Big Sur

Jon and I had a fantastic time.  Not only was it great to steal away, just the two of us, but it was also wonderful to enjoy such a beautiful, tranquil, peaceful little resort like Post Ranch Inn.  I immediately fell in love with the place and am already thinking about when can we POSSIBLY go again?!?  ;-)

A couple of days before our trip, there was a massive rockslide on Highway 1, just north of Big Sur and the Post Ranch Inn.  The entire southbound lane fell into the ocean, with the northbound lane not doing so hot as well.

The Inn gave us a call - but we decided to stick with our trip and instead go the LONG way around (driving down to Paso Robles, and then back up north along the coast until we got to Post Ranch Inn).  It was a verrrrry long 3 hour detour to our "quick and close" weekend getaway, but I'm so glad we went anyway!  Because once we got to Post Ranch, we had a fantastic time.  :)

Due to the storms, we didn't get out as much as I would have liked, but we still walked around some.  We also enjoyed wonderful massages both Saturday and Sunday, and deliciously decadent food throughout the entire weekend.  The storm hit full force on Saturday night - which was just amazing.  Our waiter at the restaurant told us that they usually get 1-2 good storms a year but that this one was exceptional.  He was right!  It *did* wake Jon and I up several times through the night (the wind was ridiculously loud and strong!!), but our little house stood firm against it!  One of the larger windows in the restaurant didn't fare as well, shattering sometime in the middle of the night (luckily no one was left in the restaurant and all the staff were in the back cleaning up for the night).

While we didn't have great reception, we'd get mini-updates from my parents via text, on the boys.  They had a really great time with my parents - Logan was a bit moody, going through spells of supreme happiness and crankiness, but Callum was a delight the entire time.  I'm sure my parents were so glad to see us once we rolled up this evening to relieve them of their duty - as fun as it can be to hang out with the kiddos, they are a workout!!  I'm sure my parents will sleep very well tonight  ;-)   (thank you again Mom and Dad!!)

I took several pics along our walk and throughout the grounds.  Enjoy!!

Family Visit

Abuelitos Riedy and Tia Sarah came to visit us this weekend.  We had a nice time visiting and generally eating too much food.  Isn't that how it always is when you're together with family?  ;-)

Friday night we ate at our favorite, La Milpa, where Tia Catherine and my parents joined us as well. It was Alicia and Paul's anniversary (technically Saturday, but we were celebrating on Friday) so Catherine also made a yummy carrot cake for dessert.

I forgot I brought my camera with me, but I did manage to get this awesome shot of my mom and Alicia together at dinner.  :)

And, I didn't take too many pics while visiting either, but I did manage to snag a couple of shots of the two boys with Abuelito and Abuelita before they had to take off to drive back home today.  As always, we had a great visit - thanks for coming!  :)

It feels like Christmas!

Thursday was Jon and my fourth anniversary. We had an easy going day, taking in another movie with Callum (Kick-Ass) which we both thoroughly enjoyed.

The traditional 4th year anniversary gifts are fruit or flowers - so I got Jon a delicious Edible Arrangement. Logan and I chowed down on the fruit Thursday night (interestingly, Logan preferred the plain strawberries to the chocolate-dipped ones, asking me to "take off" the chocolate from the dipped ones for him). :)


This pic isn't as good since it was night time and I only had my phone with me, but you can see how he enjoyed eating the strawberries off the "skewers"... :)


Jon was a kind man and got me a new Coach wallet, something I've been wanting for some time (because my current wallet is too small, black, and doesn't match my brown purse!). I didn't complain that it was neither fruit nor flowers - it's a perfect gift in my eyes.

We also received a gift from Jon's work. And when I say "we", I mean Jon, since it was a humongous box full of several pounds worth of Texas BBQ from Salt Lick. He was jumping for joy. I was all ewwwwww, go put that in the freezer and get it out of my kitchen, stat! ;-)

Callum also received a gift, from his Abuelita and Abuelito Riedy - a "Baby Bunch" bouquet! The presentation was awesome and the idea is so neat, something neither of us had seen before. The clothes are still too big for our tiny delicate Callum, but given the way he's now growing, he should be able to fill them out in no time. Thanks again Ita! :)


Logan was not to be forgotten. While Daddy and Callum were out getting me my new wallet, they stopped by the Disney store to pick up a couple pairs of pajamas for Logan too. So Thursday night he got to choose between the two pairs - his choice for the evening, Buzz "Iteyear" (he still can't pronounce his "Ls" well). :) He ran around the house calling out super hero names, with his arms flapping and flying, high on strawberry sugar juice.


Abuelita and Abuelito also got Logan a cool stuffed dinosaur to add to his growing collection of stuffed animals that join Logan on the bed each night. It arrived on Friday and he promptly took it with him to my parent's house (while Jon and I enjoyed a date night Friday night). So, I'll have to snag a pic of him with the big dinosaur another time. It is definitely a new favorite for him to carry around every morning, noon and night however!

And since we're talking about gifts, I would be remiss to mention the Welcome Home gift that graced our house when we returned from the hospital last week (good God, was it just last week?!?). When Logan was born, you might recall my parents decorated the entire house with beautiful bright red poinsettias. They were gorgeous and, at the time, I teased my parents that they were trying to kill off my cats, since "everyone knows" that poinsettias are poisonous. My mother did some research however, and proved that it's actually just a big myth. PHEW. Bullet dodged, said my cats.

This year, being Spring, my parents decided to decorate the entire house with beautiful wild Asian Lilies. And again, they were gorgeous and a wonderful surprise.


But, I couldn't ignore the fact that lilies are in fact, poisonous to cats. Sadly, we had to move them all outside.


I think my parents might have a secret side deal going with Jon, to see how quickly they can kill off our cats whenever we're gone. Wouldn't you? ;-)

Sleeping Beauty

What you can't hear from this pic is the purr-like snoring he's doing,
on our way to school this morning.

But his state is absolutely how I feel after the last couple of weeks
that have passed us by in a whirlwind of events. A couple of days ago
was Jon and my anniversary, but Logan wasn't too cooperative that
night so we never made it out to dinner as planned.

Last night, however, I dropped him off at my parents so I could take
the train up to the city to meet Jon for a dinner with his co-workers.
We had a really nice time and got home so late we decided to leave
Logan at my parent's overnight and just pick him up this morning
instead. Even with a full night's sleep, we were both still exhausted
this morning. I think we need a few more withdrawals from the sleep
bank before we're fully functional again.

This morning Logan was beautiful and jolly and all together his happy
self. I'm not sure what my parents do to him during his stays, but he
ALWAYS passes out like this afterward. It's so damn cute! :)

New Gadgets

Today feels like Christmas!

My loving husband gave me a super cool birthday-anniversary gift today... the brand spankin' new Canon EOS Rebel XSi SLR Digital Camera! Which is awesome since I've been getting more into photography again, now that Logan is here. :) I've still got to read the manual and figure out all the tricks but look soon for some more great photos of Loganito! (For those who are photography fanatics, here's an in depth review of the camera.)

I also got a new iPhone..... ok, let me explain.

After Logan's "distraction" session last night, I picked up my phone to text Jon and found the top half of my screen wasn't working. I thought OH SHIT STUPID ME. Logan's slobber and drool has killed my phone! I rebooted it several times to no avail. I searched online and found several sites suggested turning the phone off and sealing it in a container full of uncooked rice, which will help pull out any moisture from the phone. So, I went ahead and let it sit in rice all night long.... but, it still wouldn't work this morning.

I started thinking it's possible maybe the drool isn't what killed my phone and it just broke coincidentally at the same time! (it could happen, right?) Because most of the apps I use are at the top of my home page, I couldn't do anything like text, check the calendar, view maps, etc. I also couldn't call Jon because some of the numbers in his phone number are at the top half of the keyboard, and because his name is at the top of my favorites list. Perfect.

So, I visited a Genius this evening and innocently explained "hey my phone's not working all of a sudden" (I forgot to mention the baby drool that might have HAPPENED to also get inside) and voila! they swapped out my old phone with a new one - just like that. yipppee!! (and *whew*)

I've got to reconfigure it to all my old settings and what not, but big deal. I gotta have a phone. And, just to be safe, I won't let Logan drool on this one this time. ;-)

2nd Day Back at Work

Jenn posted up the pics of our night out this past weekend. After several attempts at capturing the two boys sitting together on the couch, we FINALLY got one that was semi-decent I think. See how smiley these guys are!?! Total hams if you ask me.... Click on the pic below to see the rest of Jenn's pics from that night:

Logan (4.5 mths) and Robert (8.5 mths)

I came home from work today and Jon had about had it with Mr. Logan. He had spent the last couple of hours just bawling his eyes out. Jon thought perhaps he just missed me - and he did calm down, for the most part, when he was with me, but I think he was just needing some serious TLC. We changed him, fed him, played with him, walked around with him, I nursed him, etc. Just when you thought it was safe to set him down for a minute (so I could feed the dogs or make dinner) his upper lip jutted out real huge and he started wailing again. He was most content as long as one of us just held him. *sigh*

It's definitely more exhausting after a long day at work! I finally got him to sleep around 8pm, watched a little TV while he slept on my chest, and am now going to hit the hay. It'll be interesting to see if this is another "phase" or just a bad day. As Jon said, we survived another day - and that's pretty much how we're operating these days: one day at a time.

ps. Happy Anniversary Jon! I love you.