April 2008 Archives

T and I joined Sofia and M at Baker Beach this morning. It was great to arrive early before the crowds. At first Tesla was hesitant to touch the wet sand, and I realized she's actually had very little beach experience. She got used to it and loved getting messy. Luckily we're heading to NC's outer banks for a week this summer so she'll have lots of time to become a beach girl! Sofia and T looked soooo cute together. Loved it, especially when they held hands as we walked from the parking lot.

One reason I've been busy is that Web2.0Expo was last week, and Six Apart had a booth as well as threw a party for attendees. It was a lot of work, and although I usually don't handle an entire event like this, it needed to be done. Coming right after our Argentina/Peru trip was a bit intense for me, but overall, I'm pleased with the results. I feel energized by what was accomplished, and touched by everyone who chipped in without a complaint and worked super hard too. A lot of Six Aparters were involved and I felt a true team effort.

Anyhow, that's why I haven't bothered blogging, and have some catching up to do. Below is from our recent road/camp trip with Chicken John.

These are old airplanes left in the airplane graveyard we visited. Tesla learned to say "hikoko" which is airplane in Japanese. We had a tour guide on the bus with us, but I was in the back with Tesla and couldn't hear a thing. Audience at the Amargosa Opera House, and the walls Marta painted herself. Quite an amazing, one-of-a-kind story. She just found her spot and thing to do, and has been at it ever since. Two cooked meals were provided which made this "road trip" fun and communal. It was healthy and delicious. Tesla covered herself in dirt/dust right after I took her to the hot springs. Of course, she initially just played with the dirt, but as soon as I begged her to stop since she was nice and clean, she dumped some on her head, down her shirt, and all over her legs... Scenes from the bus ride. Unfortunately, I get motion sickness easily, so I spent a lot of time during the trip lying down resting. Luckily, everyone was super easy-going and loved Tesla. The back of the bus was a giant lounging/sleeping area, and Tesla had much fun climbing over everyone and exploring. Since everyone was so nice, I could relax and let her do as she pleased while I rested. She quickly adopted a few other adults as her buddies, and would spend chunks of time sitting on their lap, or lying on their bellies as they slept. Last 3 pictures are Tesla watching a Baraka on Dav's iPod. She was fascinated!

I went over to visit granny, Dav's sister, and Tesla's cousin after work last Thursday. Tesla admires Maria-Rose, and Maria-Rose is so sweet to Tesla. I love seeing them together and really want them to grow up together as much as possible.

We all decided to go to dinner within walking distance of their house, and because Tesla had a fit when I tried to separate her from the toy stroller she was playing with, we let her walk all the way to the restaurant with that thing. It was very cute.

Unfortunately, Tesla also has a fit leaving the stroller when we sat at the table...and although she hung in there for a while, it was just not a good evening for her. Granted it was very late for her so she was cranky, but I basically had to leave early to get Tesla out of the restaurant because she had multiple melt-downs. Luckily, Colleen and granny were very helpful, and we just dealt with the situation as best as possible while I tried finishing as much food as I could.

p.s. Although tired, Tesla pushed the stroller back too.

This was from April 1st. Since we were still tired from our trip, we almost didn't make Jessica's birthday dinner, but I'm glad we did. Got to see Frankie, Rachel, Jessica, Toni and baby Aesha, and just at the end before we left, Khaleel and Noura whom we hadn't seen since they moved back from Palestine.

This was in the east bay at a Middle Eastern restaurant, and the cushion arrangements were perfect for a toddler. Plus, Tesla was mesmerized by the belly dancer. And that picture of Tesla with Rachel? I have no idea what goofiness got into Tesla, but she kept doing this weird squinting play; I'm pleased I managed to get her expression!

I haven't been updating much since I want Kokochi to look more how I envision it, and for the moment, it still feels in transition. Also, I've just been super busy lately. But here's some Tesla cuteness. Some folks have been missing T updates :) I got her sunglasses. She never wore the infant ones we bought her but now that she wants to copy us, she obliged wearing these for a second. Afterwards though, she wanted to put them on herself which proved a bit too frustrating.

We are heading to this in an hour. I've been super busy with tons of stuff no I'm just gonna link here. Ciao!

A lunch. I ordered this because I was intrigued by its name, TacuTacu, which is for the big heap of rice. It was a bit too much for me, but interesting...Next is the entrance hall atrium at Gran Hotel Bolivar in Plaza San Martin. Gran Hotel Bolivar (Jiron de la Union) is known for its Pisco Sours (yummy indeed) as well as its maintained 1920s retro atmosphere. I know a beautiful old hotel in Yokohama that has not changed much since the 20s as well, and represents turn of the century Western grandness. Hotel Bolivar reminded me of it, and although old, Tesla and I dug it. We went to see the Monasterio de San Francisco (or rather we stumbled across it and decided to go) that houses underground catacombs of 70,000 burials. Perhaps our tour showed us only a corner, but frankly, I wasn't impressed. I've been to the ones in Paris and that was memorable. However, the Monastery was amazing. Beautiful wall and ceiling art with heavy Moorish influcence, and rooms where you could almost feel old monk souls still gathering to make important decisions. There was a library full of old books, some giant ones that the monks used to read sermons as a group and needed to see the words from many feet away. The books were so old that I worried about their condition since they were just sitting on shelves unprotected although visitors couldn't touch them. Dav fell in love with the library. It had such character - long walls filled with books, dusty light shining through a roof window, old wooden desks - too bad we weren't allowed to take pictures. I did mange to get just 3 pictures secretly when I detached from our tour group when Tesla started fussing. These are shots from Plaza de Armas in Central Lima where the president resides. There is a statue of Francisco Pizarro on horseback which used to be in the center of the plaza, but the clergy too offense to the horse's butt facing the cathedral, so had it moved to a corner. This last pic is from a restaurant (La Muralla in Parque de la Muralla) that I wanted to go to but it wasn't open. Instead, we got to see that it was built right next to ruins; here is an old courtyard.

Here is our view from our apartment in Lima on our way back (different apartment from the stay at the beginning of the month). It was a 3 story apartment and more than sufficient room, and quite nice, but we were so spoiled by the gorgeous Buenos Aires apartment. Still, we had great views and great sunsets, and were located centrally. Since we already knew the neighborhood, we settled right in.

[paragraphs not working yet obviously...] As you can see, Kokochi is looking better and in working condition. I made Dav hustle on fixing stuff, and creating a new template for me. I still have tweaks I want to make, and color adjustments, but at least we're up and running. Kokochi's "break" was rather symbolic for the amount of time it took for me to feel settled back in the daily rhythm here. It was a lot of work! With a kid, going on vacation is a bigger deal than before (duh!). I needed the time to focus. I had almost 4 days after coming home before starting work, but fatigue that I didn't feel before hit me, so I lazied around, and also I wanted to savor the newness of our house, our neighborhood, and San Francisco. The trip was fantastic and I will always treasure the moments from it. So I was very surprised at how happy I was to be home. I felt crystal clear how lucky we are to have our home and live in SF. And Tesla's expression when she first saw granny...and when she touched all her toys...that was super special. Strangely, although I've never really craved Mexican food, the first meal I wanted was tacos...with the whole fancy toppings of cheese, guacamole, and sour cream! We certainly had great food on vacation and it's not like I usually eat lots of Mexican food... We sublet our place to Lumos Labs while they moved from an old office to a spanking new one, so we had some moving back work to do too. Plus, tasks like getting the fridge stocked, buying diapers , doing laundry, etc. took time. Only recently do I feel most is back in order... And now Kokochi is up so all is well.

We are back...but obviously haven't found the time to deal with the bugs that Kokochi still has from the upgrading Dav did, and I'd rather wait until things are all better before finishing posting about our trip. So this is a short note to say it was a great, wonderful trip, but it's very sweet to be home too. Will be up and running shortly : ) p.s. Apologies to those who commented on the "please excuse the mess..." post. It was only meant to be up for a night, and we're over the hump so I decided to take it down.