Category Archives: Family

Monday in Santa Cruz

01 May 2013

Monday, instead of sending the kids to school, Chief and I took them with us for a day trip to Santa Cruz.

b_IMG_3144

The main reason for the trip was to go see Auntie HL (Helen Louise), who is Chief’s mother‘s sister. Her granddaughter Ashley (my second cousin) lives with her, and so we got to visit with her too, which was great.
Auntie HL had not met Oscar or Lucy! For that I felt terrible, but better late than never.

Continue reading →

Ava in The SF Chronicle

11 Apr 2013

I was recently interviewed for a story about childhood cancers, not the ones that are doing well, but the ones that haven’t seen improvements. The article was written by a recently bereaved mother (who I greatly enjoyed talking with), and it was published today.

Here’s Ava on the Front Page:

front-page

Here is a snapshot of the article:

C1-article

Mark has made a .pdf so you can read the whole thing more easily. There are 3 pages. The file will open in a new tab:

ava-chronicle-2013-04-10

There is a link to the article online, but you need a subscription to read past the first little bit.

Thank you, everyone, who has used this opportunity to check in and say something sweet! We love the good wishes! I hope to have something new and nice to show you on her birthday, which is coming soon… May 7th – she would have been Ten! Which makes ten years of parenthood for us. Maybe we should go out to celebrate?
Anyways, stay tuned for more Ava goodness.

♥

Easter Morning Photos

02 Apr 2013

We had so much fun.
In review, I forgot to put out the fancy new candlesticks (oops), and we ran out of time to dye eggs (darn). The backyard Lilacs weren’t in bloom yet (oh well – we bought gorgeous tulips at the farmer’s market). I never found time to get the dry cleaning done (don’t worry, I wore clothes). None of these things mattered.

We had an amazing time with our Crvarich cousins, who were in town for a few days, visiting from San Juan Capistrano. The kids get along like nothing I’ve ever seen before. Lucy and Kate are promised to be each other’s maids of honor. The boys played Knights vs. Pirates for HOURS. I will post the rest of the Crvarich photos soon.

Miss you guys! Talk soon I hope! XOXO

2 Projects for Bob’s 80th

27 Mar 2013

b_1873

Sunday Opi celebrated his 80th birthday. Happy Birthday!
It was wonderful to spend time with family and friends.
Having cousins Ciara and Fiona in town was especially AWESOME.
We enjoyed a beautiful lunch at L’Olivier restaurant, which was open just for us!

b_1860

I made a couple of small efforts with the birthday gathering in mind. Bob doesn’t like a big fuss, and he specifically asked for no gifts, books, slideshows, prints or albums!
No fair!
Still, I had to try.

Candied Meyer Lemons (from Bob’s Tree!)

Bob has always grown beautiful meyer lemons in the backyard. I think it must be the combination of the gardener and the bartender in him!
I picked a bag full of lemons one night last week, and when I saw them on my counter then next morning, I knew what I wanted to do. You can “candy” any citrus fruit. Now that I’ve done it, I realize it’s not difficult, and I’m sure I’ll try some other fruit soon.

b_1841

Lucy helped me with the sugar part. I ended up cutting these guys in half lengthwise again, in order to have more to package up. Also they were pretty strong, so smaller bites was better.
Here’s what I did:
Quarter the lemons and remove the fruit. Put the peels in a pot, cover with cold water and bring to a boil. Strain and repeat two more times! This removes the bitterness. I had two pots going due to so many peels. Make simple syrup (1 part each water and sugar) and simmer the peels for an hour and a half. Strain and dry on a rack for 24 hours. Toss the now very sticky peels in sugar. (This is when I cut them in skinnier strips, and tossed them again.) Dry on a new rack for one more day. Package and tag.

I wish I had counted how many lemons I started with. Meyers are smaller, and I think it was around 12 or 14? I know I ended up with 17 little bags containing about an ounce each. And I barely remembered to get a photo of the finished product! The bag shown is missing a couple of pieces! (shh!) We put them out as ‘favors’ at a big family dinner the night before the birthday. I was happy when I saw folks eating them, smiling, and trying to accidentally take home each others’ bag.

The View Master
I got this idea from Pinterest! The link to the company is here.

b_1845p

b_IMG_5162-800b_IMG_5176

This was So Fun! I can’t wait to do more reels. It was nice to pass the viewers around the table, and with only 7 photos each, the viewing was short and sweet.

Reel One:

Reel Two:

Here are a couple more cute phone pics from the lunch. Omi, what a great weekend you hosted! Happy Birthday Bob! XOXO