Birthday and Father's Day

 This week was a busy one--on Thursday we celebrated my 46th birthday and on Sunday it was Father's Day.   The two are rarely so close together!

For my birthday dinner, I chose homeade pizza and it was delicious.  I got some nice presents including a new backpack for work.   And, Jason did a great job with my sprinkle cake this year--it was covered!   I felt very loved.

This weekend, we went to a softball tournament in Folsom.   Alaina's team did great on Saturday, going 3-0 (overall 9-0 in the last 9 games).   We expected her first game on Sunday to be an easy win, but they got knocked out, and that sent us home early.

Ethan worked on dinner for us at home, and we ended up having some homeade pasta and artichokes for dinner, and my dad was able to join too, which was nice.

Goodbye Wisdom

This past Thursday was Ethan's last final exam.   To celebrate the end of his Sophomore year, on Friday he had his wisdom teeth taken out.   Ha Ha.

He actully did really well with the procedure.  I decided he would not be receiving anesthesia from the dentist in the office, and lo and behold, it was not necessary.   Not only more safe, but also as it turns out, much cheaper.   Anyhow, the dentist was SHOCKED Ethan was able to do it.   I was less surprised.

The first few hours of recovery were the worst--at first his mouth was so numb he could hardly swallow--and then the pain kicked in.   But he managed with ice and ibuprofen, and by Saturnday night even felt well enought to hang out with some friends.

Sunday, he had a piano recital, and that also went quite well, all things considered.   Alaina managed to avoid it, as she had a softball tournament......

Kudos to Ethan for powering through it!

Grilfriend Getaway

 

This past weekend, my medical school girlfriends and I went away to a spa and wellness resort, called Civana near Phoenix, AZ.    It had been awhile (Fall 2023) since I saw them all, so it was fun to reconnect.    We even had matching t-shirts!

The hotel was pretty cool in that you could take exercise/wellness/yoga classes all day for free.   They had quite an offering of classes, so we kept super busy with that the three days we were there.  It was definitely something "different"--not what I usually so, so good to stretch out of my comfort zone.

And of course, hanging out with my girlfriends was great.  We are all getting so old--and our kids are getting so old--but our friendships have maintained!

Stefan and Jenna come for a visit

 This weekend, Marilynn's son Stefan and daughter-in-law Jenna flew out from North Carolina to visit.  Marilynn has been in Marin since my dad and her returned from a hiking trip in England a few weeks ago--they had a great time--and had arranged stay in town so her kids could visit.   My dad and Marilynn took them all over Marin--the headlands, Point Reyes, Muir Woods etc. etc.   On Monday night, they were able to join us at our house for dinner!

Though the weather was not quite as warm as we had hoped (Memorial Day never is, for the record), we were still able to enjoy a nice dinner outside.   Jason smoked a brisket--which turned out excellent, I must say.   We had a great time together!

All-Star Weekend

 This weekend is the final weeknd of Alaina's rec softball season, and it ends with the Marin Girl's Softball all stars tournament.

The all-starts teams are divided by town.

Several of Alaina's club teammates live in Kentfield and play with her--though she has quite a few teammates on teams from other towns so it is certainly interesting to play against them.  It also makes it fun to watch, since we know so many of the girls.  Their fielding is getting so much better.   It used to be that almost any hit guaranteed a single.....now, not so much!

Alaina and her club teammates are mostly all first year 12u players--so they are smaller than most of the second year 12u players--a lot of growth coming up in the next year for sure.

The Kentfield team made it all the way to the finals, and played well against an older Novato team.   They lost 10-11.  Heartbreaking.

Now onto the summer softball season!

Mother's Day

 We had a nice, low key  Mother's day today.  During the morning both kids had their own things going on (Alaina had softball practice and Ethan was lifeguarding).   But by mid afternoon, everyone was home, and so we took advatage of the time together and went for a short hike on nearby king mountain.  The weather was sunny but a bit windy--still the views were great.

Jeremy is also in town this weekend, so we were able to enjoy dinner with him.

Feeling thankful to have this time with family!

Stephanie comes for a visit

 Last weekend my cousin Stephanie was in town for work, and managed to squeeze in a visit while she was here.   Though we are not sure, we think it has been since at least 2019 since we saw each other--and possibly longer than that.   Time flies!

She spent some time with my dad on Friday afternoon seeing some sights in Marin County, including the Golden Gate Bridge and Muir Woods.  Afterwards they both came over for dinner.   Unfortunately, the weather was a bit cold a gloomy, but a least it was greener than Milwaukee in April!

Stepahine stayed the night with us--it was a lot of fun to catch up.   She hopes to be back soon--and we hope so too!