Weekend June 23rd-24th

Big news is on Friday I had LASIK surgery on my eyes. Went in at 8.30 on Friday morning, operation took about 15 minutes, home by 10am, couple of hour nap and hey presto, when I woke up I could see better than when I had glasses.

Mary Ann was in Chicago this weekend so it was just the boys on their lonesome. I missed Mary Ann cos I love her, the boys missed Mary Ann because she is great company and she cooks way better food than I do!!!

Boys got dropped over at around 8pm on Friday night and we watched Ghost Rider on DVD.

Saturday got up early as had to go back to the eye doctor for follow up appointment. He had a look and then tested my vision and I have 20/20 vision, which he says should only get better.

Picked bagels up on the way home and then around 11 we went to the swimming hole that Kieran and Nicholas have joined. It is an old quarry that is filled with fresh water. Kicked around there for about 4 hours as it was very quiet and a beautiful day.

Picked up some food to cook on the way home and I cooked the boys dinner, then we went to see Fantastic 4 at the movies Saturday night.

Sunday I had a bit of a sleep in, cooked the boys frittata for breakfast. We then went for a hike up Mt. Sourland.

Mt Sourland - June 2007

We did the long hike, about 6 miles, which took just under 3 hours. We were all pretty tired by the time we finished. Something very exciting happened while we were hiking, a tree fell down about 50 yeards away from us, not a little tree mind you, a great big one. No warning, just boom crash and it was on the ground.

Got some lunch on the way home, then the boys played on the computer for a while before I dropped them home around 8pm.

Weekend of June 16-17

Picked the boys up at 6.30 Friday evening and came home for a little while. Left to pick Mary Ann up at Phillie airport around 8.30 as her flight came in at 9.40. For once everything went OK, no delays so we were home by 10.30. Took down a healthy salad for MA to eat on the way home and a cup of tea.

Saturday got up reasonably early and went to the gym. Went to bagel shop on way home and then we were out and about looking at 4-5 venues for wedding reception in the area. They went from about 11 to 3.30. Saw some good places and some not so good places. Seeing some more at the end of this month next time MA is back and then will make a decision.

Got home about 5pm (after stopping for ice-cream to reward the boys who were very good all day). Picked up the mail and Kieran's end of year report was there.
Science = A+
Math = A+
English = A+
Spanish = A+
Social Studies = A+

He obviously gets his brains from his DAD. Am very proud of him and told him so when showed him the report.

Saturday night MA and the boys cooked a very nice Father's Day dinner as we were going to be out and about all day on Sunday. Came off very well. Used some of the fresh basil that MA and the boys planted behind the house much to Nicholas' enjoyment. He looks as if he may be the chef in the family as he really seems to enjoy cooking. Then had a quick game of Bingo and introduced MA to the joys of a couple of episodes of Blackadder.

Sunday woke up a bit late and made breakfast. It was then time to pack up a picnic and off to the beach (which is about 40 minutes away. It was a beautiful day and we had a great time there. We stayed about 4 hours and sunscreen was applied liberally (much to MA's chargin).

Came home and dropped the boys off then MA and I went out for a quiet drink and a couple of snacks.

Dropped her at Phillie airport at the ungodly hour of 5.30 this morning.

Also finished Nicholas' blanket last weekend which much help from MA. My first ever knitting project. It is a little known fact that when Persia became Islamic, they started to put mistakes into the rugs they made on purpose as only Allah is perfect. Well Allah would be very pleased with this blanket!!! Nicholas likes it though and that is the important thing. Next project is a sweater for Nicholas which will hopefully be ready by the winter. Picture of the blanket is above.

Attached are some photos of the recent climb up Mt Sourland and the trip to the beach

Mt Sourland and the beach

Weekend of June 9-10

Flew to Chicago from work Friday night. Bit of a disaster as air traffic control problems. Got to airport at 6.30pm for 8pm flight. Finally landed in Chicago at 2.30am on Saturday morning.

Saturday morning Mary Ann and I were volunteering for a Chicago cares event through her work. Basically it is a few thousand people who get ferried around to various schools to do paiting. We arrived at our school around 9.30 and worked until about 2.30 painting a big long hallway. There were a few drinks afterwards with some people from Mary Ann's work. Then it was home for dinner and a very early night.

Sunday was a beautiful day. We went out for brunch, then went for a trip to the Chicago Botonical Gardens which were really lovely. Spent a couple of hours there, then stopped and saw a movie on the way home, movie was pretty awful. After dinner one of Mary Ann's long time friends was stopping over on his way from Denver to Boston by train so we went out caught up with him for an hour or so. Then it was early to bed again as I had 6am flight back to NY for work on Monday morning.

Vacation in California

Friday, May 25th

Met Mary Ann at Newark airport around 10pm carrying Sushi for dinner. Stayed at Holiday Inn near the airport as we had 6am Saturday flight to California.

Saturday May 26th

Had to get up at 4.00 to get to airport in time for flight. Had stopover in Chicago but everything went swimmingly and arrived in San Francisco around 10.30am.

MA gave Catherine her gift, a shawl she had knitted for her which was gratefully accepted.

Catherine picked us up and we went and dropped bags off at her place and then went for brunch around the corner as MA and I were both starving.

Saturday afternoon MA and Catherine went off to get manicures while I stayed at Catherine's to try and get her laptop up and running. More napping than any technical work got done and I was still asleep when Catherine and MA got home.

Saturday evening was just a quiet dinner at Catherine's place and early to bed.

Sunday May 27th

MA and I got up early and went for a walk around the Presidio which is very close to Catherine's place. We were gone about 2 hours and it was a lovely walk.

When we got back it was time to get ready for brunch with all the cousins just over the Golden Gate Bridge in Marin County. Got there about 11. Brunch was with Kathy and Alex and their two boys Jacob and Hunter, Chris and John and their baby son Liam and Mary. MA gave Chris the sweater she had knitted for Liam which was very much appreciated. Brunch was a bit of a racuous affair with Jacob absolutley whipping my butt at Tic Tac Toe (Noughts and Crosses for those bought up in NZ) to claim the mantle of greatest Tic Tac Toe player in the world.

After lunch we went to a park for a short walk around a lake. Unfortunatley we took a wrong turn and ended up climbing up most of Mt Tamalpais. 3 hours later we finally got back to the car. It was a very enjoyable walk and Jacob and Hunter had a blast finding all sorts of lizards and creepy crawly things on the walk.

Photos below are of brunch, walk and other bits and pieces in Sausilito.

Sunday Brunch, walk up Mt Tamalpais and Sausilito

Catherine, MA and I stopped at Sausalito on the way home for a drink at a bar by the water. It was there I discovered MA is a container ship spotter (which is the close relation of a train spotter) and is somewhat worrying.

Got home and pretty much just crashed out after all that walking.

Monday May 28th

MA and I got up and went for another walk around the Presidio. After getting coffee we went to Inspiration Point, where being inspired I asked Mary Ann if she would marry me. Some would call her insane but she said yes. After much shedding of tears we were shooed away by a group of Japanese tourists who had swarmed in on a tour bus as we were in the way of their photo opportunity of Alcatraz.

Presidio

Continued for walk, which included what seemed like a mile long hike straight uphill up Lover's Lane. Got back to Catherine's for breakfast and celebratory champagne.

We went shopping in the afternoon over to Marin County for a computer for Auntie Catherine and a stop at Nordstroms. That evening we stopped at Palace of Fine Arts for a look around, then out for dinner and a night cap at the top of the Mark Hotel (where the service is terrible).

Walking in the Pacific, Palace of Fine Arts, etc

Tuesday, May 29th
We left for Napa in the morning. Stopped at the Marin headlands for a look and got some great views back over to San Francisco. The headlands are the northern entrance in San Francisco Bay and were obviously used as defensive positions during WWII as there were a number of old gun enplacements there.

Marin Headlands

After that we treid to stop at Muir Woods to go for a walk, but couldn't get parking. We did manage to get coffee however.

We drove up to Napa and check into the Inn we were staying, the Milliken Creek Inn. We were a bit early so unfortunately we had to sit out on their beautiful lawn, by the creek in the sun drinking wine.

Tuesday evening we just got dinner in and watched a movie on the DVD.

Wednesday, May 30th

Was Mary Ann's birthday. We had a lovely breakfast delivered to the room and I gave her her present. It was then time to drive up to Calistoga for mud bath and massage which we duly did. Was a great experience, very relaxing. Mud bath wasn't as bad as it sounds!!!

Stopped in St Helena for a lovely lunch afterwards. We then did a stop at a couple of wineries on way back to the Inn.

Wednesday afternoon we relaxed and went to a wine tasting at the Inn before putting on our good threads and going out for fancy dinner to celebrate Mary Ann's birthday. Lovely meal and nice wine.

Napa - Milliken Creek Inn

Thursday, May 31st

Got up late and basically messed around our room until it was time to check out. Went to vineyard that produced the wine we had drunk the night before and bought a few bottles to take back.

Drove back down to SF in the afternoon and went and picked Catherine up from work. Had big plans to go sightseeing that afternoon but ended up just staying at Catherine's. I set up the laptop she got the previous Sunday.

Had a very nice dinner and evening and then early to bed as had 6am flight on Friday morning.

Friday, June 1st

Spent pretty much the whole day traveling as got delayed at stop-over in Chicago. We ended up getting back home in New Jersey around 10pm

Weekend

Picked the boys up on Saturday morning and had a very nice relaxed weekend with them. Didn't do much of note, just hung out. Went swimming one day in the pool at the place I live which was a lot of fun (even if Mary Ann was peeved I insisted she wear sunscreen).