California: San Francisco

We had an extra day in California after all of the wedding festivities, and we decided to spend it in San Francisco with Tyler. We drove into the city after brunching with the newlyweds Wednesday morning. We checked into the beautiful hotel Tyler managed to swing for us for a bargain rate: the Intercontinental on Nob Hill.

After dumping our stuff, we found lunch at a nearby Italian Cafe. Then we headed off on foot for Tyler's planned walk through the city.

We wandered through Chinatown and then down Market Street to the water and the farmer's market on the pier. Maya rode on our backs--much easier than trying to tote a stroller in downtown San Francisco.

When we reached the farmer's market, we let Maya down to run around in the park. She appreciated it.






We then wandered through the North Beach neighborhood to Washington Square Park.

We met our friend Justin for a delicious Italian dinner. We had plans to walk to Ghirardelli Square for dessert, but we were all so tired, we just headed back to the hotel. Maya, who'd been asleep since dinner, went straight to bed; Tim and Tyler had dessert in the hotel's top floor lounge. They forgot the camera, but here's the view from our room:

California: Wedding Day

On Sunday, we we wakened early by our portable alarm clock. We headed into Auburn Old Town for some coffee and pastries. Then the boys went for a run, and Sarah, Maya, and I headed to a local park. We had a big real breakfast with the whole gang before we all retired to our rooms to relax before the big event. Here's Maya in another new dress (this one from Grandma Shelly):

The wedding was at the Monte Verde Inn in Foresthill. It was such a beautiful ceremony, and the setting was just perfect. We did some mingling before the wedding:





Maya was pretty good throughout the ceremony, so Sarah helped me with some photographs. These are a mixture of ones I took and ones she took:





After the ceremony was dinner. Before dismissing everyone to the dance floor, we partook of the many wedding traditions. There was cake cutting and toasting. I have to say that John's toast to his new bride was one of the most heartfelt and eloquent speeches I've heard. John and Lacee also crafted really great, personalized introductions for all of their attendants. That was fun...both for the ones we knew and those we'd just met. After these elements, we headed for the dance floor. Here are some more views of the night:








And to close with a picture of the happy couple:

California: Rehearsal Dinner

On Saturday, Sarah, Maya, and I drove up to meet the boys in Auburn. After an afternoon in the cute Auburn downtown, we prepped ourselves for the rehearsal dinner. Maya sported a new cute dress from Grandma Audrey:

Here we are with the happy groom (I don't know why I look so scared...):

California: San Jose

We arrived in California safely and without any snags. Maya distracted herself on the long flight:

After some minor hiccups at the rental care place (no, really, the tire pressure warning light is only on because it's HOT outside, you should be fine driving hundreds of miles), we left with a small upgrade to a Chrysler Pacifica. So far so good. We met Brian and Sarah for dinner, and they hospitably put us up at their place. Maya seems to sense that they're expecting--she's been a perfect angel so far. All of her recent emotional hysterics seem to have remained behind in Texas. Tim and Brian drove up to Auburn for "boy's day" on Friday, and Sarah had to go to work. Maya and I amused ourselves at the San Jose Children's Museum:





We picked Sarah up from work and had some yummy Panera Bread for dinner. Ah, the trip is made for me. :)

Saturday morning, we got up, took care of watering the plants in Brian and Sarah's beautiful yard:

then headed for Auburn ourselves.

Scary Baby

Watching the Olympics

Maya thinks she's so clever. When she gets kicked off the couch for standing on it, she heads for the table. It's a great vantage point for watching synchronized diving:

Playing with Addie

Maya's friend Addie came over for a visit while her parents did some errands. Here are the girls escaping the family room:


They've figured out how to conquer the piano:

At work in daddy's office

(You can see the construction work in the background...)

Play-Doh

We got Maya some art stuff the other day. The first day with play-doh was a dud... Maya didn't seem to care for the texture. But the second day was much better. She LOVED it!

Uh oh...

(But really, she wasn't going to eat it. It's just the perspective of the picture.)

Sunday

This morning, Maya and Tim planted Tim's new plants, while I tried to get some work done. Tim's going to try growing some herbs and vegetables. Some are transplants, and some are from seeds. He's been doing quite a little research on what the best things are to plant at this particular time of year (and at other times of the year). Here are the two gardeners:

And the finished product:

It was hot outside, so breaks were obviously necessary.

This evening, we had Angela, Jim, Zane, and Evie over for dinner and playtime. The girls had fun pointing at the dogs through the window:

While Zane was infatuated with his toy plane:

Saturday

Saturday, Maya woke up demanding food at 6:00am. Because it was still dark outside while she was eating (first) breakfast (my dad says she must be part hobbit), the light in the kitchen helped create a strong reflection on the windows. Here's a video of her waving at the various babies around the room. She loved it.

I didn't cut down the video so you can see a lovely hairdo and some great eating habits (e.g., "clean" your plate before you ask for more)



After lunch, Maya and I were joined by my mom for a trip to the nursery to get plants and to the grocery store. After a great nap by the little one, we were joined by my grandma, Jocelyn, and JoAnn for a trip to the mall. We stopped by Sonic on the way:

Though Maya managed to put her straw through the bottom of her cup in the middle of the shoe department. Oops. (And for those of you out there questioning the purchase of a Sonic drink for a one-year old... while the rest of us had cherry cokes and other sodas, Maya had an apple juice slush.)