San Francisco ~ 2010

Wade's annual conference was in San Francisco this year, so Will & I tagged along. Last year, it was me and Tate (Will was wombing it at the time) in San Diego, so it was only fair Will got to go this year. Tate had several fun days with friends and Mo Mere & Poppy. Pretty sure he barely missed us. :) But as we were driving to the airport at 5:00 a.m., I was really second guessing it I should even be going. Several different reasons why, but that's not a fun way to start the trip at all. But in the end, I was so glad I went and none of my worries were anything to worry about. :)

For Will's first time to fly, he did outstanding. We lucked out on both flights getting a free extra seat for him, so both times we timed it well and he slept a good portion of the flight.

The first night we arrived, we had some serious business to take care of. Watching the Texas Rangers play in the game that would get them to the World Series. We found a sports bar that was baby friendly and camped out to watch the game. There were probably 20 screens with the game on, but I'm pretty sure we were the only ones paying attention. Will did good for about two hours, but then he needed a change of scenery. We hurried back to the hotel to watch the end of the game. And there in our little hotel room in San Francisco, the three of us (with a certain 35-year-old male being the loudest) celebrated the win and the first time for the Rangers in the World Series. Pretty fun memory.

So back to the trip. A big reason for my nerves was that I had no idea how Will would do since we haven't traveled with him at all yet. I should've known better than doubt my go-with-the-flow-baby. He did great. As long as he got at least one good nap in the room, he handled coming and going really well. Now the time change was a different story. The first two mornings, he was wide awake at 4:45 a.m. Good times there.

The conference was at The Fairmont Hotel in San Francisco. Wow that is a beautiful hotel. Breathtakingly beautiful. I loved walking around and reading about all of the hotel's history. My favorite part of the entire hotel was the little rooftop garden that overlooked the city. Will & I frequented there several times a day. This kiddo loves being outside, so he was often bundled up and happy in the stroller as I enjoyed my morning croissant. Yes I had a morning croissant (and Diet Coke) out on my rooftop garden. Clearly I was on vacation, because it doesn't sound like my"normal" morning at all. Some pics from the view and our daily hangout.

We had one day with Wade before his conference began, so we headed across the Golden Gate Bridge to Sausalito. I love that place. Pretty sure I couldn't afford to rent a parking space there, but I still love it. It was cold and dreary that day, but we enjoyed walking around and taking in the view. And this cutie did great napping in the stroller.

We also went to one sight I had never seen in real life. "The Painted Ladies." Or what my generation calls the "the houses from Full House." So now I've seen the Brady Bunch house AND the Full House house. My life is complete. They really are pretty cute, and the park across the street is great. I can't imagine living on that street as cars were stopping everywhere to take a picture. And half of one street was blocked off for a Saucony TV commercial shoot. But definitely a neat sight to check off the San Francisco list.

Now San Francisco has got some great restaurants. We did, however, scale back our list of fancy restaurants for the ones that wouldn't be completely annoyed that we lugged in the baby carrier. Will did great, and honestly, it was such a special time for us. His life as child #2 is sometimes overshadowed by big brother, so both Wade & I enjoyed our time focusing on Will. And thanks to Lynette who was also at the conference, Wade & I got a night out by ourselves. Only the 2nd night we've had since Will was born! No pictures from Scoma's, but it was delicious as always!

For the last 3 days, it was pretty much just me & Will during the day ready to conquer the city. I had no idea what we would do, and I have to say, that was kind of fun.

The hotel was right in the middle of a residential area called Nob Hill. Every morning, I would go across the street to the adorable little park and walk around. Wow, a city park there is nothing like our big suburban parks. I LOVED the people watching. You really can't see them from this picture, but every single morning, I saw the same elderly couple doing exercise/Tai Chi moves. SO cute! I also a guy practicing what had to be a Broadway-style chorus dance routine. And I saw a super-cool guy in purple Keds practicing some serious ninja moves. Oh I loved that place!

We made a required quick trip to the CAL campus to give Will a little glimpse. GO BEARS!
And one morning, I had a couple of free hours to myself and went across the street to the Grace Cathedral and attended the Choral Eucharist service. I loved it! The music from the boy's choir was absolutely beautiful and I found myself appreciating and enjoying the heritage and sanctity of the words. Very moving and memorable experience.
My last day I ventured to Chinatown to do some shopping. So much fun!
And so much walking! I turned on the wrong street at one point and ended up walking UP this street. While pushing a 6-month-old in a stroller. I'm sure I looked hysterical. This picture does not do it justice. My legs were ON FIRE, and I was sweating like crazy. Not sure how people do that regularly. But I'm pretty sure they make a point not to walk up that street.
And we got one quick visit in with Aunt Barbara, Amy, Paul, & sweet Baby Audrey out in Oakland. These (2nd cousins??) are six months apart. The funny part of our visit was that any time Audrey cried, Will would start crying as well. Cute.That day I was pretty proud of myself. Being a total suburbia girl who has never lived in the big city, I think I did pretty good. Taxi to the financial district downtown. Found the BART station. Figured out the BART ticketing (halfway at least...I did forget to slide when I was leaving). Arrived in Walnut Creek on time. And did it all again to get back to the hotel that evening. All by myself with a baby. Go me! :)

And there was a fun surprise with this trip. One morning I had the news on and heard that Michelle Obama would be at The Fairmont hotel that day for a political fundraiser. I wasn't sure if I heard it right until I got in the elevator with two men who were clearly Secret Service agents. Will & I played it cool. The entire hotel was buzzing with activity all day long. I had nowhere to be, so I loved just watching everyone else in a frenzy. Secret Service was everywhere. And since I wasn't on the guest list, this was the closest I got to seeing FLOTUS.

And even though it was 11:00 p.m. Texas time and we just "watched" using the airplane wifi the Rangers lose the first game of the World Series, I had to be the last one off the plane to get a pic of Will and the pilot who flew the last leg of his first flight.

It was a great trip for all of us. One that did cause some pause as I realized I wouldn't have any new memories with either of my Enright grandparents in this city anymore. I'm thankful for the many memories I have with them growing up that are connected to San Francisco. And I'm looking forward to many more as we take our boys back in years to come.

A Social Network Christmas

Here is a smart, creative, and beautiful take on the reason for the season. Love it!

Igniter Media is also the creator of the much-loved Johnny & Chachi duo. Go here for more videos.

Tate's Preschool Christmas Program

In early December, Tate was in his preschool's program where each class performed a Christmas song. For the weeks leading up to it, I would ask him what he was going to sing and what the motions looked like. I got nothing from him. Not a thing. So I really had no idea what to expect or if he even knew what to do when he got on stage.

Stinker. He sang every word and did every motion. His class's song was pretty adorable and entertaining. I LOVE all of his faces as he was very much into the song. For any ACUers, is that a great Sing Song face or what? And be prepared if you watch the video, this song will get in your head and stay for a loooong time. :)

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

After the program, we went to his classroom for an Open House. And Tate's favorite part...dessert. We were glad Mimi & Grandpa were there to show around.
And here is Tate with his teachers, Ms. C & Ms. S. He is only halfway through the year, but I already feel quite indebted to these two. They handle Tate so well and seem to understand the best ways to get the best out of him. He loves being in this class and looks forward to school days so much!

Grandpa Enright

At the end of September, I got the call that my Grandpa Enright had passed away at the age of 86.

Even though we lived several states away, he was just about as involved of a grandparent as you could be with that much distance. He was always interested in our school activities and even though I never continued the family tradition of competitive swimming, I think it's neat that both he and I shared a love for journalism. I have many fond memories of him coming to Texas or us going to California with fun activities in both places.

And I will always remember that he braved the freezing rain one December evening in West Texas to attend my college graduation. Probably not where a California native wanted to be.

Although I wish that I had been able to see him recently and introduce him to his 2nd great-grandson who was also named after him, I'm thankful that he was in great spirits and very much himself the last time we were there.

My sister & I were fortunate to be able to fly to California to be part of the services to honor his long and full life. I loved hearing so many stories of his childhood newspaper routes, his lifelong devotion to CAL football, his many travels, and his time in the Army. I've grown to appreciate and understand the significance of his service during WWII much more as I've grown older. He was in a very famous part of the war's history with the group that liberated the prisoners of war from the Bataan Death March in the Philippines.

And very much in true Grandpa fashion, a couple years ago he began handwriting his life story. It is absolutely amazing to read the things and stories he remembered. I can't remember what I wore yesterday, but he could recall the score of several CAL games he watched as a kid and who scored the winning touchdown. We are all so thankful he took the time to do this.

I have now lost two of my grandparents. It's such a sad twist of fate that right when we can appreciate them the most and better understand the hardships and trials they went through is when we lose the opportunity to spend time with them. We will all miss him, but are so thankful for the memories we have.

An early memory from one of my trips by myself to California during the summer. Grandpa & Colleen took me to Carmel and the Monterrey Bay Aquarium. See the love for his granddaughter that he wasn't even embarrassed to be seen with me in my lovely '80s attire.

This video is definitely a keepsake. Grandpa came to meet Tate a few weeks after he was born. We were at my parent's house and put the video camera on record as Grandpa held him and we all talked. Of course I don't enjoy hearing myself talking in the background, but I love getting to go back and watch moments like this where you can really see his sense of humor. He got some of the biggest, earliest smiles out of Tate.

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Trip to California in 2007 for the CAL season opener (and a big win).

Our last visit with Grandpa in July 2008.

One funny memory I have to record and remember is that the priest forgot to do the eulogy during the memorial service. Awkward. The family member that was supposed to speak just went ahead and walked up to the front after the priest had dismissed everyone. Unfortunately the pianist didn't see him walk up there, so she just kept on playing. Finally after several minutes she looked up and stopped playing, and then he did a great job sharing many good memories. I later told my parents that I could just hear Grandpa saying, "Well they really fouled up my funeral!" :)

His burial service was later that afternoon at the National Cemetery and was very moving. As a retired Colonel, he received full military honors complete with Taps on the Bugle and Amazing Grace on the bagpipes.

And a trip like this brings with it sadness, but it ended for us with a wonderful surprise. My cousin went into labor several weeks early, so I was able to meet my 2nd cousin (? not sure the term), Audrey. She is a beautiful little baby, and Amy did a great job enduring 48 hours+ of labor!

And the night before we left, the "original 4" had a nice dinner together @ Scoma's.

Jackson & Tate

Will & I headed out to California last month to tag along while Wade attended a conference. Tate had 5 fun-filled days with his MoMere & Poppy. Famous quotes we keep hearing by Tate from that stay are "Only grandmothers take you to Target to get toys." and "You can only say na-na-nu-boo-boo to Trip." He had a great time.

But the first day we were gone, Tate got to go to his first ever sleepover at a friend's house. He and Jackson have known each other since they were both in the womb. Laura and I worked together for several years @ the AHA and were pregnant at the same time. The boys were born just 3 months apart. So they have "grown up" knowing each other and getting together for regular playdates. There was a scheduling issue last minute that put Tate without a place to stay the first night. Laura was so incredibly gracious to have Tate over even the day before she was leaving town!

It started off in a bizarre fashion when right as I was packing up the car and Tate was bouncing off the walls with excitement to go to Jackson's house, all of a sudden he was in tears saying his side hurt when you touched it. Freaked me out! This kid rarely ever complains of something hurting. And he was in pain. And in tears. Two hours later, the diagnosis was gas. Wow...really.

So finally we were off, and Tate was back to his normal not-as-gassy self. Here are the pictures Laura sent from their jam-packed, fun-filled 24 hours. I have to say that the bar has been set high but we can't wait to return the favor and have Jackson over.

So glad they obviously had such a fun time...which even involved Laura & Mike finding Tate by himself dancing around with Blue Bear at 3:00 a.m. AND Laura having to take 3 kids into the Chick Fil A bathroom for a round of #2s. Now that is what you call a true friend! :) Thank you Manes Family!!!!!

Halloween 2010

Halloween festivities started with Tate's preschool Costume Parade. Since his Halloween costume was very similar to what he wore on Western Day just a few weeks before, we looked through the dress-up clothes to find something else to wear. Yes, he was Dale Earn... Jr. Or #88 as Tate calls him. Oh boy, do you know how much control I had to let go of to be OK with him dressing up as a NASCAR driver? I was pretty proud of myself.

He loved wearing this and LOVED the helmet.
Of course, it was quite a task getting all of the kids in the class to look and smile for a group picture. One funny story was when I showed up, the little boy in the racing costume was standing by him. Tate had quite the look of awe in his eyes and said, "Mommy, look a monster-racing-motorbicycle driver." I'm pretty sure he was drooling over that boy's costume.

So then on Halloween, we continued the tradition of enjoying a pumpkin pizza.
The bummer of the day was that our camera died. On Halloween...not good timing. So some of the pictures are from my phone, and then my friend Melissa saved the day by sending me some of the pictures she took that night.

So here is our Cowboy Tate. Oh boy, did he love this costume. Especially the cowboy hat and cowboy boots. They are a regular clothing item of choice around here now.

And I had the most adorable puppy costume for Will. But in true unpredictable Texas weather fashion, it was a very warm Halloween (followed by a very cold day after Halloween). So that costume wasn't an option. Will sported the pumpkin jammies and horse bib to support his cowboy brother.
I think this may be the cutest picture ever of Tate with his sweet ballerina friend Jaycie. Love it and great job Melissa! :)
Tate absolutely loved trick-or-treating this year. Almost too much. He was pumped up, and it took awhile to reign in some of that excitement. But overall it was a fun night with several of his sweet friends and their sweet moms and dads.
And this attempt at a group picture with 7 kiddos turned out pretty good, I think.