Birthday / Anniversary Week

Happy Fortieth Birthday to Tom!

We celebrated Tom's birthday on Sunday, with an all-day brunch / Octoberfest / Garden Party extravaganza, complete with funny hats and wigs.

This might be the best family portrait ever!

On Tuesday (his actual birthday) we celebrated our 10th Wedding Anniversary (actually today) with an amazing dinner at Chez Panisse in Berkley.  I have wanted to dine there for a long time, and we were finally able to get a reservation.  It was worth the wait.
 

Tom and O went out today on GEORGE COBB to see the Blue Angels airshow and the parade of ships for Fleet Week.  One more day together until the big trip!

Sunday in San Fran

Today, O and I went to Yerba Buena Gardens in San Francisco with Rhianna and Tim for an outing to see Juan deMarcos and the Afro-Cuban All Stars.  It was a great show, and we got some good dancing in!  Definitely missed Daddy today - he would have loved it.

Last weekend before Tom left on his trip - he had to call the fire company to come help change the tank on the gas grill.  Luckily, the fire company was very friendly and helpful...

Visitors, Lake Tahoe and Oregon

Back at the beginning of July, when Tom and I were promoted, I could not post any pictures with Grandma and Grandpa because they were planning to surprise Chris when we went up to see him.  So, now I can catch up with some pictures from their visit...

It was really great to have them here for our promotion day.  It has been 16 years since they were at one of my Coast Guard ceremonies, and I have always been a little envious of the folks who get promoted, or advanced or get an award and have their families there with them.  For this one, I was going to have family there either way, but having my Mom and Dad made it extra special.

Mom and Dad putting on my CDR shoulder boards.

O and I putting on Tom's shoulder boards.

Tom's crew.

 We had a really nice visit with Grandma and Grandpa overall.  Over the weekend of the fourth, we went to the parade and hosted a small picnic here. Then on the fifth, we drove up to Napa to see Chris and Peggy.  I  had arranged with Chris for the three of us to drive and see them while they were on their motorcycle trip from Spokane - we got to surprise them with the extra visitors too.  It was a great day - in fact, I enjoyed it so much, I never took any pictures!  O definitely had a blast swimming in the hotel pool with Uncle Chris.

Before Grandma and Grandpa left to go back to PA, we took an evening ferry ride over to San Francisco for dinner.  A trip to visit us would not have been complete without a stop at a winery on the way to the ferry...

At Rosenblum Cellars waiting for the ferry.

After our visitors left, we had a few days to get ready for our camping trip to Lake Tahoe and the follow-on trip to Portland, Oregon.  Lake Tahoe was amazingly beautiful.  I have only ever seen water that clear and blue in the tropics.  I did not take many pictures, but that is OK, we are going back in less than two weeks.

O got to try out stand up paddle boarding on our trip.  He was unsure at first, but after a few minutes, he really enjoyed it. 

We flew up to Portland after Tahoe to visit Adam and his family.  I don't have any pictures from that camping trip due to a minor camera battery malfunction, but it was also incredible.  We went camping outside of Eugene and spent our days at the Triangle Lake Rock Slide.    You should check out the video and pictures on the link, it pretty much captures our days in Oregon.  All three kids loved the pools and rode the slide in an inflatable boat.  

We are back in Alameda, but not for long.... in two weeks, Lake Tahoe, here we come!

Pre-K Kid

Big day today!  Olin moved up to the Pre-K class...  he is getting to be such a big boy!

He is very excited about the move up, as he should be.  One step closer to graduation.

Promotion Day!

Today, Tom and I were both promoted to Commander (O-5).  It was a really nice day - we were both able to go to each other's ceremonies, and Olin was with us for both.  We started the day at a Sector San Francisco All-Hands for my promotion, then headed over to ASPEN for Tom's promotion and lunch.

The cake his cooks made.

Two Commanders with their Captain

Point Bonita

We had a nice weekend here.  Yesterday we had a picnic at a local park with an outdoor string quartet concert.  Today, we decided to go on a Marine Headlands adventure.

We stopped at a couple of the bunkers along the way to explore, and then hiked out to Point Bonita lighthouse.  It was a great day!

Point Bonita Lighthouse from a bunker along the coast road.

On the trail to the lighthouse.

Point Bonita Lighthouse.

O really enjoyed the hike because it included a tunnel and a suspension bridge!

On the suspension bridge.

Great day!  

Golden Gate Bridge from the hike.

The weather was perfect and the views amazing!  We all had an awesome afternoon.

Sea Runners

A couple of weekends ago, we drove down to the beach just south of Half Moon Bay. We visited Pigeon Point Lighthouse, a goat farm where they specialize in cheese, and the beach.

Olin likes to chase the waves and be chased by them.  He calls it sea-runners. 

Birthday Week!

We had quite a week celebrating someone's fourth birthday this week.  Nan was here to visit, and we definitely enjoyed the visit and the birthday.

On his last day as a three-year old we stopped at Fort Point in San Francisco on our way out the cabin we rented for a few nights.  It was a gorgeous sunny day, and we all had fun walking through the old fort and enjoying the view of the Golden Gate Bridge above us.

We have been looking forward to staying in the cabins at Steep Ravine in Mount Tamalpais State Park for over a year.  The cabins are very popular and hard to get - we knew that April would be a good month because of Tom's ship's schedule, and it just so happened that we were able to get a reservation for O's birthday.

View of the cabins from the beach below.  Ours is the closest to the rocks.

When we arrived we spent the afternoon relaxing in the cabin and exploring the area right around the cabin.  It is definitely a beautiful, magical place.

Nan and O coloring in the cabin.

The view from our window.

O playing lookout.  Our "ship" kept getting stuck on the rocks, so he had to call
"Mayday, mayday, Coast Guard, save us!"

 On Monday (the big day!), we went for a special birthday hike around the headlands at the cabin.  We hiked to a tide pool beach and checked out the critters in the water.

Dad and O spied a pirate ship.

 After the tide pools, we had a picnic lunch before heading back to the cabin.  O found a little Kermit figurine in the bushes on the hike - of all his birthday presents, that Kermit is his favorite...

O, Kermit and Nan at lunch.

 In the afternoon, we had birthday cake and opened a few more presents.  O was pleased with the peanut butter icing on his cake.

Blowing out the candles.

Checking out his new telescope.

Dad and O flying a kite.  

On Tuesday, Tom and I got to go out for a longer hike while O and Nan stayed back and did a scavenger hunt at the cabin.  It was an amazing hike along Webb Creek up Mount Tam.  We thoroughly enjoyed getting out to stretch our legs on a longer hike.

The beach below our cabin.

Dad and O enjoying the water after our hike.

Sunset.

 We had to tear ourselves away from the cabin on Wednesday after three peaceful nights.  On our way back we stopped to do a little bit of the hike that Tom and I did the day before.

The birthday trip was truly amazing.  O was so excited for every minute that I think he was exhausted just from the fun as much as the activity.   We had his second birthday party at school on Thursday afternoon.  This year, O requested an airplane cake, so I obliged.  

The airplane cake.

Happy Birthday to you...

Blowing out the candles (again).

Tonight, we had his final birthday celebration.  O's favorite restaurant is the Japanese restaurant right down the street from our house.  Pretty much every time we are there, someone has a birthday - so we knew he would get a kick out of hearing everyone sing for him and getting the special birthday tray.

O getting his card from Faith, the owner. 

Happy Fourth Birthday!