Alec chez grand-maman et grand-papa

Alec l'ingénieur


Alec le dessinateur


Alec et ses bottes de sept lieues

Québec, winter 2009

We are up in Québec for a holiday, to see N's family and friends.

The annual méchoui was Saturday night, and as always, it was a success, even though the weather didn't cooperate.

It was the 25th annual party, and N's 40th birthday!

N's brother Thierry made him his favorite cake - gâteau reine Elisabeth!

Alec has been having fun despite the damp, and discovering new watery activities.

putting up the rain tarp

He is much more into cleaning the pool than swimming in it.

Hope that you are having a sunny day!

Another day at the beach

It had been almost a year since we'd seen our friends A and B, who live near Santa Cruz. Last time, their youngest boy had been about a month old, now he'll be one in a few weeks. We spent the day hanging out at their house, then headed over to the beach for dinner.


Once again, Alec was excited about the water - he dragged me in with him.

No time to change into swimming gear!

Father's Day 2009

Yippeeee!

We had a great Sunday - from morning 'til night. Starting out with a beautiful brunch with my dad and family...


followed by ollalieberry picking. What is an ollalieberry ?


and a picnic on the beach with friends in Pescadero.

We lucked out - the weather was beautiful on this summer solstice eve.

Secret sauce

Lunch at Papalote in the Mission..

Alec slurps their awesome hot sauce off the chips -

Muy picante

Strange bedfellows

Alec brings some pretty silly things to bed with him - Princesse Grenouille/Flying Princess Frog and Le Chat aux Pois/Spotted blue cat, among others - but this takes the cake!

so cuddly

Camping near Yosemite

the controversial and very beautiful Hetch Hetchy

This past weekend we were invited by some friends to join them at Camp Mather, a family camp owned by the city of SF. We had a great time (thanks Tom, J, C, and E!) The weather wasn't super hot, but we had several nice nature hikes and some relaxing time by the lake. What a beautiful spot! The camp is next to Yosemite in Hetch Hetchy valley, which was dammed to create SF's reservoir, and was initially used to house workers building the O'Shaughnessy dam. It has been a camp since 1924.

tennis anyone?

We went on several guided hikes, one around Birch Lake, used for swimming, and also home to fish and some very big frogs

And a morning hike from the dam down to the Tuolomne River, where we saw beautiful wildflowers and a rattlesnake!

and lots of rocks

The afternoons were spent relaxing by the lake...

Ahhh, vacation!