Category: Uncategorized

Today the four of us celebrated Jessica’s birthday. Since it fell on a Monday it seemed like a perfect excuse to use a personal day at work and make a long weekend out of it. We lucked out and had beautiful weather, so we all hopped in the car and headed to the ferry terminal in downtown Seattle. Soon enough we were on our way to Bainbridge Island for a day of fun exploring a kids museum, walking along the water looking at boats, and having lunch. On our way to the island Ava was thrilled to be out on the deck of the ferry taking in all the scenery. It was super windy and a bit chilly but she didn’t care, in fact getting her to leave the ferry and go down to the car was a chore of its own. I had to bribe her by saying that we were going to look at more boats in the water and maybe we’d find some ducks.

Ava is currently in what I’m calling a ducks and fireflies stage. She won’t stop talking about either of those creatures and is obsessed with seeing them. The funny thing is that she hasn’t even seen a real firefly, but she saw some glowing lights in a tree at the mall and now she’s obsessed with them. Luckily quenching her duck fix is pretty attainable around here so we’ve been going to the park frequently to look for them. Saturday afternoon we attended a birthday party at Seward Park, which is right on Lake Washington, and there were plenty of ducks for Ava to obsess over. Of course getting her away from them usually requires a bribe of some kind. I’ve found that chocolate chip cookies work well…

After we left Bainbridge Island we drove up north to Mill Creek to check out a house for sale that we found online. We’ve been getting pretty serious about buying something lately and actually contacted Aunt Carol today to start the loan qualification process. Yesterday we drove around for a few hours looking at places, but today was better because we like the Bothell / Mill Creek area so much better than what we had previously seen. There are a few houses up there that we’re interested in so hopefully something will work out. Either way its fun (and maybe a little stressful) to be looking for something to buy. We know we plan on being here for the long-term and even if we can’t get our ‘forever home’ right now, we can definitely get something nice. It certainly beats paying someone else’s mortgage for them.

While driving around Mill Creek today we were really impressed with the neighborhoods. There’s a golf course in the complex, a swimming pool, and a couple really nice big parks all within walking distance. The other great thing about that area is the schools. Both of the elementary schools near the houses we’re looking at are graded 10 out of 10. For comparison sake, most of the elementary schools we found in Seattle scored between 1 – 5 out of 10. This simply wasn’t an option so finding an area with good schools for the girls was a top priority. Also, from an investment perspective, houses in good school districts are much more desirable and carry a higher resale value so its a no-brainer.

Hopefully it won’t be long before we have an update on the house situation. The idea of moving again soon doesn’t exactly tickle my fancy but becoming a home owner for the first time will (hopefully) be a great experience. Everything else is going well, just staying busy as ever. I’ve only got about 8 weeks left in school so ideally we can schedule a move right after I finish, but we’ll see. If we have to pull the trigger early and move before I graduate I’m sure I’ll figure it out.

Elise has been crawling for a while now, and it seems like she’ll be standing on her own very soon. She loves to stand up but needs help to stay up. We were just looking at pictures of her from a few months ago and commenting on how much she has already changed. Ava is starting to look a little different now simply because her hair is long enough to tie up in the back. Her hair is so fine that it doesn’t stay in the hair tie for very long, and before you know it she’s got a bit of a lion’s mane going on, but its super cute. Here’s some recent photos, most of which were taken today on our adventure to the island.

We’ve jumped right back into our regular routine since Grandma and Grandpa left. Ava has continued to ask about them on almost a daily basis, she even goes so far as to look for them in the house. I assume from this and the fact that I know my mom spoils her and loves to take her out on new adventures, that they had a great, memorable time. It felt amazing to get away for a few days, just Michael and I. We needed a little recharging and some fun, carefree nights out.

HUGE thank you to my Mom and Tom for all of your help.

Just days after Grandma and Grandpa left, and days before her nine month mark, little Elise decided that she was ready to officially start crawling. It’s been a fun adjustment for all of us since. It’s back to baby gates on the stairs, which often upsets Ava. Pack n Plays set up in the living room, which often upsets Elise and through it all poor Bella has been shuffled off to the side to make more room for baby. We’ve had a recent increase in talks about sharing toys, and playing nicely together. Thankfully, Elise doesn’t appear to be as daring as Ava was at this age. It is a quality that I love so much in Ava, but I’m not sure that two daring, over energetic, little girls would have the same affect. Instead, Elise is like a little zen buddha. People comment, time and time again, at how happy and mellow she is. She’s easily the happiest one in the family. Her personalty is coming out more every day and it’s a lot of fun getting to know her better.

I have been working a lot more this week and last because it’s Seattle Restaurant Week and Michael is back in school for his final stretch. I’m not sure how, but we have managed to find time for some really great day adventures. This past Sunday, we all loaded up in the car to get out and enjoy the beautiful day. Initially we were in search of a spot to visit the ducks. Michael had an idea to visit one of his favorite childhood spots but unfortunately it is now a soccer complex. After a few failed attempts at finding a good place to stop we stumbled upon a botanical gardens in the Tukwila area. What a great random find. It was a perfect place to get out for a walk and explore some small ponds, flowers, bridges and waterfalls. Ava loved every minute of it but kept searching for ducks the whole time. She can not get enough of ducks lately. We don’t even feed them, because it’s illegal everywhere. She just loves to talk to them and toss pebbles in the water.

After the botanical gardens we decided to head to the beach since we were already so close to Lake Washington. We drove to Gene Coulon Park and hit the sand. Ava literally took off running as soon as we unbuckled her seat. I had to chase after her just to stop her from running right into the lake. Ultimately it was a great decision to stop here. The weather was absolutely perfect and we all had a great time playing in the sand and walking on the docks. After more than enough time in the sun we headed home and spent the rest of the day relaxing.

The amazing weather stuck around another day, so on Monday morning I called up a girlfriend and arranged a little adventure for the day. We packed up the Durango, two baby girls, one toddler and two Moms and headed to the annual Tulip Festival. It was a bit more driving than I had expected but we all had a great time walking along the flower fields, picnicking, meeting farm animals, and kite watching. It was a great spring afternoon and I’m so glad that we got out and enjoyed it because the rest of this week has been nothing but rain. Ugh, it is not easy keeping a nature obsessed toddler happy during consecutive days of rain.

Still not sure what we are going to do this weekend for Easter. I think we will most likely hold out to see what the weather does and decide what we feel like on the spot.

Here are some updated pictures of everyone. Sorry for the delay in posting them.

Elise at 9 months

Ava playing in the front yard

Crawling around Gene Coulon Park

Monday afternoon we returned from our long weekend in Vancouver to the smiling faces and outstretched arms of our beautiful little girls. While we were enjoying ourselves up north (more on that in a second), the girls were exploring the Seattle Aquarium, Pacific Science Center, and much more with Grandma and Grandpa. Huge thanks to Amy and Tom for coming out and taking such good care of them, and us in a way.

Since Thursday was our actual anniversary, and I was technically on vacation by the time Thursday evening came around, we decided to go out for a very special sushi dinner. This may sound a little odd, but go and watch a movie called “Jiro Dreams of Sushi” and you’ll understand very quickly. It’s a documentary about a Japanese man named Jiro who is widely regarded as the best sushi chef in Japan. He’s in his 80’s but still works full-time, and has been doing so since the age of 10. The whole message behind the movie is that the secret to life and happiness is the dedication of your life to a craft, and striving for perfection in that craft knowing that you will never truly achieve it.

Jiro has had a number of apprentices over the years, and the training they endure is incredible. They spend 7 years learning to make the rice alone! 7 years! One of Jiro’s apprentices is a man named Shiro, who owns (in my opinion) the best sushi restaurant in Seattle. It’s on 2nd Ave in Belltown and its a place that I’ve been familiar with for many years. Before Thursday I had only eaten there once before, but once I found out that Shiro was Jiro’s apprentice, I had to go back. Since Jessica didn’t get to eat sushi for most of last year due to her pregnancy with Elise, she was more than happy to have a proper sushi meal.

We made reservations for the sushi bar, and as expected the place was packed so we weren’t even seated until an hour past our reservation. Luckily however, we ended up with the two best seats in the house. Not only were we seated at the sushi bar, we were placed in the two end seats, meaning that we would be served by Shiro himself and would have the only unobstructed views of him in the entire restaurant. The rest of the seats at the bar are separated from the chefs by a glass case of fresh fish, but not ours. We could clearly watch him making everything. When you get a chance to watch an expert perform their craft you need to take advantage of it and appreciate it for what it’s worth. Of course more than anything we were happy to be enjoying a night out together, but we couldn’t get over how cool and special it felt to watch him work.

Regardless of all the sentiment and tradition, the meal was quite simply the best sushi meal either of us have ever had. Our typical approach in situations like these is to put down our menus and let the chef choose our meal. This was no exception. Shiro hand-selected and prepared everything we had that night, and believe me, there wasn’t an unpleasant bite to be found. Although everything we had was amazing, we mutually decided that the king crab, torro (Ahi tuna belly), and local salmon were best. Shiro adds the appropriate amount of wasabi and sauce to each piece so no work is required on your part, just pure sushi enjoyment. This was one of those dinners that we’ll never forget but I’m sure we’ll try to replicate it sooner than later.

Friday morning we drove up to Vancouver. We had good weather and only a 30 minute wait at the border. After crossing we went straight to Kitsalano for lunch, which I’ve previously described as the West Seattle of Vancouver, but upon further inspection feels much more like Pacific Beach than West Seattle. We had a great lunch at a bistro called Burgoo, which included the best meatball sandwich of my life. After lunch we walked around to explore the area, then headed downtown to check-in at our hotel. We stayed at the Metropolitan Hotel, which is the same place we stayed in last time. To be honest, our experience with the hotel on this trip wasn’t as good as it was last year, but that was a very minor detail in an otherwise outstanding trip.

Friday night we enjoyed another all-time great meal, this time of the Italian variety. We went to Cioppino and had the best seafood we’ve ever had at an Italian restaurant. It was funny because this was a very different dinner from Thursday night, but they were both dominated by amazing seafood. Shortly after we sat down we were greeted by the Maitre’ D, who informed us that my Mother had purchased us a nice bottle of wine and told them to take good care of us for our anniversary. She is unbelievable! What a considerate and thoughtful thing to do. Well, the wine was outstanding, as was the food and service, plus the surroundings were priceless. There was a table behind us that looked like a Good Fella’s casting call. These guys were dressed to a T, drinking very expensive wine, and drawing a ton of attention from the restaurant staff. They definitely personified the environment, and between the dinner we had there combined with dinner at Shiro’s and lunch at Burgoo, I was already proclaiming this as one of the great ‘food weekends’ of my life.

Saturday was spent walking around downtown Vancouver and shopping. We got some stuff for ourselves, as well as for the girls, then went back to the hotel for some swimming, champagne, and got ready for the hockey game. Seeing an NHL hockey game in Canada was a bucket list item for me so it was really cool to get to do that. Sunday we walked around some more, had a nice brunch, then went to the movies to see “The Grand Budapest Hotel”, which I thought was good. Although we tried to stay out late, we ended up back in our room before midnight every night. That said, we made the most of each day and were pretty beat by the time we left on Monday.

Obviously we were thrilled to come home to our girls but I’m glad we got this time away. Getting back home meant the spring quarter at school had officially begun, so I immediately had some homework to take care of. My first day back at work was Tuesday, and it was a long one. By the time I went to bed at 4:00am I had been working for over 18 hours and could barely see straight. I mentioned recently that I’ve been working on a special project but couldn’t go into any details. Well, that special project is now live (as of this evening) and will be promoted tomorrow morning on Amazon’s homepage, as well as Jeff Bezos’ shareholder letter.

In order to help mitigate some of the negative press we have received regarding our fulfillment centers, Amazon has decided to offer fulfillment center tours to the general public. By allowing people into these once very secret facilities, we should be able to dispel some of the myths regarding work conditions. Having spent a fair amount of time in these places, I already knew that the reports were false, but now anyone will have the ability to see what happens behind the scenes once you purchase a product. The site is located at: amazon.com/fctours and it is expected to receive a very high traffic volume.

This was my first opportunity to do something that is publicly visible at Amazon so I took it very seriously. The exposure it brought me was incredible; every day I’ve been finding myself in meetings with directors, senior managers, and other leaders throughout the company. It is these very same people who will control my fate when the decision comes to see if I should move along to the next level, so making a good impression was vital. Fortunately everything has turned out really well and I’ve been getting some much-appreciated praise and recognition for the hard work and dedication. Having worked on this project makes me feel like I have finally truly ‘arrived’ at Amazon, and I’m excited to be able to take things like this on again in the future.

We’ve been very spoiled by having Amy and Tom out to stay with us, so these next couple days will be a bit of an adjustment. Jessica said Ava was very upset to see them go today, but before she knows it they’ll be back for Elise’s first birthday in July. Jessica will be busy at work due to Seattle Restaurant Week so I can’t wait for Sunday when the four of us can relax and have a nice family day together. Sorry for not posting any new pictures of the girls lately. I promise to post some next time I write.

Today Amy and Tom are flying up to stay with us and watch the girls while we’re in Vancouver next weekend. We haven’t seen them since Christmas so it will be good to have them out. Hopefully they’ll be having lots of fun with the girls while Jess and I get some much needed R&R up north. They’re flying their own plane up here, which is very cool, and that gives them the freedom to stay as long as they like. I’ve still never seen Tom’s plane so maybe this time I’ll have to check it out. We’ve been telling Ava for several days about Grandma and Grandpa coming to visit, so she’s really excited to see them. Obviously Elise is still too small to understand something like that but I know she’s going to love getting time with them as well.

Last week was an especially crazy week for me at work because I found out that my good friend / co-worker, Garth, is leaving Amazon for a role as a Senior Software Engineer at Disney. Garth was the guy who originally interviewed me, and subsequently hired me, for the contracting role at Amazon that caused us to leave San Diego. Later, once I was hired full-time, Garth was my mentor, as well as a good friend. I think its safe to say that he’s been the most instrumental person in my career so far, which makes it really tough to see him go.

I guess you could say the news was bitter-sweet though, because at the same time my manager told me about Garth’s impending departure, he also told me that the next level for me as a web developer is within sight and is something I need to be preparing for. Generally the way it works at Amazon is by the time you’ve been promoted to a new role, you’ve already been carrying out that role’s duties for some time. For me that means now, and its something I place a high priority on.

We have a new web dev joining our team next Monday (which is the day Jess and I return from Canada), and I’ve already been told that I will be mentoring him. Even though I just got a new mentor of my own, I’m excited to be able to help onboard someone and bring them up to speed. Losing Garth means I am now my team’s most experienced developer, which comes with its own share of responsibilities and leadership opportunities.

The first of these new responsibilities arrived Thursday, which was the same day I got the news about Garth leaving. Although I can’t go into any details at this point, I can say that it comes all the way from the top and will be my first opportunity to create something that will be publicly visible. Can’t wait to post a link to it once it goes live! In order to keep up with all the high-priority work I’ve got going on right now I’ve had to put in extra hours at night and over the weekend. I expect these long days to continue right up until Thursday at 4:00pm, which is when I unplug from the world and begin our vacation.

Luckily I’m on Spring Break from school right now, making it easier to deal with everything at work. Once we return from Canada I’ll be back in school for my final quarter. Going to enjoy this week, maybe even get an extra jiu jitsu class in since the girls will always be accounted for, and get ready for the trip. Then I’ll be more than ready to get back in school for the final push. Plenty of updates coming soon.

I just submitted my final assignment of winter quarter, meaning that I am now officially on spring break. This one is special to me simply because its my last. I’m also excited about this break because I’ll be finishing it with a long weekend in Vancouver with Jessica. Not exactly your typical spring break vacation, but in my opinion this is infinitely cooler than some super cliche spring break trip that usually involves either being drunk on a boat in Lake Havasu, or cavorting around Mexico with a group of delinquents in search of sombreros and cheap tequila. I’ll take hockey games and shopping on Robson any day.

I’d be lying if I said both of us weren’t really looking forward to this getaway. As busy as I am with everything going on at work and school, Jessica might even be busier with everything she does with the girls. We’re definitely thankful to have Amy and Tom coming to spend some time with them. Elise has grown so much since they saw her at Christmas; they’ll hardly recognize her.

Having a new car for the past week has been awesome. No buyers remorse here. I forgot how nice it would be to be able to take the girls in either car (I got them matching car seats at Costco last weekend), and things like an adjustable driver’s seat, heated seats, a working driver’s side window, and power locks have all been very well received. Tomorrow I’m going to get the Honda cleaned up, photographed, and posted for sale. Hopefully it won’t take too long to get rid of it. Since my extremely generous mother refuses to accept the money we’ll get for selling it, we’ve decided to split it in half and use it to open savings accounts for the girls. Thank you Nana.

This weekend will be the first weekend I haven’t worked at all in about a month. We had a major deliverable on Monday and everything went extremely well. It was still a busy week but spirits were high, no more so for me than this morning when I received a little public praise from a senior manager for all my hard work on this project. That was pretty cool. I also had my first session with my new mentor at work this week. Amazon is really big on their mentorship program; they encourage everyone to get a mentor, to become a mentor, and to take advantage of the internal resources that are available to you. I definitely plan on becoming a mentor once I make it to the next level as a web developer, but for now I’m happy to soak up as much knowledge as possible from people who have been around for a long time. My new mentor has been with Amazon for 7 years, which probably puts him in the top 10% of tenure. Getting to learn from someone like that is an amazing opportunity so I’m glad to have gotten started.

I’ve been going to a lot of Jiu Jitsu classes at lunch lately. The exercise aspect of it alone is key, but being able to drop everything, clear your mind, and learn something new is great. Hopefully I’ll be able to get a couple extra classes in during spring break, but spending extra time with the girls is priority number one. This will be a little precursor to what we can expect this summer.

Jessica has tomorrow night off, and it’s the first time she hasn’t worked on a Saturday in months, so we’re going out for a night on the town. Laurel has been kind enough to volunteer to come over and watch the girls for us, so we’re going to bounce around to a couple different places. I think we’re starting off with raw oysters at Rock Creek in Fremont where our old friend Mike Duncan tends bar, then we’re going to visit Rico and see his new place Loulay. It was opened recently by the chef from Rover’s, which was probably our favorite restaurant until it closed last June. I guess this will be a little pre-cursor to our Vancouver trip in a couple weeks. Gotta take advantage of a free night when you can.

Elise has figured out a way to get around, although I’m not really sure what to call it. It’s not crawling, it’s more like land swimming, but it seems to work for her. Every time you set her down she’s on the move, and she’s developing such a cute little personality. She loves to laugh and enjoys watching her big sister running around being crazy. Ava continues to impress us with how good she is with Elise. The older they get the more fun and amazing they become.

Well, time to wrap it up and start enjoying this break. Jess is at work and the girls are sleeping so I guess it’s time to watch Top Gear and some basketball highlights. Perfect timing with March Madness going on. Until we meet again.

It’s been over 2 months since I last sat down to write a post. It’s getting harder and harder to step away from the girls for even just a few moments these days. I swear no matter where Ava is playing in the house she can always hear me walk upstairs making me unavailable to her (due to a baby gate a the bottom of the stairs) and immediately she needs me for something. To say that she is going through a mommy phase feels like a colossal understatement. There is never a dull moment in the house and for the most part that makes life tons of fun but occasionally it feels overwhelming as well. When you live with a toddler you quickly get used to never having a moment alone. We do our best to stay busy with new activities but still maintain a routine so that we all have a little downtime. Some days I feel like I’m just “winging” it but I doubt I’m the only Mom that’s ever felt that way. I do the best I can and try my hardest not to judge myself against all the other moms out there who always appear to have things figured out a little bit better than I do. Our girls are healthy and mostly happy so we have the important things covered.

We have been making a point of going out and exploring something new every week. Some of our recent daytime adventures include two different indoor swimming pools, a bilingual play group, toddler story and music time, trampolining, park hoping and more. It’s a good way for us to get out of the house during the day and they are all fun ways for Ava to interact with other kids. At this point Elise is usually just an observer in the activities but it won’t be long before she’s jumping in the mix.

Ava is getting better and better everyday at expressing herself. She continues to add new words to her vocabulary everyday and loves to talk non stop. As we learn to communicate better with each other I can see her meltdowns becoming less frequent. Her current obsession is crayola wonder makers, paints and crayons. We’ll call this her artistic period. The new wonder makers by Crayola are the best. They only write on special paper and do not mark up the house or furniture. I have to give it to crayola they are a great way for toddlers to start drawing. Our biggest battle these days is getting her to put the art supplies away for the night so these are perfect. I literally just put her to bed with a marker in each hand which was a small victory since she usually insists on carrying 6 or 7 around at once.

Elise is doing so great and getting so big. She is already wearing clothes that Ava wore at 12 months. She is still not technically crawling but she can get around pretty well just by wiggling around like a fish out of water. She is about to get her first tooth as well. We’ve had about a weeks worth of rough nights because she is teething, hopefully the tooth is about to poke through so she starts feeling better. She continues to be an extremely happy baby. It is not uncommon for people to comment on her demeanor when we’re out. I’m constantly hearing “she’s such a sweet baby” or something of the sort. She is so easy going and thank goodness for it because I often have to abandon her to run off after Ava.

The two girls are becoming better friends with each day as well. Ava loves to make Elise laugh, (which isn’t hard) the two of them are starting to play together more than ever before and I have even caught Ava trying to teach Elise something new a few times now. It’s a proud moment for me to stand back and watch the two of them together. Life is good.

Although my Mom’s old 96 Accord has been incredibly good to us over the last couple years, I’ve been wanting to upgrade to a new car for a little while. Since we’ve decided to stay in our current house for another year before buying something, I decided now is the time to find a new ride. I’ve been doing tons of research and shopping online, yet ironically enough, Jessica was the one that found our new car. It’s a 2004 Acura TL, and I honestly hadn’t planned on buying something that old, but it only has 24,500 miles on it. I don’t know how that’s even possible for a ten year old car, but it’s practically brand new!

The funny thing is, we actually went to the lot to look at an Audi A4 that we found online, but we knew that they also had this Acura TL with super low miles. I pointed the TL out right away but first went to check out the Audi. As it turned out, the Audi wasn’t in very good condition and just didn’t feel like a good fit. The Acura, on the other hand, just felt like the right car from the beginning. We really liked the way it drives, its been very well maintained, and there was plenty of room for carseats in the back.

I’ve always liked TL’s ever since my Mom bought a brand new one in 1995. Unfortunately she only had that car for two years before totaling it in an accident, but it feels good to have my own now. Its funny because this whole time I’ve been thinking about getting something German, but when it comes down to it I end up with something made by Honda. I guess I’m just a Honda guy. I have a Honda motorcycle, an Acura (which is obviously owned by Honda), plus I’ve owned 4 other Hondas in my life. I firmly believe that they make the best all-around cars in the world, especially when it comes to reliability.

The downside to all this is that I can no longer obsess over researching cars, but its all good. I’ve got plenty else to keep me busy anyway. Speaking of staying busy, work has been insane for me lately. I’ve been working 6 days a week for the past few weeks just trying to stay caught up. I don’t expect this to go on forever but we’ve got some very aggressive deadlines to meet and everyone is chipping in a little extra to make sure we succeed. Combining all this with the rest of my responsibilities hasn’t exactly been easy, but everything is going fine.

Tomorrow Elise turns 8 months old. Time has been flying and she’s getting so big. She’s still not quite crawling but she loves to roll around and play with her toys. Ava does so well around her that we really have nothing to worry about in terms of them being in the room together. Initially we were a little concerned that Ava might run into her or fall on her but so far Ava has been very cautious and sweet with her baby sister. Jessica will be taking some new photos of Elise tomorrow so I’m sure we’ll have those up soon.

Ava is working on potty training these days, although we haven’t actually had any success yet. She has her own potty, and a book about going potty that she loves, so I’m sure she’ll be there in no time. As usual, Jessica does a great job with her, encouraging her and showing lots of patience, even when she ends up with a mess on the floor to clean up. As you can imagine, potty training isn’t exactly the cleanest of endeavors.

We’re really excited to have the new car for our weekend in Canada next month. That’s going to add a whole new level of coolness to the trip. I can’t thank my Mom enough for giving us the Honda back when we lived in San Diego. It made the move up to Seattle with us and has been more than we could ever have asked for, but even she was very happy to see us upgrade. The Acura is much safer, more reliable, and is something that the girls will actually be able to ride in, which is something we were never really comfortable with in the Honda. Next step is to get more car seats I guess. Here’s a few pics of the new family whip. The lighting isn’t very good so its kinda hard to tell, but the car is dark green with tan leather interior. It’s a V6 putting out ~270hp so it’s got some getup. Haven’t been this excited about a car in a while.

It seems that our little(st) girl isn’t quite so little anymore. Over the past week Elise has taken strides (pardon the pun) towards crawling. She is currently able to scoot a bit, and even crawl backwards a step or two, which means its only a matter of weeks before she’s mobile. This of course will result in some changes in our house, especially since Mom is now going to have to chase both of them around the house all day. Having the luxury of setting Elise down and knowing she’ll be there when you return is fading quickly.

In addition to mobility, Elise is showing many signs of growth. She holds her own bottle now, and has even begun forming her own baby babble, which she has been all too happy to share with everyone on some recent car rides. Ava is becoming the natural big sister we knew she would, and has taken to consoling Elise when she is upset. It’s not uncommon for Ava to say “It’s okay honey, I’m coming” when Elise gets upset. She obviously gets that from listening to Jessica and I, but its still super sweet to hear her say it. The other day Ava walked up to Elise and kissed her on the forehead while she was playing. I think its safe to say that these two are going to be incredibly close.

Jessica has recently exposed Ava to swimming, which she seems to enjoy, and to coloring, which she loves. The funny thing with Ava though is that she’ll sit down to color but gets distracted by wanting to hold every crayon or marker, and ends up getting upset because she can’t hold them all at the same time. Although you hate to see her upset, you can’t help but find the humor in the situation. Once she gets over that and actually starts coloring, she has a blast. I was happy to receive my first piece of Ava’s art in my lunch yesterday and love the idea of her doing something creative. Although we had initially thought she might be left handed, it seems safe to say that Ava is a righty, as that is the only hand she uses for coloring.

Jessica has been keeping the girls busy with all kinds of activities lately. She has several girlfriends who have similar aged children and has been able to get together for swimming, trips to the zoo, indoor jumping, sand pits, and more. It’s tough to keep Ava occupied these days but Jessica does a great job. She’s been consistently working 2-3 nights a week, which works perfectly with our schedule.

I’ve been super busy with work lately, including about 27 hours of work on Thursday and Friday to prepare a new feature for testing on Monday, only to find out today that the feature isn’t going to be tested Monday. Oh well. Been going to Jiu Jitsu consistently 3 days a week lately, which has been awesome. I’ve only been back in it for two months but I’m already seeing a significant improvement in my game, and I’m getting back into shape. It’s so nice to have a hobby again; I couldn’t imagine not doing it now.

As always with this time of year I can’t help but think of my Dad. Tomorrow will be the 19th anniversary of his passing. It’s not even a sad thing anymore, it just feels important not to forget. I got a call from my Godfather Pete tonight who said he was pouring a vodka soda with a squeeze of lime in memory of my Dad. I thought that was pretty cool.

Jessica has been off on Sundays lately, which has been great. It’s the only day we have off together as a family so I usually do my best to make sure that no work or studying needs to be done on Sunday. Tomorrow we’ll be doing our standard Sunday brunch, maybe a little later than normal since Jessica is the closing bartender at El Gaucho tonight, then getting ready for the Oscars tomorrow night. We’ve made a point to see as many Oscar-nominated movies as possible this year and are really looking forward to seeing how things turn out. I always enjoyed watching the Oscars with my Mom as a kid so I hope she’ll be doing the same thing at her place.

Time to go gather Elise, who has scooted away in her quest for mobility.

We’re going to be spending our anniversary weekend, which is just over a month away, in Vancouver, B.C. this year. We were there for Jessica’s birthday last year and had so much fun that we had to go back. Amy and Tom will be coming up from Colorado to stay at our house with the girls, which means this will be the first time both of us are away from both of the girls. Our actual anniversary is on Thursday, April 3, so we’re going out to a nice sushi dinner at Shiro’s in Belltown that night, then we’ll drive up to Vancouver the following morning.

When I went to Vancouver with Rico many years ago, we had dinner at a great Italian restaurant called Cioppino’s Mediterranean Grill, which I of course was excited about because Cioppino was my dad’s signature dish that I grew up on. When Rico came over for brunch last Sunday, we talked about that trip, and he brought up that restaurant in particular. Since Jess and I hadn’t yet planned any meals for this upcoming trip, it seemed like a good place to go. Needless to say I made a reservation there for our first night in town.

We also purchased tickets to our first NHL hockey game, which will be the L.A. Kings at the Vancouver Canucks on Saturday night, April 5th. I’ve only been to one hockey game in my life, which was a Seattle Thunderbirds game for Butch’s birthday about 5 or 6 years ago. It was at the Key Arena and I remember everyone having a blast. I’ve wanted to go to an NHL game ever since then so I’m super excited about finally getting to go.

We don’t have much planned other than that yet, but we’ll be staying at the Metropolitan Hotel in downtown Vancouver, which is where we stayed last year. It’s in a great location right off Robson St, which is a very popular area with a lot going on. We definitely want to check out the Kitsilano Beach area, which we randomly stumbled upon last year but didn’t get to spend much time in. It kinda felt like the Alki Beach of Vancouver so we’re looking forward to checking that out.

Not much else going on around here these days. The girls are both doing great and keeping us busy. Elise seems to have more hair every day and is happy as can be. I remember thinking Ava was a really happy baby but Elise may have her beat. She really is a great baby and has settled nicely into an eating and sleeping schedule. Here are a few recent pics of Elise.

Elise – 7 months

Last night was one for the ages. I got to have dinner at one of my favorite restaurants (Il Terrazzo Carmine) with two of my all-time favorite people: my Godfather Pete Barbas, AKA Nouno, AKA Poop Deck Pete, or as my Dad used to call him, Poopy, and my best friend, who was also the best man at my wedding, Michael Don Rico, AKA MDR, AKA Don Rizzle, AKA The Don, AKA Uncle Rico, AKA Reek, AKA The Prince of Belltown. I’ve been wanting to set this dinner up for a while, and since I had a break from school this week, we were able to make it happen.

If you love Italian food, there is no better restaurant in Seattle than Il Terrazzo Carmine. It’s a classic place with a lot of history, outstanding food, and a very impressive clientele. A few tables down from us was the former Mayor of Seattle, and its not uncommon to find other Seattle icons like Gene Juarez hanging out there regularly. Over the course of four hours we enjoyed an antipasti platter, Kushi oysters from BC, Burrata cheese salad with golden beets, veal al limone, sea bass saltimboca, tiramisu, and a variety of wines, beers, and cocktails. When I first walked in I quickly ran into an old friend named Victoria that Rico and I used to work with for years at El Gaucho. She ended up serving us all night and took outstanding care of us. She new exactly how to deal with Pete holding court and really added to the overall experience.

The only thing better than the food and service was the conversation. Pete is a Seattle legend and Rico and I wanted nothing more than to soak up a bunch of his stories from the old days of the Seattle bar and restaurant scene. He told us about his days running “Poop Deck Pete’s”, which was Seattle’s original Jazz club that he opened at the age of 21 and ran for 5 years. He also told stories about purchasing a tavern in Beacon Hill, which he renamed to “Pete’s Take 5”, and completely transformed the place. He took it from being a hole in the wall joint that only went through 9 kegs a month, to a standing room only establishment going through 55 kegs a month, and he did all this with no employees, working 100 hours a week! Unbelievable work ethic.

Rico is well on his way to becoming a Seattle legend, and is probably the most well-known person today in the Seattle restaurant scene. If you’ve worked at a nice restaurant in Seattle you’ve either worked with Rico, heard about him, or served him at some point. Regardless of his local fame and notoriety, he’s been a big brother/uncle to me for a long time now and I really love that guy. He will always be family to Jess and I, and we are very excited to have him over this Sunday for brunch; he hasn’t met the girls yet and we’re long overdue at this point.

Pete was in rare form last night and had Rico and me howling at his jokes and stories. He kept saying that we need to do this more often, so I made a promise to setup another dinner in the next month or so. Next time I’m definitely brining Jessica; I know how much she will enjoy hanging out with everyone. By the time we were leaving the restaurant last night, Rico and I were talking about how 30 years from now we’ll still be talking about this night, that’s how epic and special it was. I’ve probably got more great memories with Rico than any other of my friends, but this one has to go right up near the top of that list, mostly because of Pete being such a character.

I’ve got a couple more days off school before resuming the quarter. As always, it’s been super nice not to have to worry about homework, but at this point I’ve only got about 4 months to go so I just want to finish strong and be done with it. Jessica and the girls have been doing great; we just made plans to spend our anniversary weekend in Vancouver, BC this April. Amy and Tom will be coming up to take care of both girls while we’re gone, meaning this will be the first time we’ve been away without either of them. We’re going to a hockey game while we’re up there, plus will be exploring some different parts of the city that we didn’t spend much time in last year. Obviously we’ll being eating well as well.

Tomorrow Elise turns 7 months, meaning that we’ll have some new photos of her up very soon. For now, here’s a few new pics of Ava, as well as a couple shots from dinner last night.

Pete and Rico

Pete, Rico and me

Our little painter

Ava at the Seahawks parade, before her meltdown

Having fun at the zoo