bonnie & jason

California Academy of Sciences

jason — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 02:05:40 +0000

We decided to try the California Academy of Sciences again today after our failed attempt on opening day. There were still tons of people there and traffic was a mess when we left. Still, we had a good if brief time there. We spent the bulk of our time in the aquarium as we figured Alissa would like that section the most. After about 30 minutes of “Look Alissa… fish!” I think she got a little bored. So we made our way up to the ground floor to check out the Planetarium but were told that little kids can’t go. Instead, we got tickets for the 3D bug show which was supposed to be kid friendly. It was borderline kid friendly, and in my opinion, not really toddler friendly. First of all, there was no way Alissa was going to wear the 3D glasses. Secondly, they had bug mating and killing going on. Don’t get me wrong, I thought it was quite a high quality production. But kid friendly, it is not.

Anyway, by the time the bug show was done, Bonnie was starving and Alissa’s nap time was looming. So we figured we’d take off and save the rest for another day. After all, we did get the annual membership so we’ll want to take advantage of that.

Here are a few crappy pictures… I should have brought a faster lens and Bonnie’s dad’s 5D. Oh well, next time!

We visit the Pumpkin Patch on 19th Ave at Sloat

jason — Sun, 12 Oct 2008 00:42:49 +0000

We had originally planned on making a trip to the Half Moon Bay pumpkin patch but it seemed like a big production for just a pumpkin. There’s the cost of gas, having to deal with traffic, twisty roads (with a nauseous pregnant wife), and finally, the time commitment. So instead, we thought we’d check out the corner of 19th and Sloat which is the “seasonal” corner. You know what I mean… in October, it’s pumpkins. In December, it’s Christmas trees. In February, it’s roses. Anyway, it turned out to be perfect. They had everything decorated all nice and Alissa had a fun time picking out the perfect pumpkin. With the exception of some traffic in the background, you would practically think we were in Half Moon Bay. Here are some of the pictures.

So many to choose from!

This pumpkin is too big!

This pumpkin is too small!

This one looks about right…

I’m ready to go pay now.

I wonder how far I can throw it.

It didn’t break… must be a keeper. I guess we’ll bring it home then.

Nicholas’ red egg and ginger party

jason — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 05:43:51 +0000

Another weekend chock full of fun. The first order of the day was for Alissa to wear a dress that Bonnie made her for the first time:

What’s the occasion? Nicholas’ red egg and ginger party. It seems like we go to one of these every month these days. I guess we’re just in that phase of our lives. If it’s not a red egg and ginger party, it’s a kiddie birthday party. Soon enough it will be recitals and plays and soccer games. I’m starting to see the genesis of the mid-life crisis! =)

Before I get too far ahead of myself, here are a couple more pictures from the party.

This last one is a 2/3 preview of what I have in store for me. The other preview I got was watching Alissa spend about an hour chasing after all the little boys. Andrew seemed to be particularly fun to chase, probably because he’s closest in age to her. He was also the first boy to kiss her so that might have something to do with it. Of course, he was like 8 months and she was about 4 months or something like that at the time so I’m not sure if that really counts. Regardless, will be interesting to see how all these kids grow up together.

So after a brief rest at home, we made our way down to Deeann and Calvin’s place for a feast of a dinner prepared by Deeann’s aunt and uncle.

Man, such great food! It was like going to a fancy wedding banquet except the food was tastier! After stuffing ourselves while watching the Eagles lose a close game to the Bears (Boo!), we observed Alissa and Abigail play sort of together.

Alissa was really into the pretend tea party. Abigail was amazing with her letters. And otherwise, the two kinda played in parallel. Again, it will be fun watching them grow up together. It’s going to just get more hectic once we throw the twins in the mix along with whomever else happens to be born over the next few years. Remember that game, “Life?” I guess it’s not a game anymore!

Conservatory of Flowers

jason — Sun, 28 Sep 2008 05:06:58 +0000

We tried to make it to the opening day of the California Academy of Sciences but it was amazingly packed. We even went 30 minutes before the doors opened and by the time we got there, the line was literally around the corner, probably about 1/2 mile long. Here’s a shot of the poor souls who probably waited in line only to be turned away.

Bonnie overheard someone say that she was there 2 hours before the doors opened and was told to come back at 4:00 for her entrance window. Crazy. Anyway, instead we had a nice morning with Calvin, Deeann, Abigail, and Deeann’s relatives visiting from Vancouver. We walked to the Conservatory of Flowers and endured the high humidity for a little while. Then we hit a playground for the kids to run around in for a while before heading to lunch at Cafe Bakery. Here are a few highlights:

Alemany Farmer’s Market

jason — Sat, 13 Sep 2008 20:31:03 +0000

We went to the Alemany Farmer’s Market this morning with Connor, Jen, and Ken. We’ve driven by it a bunch of times before but never took the time to actually go. So today, we ended up going, looking, and buying. The tomatoes were really good and we picked up some grapes and kettle corn as well. Here are a few pics of the produce:

Totally off topic, but here are some pictures of Alissa making her self comfortable in Bonnie’s body pillow and boppy:

Sunday meanderings

jason — Sun, 17 Aug 2008 23:22:10 +0000

We spent the first half of Sunday hitting some San Francisco “hot spots.” First, we picked up Jeff and Xiao Yi at the Legion of Honor to go to brunch at Ella’s. We tried out their corned beef hash with big chunks of lean corned beef, the pancakes which are about 8″ across and super fluffy and tasty, the folded egg omelet with sweet corn, roasted cherry tomatoes, and yummy cheese, and finally, the chicken hash which had a nice farm fresh taste with a thyme and sage herb treatment.

Since the wait was so long, however, we spent an hour walking around the pacific heights neighborhood. Man, there are some fantastic houses up there. From modern, to neo-classical, to roman, to cottage, they were all huge and had great views. One was a little strange as it had this statue standing guard out front:

After lunch, we drove to Fort Point and walked over to Sports Basement and back. Alissa was a bit grouchy as her sleep schedule was a little messed up from having some friends over last night, but she enjoyed the walk for the most part. Her highlights were the plethora of dogs out and about.

I also took a few pics of Jeff and Xiao Yi taking advantage of some of the background scenery:

All in all, a great day. Great friends, great food, great views, and even a little exercise. What else can you ask for? (All of the pictures here.)

Danny and Kim get married

jason — Sun, 20 Jul 2008 06:41:14 +0000

Bonnie’s middle school family friend Danny got married today. I tried to get some low light indoor shots with the new lens but the conditions were pretty tough. I had to bump the 5D up to ISO3200 and even so, shutter speeds were a bit on the low side. Oh well… take a look for what they’re worth.

I took some pre-wedding also:

Ryan’s first birthday party

jason — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 04:00:54 +0000

Another weekend, another baby birthday party! Today was Ryan’s party at the 30th avenue glen of Golden Gate Park. A good time was had by all with volleyball, badminton, tons of food, football… here’s Ryan:

And here’s Aidan:

And Alissa:

The highlights for her were clearly the corn and playing ball with all the other little kids there. For the rest of us, I think the Spongebob cupcakes probably stole the show.

Rest of the pics here.

Alissa at the beach

jason — Sun, 22 Jun 2008 04:40:40 +0000

Today was another beautiful day here in San Francisco. As a matter of fact, it was so warm that we were motivated to pick up a shovel/pail/sand sifter set for Alissa for like $2.79 at Babies ‘R Us. (I feel like that’s our second home.) So off to the beach we went!

At first, Alissa didn’t want to sit down in the sand. I’m not sure if she just likes to squat or if she didn’t want to get dirty.

As you can see, she got over that pretty quickly:

She also decided to play Baby Godzilla and trampled down our sand city:

And to think we had thought about getting her a sandbox for the backyard. Why bother when there’s a whole beach a short walk away?!

The beach was actually quite crowded today with the weather being so nice. I just managed to get close crops or find the right angles to keep most of the crowds out of the pictures. (All images taken with Canon 70-200 2.8 IS.)

Happy Mother’s Day

jason — Mon, 12 May 2008 00:39:26 +0000

Happy mother’s day to all the mom’s out there. We went to Golden Gate Park this afternoon to take some mother’s day pictures… if there is such a thing. Alissa was very interested in pretty much every little thing from twigs, rocks, pigeons, water, to leaves, you name it. It took her about 10 minutes to walk 10 feet in the botanical garden because she was so curious about everything. Also, she wasn’t really interested in being held to take pictures but we managed to get a few ok ones I think. I’ve included a few below. Here’s the link to the whole album.