UChicago

Last weekend, Ethan headed to the University of Chicago for a special week-long summer program in STEM.  He applied to this program several months ago, and was put on the wait list.   He reached out again and was able to get in!   This program is unique in that allows him to apply extra early via a program called ED0.  

We dropped him at the SF airport at 4am on Sunday morning--and he was off.  The program "included" airport pick up at O'hare, and a week in the dorm complete with dorm food and a roommate.   He got along pretty well with his roommate, who was from Exeter Academy in New Hampshire.   We didn't hear too much from him during the week but he came back Friday night super excited about the program and the kids he met there.   He found the New York kids especially interesting--"They were so direct!). And he really enjoyed the types of classes and faculty he met on campus. Anyway, he has decided that he is going to apply ED0, and is excited about the prospect of attending the school.  We will see what happens!

Portland

 Jason, Alaina and I just got back from a week in Portland for the Triple Crown Softball world series.  This is a week long softball tournament from players ages 12-18.   There were fewer teams this year compared to last year in Alaina's age bracket, but a lot of older teams.   

The team did not do as well as they wanted to (they came in 3rd in the Gold Bracket), but Alaina had a good tournament, including her first triple--her coach had her hit instead of slap during the tournament, which was fun for her.

The beginning of the week was hot (100!), but luckily the second half of the week cooled down.

There was some downtime during the tournament too--the girls spent one day swimming in a tributary of the Colombia river.

On that day, Jason and I took a hike near Mt. Hood called the Tom Dick and Harry hike.   It was a beautiful hike to the top of a small mountain (Tom) with views of Mt Hood, Mt. Rainer, Mt. Adams, and Mt. St. Helens.   It was really quite scenic, and only about an hour away from Portland.  Unfortunately, on the way way down the mountain, Jason slammed his foot into a rock as he was walking downhill, and ended up breaking his big toe!   Yuck.

  

We also enjoyed some good food in Portland, including out favorites Grassa, Pine State Biscuits and Lardo.   And, a walk around the Portland Rose garden--always beautiful.

Anyway, it was a bit of a let down to the softball season, which has not been too great.   But onward.

Work Party

 This weekend, we hosted my annual work party!

Unfortunately, I schedueld it during the world cup finale, which I didnt realize, so that reduced attendance a bit.   But, for once it was not such a hot day--we had some cloud cover to keep it a bit cooler.

George Greorgy, the foiunder of pediatric anesthesia and emertitus professor at UCSF joined which was great (guess that the world cup was not on his list either, ha ha)

Anyway, it was nice to get together outside of work and see all my colleague's kids growing up.

How Does Your Garden Grow?

Time for an garden update.   As you may recall, this spring we decided to try a Dahlia garden.   Now, I do not conisder myself to even have a tiny green thumb, as evidenced by years of dying tomato plants in our yard.   But I really wanted to try to do this right, so I ordered the dahlia tubers (bulbs) from a dahlia nursery in Washington state (Swan Island Dahlia's), and followed their instructions exactly.

We planted 10 and 7 have grown.   I was hoping for a higher yield, but luckily they come with a guarantee, so we will get three new tubers free for next year.

Anyhow, I have followed the instructions to the letter, and and very pleased with the results!   Look at our beautiful garden (minus the gaps where the missing plants are, ha ha:

 

 

The best part is, at least according to the instruciton manual, the more you cut the flowers, the more they bloom!   So we have beautiful cut flowers in the house too.   

 

I have to say, I am proud.

July 4

Well, America just turned 250--and we went to the cabin to celebrate for the long weekend.  

One of Alaina's friends from school just bought a cabin a few blocks away--so now she has a nearby friend.   

On Friday, we took a hike south along the PCT for about 6 miles and had lunch enroute.   The wildflowers were all in full bloom and the weather was perfect!

 

Friday night, we had Alainas friend's family over for a BBQ.

The next day was the 4th of July.   Alaina and her friend Hannah decided to enter annual Chili Cook-off.   They spent the morning making 2 gallons of "Firecracker Chili".   I was told it turned out quite good--but unfortunately they did not win a prize.   There is always next year!  

 

Afterwards the kids had fun playing and swimming at the beach--it was a warm and beautiful day!

In the evening, Ethan picked up a babysitting gig, and Alaina was too sleepy to watch fireworks--so we stayed in.   But overall, a nice weekend away.

Marla's Birthday and Father's Day

 I have gotten a bit behind on my posting so I will combine two weeks into one!

When we got back from Alabama, we celebrated my birthday.   47 was extra sweet--besides spending it in Alabama, we had a nice dinner with my dad on Sunday.   We made pizza--and enjoyed my favorite cake with plenty of sprinkles from United Market.    Sadly we learned a few days later that United was sold to new owners so I am not sure if I will ever have the same cake again!  Sad!!

Last weekend we celebrated Father's Day.   Jason's parents were in town but busy selling their Sonoma house (!), and my dad was in Chicago, so it was just the 4 of us.   We BBQed some hamburgers and enjoyed strawberry shortcake.  For a gift, the kids got Jason a shirt to match my mother's day gift--except his says "I love loafing".  hahaha.

 

Gulf Shores, Alabama

 WE just got back from a family trip to the gulf coast of Alabama.   Almost a year ago, my cousin Angie called me and told me she was planning a trip there to celebrate her oldest's high school graduation, and she asked if we would like to join.   

Now, truth be told, neither Jason or I knew where "Gulf Shores" was, nor that Alabama even had a true coastline.  But we are always up for an adventure, and has such a great time with my cousin and her family when they visited in November 2023, we decided we were in regardless!

We had some complicated logistics getting to Alabama--Ethan had to take the SAT on Saturday--and Alaina had a softball tournament.   We ended up splitting up with Ethan and I flying to Birmingham on Saturday night--and getting picked up in the 15 passenger Snyder-mobile on Sunday morning en route.   Meanwhile, Jason and Alaina flew Sunday night through Dallas, landing in Pensacola, FL on Monday morning and rending a car to join us in Alabama.

We rented a cabin near the beach that is owned by some friends of Angie and Kurt's.   The place held the 12 of us quite well and was well-equipped with games for the kids and just a short walk to a white sand beach.   We spent the majority of our days there relaxing and enjoying the beautiful water--which was over 80 degrees!

 

One day, we took a drive to the Navy base in Pensacola to watch the Blue Angels practice--it was very hot but cool to see--and there was an immense museum on the grounds we toured as well.

 

Kurt and Angie celebrated their 19th anniversary when we were there--and we went out for an adult dinner.....on the menu were "alligator bites" which everyone enjoyed but I was not brave enough to try!

Alaina in particular had a great time with the kids--she didn't pick up her iPad all week--and we hardly saw her, as she was so busy playing games, building sand castles, and swimming.

 

We left on my birthday--stopping  as a group for donuts en route before parting ways.  What a great time we all had together!

After saying goodbye, we headed west towards Mississippi--stopping briefly at an alligator viewing area/boardwalk outside of Mobile--we were lucky to spot 2!

We had lunch at a local lunch spot in Mississippi called Faye's kitchen--the lunch was heavy but authentic.   Finally we headed to New Orleans where we had a few hours to explore the French Quarter and have our second round of donuts for the day at Cafe DuMont.  

 We flew out of New Orleans on Friday night--making my birthday 2 hours longer!   Add 3 more states to my list--I am getting close to 50 now!  

All Star Weekend

 Last weekend was Alaina's rec softball all star tournament.

Since this is probably the last year she and here teammates are going to do rec, it felt important.    

The team, however did not do as well as hoped.

On saturday, they had pool play and played San Rafel first where they blew at 8 run lead in the last inning to lose the game.   After they lost to (worse) Twin Cities team.

At that point, their travel ball coach stepped in to coach their last game, against a strong Novato team.    With his coaching they pulled off a victory.   I found it pretty interesting how much of an impact he made--I mean the players were all the same....but he sure led them in a different direction.

Anyhow, all that resulted a a poor seed for the bracket play on Sunday.  Though Jason missed Saturday as he was out of town, he was bak for sunday--and we were twinning!

  Luckily the travel coach came back to help the team win their first game.  The second game was against the San Rafael team again--and unfotunately, we just could not beat them.   So we went out in the semi finals and they went on to win the tournament.    It was a disappointing end to a somewhat lackluster rec season.   Oh well.

Walk to Cure Arthritis

 Two weeks ago, Ethan was the youth honoree at the San Francisco Walk to Cure Arthritis.  This is the biggest fundraiser of the year for the foundation, and Ethan has been working hard to raise money since last fall.

It was not a smooth or linear journey, but he did work hard to accomplish his fundraising goal.  Impressively, he raised over $40,000, with over 500 individual donations!   He was the top fundraiser in the walk, and one of the top in the country!   

The event was was held on a Saturday morning at the SF Zoo.  Jason's parents and my dad joined to walk with him, as well as a bunch of his friends from school.  He even gave a short speech --which was quite articulate.

 

Afterwards, we had a nice brunch at Jason's parent's favorite place, Westlake Joe's.  

The following week at his school, Ethan gave a school-wide TED talk on invisible diseases that highlighted juvenile arthritis and his personal journey.   It was a great and motivational speech!

 

Finally, prior to the event, Ethan was interviewed by a local reporter about the event for the Marin Independent Journal, which is our county newspaper.    The article just was published today--and we are really proud!  Here is the link!

Mother's Day

 I am a bit behind on my posting but a few weekends ago it was Mother's Day.

To celebrate the the kids made me dinner!

  

They made fresh pasta topped with tomato sauce and stratiatella as a special treat--and Ethan made a focaccia--it was delicious!

 

A mother's day discovery: I am now the shortest in the house!

The kids got me this t-shirt for a gift, which I am not too sure about.    I guess I will consider the dinner my present!