We love you SF!

Wow. three months has flown by and Cody and I made the most of every day! This past Saturday we really packed it in. We woke up early, (wait, we do that everyday now :)) and hit the road to San Fran. Its beautiful here this time of year. We actually had gone up Friday too. Friday we drove through Pac Heights neighborhood, admiring the mansions, then parked at the Palace of Fine Arts and walked along the water to a wave organ. The sun was shining, the temp hot and the Golden Gate bridge was looking pretty awesome. Then we had lunch with Barb's friend Jill and her family. So Saturday we went back up the city and boarded a ferry to Angel Island. Little did we know, it was "The Pilgrimage," the 100 year anniversary of Asian immigrants coming through Angel Island. So there were a lot of people, but we quickly got out of the crowd and strolled about 4 miles around the island. We took the ferry back, taking in the beautiful bridge again and numerous sailboats. Then we went to a bbq in the Mission at Greg's friend's house and then my friend came over at night. Needless to say, Sunday was spent recovering from such a busy day. This week, our last week together for a little while, we strolled 5 miles at Crystal Springs Reservoir, went to our last nursing group meeting, and today went back up to SF to the De Young Museum's special Impressionist Masterpiece exhibit. We saw amazing paintings from the greats including Van Gough's Starry Night. Cody was a good critic with our friends from the mother's group. Tonight Grammy and Pops come into town and tomorrow is Grammy's birthday. Time to celebrate! Then back to school. It was been so awesome hangin' with the Codster a la Codylicious these past three months, although I'm sad to go back to work, I'm excited about teaching which I love and confident that Cody will be in the loving hands of Grammy and Pops, Nana, and Aunt Rita.

Cody's Three Months Old and Sleeping in his Nursery

Happy Three Month Birthday to Cody! We celebrated by going on a 3 mile dirt hike at Waterdog Lake Park. Last weekend we finished the nursery and we all love it. About 3 weeks ago, so when Cody was a little over two months we had started putting Cody down in his nursery around 8:30 and sitting in there with them and talking to him and each other. This I think got him used to his new room. Then at 10 I'd nurse him and put him in the bassinet all swaddled next to our bed. But this weekend with his new crib and changing table we started putting him down at 8:30 in his crib and be able to walk out as he drifted off to happy dreamland. We kicked off this event Saturday night by doing a family sleep over with our sleeping bags in his room. Then Sunday after his first Giants baseball game, we installed a video monitor so we can check in on him without disrupting him. He's been a pretty awesome sleeper. Like I said, he'll go to bed around 8:30 and sleep until 3ish then I feed him that once and he sleeps until 6-7ish. Greg often gets him in the morning and he happily lays on daddy's stomach and wakes up. Then I nurse him and we start another new, exciting day. Monday we met lots of baby friends at our mother's club meeting, Tuesday we went to one of our last nursing group meetings and today we went to a new mom meeting. I had to get them all in before I go back to work next week. We also made two huge eggplant parm batches using Aunt Chris' recipe from Mangia and tonight we're making Sesame Tofu and Veggie Spring Rolls. Right now he is sleeping but yesterday he fed about every hour, I think he was growing before my eyes. Right now he weighs 14.12! Us Gaynor girls make our babies BIG. Tomorrow I'm going up to the city to meet Jill Reyes, Barb's good friend and do another walk around the city. Then this weekend we're going to explore Santa Cruz mountains and then have dinner at Sabrina's new digs. Then Grammie and Pops come out, then Nana, then Aunt Rita!! We're so excited for familypalooza!

Cody bags his first peak and helps dad catch 3 trout!

So last Monday was Labor Day, yay another day to spend with our whole family together. Tuesday Cody and I attended our weekly nursing group and a back to work group followed. It was really helpful getting info about going back to work and how to pump and prepare. Wednesday we walked along the Bay Trail in the morning then made a fresh summer soup and did a little schoolwork. Then starting Thursday, it was all about the camping trip. So we packed and prepared. We left for the Lakes Basin Region, which is northwest of Lake Tahoe, after breakfast Friday morning. Thursday night there was a huge explosion in San Bruno, destroying 50 homes. A gas line had exploded. The news was crazy, it was a good time to get out of town and get away from TV and phones. So we started driving and listening to the third book in the Girl With A Dragon Tattoo series. We stopped every couple of hours to nurse and play with Cody and pick up some fresh almonds and pistachios. Yum yum! When we got to the Gold Lake Lodge we were informed that we had been upgraded from a tent cabin to a real cabin complete with bed, bathroom with shower and a space heater. This was awesome since we had packed our car full of stuff for Cody and there's no way it would have all fit in a tent. Someone above was looking out for us and hooked us up. This place was awesome. We took a short hike to a couple of lakes then returned for dinner. Food at this place was awesome. You order your entree off the menu but then soup, salad, and sides were served family style. We probably ingested 4000 calories a meal. It was outta control and we all fell into a food coma and went to bed right after dinner. Did I mention there was dessert too? Well we needed the calories since the next day after a HUGE breakfast we set out for our ten mile loop of pure mountain beauty. We left at 9:30 and hiked until 4:30. We passed 8-9 beautiful lakes, we hiked to the top of Mt. Elwell and played to Cody along the way. Greg jumped in the frigid waters and fished a little too. It is sooooooo beautiful, we already are planning our next visit. Saturday night we had good conversation at dinner, great eats and went to bed full and tired. Cody was awesome all day and night, he loves this style of camping. Sunday after breakfast Greg went on a solo row boat fishing mission. He was unsuccessful, he needed Cody's hands on the rod. So I packed up and we left and explored several other lodges and camping sites in the area. One was reserved until 2020! Lots of people love it up here. At one lodge we decided as a family to take out a row boat and that's when Cody helped Greg catch three good size trout. It was so beautiful. On our way home we passed through Sierra City and Downieville, both cool old mining towns. We went to their museum, fished some more and then headed home. It was an overall AWESOME family trip. Back home we ordered pizza and went to bed. Monday Cody and I met another woman from the mother's club and hiked 5 miles up a Crystal Springs Reservoir. Tuesday we went up to San Francisco and strolled part of the Land's End Trail. This trail had beautiful views of the Golden Gate Bridge and you passed a really cool museum I want to check out, its called the Legion of Honor. Then yesterday we met Greg for a windy lunch by the bay and did some Back to School shopping. We also made awesome salsa from ingredients from our garden. Today was busy, we reserved our house for our Pres Day Utah ski trip, we completed our nursery getting a Pali Crib and Dresser/Changing Table, and I participated in a webinar about PBS (Positive Behavior Support) which I'm the new point person at my school. Cody enjoyed listening to the webinar too! We always look forward to Greg coming home. Tonight we'll have the last of the lasagna John made us back in June. It has been awesome. I'm going to make a huge eggplant parm double recipe sometime soon. Oh, Greg is back on brewing and last Sunday we made a Octoberfest beer that's in the second stage right now. I need to plan an Octoberfest brewparty for its release. Tomorrow we're going back up to the city to explore North Beach, the Italian neighborhood and Chinatown. My friend gave me these great little walking cards that map out each neighborhood and cool places to stop and shop. I want to get yummy ingredients for a nice Italian meal.

Back to School....kind of

Hmmm..that's weird last time I wrote was August 19th and now its September 2nd, what happened to the last two weeks? Let me try to remember. I believe that following weekend we laid low and just did a little weekend hike up along Skyline Blvd. Then last week was getting ready for the start of school. On Tuesday August 24th, Cody was a trooper and got his first set of shots. Greg came for support. Its scary for the mommy, they had me hold him down and boom the shots went right in the kashi (thigh for those of you not in the know) he screamed, I froze, then I picked him up and nursed him and all was well..we went to Target and he slept. That Saturday Cody hosted his first backyard party. We bbqed and made Sangria. My friends from work all have something in common with us. Two couples are from back east, one lived in NYC when we did too and my other friend lived in Denver. We're the transplant teachers and like to hang out together. We went to the NYC couples house yesterday for a pool party, BBQ and Cody had fun playing with their daughter who started 6th grade. Last Sunday we went to the Palo Alto Art and Wine Festival. Greg bought me a beautiful green jasper and amethyst necklace. There was amazing chalk drawings on the streets, it was a fun time. I tell ya, one glass of wine in the summer's heat is enough for me after 9 months of not drinking. So this week was back to school. I met my sub Monday and Greg took off with Cody. They had a fun time walking around Crystal Springs Reservoir and seeing girls from my nursing group. Then Tuesday Cody came to school with me and was totally awesome all day. I had a car full of Cody stuff to keep him having fun all day. Then Wednesday, well Wednesday worked out. We were supposed to have a Gilead babysitter come to the house but when we didn't call to confirm or actually show up Greg stayed home again which made the whole family happy. I met my students for the 1st day and then met the parents at Back To School Night. I'm glad I went in, but even happier that I have a month with the Codster or Codylicious or just Lish. So to celebrate Friday Cody and I hoped on the CalTrain to San Jose and went to the Tech Museum which had a special Genghis Khan exhibit. We learned a lot and then met up with Greg who was down in the area for a fun company outing. We continued having fun all together on Saturday when we drove over the Golden Gate through the fog, back into the sun in Marin County. We went to Sam Marshall Park and did a hike then Greg jumped off a couple boulders into deep watering holes in the river. It was a Sunset Magazine recommendation. I love that magazine!! Yesterday we did that pool BBQ and today, Monday, Labor Day, we walked around our neighborhood for two hours after a big pancake breakfast and True Blood morning episode. Now we're on the front porch relaxing. Greg is making beer and we're going to have a good dinner with lots of fresh ingredients from the ever expanding garden. Tomorrow starts another week of Cody and I enjoying each other and exploring different neighborhoods in San Fran. Then we go camping!!