freshly baked coffee cake, bloody mary's, and a gift exchange with Susan, Jim, Adam, and Rachel. Once Michael, Nancy, and the Barrons arrived later that afternoon, our party moved into full swing, complete with great appetizers, gift exchanges, a rowdy game of "Table Topics," a dinner that included a massive 7-pound fillet of beef and 12 fresh crabs from Fisherman's Wharf, and desserts galore. All in all, a crazy, jam-packed, fun-filled and memorable Christmas day.

Community Group Christmas Eve Festivities

On Christmas Eve, we hosted brunch and a gift exchange with our community group members.
Click here for a full slideshow.


In addition to wooden blocks, bathtub crayons, puzzles, and books galore for the kids, one of the highlights of the morning was helping them try out their brand new snow boots - just in time for our new year's trip up to Tahoe! Gifts for adults included scrabble-themed jewelry and cuff links (a nod to our epic speed scrabble tournaments), a cool sled, fun party games, wine-themed gifts, and the unveiling of a beautiful homemade scarf (in the making for over a year!)


Final photo: mommies and their babies.

Gourmet Lamb Dinner

Michael Brown and his girlfriend Amber came over to our house for dinner - and brought all of the fixings for an incredible gourmet lamb dish.


Here, Mike and Ryan determine the best way to prepare such a large slab of lamb. After slathering it with an olive tapenade, fresh rosemary, and feta, they rolled the lamb up, tied it with twine, and roasted it to perfection.


Meanwhile, Amber made a fantastic salad and baked some delicious butternut squash. Mmmm... You guys can come over any time!!!

Ideo Children's Christmas Party

Now an annual tradition, Grace invited us yet again to join her at Ideo's fun-filled children's holiday party. This year, the theme was “rainforest” complete with a tropical bird show, though the highlight for Spencer was playing in a make-shift Eurovan-turned-cubicle in the middle of the office! Click here for a full slideshow.