What we've been up to....

Well we are finally feeling settled back here in San Francisco. I have been working for a month now, and Jason for 2 weeks. Our weeks have developed somewhat of a routine, and we have enjoyed some fun things around the area on the weekends--here's a bit of what we have been up to:

1. A visit to the California Academy of Sciences--this is San Francisco's science museum/aquarium/planetarium. We took Ethan for an hour on a Saturday morning to check out their living rain forest and the aquarium. He loved the fish!




2. A trip to Los Gatos to visit our friends Sue and Ben, and their son Cruz. They moved down there right before we came back--it is about an hour south of where we live--and much warmer! Their complex has a pool and Ethan and Cruz went swimming. Ethan loves "jumping" off the edge.


3. Pumpkin picking in Half Moon Bay. Half Moon Bay is about 45 min south of SF on the ocean--and famous for growing pumpkins. We visited a small family farm called Tunitas Creek Family farm, where Ethan picked out a pumpkin, and got to feed some goats. He sure has changed since our visit to a pumpkin patch in New England last October when he couldn't even stand up!

Uncle Jeremy's Wedding

Sunday September 12 was a special day: Jeremy got married!

He met a great girl, Erin, right around the time that Ethan was born. We were so happy to welcome her into our family this past weekend!

The wedding was at a beautiful outdoor venue, called Cornerstone Gardens, in Sonoma. And their rehersal dinner was at the Swiss Hotel, where ours was--bringing back such great memories.

We snapped a few pics--but are waiting for some better ones from the photographer-

Ethan sure looked dapper in his little suit!


Here's Jeremy with Jason, Brandon, Gary, Bonnie and Ethan before the wedding:


Proud Parents:


Ethan's great-grandparents walking down the aisle:


Erin walking down the aisle:



Ethan even cooperated during the ceremony and was quiet (thanks to some help from pepperidge farm)
Now Jeremy and Erin are in Italy, enjoying their honeymoon.

Back to Boston

Last weekend, after being in San Francisco for approximately 3 weeks, Jason and I returned to Boston. Seriously.

One of our friends from med school got married in southern New Hampshire over Labor Day weekend. We decided that Ethan could not endure another cross-country flight, and Jason's parents were kind enough to entertain him in Sonoma while we dashed back to the east coast.

Jason and I had a fun, but busy trip back. We also celebrated our third anniversary!



The wedding was lovely. The other highlight of the weekend was stopping for some fantastic ice cream. One thing about New England--there are delicious homemade ice cream stands everywhere--we have been missing them ever since moving back, so we made an ice cream stop a priority in our 48 hour trip.




The BEST PART about these ice cream shops is that they can coat the whole ice cream in sprinkles (my favorite!) Definitely an east coast thing I miss.

While we were gone, Ethan had a great time with grandma and grandpa--playing in the park, feeding ducks, and eating cookies at the nearby bakery--I am not sure if he even missed us!

Ethan's First Day of School

Monday was Ethan's first day of school. Ok, so it's not really school, since he is only 19 months old, it is technically a daycare--but we are really excited.
He even got a new backpack and lunchbox!


Getting into this school was quite a challenge--it is affiliated with the hospital I am working at. Ethan has been on the wait list since I was pregnant, and when we called last January to make sure there was going to be a spot for him this year, we were told "oh, i don't think so!". Luckily, a few more pleading calls plus a couple of kids dropping out led to a spot for us. We had no idea how competitive daycare could be. Ah, city living!

Anyway, we took Ethan in for a few pre-visits before the first day--but saying goodbye on the first day was still really hard! Ethan and I were both crying!!
But we got over it quickly, and from what the teachers told us, he had a pretty good day. He even manged to nap for 40 min (we were worried since he is used to a quiet crib that he would not sleep on a mat on the floor with other children!) And today, he napped for an hour. Hopefully tomorrow will be even longer.

We'll see.....

Back in the Bay

We're Back!! On-line and in SF that is....Whew, it has been quite a trip.....Let's back up....

Jason and I finished our fellowships on August 4. We then packed up and headed for a long weekend on Cape Cod, since we had not had a chance to explore it earlier, and wanted some warm weather and beach time before we headed to foggy San Francisco.
We had a nice time on "The Cape"--Ethan enjoyed playing in the sand--but our hotel was not so nice, and so we truncated our trip by a night.



We then headed back to Cambridge to finish packing up, and say our goodbyes to our neighbors and Lilia. It was pretty tough saying good-bye to Lilia--we sure miss her already!

Next was a week long visit in Chicago.


We had a great time visiting with my family--highlights included heading to Milwaukee to see extended family, swimming in the kiddie pool in the backyard, and a trip to Lincoln Park Zoo. At the zoo, Ethan got to feed a cow, pet some goats and sit in a big tractor.



We also visited with 3 sets of friends who have had recent additions to their families--Jason's friend Mark, who has a new daughter Abby, my friend Janet, who has a new son Tobey, and my friend Meredith, who recently adopted twin 2-year old boys from Russia. So cute!
Also during the week, I had a short side trip to Nashville for my friend Laura's wedding. So as you can see we had a very busy week!

On Tues Aug 24, we flew into San Francisco--and headed to our new home for the year. We are subleasing a condo from a colleague at UCSF. It is a great place, close to both Jason and my new work, as well as Ethan's new daycare (more about that later).
Settling in has been a bit of a challenge, but we are getting there.
Here are a few pics:

Living Room

Kitchen

Now all we need is a new name for the blog...ideas????

Happy 1/2 Birthday

Today Ethan is 18 months!



Too bad we are almost all packed, I couldn't make him a cake. But happy half-birthday anyway, Ethan!!

The Farm

Ethan is learning his animals, and animal noises. This past weekend, to help bring his books to life, we took him to the Massachusetts Audubon society 's Drumlin Farm. This is a small working farm not far from our house. Ethan got to check out chickens, goats, sheep, cows, and pigs.

He liked the goats the best, probably because he could pet them.
And I think he was afraid of the cows--they were really mooing loud when we were there. But he is a pretty good moo-er now!