San Mateo Central Park Music Festival

Each summer, the city of San Mateo hosts a series of free weekly outdoor music concerts in Central Park. This Thursday evening, we headed to the park with some wine, appetizers, and a picnic blanket to stake out a spot on the lawn to listen to "Tempest," a Celtic/folk/rock band which kicked off the summer music series.


We were joined by some of Ryan's work friends, including Conrad, Wendy, and their two sons (Tillman and William), as well as Dieter who was in town for the week from Germany.


Spencer kept himself happily occupied while listening to the music.


Spencer and Ryan out on the dance floor for the final song of the evening...

Eunice's 32nd Birthday

After the crazy festivities surrounding Spencer's one-year birthday party, we decided to celebrate Eunice's 32nd birthday a week later in a more relaxing environment...


Ryan took the day off, so we dropped Spencer off at daycare and hit the road heading south on an absolutely gorgeous drive down Route 1 to Big Sur. Ryan surprised Eunice with a morning at Esalen Institute, a non-profit spa and educational center located right on the coast featuring a series of natural mineral hot springs and an open-air pavilion for massages built right on the cliffs overlooking the ocean. The combination of relaxing massages, spring-fed hot tubs, and unparalleled views made for an unforgettable experience. On our way home, we grabbed a late lunch at Nepenthe, a restaurant with equally impressive views perched on a cliff overlooking the coast. All in all, a fantastic birthday! Click here for full slideshow.

Spencer's Birthday Party at Day Care

Spencer's caregivers threw a wonderful birthday party for him the Monday after 4th of July.


Festivities included lots of kids and grandmas, an eclectic mix of lovingly prepared food, birthday gifts for Spencer, and even some disco dancing! Click here for full slideshow and a video.

Phil's Belated Birthday Party

Nikki orchestrated a surprise party for Phil's 31st birthday. Click here for full slideshow.


The guys whisked Phil off on a bike ride while the gals got dinner ready. To expedite getting the kids fed, bathed, and asleep by 8pm, we threw Spencer, Theo, and Gaby into the bathtub together for 20 minutes of bathtime mayhem.


With the kids finally asleep, our late-night steak dinner was made even better by fine French wine and fun conversation. Happy belated birthday, Phil!

Day Trip to Santa Cruz

After dropping Susan and Jim off at the San Jose Airport, we continued south to Santa Cruz to join Adam, Rachel, and Michael for some beach time, a stroll downtown, and a nice Italian dinner.


Adam and Rachel pose with Spencer in his pajamas before Eunice puts him to sleep in the carseat in the Xterra. We were able to grab a beer and some late-night conversation outside at this sidewalk cafe, literally 4 feet away from our sleeping Spencer!

Susan and Jim's 4th of July Visit

Susan and Jim came out for a long weekend to help us celebrate Spencer's one-year birthday.


We spent most of the time hanging out in San Mateo, soaking in the sunshine, catching up with Adam, Rachel and the Hills, enjoying Spencer's new-found walking skills, and installing a swing in our backyard. Click here for full slideshow.

Spencer's First Birthday

Spencer celebrated his first birthday in style this fourth of July, partying with friends and family over BBQ and fireworks at Grandpa Nic's place in the Marina. You made it through the first year Spencer... and so did Mom and Dad!


We were lucky to have so many friends and family come from all over to celebrate with us on the 4th, including Adam and Rachel, who flew in from New York, Susan and Jim, who flew up from San Diego, and 40 other adults and 10 other kids from all over the Bay Area. You're a lucky dude, Spencer...

Click here for a slideshow...

There have never been so many children (and childish adults) at Mike's place. In this collage, we have pictured Aunt Kathy with Spencer, Phil & Nikki with Gaby, Merry Jean & Rob with Gardner, Jon & Jane with Joey, Nancy & Aunt Donna, Alonzo & Rob with Theo & Gardner, SAPers Amy and Sabine with ex-SAPer Karl, Sarah & David with Charlie, and Owen & Jenny with Owen Jr. And we didn't even get a picture with everyone!


Spencer did pretty well overall--he freaked out when Mom strapped on a birthday hat and everyone started singing, but calmed down enough to enjoy a handful of cake later inside. He definitely needed mom and dad's help blowing out the candle. Thanks to Nancy and Nikki for such tasty cakes.


The last baby standing-- Spencer is old hat at watching fireworks at this point, and was very content watching the show from Eunice's lap. Adam led a crew off for a post-party on Chestnut street, but we were ready to crash. What a party... thanks for hosting, Grandpa Nic, and happy birthday, Spencer!

Adam and Rachel's Wine Country Engagement Party

To celebrate Adam and Rachel's engagement, Nancy planned an epic day in wine country for family and friends.


The morning started with a "party bus" picking family and friends up in San Francisco and Marin before heading up to Pezzi King for a private wine tasting on a veranda with spectacular views overlooking the vineyards of Dry Creek. After a delicious lunch at Barndiva in Healdsburg, we moved on to Bella Vineyards in Calistoga where we sampled wine in the cool shade of wine caves, listened to live music out on the lawn, enjoyed some delicious cake, and were wowed by cousin Michelle, Helen and Mimsy's hula hoop skills. Thanks, Adam and Rachel, for giving us such a great reason to celebrate! Click here for full slideshow.

Visit from Fran with Adam, and Rachel

With Adam and Rachel out for a visit from New York, we were lucky to have Fran stop by for an overnight stay on his way back from a training class in Marin. 3 hours of driving to get here on Friday night, 3 hours of driving to get back to the Sacramento airport on Saturday afternoon... all for 18 hours of quality hang-out time!


We had a great time playing with Spencer around the house and grabbing brunch at Bay Watch in downtown San Mateo.


It was a short trip for Fran, but he was able to fit in some special face-to-face time with Spencer...


...and got us caught up on the latest and greatest in his life.

Spencer's First Steps

We had an epic evening tonight-- Spencer went from not being willing to take even a single step without holding your hand to practically strolling around the room, all in cousin Nate's room at the Hills. Loads of fun-- check out the video here.

Williams 10-Year Reunion

We stopped by Williamstown for our 10-year reunion on our way back from Germany, part of our epic June travels. It has been 10 years since graduation, and at least 8 since either one of us has been back on campus. Lots of changes, including a new student center, a new theater, and lots of renovated dorms (we had it rough back in the day).

Click here for a slideshow...

It was a great weekend-- it's easy to forget how beautiful Williamstown is, and of course it was excellent to catch up with so many people. We slept in Mission, an old dorm where we spent our Sophomore year, and Eunice's short documentary, "New Beginnings" was screened at a special film event. Special thanks to Adam and Rachel, our "babysitters" who drove up from New York to allow us to attend the evening festivities!

Work and Play in Germany

After almost 3 years of Ryan spending frequent work weeks in Germany, we decided to take the opportunity to have Eunice and Spencer come along. We stayed in Heidelberg, a charming University town on the Neckar River, and spent the weekend in France wine tasting in Alsace. This was Spencer's first trip abroad, and he was a traveling champion!


Heidelberg has miles of cobblestone paved pedestrian walkways with sidewalk cafes and beer gardens. The center of the altstadt (“old town”) is the old bridge across the Neckar.

Click here for the full slideshow

We stayed at the Villa Marstall, right on the river. Our room was in the attic on the top floor, which meant lots of opportunity for banged heads for Ryan and Eunice. But Spencer was in paradise-- lots of low furniture for him to practice his cruising. Spencer was a great traveler-- he adjusted to the time zones better than either of us!

Our weekend in Heidelberg corresponded with a festival to mark the beginning of the summer. People and boats lined the banks of the river to watch a spectacular fireworks show. The show commemorates the burning of the castle, which is reenacted every year using colored lights, smoke and fireworks. We could watch all the action right from our hotel window-- the Villa Marstall was the perfect location. We were also lucky to be able to introduce little Spencer to big Spencer (Ryan's high school friend, a scientist collaborating with a lab in Heidelberg.)

We spent Saturday in France, driving the wine road of Alasce through several very cute little towns. The hills above the wine road are blanketed with vineyards, and each little town is a walled medieval village, a little different from Napa or Sonoma! The wine tasting was fantastic-- the region specializes in Reislings and Gewurtz, perfect summer wines.

What a great trip-- thanks for being such a travel champion, Spencer!

Memorial Day on the Cape

What better way to spend Memorial Day than out on Cape Cod... two years in a row! Last year for Jesse and Eileen's wedding, this year to celebrate their anniversary with old friends at Eileen's wonderful summer home on the beach.


We started our trip with a visit to Sunru and Anne, and an afternoon of hanging out in Harvard Yard... We spent that night with our friends Josh and Kimberly, in Concord. Then it was time for our drive out to Eileen's family house in Wellfleet, a truly special place inside the national seashore on Grosse Hill just up from the beach in Cape Cod.


The Cape was fantastic-- lazy days on the beach or playing tennis by the house. Nights spent grilling on the BBQ and making competitive cocktails, or relaxing in the hot tub. Good times with friends old and new... hard to beat!

Click here for the full slideshow...

Mother's Day in Larkspur

We headed up to Larkspur to celebrate Mother's Day with Ryan's stepmom Nancy, Aunt Donna, Uncle Tom, and Cousins Michelle and Thomas. We spent an absolutely gorgeous day hanging out on Nancy's deck.


Spencer had a great time playing peek-a-boo with Donna and Nancy. Click here for a video.

KFOG Kaboom

Every year, one of our favorite local radio stations puts on an incredible fireworks show over the Bay Bridge. The best part is that our friend Grace's company has an office on a pier right under the bridge, and they throw a party every year to watch the show from a great vantage point.


Since Spencer is a 4th of July baby, we thought why not take the opportunity to introduce him to some fireworks?


Earlier that night, we met up with Grace, Alonzo, Theo, Steve, Anne and Zoe at Taylor's Automatic Refresher in the Ferry Building downtown, for some amazing sweet potato fries (and other food too :)


The walk down along the Embarcadero to IDEO as the sun set was beautiful. But it was getting past the kids' bedtime already!


The KFOG show is incredible... they sychronize the whole thing to "world class rock," with lyric references tying the fireworks display to the music. Unfortunately, the band couldn't figure out how to hook up the radio to the PA, so we listened to random music instead ;)

Spencer seemed to get a kick out of the show. He wasn't freaked out, despite being up well past his bedtime... although he did crash hard for the walk back to the car and drive to the Marina, where we spent the night.

Click here for the full slideshow...

Henry's Birthday Party

On Mondays and Wednesdays, Eunice drops Spencer off at a small family daycare down the street. We feel blessed by the love and care he receives from Mary, Juanita, and Mama PJ - in fact, dropping Spencer off feels a lot like leaving him with family. Eunice and Spencer stopped by on an "off day" to join the other kids at the daycare in celebrating Henry's one-year birthday.


Jia jia, Rochelle, Nicholas, Henry (the birthday boy), and Spencer look festive in their party hats!


The kids party it up with their fantastic caretakers. Juanita is on the left, Mama PJ is in the middle, and Mary is on the right.


Juanita had a feast prepared for the kids, including a carrot cake and donut holes for the birthday boy to share with his friends. Happy birthday, Henry!

Click here for the full slideshow

Baker Beach with Dad and Adam

Adam's in town for work, and its a beautiful day in San Francisco. Since we were going to be spending the afternoon in a dark theatre watching Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf, the boys (+Abby) decided to go for a walk on Baker Beach in the morning.

You'll see that we've trained Abby to set up self-timers on her own... but she's still getting the hang of running back in time to get in the photo!

Click here for a slideshow...

This is just about as serious as Abby gets. Watch out, seagulls...


Back in the Marina: You'll notice that we're all wearing Dad's clothes-- we were surprised by the good weather and needed sandals, shorts and shirts.

We didn't get any shots of the play, but the performance was fantastic. Kathleen Turner played Martha in a very dark but very funny story about marraige. Check out clips from the play: http://www.shnsf.com/shows/show.asp?key=18&subkey=512

Day Trip to Dallas

Ryan had to do a day trip to Dallas for work, giving him the chance to grab dinner with Jennifer, David, Melody, and Valerie... and meet little baby Paxon, born on April 14! This was their first big family outing since Paxon was born... I was very lucky to be able to take part and meet our first Newphew.... boy is Eunice jealous :)

Nara and Tracy's New York Wedding

Congrats to Nara and Tracy! Ryan's fourth and final roommate from his time in New York got hitched last weekend, to a wonderful woman named Tracy in a beautiful ceremony in a downtown photography studio with views over Manhattan. Adam and Rachel were kind enough to host us in their apartment for the weekend (and babysit Spencer!), so we had a fantastic couple of days-- brunch with bay area ex-pats on the patio, and afternoon under cherry blossoms in Central Park, a glamorous evening of dining and dancing, and a mini-Williams reunion in the lower East Side.

Click here for a slideshow...

Bongo Drummer Prodigy

While we were in New York, Adam took Spencer on as his musical protege. Spencer shows some serious promise as a bongo drummer.


"Can you feel the rhythm, mon?" (read with a Bob Marley accent)


With a smile like that, how can we resist getting Spencer his own bongo drum...?


The master and the pupil. (Does this guy look like he knows how to play the bongo drums or what?!)

Click here for a video of Spencer playing the bongos or...