Party time!

After surviving the heat wave on Friday and Saturday, we had friends over on a foggy Sunday afternoon for cake and ice-cream to celebrate Alec's 2nd birthday.

We brought his new toys - police moto and red trike - out to the garden for some fun, and set up the teepee, sidewalk chalk, balloons, and bubbles.

Alec hasn't been napping lately - here he is before the party

so by the time 3:30 rolled around, he was pretty mellow, just hanging out on the bike sucking his thumb and watching the surroundings.

A good time was had by all!

I'm 2!

I'm 2 - watch out!

Alec turned 2 on Wednesday, and everyone survived!


We spent some nice time in the garden before dinner with Andy, visiting from England for a few days.And since then, Alec is much bigger and much more mature. Of course.

Tahoooooooe

We spent last weekend en famille at Tahoe, where brother/uncle D lives. Everyone arrived Friday evening, and we had an early birthday cake for the almost-birthday boy!

And some early presents, too.

Saturday morning had us hiking on the Tahoe Ridge Trail, followed by a late afternoon trip to the beach. The weather wasn't very sunny, but the water felt great. Alec had fun in the lake, and was very serious about moving sand around.

Sunday we awoke to rain, but by noon the weather had cleared up we went on another hike, along a stream.

As you can see, some people slept through it all.

Cena italiana, 2009

As last year, our friends Moto and Sarah are here from Milan to spend the summer. And as in previous years, Moto made us an amazingly delicious dinner -
On the menu - tuna carpaccio with zucchini; eggplant and ricotta pasta - unfortunately they all disappeared before they could be documented - , and of course

the traditional ollalieberry pie for dessert.

Here are the dinner guests:

And the chef and his most difficult client:

Chapeau!

Our friends are visiting from Paris, where they've been living the past year, and we're enjoying having them stay in the garden apartment. Alec is particularly taken with Tillie, who is about a year older, and so much fun. This afternoon was gorgeous, and the end of it was spent hanging out in the garden. Alec and T found many things to amuse them, including deck chairs, sunscreen bottles, and the ever popular - chapeaux!


To the kids' delight, N. was a willing and eager participant in their games.

Mendocino

Alec on the farm!

Last weekend was busy! We went up to one of our favorite wineries, Navarro, for their annual barrel-tasting afternoon. This was probably the third or fourth time that we've gone, and as usual, it was a fun, glorious day filled with great wine and food, music, beautiful views.


Alec's curiousity about this new place meant that I couldn't focus on the glass at hand, but we had a fun time checking out the animals - goats, llamas, and miniature sheep that they use for weed control.

Engineer or librarian?

Multiple choice question -

A:

Or B:

Either way, he likes to figure out how things go together...

Social butterfly

On Saturday, our social butterfly (or popeye, as he calls them, for papillon, French for butterfly), had a few engagements. After the farmer's market, we zipped down the Peninsula to meet Sophia for a trip to the Children's Discovery Museum in San Jose - very cool -

And then off to see Eva and Audrey for some backyard pool time followed by a raclette dinner for Swiss National Day.

le shopping

Alec has been really into kissing lately...

A bashful couple after a makeout session on the couch.