Fathers and Sons

Jack often likes to hold Tom's hand as we stroll along. It's a father and son moment that always makes me smile and seems so perfect on Father's Day.

Happy Father's Day to all the Dads out there -- Mindy and Tom's Dad especially -- we are thinking of you and wish that we all lived closer.

Jack's First Haircut

UPDATE 6/27/10: Check out the latest digital scrapbook page from Mindy's Aunt Pauline - love it, keep them coming!

Original post from 6/19/10:

We've trimmed Jack's hair with those little blunt craft scissors before, but he's recently grown a rat tail in the back and hair was curling into his ears -- time for a real haircut.

We visited Kids Cuts for Jack's first big boy haircut. It's a cool local salon with cars for chairs and stations equipped with TVs playing cartoons.

They know their stuff and we were in and out in record time with a little packet of hair for Jack's baby book.

CLICK HERE for more pictures of Jack's first haircut.

PLAY the video below to watch the action.

Stella's so money

Jack meets Aunt Carrie

We recently went to Portland, OR to visit with Tom's parents and his Aunt Carrie who was visiting from Minnesota. Carrie drove from Minnesota with Luther, her yellow tabby. We hadn't seen Carrie in a couple of years so we were really happy to see her and excited to introduce Jack to his Aunt. Carrie is one current, cool chick - she does the books for her local organic foods store, is active in her church and sometimes fills in for their minister, and we're envious of her fancy Mac laptop. Jack had fun spending time with Carrie, Grandma, and Grandpa and was fascinated by Luther who often hid safely behind the sofa -- only to look up and see Jack peering down at him.



Carris is a Minnesota transplant and a born and bred New Englander -- so you know she's a fan of LL Bean. She got Jack the cutest LL Bean slippers which are perfect for chilly San Francisco mornings on hardwood floors.



CLICK HERE for more pictures of our fun visit with Jack's Aunt Carrie, Grandma and Grandpa Blossom.

99th Annual Bay to Breakers

On May 16th, Tom ran the Bay to Breakers road race with his cousin-in-law, Brad. Brad, his wife Kerrie, and daughter Alie, road tripped it from Sacramento the day before and stayed with us. We rose early the next day for the start of the race.

The Bay to Breakers is a very fun San Francisco institution that is in its 99th year. The race starts at one end of the city near the Bay (starting by the Embarcadero near the Bay Bridge) and winds its way 12 kilometers through the city and Golden Gate Park (approx 7.5 miles) to the Breakers (at Ocean Beach). The start line is a mix of runners and walkers and kicks off with 60,000 race participants throwing tortillas in the air. In typical San Francisco free-spiritedness, race participants dress up in costumes or go naked. Public drunkenness and urination are prevalent. People cheer from the sidelines while hanging from their windows and atop roofs, and turn their speakers towards the street and crank the music. It's a party from start to finish.

Tom ran in 1:23:12 and he and Brad were both in the first 10,000 to make it across the finish line. This is Tom's second year running the Bay to Breakers. CLICK HERE for pictures of the last time Tom ran to get a sense of the costumes and fun.

A Windy Day at the Beach

We recently ventured south and went to Mavericks where a big-wave surf contest of the same name is held each year sometime in January through March, depending on wave conditions. The contest draws the world's best and the bravest big-wave surfers to the invitation-only contest. Strong winter storms combined with an unusually shaped underwater rock formation make for a break that creates waves nearing 5 stories tall.

For us, though, it's just a nice sunny walk to the beach with great views of the extreme kayakers in the frigid Pacific. And for Jack, it's like going to one big windy sandbox.

In making our way to the beach, we passed a rock which was inscribed with what looked like POO - which of course we found amusing. After a little research, we found that the rock is likely a tribute to Mark Foo, a popular big-wave Hawaiian surfer who sadly succumbed to the dangerous surf in 1994's contest.

CLICK HERE for more pictures of our day, and below for a video of the surf and turf.