what's New with the Serranos

Baby Update and More

2012-01-10T16:30:00.000-08:00

Greetings all!

Baby Serrano 2

We have made it through the holidays and are looking forward to a very exciting next 30-45 days. Baby Serrano #2, aka Our Little Watermelon, is coming soon and we have been busy getting ready! Due on February 14, he is definitely growing and taking up as much space as possible in Natasha's tummy. It is very difficult to do things like.....well, just about everything actually. I have continued to have a very light workload, so my daily naps and restful work in front of the sewing machine have made the days reasonably easy.

At Daddy's soccer game

Jason is starting to ask if and when the baby is coming out of Mommy's tummy now, and we are trying to find situations where he can see very small babies so he is prepared for his tiny little brother. He is a natural caretaker and loves to nurture people, so we know he is going to do a fabulous job as big brother.

Jason is 3 now and is fully developed person, walking, talking, and not afraid to express his opinions to anyone who in his general proximity. He loves trains and cars now, and insists on carrying his TWO Lightning McQueen matchbox cars with him wherever he goes.

He is continuing at Vista Christian Preschool, a Montessori school near our home, and he is really excelling. He has also begun to show that he can easily and quickly memorize song lyrics and is always singing his favorite songs under his breath as he goes about his day.

At his school's Thanksgiving Lunch

Alberto is doing well, and work is starting to pick up again after the holidays. He has also made a nice network of friends in the area and he and Jason are constantly off to baby showers and birthday parties and the like. Jason will go anywhere there is a pinata!

We are looking forward to seeing family and friends over the next few months and introducing our youngest son to everyone!

Cookies, cookies for everyone!

29 weeks pregnant on my birthday

Rain, rain, doesn't keep us away!

Happy Fall!

2011-11-02T12:08:00.000-07:00

Greetings to everyone!

Just wanted to post an update on what's beem going on with the Serranos -

We just passed Halloween and Jason was an adorable Musketeer. Here are a couple of pics:

We had a great time, but that is not all the fun we had in October. We had a fabulous visit from our dear friends the Lawson family, and we played tourist in our own town. Highlights were the San Diego Zoo and Disney Land!

Such a great time and we were thrilled to get our kids together again!

Jason loved Mickey and now he sleeps with his new stuffed Mickey doll every night. He has also asked us to go back to Mickey's house several times.

We have also been enjoying attending Alberto's soccer games.

He is now Captain for the top team of his league, and won a trophy in the spring for making the most goals out all the league's players.

I have been working on my own as an independent consultant for CRM since June 1. I am really enjoying the freedom it allows me, and the opportunity for rest when I need it.

I am 25 weeks pregnant now, and can feel little Baby Serrano moving many times every day. He is quite active and never kicks in the same place twice. I think he is going to be just like his big brother, which means another several years of non-stop running around for me and Alberto!

This weekend, Alberto attends a 2 day prep course for taking his California licensing exam. This is for him to finally launch his own business as a tile contractor. We've been preparing marketing materials and planning for business growth for a few months. Once we get past the exam, we'll be ready to get everything published and reaching out to the community.

Finally, once we get Alberto up and running I'll have the time to start focusing on completing my Montessori internship and observation requirements. This will be a big accomplishment for me and will finally clear the path for me to start planning on opening a school.

Happy Fall to you and have an awesome holiday season!

Photo Book

2011-09-05T15:51:00.001-07:00

Click here to view this photo book larger

And now for a Serrano family announcement......

2011-08-22T14:23:00.000-07:00

The Serrano family is excited to share with you that we are expecting Baby #2! Baby Serrano is due on February 14, 2012, and promises to be the sweetest Valentine's Day gift imaginable.

We are doing well! Jason is excited about the baby in Mommy's tummy and has recently started to say he has a baby in his tummy too. Natasha is getting as much sleep as possible and enjoying a bit of downtime from work to get caught up on projects and stay grounded. Alberto is ramping up for a busy fall and we are hoping to launch his own business for tile and stone work in the coming months.

We have had a great year so far, and have a few photos to share with you -

You can take the boy out of Texas, but you can't take Texas out of the boy! March 2011

Jason is a great helper in the garden. April 2011

I've got Easter candy in my pocket! Easter 2011

Jason and his first Chuck E Cheese experience (or as he call it, "the giant mouse") May 2011

All finished with Montessori training! July 2011

An awesome visit from his Houston friend, Sasha! August 2011

Goofing around with our neighbors Alyson and Case August 2011

2011 is going to be full of activity!

2011-01-13T11:47:00.000-08:00

Greetings all -

We hope that everyone had a fabulous holiday at the end of the year and that you are still resolutely sticking to your resolutions! :)

We expect 2011 to be a big year for us both personally and professionally.

Alberto is studying hard to prepare for his contractor license for the awesome tile work he does.
I am working to expand my skillset into SRS Reporting, javascrpting, and becoming the resident expert of all things CRM 2011 (which, by the way, releases one week from today in case anyone is waiting...)

Jason is making leaps and bounds at his wonderful school, Montessori School of Oceanside.
He is 2 now, and has started potty training in earnest. He is entering the last stage of the unconscious absorbent mind, and often treads briefly into the world of self-awareness and expression. It is awesome to witness this transformation, and I am grateful for my extracurricular classes in the Montessori Method to help me identify these milestones.

I made my new commitment to Christ known on December 5 and have now been baptized, or "born again". I don't particularly like that term since I associate many negative connotations to it. But it is true that I feel like a new person and I know that the Holy Spirit is at work inside of me. It's a wonderful feeling to be embraced and loved and I am making efforts to reach out to the church I am now attending so that I can have a support network in this still very new journey.

Alberto is hard at work finding new ways to damage his mountain bike and loves to be outdoors and riding through the trails on the nature preserve behind our home. Jason still occasionally rides with him, but at 34 1/2 pounds, Alberto isn't as eager to cart him around as he once was!

I am also working on learning to sew and quilt, and am having a great time with it, even if I move slower than a snail's pace. :) And of course, I am beginning to plan my new season of gardening and hope to have an even more fruitful bounty of veggies in the back yard this year.

And, in our spare time, we are hard at work trying to stay in contact with our beloved friends and family all over the U.S. and Mexico and make sure we do a better job at keeping in touch.

So, we are busy and loving every minute of it.

What are your plans for 2011?

Merry Christmas!

2010-12-22T17:44:00.000-08:00

#1 Helper for Christmas Cookies

Merry Christmas and joyful thoughts too,

from the Serrano family to all of you!

May your days be merry, your nights be bright

and you catch a glimpse of Santa in flight.

And that we remember the singular reason

we have in our world this wonderful season

that the Lord Jesus came to set us all free

so that we may have new blessed life heavenly!

Our Christmas Cookie batch

See you next year!

New articles about baby Izaiah and his family

2010-12-15T11:47:00.000-08:00

The San Diego Union Tribune has just published two new articles about the Wallis family this week, and I wanted to share them with you here. Please click on the following links to learn more:

New Reality for the Wallis Family:
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2010/dec/11/parents-toddler-hurt-oceanside-crash-deal-new-real/

Parents kick off campaign for "Izaiah's Law":
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2010/dec/14/parents-kick-campaign-izaiahs-law/

Please help in any way you can, and include this sweet child in your prayers.

Little angel - Izaiah Wallis

2010-12-14T21:39:00.000-08:00

Anyone who sees me tweeting or posting on Facebook has probably come across messages I have been posting recently about a sweet little boy named Izaiah who lives here in San Diego. He is just 3 months younger than Jason, and his maternal grandparents live in my neighborhood.

I have been posting about him for the last few weeks to help raise awareness of his desperate situation. This is not a joke, nor is it some kind of internet hoax. Please read on....

Christmas Spirit

2010-12-09T11:28:00.001-08:00

Hello all!
It has been a long year. A fabulous year. A challenging year. All in all I am ready for 2011!

Today is Jason's birthday - he is now officially a "terrible two-year old"! We have already started saying around the house that "T" is for "troublemaker" or "travieso" (depending on who is saying it ;) )
But one thing is still certain, he is the most awesome kid imaginable. He loves his Montessori school. He loves to learn and sing and dance....and work! Seriously, if you try to take his broom from him it does not go well!

My birthday was last week and went relatively well too. I enjoyed taking the day off and having a "me" day of just whatever I wanted to do.

And now the Christmas season is in full swing and we have our lights hung and our christmas tree up. Christmas feels different to me now than before - partially because I am a mom and partially because I have traveled a great personal journey with my faith this year. I am so thankful for the wonderful life that I have and just wanted to tell all of you that I am thankful to you for being a part of it.

Merry Christmas to everyone and may the spirit of the season remain in your heart all year long!

XOXO,
Natasha

Aloha!

2010-04-05T22:19:00.001-07:00

We just got back from a trip to Oahu with my parents and had a great time! It was pretty windy and overcast while we were there but we had a couple of great beach days and spent the rest of our time touring the island.

We also hit a few bumps in the road - Waikiki/Honolulu highways are *ridiculously* confusing; the wind was so bad while we were at Pearl Harbor that we couldn't go see the Arizona Memorial; and Jason had a very unfortunate tumble in the ocean water our very first day there, causing him to be terrified of the beach the rest of the trip!

We overcame these things though, and made the most of things. Here are some of the things we did:
- Watched the sea turtles (honu) in Hale'Iwa
- Had some delicious shrimp dishes at Romy's Shrimp Shack outside of Kuhuku
- Bought a ton of cool stuff at the swap meet in the parking lot of Aloha Stadium
- Found a Honolulu Senor Frog's!!
- Had a shave ice treat from Island Snow in Kailua, where President Obama goes when he is vacationing. We had the "Snowbama", named for his favorite variety - with lemon-lime, cherry and passion-guava flavors.
(Read an article on President Obama's visit here)
- Kayaked to Flat Island, off the shores of Kailua Beach
- Visited the Japanese Byodo-In Temple. BEAUTIFUL!

My favorite part of the trip: Mom and Dad gave Alberto and me a "date night", where they took Jason in the afternoon and freed us up to do whatever we wanted until the next morning. It was a blast and I needed the break!

Jason enjoyed things the whole time except when we were on the plane (6 torturous hours each way) and when we were on the beach. He was a real trooper with all the driving we did, and also slept like an angel each night. He enjoyed trying the fresh papaya and mango, and also strolling around Kailua town (where he made sweet eyes at the majority of the female portion of the local population) and waking up each morning to the singing of the birds all around the vacation home we were staying in. Every day he cooed and chattered back at the birds while he snuggled in bed with us before breakfast. Paradise definitely suits him!

Professional Blogging

2010-02-09T11:03:00.001-08:00

One of the things that I am embracing at my new job with FMT Consultants is blogging about CRM. I have posted a few different articles now, which go up on FMT's website as well as another website called the CRM Software Blog. Sometimes the articles get reposted on Microsoft's Dynamics Blog, which is pretty cool.

Here's my latest one, if you are a tweeter, please tweet this!

Want to Manage a Line of Business? There's an "x" for That!

Whodat?!?

2010-02-08T10:00:00.000-08:00

What an awesome Super Bowl game! Don't you think? And not just because my pick won, but because it was really a very good game with a lot of suspense and plenty of surprises.

How about the way the Saints opened up the second half? I don't know much about football, but I know enough to know that their on-side kick was a bold and gutsy move that completely threw the Colts off balance. And just as we were remarking at home that we hadn't seen those trademark interceptions that the Saints have become known for, Porter came through with his beautiful pick and touchdown run.

How sweet it is!

What a beautiful way to end the season for the New Orleans Community. If you have been reading our blog for a while, you know that I have been very passionate about the state of the Gulf Coast after Hurricane Katrina ravaged the region. I pulled together a team of colleagues to help rebuild in Mississippi in 2006. I also tried to raise awareness about how New Orleans, even one year, two years, etc down the road was still struggling to recover. Lastly, I wrote to then-Senator Obama imploring him to make the recovery of the Gulf Coast a focal point for the campaign and a key effort of his potential presidency. So, even though we are such a long way away in San Diego, I really felt the victory along with the rest of my family and all of New Orleans.

I was also especially touched by the image of Drew Brees with his son after the game. Brees, with tears welling in his eyes, held his son, Baylen, close as the pair took in the celebration unfolding around them. As a new mom, I know what an incredible feeling that must have been for him to not only experience this moment for himself, but to also share it with his child. I can only imagine the pride he felt knowing that as a father he has set an incredible example for his son, and that when Baylen is grown he'll always be able to look back at the images of his Super-Bowl hero Dad and how much he clearly adored his son.

The Super Bowl shindig at Chez Serrano-Mingo (how about Chez Serraneaux-Mingeaux?) went very well - the gumbo was fabulous, the potato salad divine, and even the bread pudding was pretty tasty! Everyone enjoyed the hurricane cocktails throughout the game and when the Saints won the championship we raised glasses of bubbly with a resounding "WHODAT!" chant.

Thank you Saints for being such an inspiration this season!

Super Bowl on the brain

2010-02-05T16:52:00.000-08:00

What's a girl from the Gulf Coast to do? All I have been able to think about is the Saints in the Super Bowl. This is a huge event for my family. My niece has colored her hair with gold and black stripes. My otherwise eloquent mother now greets me on the phone with 'Whodat?'. And my father has peppered my inbox with daily feelgood humor about this oh-so-magical Saints team.

We are going to watch the Super Bowl at Chez Serrano-Mingo, where the house will be festooned with Mardi Gras paraphernalia and everyone will be adorned with a handful of Mardi Gras beads as they walk in the door.

The drink of the day will be Hurricanes and the cuisine will be gumbo and bread pudding.
What else??

One note of surprise, I went to our local grocery store this morning on the hunt for pre-made hurricane mix, and I got a circle of mystified faces as they actually asked me what a Hurricane was. What is a hurricane?!? This may be the West Coast, but for crying out loud I thought that the notoriety of late-night exploits in the French Quarter would have traveled further.

As I explained how it was Super Bowl weekend, and that this was after all the New Orleans Saints' first ever appearance I had hoped for them to start cluing in so I didn't have to completely spell it out. You know, New Orleans, Gulf Coast, hurricanes.........? No luck. So I wrapped up my inquiry with a remark that they had missed out on a hell of a marketing opportunity and left. I'm pretty sure they still don't get what I was talking about. Boo!

2010-02-04T12:36:00.001-08:00

Severe Weather Alert for South Florida!
http://ping.fm/CK8Kw

New Severe Weather Advisory in South Florida

2010-02-04T12:28:00.000-08:00

Thanks Dad!

NOAA – 27 Jan 2010 1035EST

Outlook for the Atlantic, Caribbean and the Gulf of Mexico…

Hurricane Whodat is predicted to make landfall on the South Florida coast in the vicinity of Miami on 7 Feb 2010 at approximately 2200Z (5:00 PM EST).

This extremely powerful hurricane is expected to produce damaging Shockey waves and Category 5 Brees. Reports from shipping indicate that this unstoppable storm has blown a huge flock of Cardinals all the way to Arizona, and that it has sunk a replica Viking longboat, the BrettFavren.

Livestock, in particular young horses, will be in severe danger of being decimated. Predictive damage estimates are unavailable at this time, but they are expected to be significant.

All interests in and near the Miami area are advised to prepare for a storm surge of catastrophic proportions as Hurricane Whodat begins to arrive in approximately 3 days.

Next advisory 07 Feb 2010 at 0300Z (10:00 PM EST).

2009-12-29T14:54:00.001-08:00

FMT Consultants embracing social media on home page! http://ping.fm/nEivM FMTConsultants CRM ERP BusinessIntelligence

Friday afternoon entertainment

2009-12-18T11:26:00.000-08:00

Hello world!
yes, we are still here. We have had no time or ability to update - but a full update will be coming soon. So much to tell you about!

In the meantime, enjoy the following Friday afternoon fun:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W8_Kfjo3VjU

Be sure to give yourself 10 minutes of uninterrupted time and turn the volume up!

2009-12-14T11:08:00.001-08:00

http://ping.fm/5FIgH

9-9-09 - lucky or unlucky??

2009-09-10T08:22:00.000-07:00

How did everyone's 9-9-09 day turn out? It was generally hoped by most that it would be a very auspicious day.

However, I don't know yet if that applies to me. Yesterday, I ended up getting laid off! Am I lucky that I now have to seek new opportunities or unlucky that our financial security is now in jeopardy? I don't know yet, but when I find out I'll let you know!

Wish us luck!

Wheat, Barley and Rye, oh my!

2009-08-17T17:53:00.001-07:00

Guess what…my doctor thinks I have Celiac disease. Never heard of it? Neither have I!

Nevertheless, apparently some blood tests I have taken say that I have this disease. Basically it means that I have to change my diet so that I cut out anything that contains glutens. Gluten is primarily found in wheat, barley and rye.

Get a load of this list of things I can’t have:

The basics of a gluten-free diet include:

Avoiding all foods that contain wheat, rye, and barley gluten. Bread, bagels, pasta, pizza, malted breakfast cereals, and crackers are all examples of foods that contain gluten. Although some foods are labeled wheat-free, this does not mean that they are gluten-free.
Avoiding oats, at least initially. Oats may cause symptoms in some people, perhaps as a result of contamination with wheat, barley, or rye during processing. But many people who have celiac disease can eat moderate amounts of oats without having symptoms.¹ Health professionals vary in their long-term recommendations regarding eating foods with oats. But most agree it is best that people newly diagnosed with celiac disease not eat oats until the condition is well controlled with a gluten-free diet. Then, up to 2oz of oats may be eaten daily as long as no new symptoms arise.² You should eat only oats known not to be contaminated by wheat, barley, or rye during processing.
Avoiding or limiting milk products in the beginning of treatment if they cause or aggravate symptoms. After symptoms improve and the small intestine heals (about 2 to 6 months), you may be able to gradually reintroduce milk products into your diet.
Avoiding all beer products, alcoholic and nonalcoholic, including lagers, ales, and stouts.
Reading ingredient labels carefully and being aware of types of hidden gluten. Gluten can be in things like medicines, vitamins and other nutritional supplements, lipstick and lip balm, and various food additives. Products whose labels have the phrase "modified food starch" or "hydrolyzed vegetable protein" may contain gluten.

No beer?!? I think I’m just going to have to be sick!

Here’s what I can have:

On a gluten-free diet, you can still have:

Eggs and dairy products such as cheese. But you may need to avoid milk and milk products at the beginning of treatment.
Flours and starches made from rice, corn, buckwheat, potatoes, soybeans, or tapioca.
Fresh, frozen, and canned meats. Read labels for additives that may contain gluten.
Fresh, frozen, dried, or canned fruits and vegetables if they do not contain thickening agents or other additives containing gluten.
Certain alcoholic beverages, including wine, liquor (including whiskey and brandy), liqueurs, and ciders.

Almost everything I eat is either wheat or whole grain. Even my favorite cereal, which is currently Special K Cinnamon Pecan (such yumminess!)

Goodness me, whatever am I going to do?

Gluten-free diet for celiac disease

Lock up your valuables!

2009-07-29T20:03:00.000-07:00

...Because Jason is on the loose!

We, as the very proud parents of Mr. Jason, are pleased to share a special day with you - Jason crawled for the first time today!

He has been rocking back and forth for a couple of weeks, but never quite figured out what to do with himself after that. But today, he had an epiphany and put one hand forward - a leg forward followed and within a matter of seconds he was on the other side of the couch!

I captured this special occasion with the following video:

Now what am I going to do with all the stuff in this house??

We loved NOLA! We love DayCare less...

2009-07-28T13:42:00.001-07:00

We had so much fun in New Orleans a couple of weeks ago! We even got to stop and see Jason's Great-Grandmother in Lafayette on the way. She says Jason is a "fat little bugger". I have to agree, but he is adorable! However, Liz (who saw him on Saturday) says that he has actually grown since two weeks ago, so his fat is redistributing already :)

Microsoft's WPC conference was a lot of fun, especially the closing party JazzFest. I learned a lot about stuff related to my job and how I will be expanding into new areas. The Convention Center was a great venue except it took *forever* to get from one side to the other. My feet really hurt by the end of the week.

Alberto and I went to Mulate's and Harrah's the Sunday before the conference and then went home to a fabulous dinner at Stephanie's house that night. It was a whole family dinner too, with 2 of 3 of Steph's kids joining us, along with their significant others. I also found out my oldest nephew is engaged! Congratulations Travis and Andrea!

Jason had a fabulous time with his Aunt Stephanie all week. She made some homemade toys for him (which he has been unable to part with to this day), and they had a great time playing together. She was determined to get him crawling by the time we went home - he didn't make it, but he has made leaps and bounds toward the goal! Now he rolls himself right up onto all fours and then just rocks back and forth - a lot - hoping to get somewhere. When he does move, it's in reverse, so he's going to have to work on that! :)

When we got back from New Orleans, Jason's Tia Meyda came for a visit for a few days. Once again, our house was transformed into a homestyle Mexican restaurant, with tons of different meals coming out of the kitchen, courtesy of Meyda's delicious cooking. MMM-MMM it was fabulous!

DayCare hasn't been so fun - Jason got sick the first day he was there, and after having a runny nose for a week it has now transformed into a full blown ear infection - in BOTH ears! Our poor little boy is having a lot of trouble swallowing and breathing through his nose, which just makes life tough for a kid his age. We've been trying to give him extra love and snuggles to make him feel better.

Jason still cries every day when I leave him at DayCare - I am hoping this will taper off in the next few days, as he starts to realize all the fun things he can do there. Every day they do story time, singing time, rhyme time, and they'll also do other fun activities like finger painting and playing with water and bubbles.

Summer here is Houston is as hot as ever, and we are spending 99% of our time indoors and out of the vicious heat. Can't wait for fall!

Whew, what a month!

2009-07-09T13:49:00.000-07:00

Today, Jason is 7 months old! He is such a big boy now - at his 6 month checkup a few weeks ago he measured 27 inches and 19 1/2 pounds. His hair is getting really long, and he now has both bottom teeth sprouting up fast.

We have had a fabulous month since his 6 month birthday!

Jason got to play in his cool new splish splash pool with his buddies Dylan and Sasha -

On Father's Day Jason gave Alberto a cool personalized coffee mug with their photo on it, then we took some photos of our own!

After that, he got to be a model in a fashion show for Sama Baby luxury organic clothes (http://www.samababy.com/)

And finally, we got to spend the 4th of July at Mickey and Donna's house, where we got to swim and see horses! The water was dreamy and warm, having been baking in the sun during our heat wave. Jason loved it!

We are also starting to get summer rains here. I love a good Texas rain shower. I have started to take Jason out onto the porch with me every time it rains so he'll like it too. He reaches his hand out to touch the water falling from above, then peers down below to see it collecting in puddles on the ground.

We took a small video to show you how much he likes it -

Tomorrow we go to New Orleans for a week to see Steph and the family. I will also be attending Microsoft's Worldwide Partner Conference while there. It's going to be busy!

Happy Six-Month Birthday!

2009-06-11T18:47:00.000-07:00

Jason turned 6 months old on June 9th!

He has been a joy and a challenge and a teacher to us! Even though it has only been six short months, I can't even imagine what life was like without him before. He has taught us what it means to be a kid again and has given us the warmth and incredible satisfaction of being our own family.

We are incredibly lucky to have such a happy and good-natured little boy who lights up like a Christmas tree and laughs hysterically while playing with us. He loves to play with colorful objects and anything that lights up or makes noises back at him. He is also learning to be sweet and loving to his softer toys, like his best friend Matteo the Monkey.

His newest thing is to alternate between cooing "oooh-oooh-oooh" nonstop, shrieking in delight at his friends and family and babbling all sorts of sounds. He is definitely making his voice heard!

This week Jason has started to put two similar sounds together (he has said "ga-ga", "goo-goo" and the aforementioned "ooh-ooh-ooh"). This morning, the second he woke up he was already off to the races and happily babbled "ga-ga, ga-ga, ga-ga" for 20 minutes in his crib while he let Mom and Dad take their time waking up.

We can't wait to see what the next six months bring!

Time to find a dentist!

2009-06-02T09:44:00.001-07:00

I found a little something extra in Jason's mouth this morning - his first tooth is starting to come in! I was feeding him some mashed banana with my finger when my fingertip scraped up against the little tooth on the bottom of his mouth.

This was a surprise! Jason hasn't really shown many external signs of teething, though he has been a bit more fussy while nursing and when going to sleep. I hope all of his teeth come in as well!

We've had a really busy few weeks with Jason. After first introducing him to solids he rewarded us that night by doing his first roll from tummy to back. Then, the next day he upped the ante by rolling from back to tummy. Then he just showed off by doing it again and again for the next ten minutes. Within a day he'd learned to put the two together and now he is just a roly poly all over the place!

We went to the Aquarium over Memorial Day weekend and despite the crowds Jason did great. He really loved looking at and reaching for the little rays with his Daddy:

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Jason has now tasted Pears, Peaches and Peas. He loves the Pears, absolutely hates the Peaches and tolerates the Peas. That's progress!

First Food experience

2009-05-20T14:59:00.001-07:00

We had a great time with Jason this past Sunday May 17, 2009 when we gave him his very first taste of food!

I mixed up some rice cereal for him and the fun commenced at breakfast time. He didn't know what to make of it and.....well, see for yourself!

As the days go on, I am thickening the cereal a little each day. By day 3, Jason was over his inital reticence and now he *loves* it! Wants more of it and actually fusses at me if I don't shovel it into his mouth fast enough! What a big boy!

Some photos of Jason in action

2009-04-18T15:14:00.000-07:00

Over the last few months, I've relied on my trusty Blackberry to take spur of the moment photos of Jason when needed. Here are a few from the past few months:

Me 'n' Jason in the hospital - Day one of his life! (Dec 10 2008) Boy was I tired!

January 2009 - Jason all dressed up for his Passport photo! (the actual photo didn't turn out well at all - he kind of looks like a squished up raisin!)

Valentine's Day 2009 - Peace and love, man!

March 2009 - The very first time Jason slept without his swaddle blanket!

March 14, 2009 - Jason's very first time he sucked his thumb

St Patty's Day 2009 - Our Little O'Cutie Pie

March 2009 - Hanging with mom 'n' dad on a lazy Sunday

March 2009 - Jason and his favorite friend, Matteo the Monkey

April 2009 - Jason discovers Dudley!

I'll keep taking candids and posting them periodically so you can see the kid in action!

Four Months Old and pics from our trip to Mazatlan!

2009-04-16T09:04:00.001-07:00

**EDITED April 22 to include photos from our trip!**

I can't believe how fast time flies!
In our last post, Jason had just turned 3 months old.
He is now 4 months old and is continuing to develop at an amazing rate!

He had his four month checkup on Tuesday this week, and we learned that he is now 26 inches long (putting him in the 90th percentile for height) and 16 lbs 3 ozs (putting him in the 75th percentile for weight)! Dr. Rossell kept remarking on how handsome he is and what a good natured baby he is turning out to be. He in turned kept charming her with his winning smile and crinkled up nose every time she talked to him. If it weren't for the shots, we would have thoroughly enjoyed the whole visit!

Speaking of shots, he has reacted more negatively to the shots this time around. Our sweet boy had his heart broken when he got those 4 needles in his legs and was difficult to console for several minutes after the vaccinations were administered. Now, two days later, each of his legs have big red welts on them and he favors his left leg very strongly. We've spent the majority of the last two days holding and consoling him. He also does not have an appetite at all - so we are now really out of whack with his eating routine. I just keep feeding him whenever he shows any interest, hoping that we'll get back to normal in the next few days. I know this will pass soon enough, it just makes me sad to see our happy little boy so uncomfortable.

On to other more upbeat news -

We have now taken our first family vacation! Alberto, Jason and I spent 6 days in beautiful Mazatlan last week introducing Jason to all of his Mexican relatives.

It was a whirlwind of activity from start to finish which was only made more intense by the fact that we had gone during Semana Santa. The craziness outside of our hotel for the holiday was almost nonstop from sundown to sunrise every night. Fortunately, we got a room higher up (on the 7th floor) and the a/c unit drowned out most of the chaos happening below.

Jason was wonderful the whole trip.

He handled the plane well, he handled the constant barrage of attention from adoring family members well, he even handled the nonstop on-the-go lifestyle we had! The family was also very helpful in respecting when he needed to be left alone for his naps. But when he was awake he was always basking in the attention of his grandmother, his aunts and uncles, and all of his little cousins.

He also was able to spend a lot of time with his sister, Jenny, and they took to each other very well. Jenny would play with him and tickle him and he would laugh hilariously and caress her face.

My favorite part of the trip was when I took Jason in the swimming pool at the hotel.

This pool was really cool - it was beautiful with its sparkling blue water and waterfall in the center. The steps into the pool were fashioned like rocks you'd use to walk into a stream. The water was crystal clear but cold!

Jason didn't know what to think at first, but clearly ended up enjoying it!

We got to take some video of our time there, as well as photos on our 35mm camera. I now have 4 rolls of film to develop, so once these are ready I will edit this post with photos from the trip!

In the meantime, we are still working on rolling over (he's very very close to rolling over from back to front!), sleeping through the night (average 50% success rate!) and motor skill coordination (he is now grabbing things with his hands and is very good at depth perception).

Jason is now able to track movement with both his eyes and his head and he is really quick to notice what is going on around him. Yesterday, he noticed Dudley for the very first time and even petted his doggie gently. Dudley was, as always, very patient with him.

And our biggest milestone so far this month -
Jason is now sleeping in his crib in his own room! We started this the night after we got back from Mazatlan, and so far we have had very little problem. Jason is a very happy boy and wakes up in a good mood even though he isn't next to us anymore. Such a big boy!

three month milestone!

2009-03-09T20:35:00.000-07:00

I am writing this blog entry on my blackberry from under my blanket so that I don't wake Jason up with the light from the device :)
Jason is three months old today! I can't believe this much time has already passed. He has grown so much in so many ways. Not only is he rapidly on his way to weighing 14 pounds, but he is also developing in a variety of ways.
He talks to us with many different sounds now, including a few different coos, a whispered "ya", a lilting "ah-aa-ah", and screeches. He has become very adept at using the different noises to communicate different things to us including frustration, hunger, impatience and delight. And on March 5 we were graced with his very first laugh!
We have begun experimenting with leaving one or both of his arms out of his swaddle blanket while he naps since he is demonstrating increased control over his arms. He is very cute when he does this as he concentrates very hard on keeping both of his arms elevated over his body in what looks like a ready-to-fight pose. He'll stay like that for a very long time, all the while watching me to make sure I notice and give him encouragement.
And today for the first time he was fascinated with his own image in the mirror.
Jason is an incredibly happy baby as long as he gets enough sleep. This isn't always the case as he seems to have decided recently that he doesn't like to go to sleep and fights it at most naptimes.
Our digital camera has decided to break at this most inopportune time, so I am relying on an old 35mm camera for photos. In the meantime Alberto Jason and I took some family photos a couple of weeks ago that turned out lovely. If I can get them scanned into the computer I'll post some for you to see.
I return to work on March 16 (one week from today) and I am of course nervous about that. My mom will be taking care of Jason during the week while I work so I feel pretty good about the situation, its still just difficult to accept that in 6 more days my life won't center around raising such an awesome kid. Fortunately, I am very lucky to have the opportunity to work from home when I am not traveling so that will make it much more bearable.

We have also booked our family trip to mazatlan, where Jason will get to meet all of his Mexican relatives. We will be there the week leading up to Easter, called Semana Santa or Holy Week. I am really looking forward to seeing mazatlan again. We haven't been there since our wedding in 2006!

2009 so far...

2009-02-07T10:17:00.001-08:00

So far 2009 has been pretty full. Jason keeps us on our toes pretty regularly, and Alberto is staying busy working side jobs and doing his regular work as well. I am busy with...well just Jason, but that is quite enough! It's been difficult to get things together, but with a little help from Liz and Mom we have finally got our house back in order, our bills paid (including our *mountain* of medical bills) and are looking forward instead of just catching up.

Mom just came and visited for two weeks, and it was a great help to us in every way. She and Jason really bonded, and today when she left Jason cried for almost an hour because he desperately wanted his Nana to hold him and didn't understand why she wasn't here. A little snack finally calmed him down and I managed to get him down for a nice long nap.

While Mom was here we took Jason (when he was 7 weeks) to get his first photo portraits done at JC Penney! Though we couldn't get him to smile on cue, they are still adorable. I learned to fully feed the baby immediately before the photo session, and things go a lot more smoothly! I'll be more prepared next time.

We also got some wonderful photos of Jason at home, and I have posted a few of them here. It's amazing to see how much he has changed - he doesn't look like a newborn at all anymore. In fact, sometimes he doesn't even look like a baby to me, but more like a child!

We have also learned something really important about him - after weeks of congestion and painful cries and restless sleep, a visit to Jason's pediatrician finally revealed the problem - He has GERD, otherwise known as acid reflux. She prescribed .6 mL of Zantac to him three times a day and within a few days there was a very noticeable improvement. Now, for the last four nights he has slept for 6 to 7 hours at a time, and he is much more happy and comfortable while he is awake. Thank goodness for Zantac!

Rub a dub dub in the kitchen sink!

Jason's Super Bowl photo!

Practicing his soap star pose!

Watching the Beisbol Serie de Caribe with Daddy

Jason and his Rainforest buddies

All dressed up and ready to see the other babies at Mommy's Baby Group

Hanging with Mommy

Baby Jason's first Christmas season

2009-01-03T09:23:00.000-08:00

We had a whirlwind holiday season, with lots of family in town and everyone eager to spend some time with the newest family member. Steph and Mom did an amazing job helping me and Alberto to get our bearings, and this week was actually the first time that we were on our own since the baby's birth.

Jason did wonderfully all throughout the holiday season, and was quite handsome on Christmas day in his Christmas onesie. It says (in Spanish) "Who needs Santa when I have Grandma". One big milestone we also passed on Christmas Day is that Jason lost his umbilical cord! He has a very cute innie belly button now :)

I have posted some pics below to share a few of the special moments we had:

Our first bath!

A handsome grin from our baby, a few hours before the umbilical cord came off

Sleepytime - I can't resist taking pictures of our sleeping boy!

Jason in his Christmas outfit

Sharing a moment with Daddy

A Christmas Day family picture

Basking in the love of women everywhere!

At long last - Jason Dominic Serrano has arrived!

2008-12-17T09:05:00.000-08:00

Alberto and I are ecstatic to announce that our beautiful son has finally arrived!

Jason Dominic Serrano arrived on Tuesday, December 9, 2008 at 8:12 pm.

He was 7 lbs 3.5 oz and 19 inches in length.

Here is a picture of him after getting his footprints taken, alongside his parents' fingerprints:

We had quite an eventful day on Tuesday the 9th. I was continuing to have intermittent contractions after the post made on Sunday December 7th, but they kept going away only to come back in the middle of the night.

But on Tuesday December 9th, there was no turning back. Mom and Stephanie, having been kept updated throughout the process, decided to go ahead and head into Houston on Monday afternoon in anticipation of a delivery in the near future. We all wokeup on Tuesday morning and started counting my contractions at 6 am.

I had a doctor appointment that morning anyway, and at 9:30 am Dr. Behrmann measured me at 4 centimeters dilated. She recommended that with the new dilation and the contractions, that I should come back later in the day for a recheck and then she could evaluate if it was time to head to the hospital. We made arrangements for me to come back at 2 pm, and Mom, Steph and I headed to lunch.

Between 11:00 and 1:00 things really got interesting. The contractions were starting to come closer together and pretty intense. Our waitress at Luby's kept coming by the table to check on us and make sure that I was going to be ok! I am so glad I had such a good lunch at that time, because that was the last opportunity I got!

After lunch we decided to go home and pack our hospital bags into the car just in case we'd be going straight to the hospital from the doctor appointment. Well, by the time we got home, I'd already progressed to the point that I decided for all of us there would be no doctor visit. It was straight to labor and delivery for me! We called Alberto and within 10 minutes he had joined us at home.

Alberto, Stephanie and I arrived at the hospital to find that there were no labor and delivery rooms available. Must have been a busy day! Alberto and I did the slow dance in the waiting room for about 20 minutes until there was one available and met our labor nurse, named Jennifer. Mom and Elizabeth joined us there a few minutes later, and every started to get settled in for the wait.

Once I was situated in my hospital gown and bed, I was rechecked, and I had dilated to 6 centimeters. Things were really coming along! I had also made the critical decision to go ahead with an epidural, and the anesthesiologist showed up about 20 minutes later with the blessed cocktail.

I say blessed cocktail, and I mean it! I was incredibly thankful for the pain relief. The doctor did a great job of administering just enough to get rid of the pain, but I could still feel the contractions and know when to push during delivery. I will never doubt the wonderful properties of the epidural again! :)

At 5:15 I was 10 centimeters and ready to push, and everyone was shooed out of the room except the doctor, nurse, Alberto and me.

Everything was going great with the delivery with one exception - the baby was in a sideways position and didn't want to turn!

It took almost 3 hours to get him out, and some extra effort from Dr. Behrmann to encourage him to rotate. Every time we had gotten him rotated a bit, he went right back to his sideways position. This kid was not ready to leave his nest!

Finally, at 8:12 Jason Dominic arrived and he looked great!

He is a really beautiful baby, with dark brown hair and cobalt blue eyes. He is the spitting image of his Daddy, though Alberto says he has my nose and chin. He has long fingers and toes and is incredibly strong! We have all marveled at how this days-old baby is already able to lift his own head, and practically rolls himself over!

Our stay in the hospital was fine, though we were all exhausted, even the baby! Check out this great photo we got of him, as if to say "Wow, what a day I've had!"

We went home on Thursday night, December 11th, and have been getting adjusted to life with baby ever since.

I have had a bit more difficulty recovering than the baby has, which is why it has taken so long to get this posted and to start calling friends and family. I apologize for the delay, but it really was necessary for me to get back on my feet.

I am still in bed most of each day, just trying to heal, but we anticipate being able to start receiving visitors to meet the baby next week.

Thank you to everyone who has been so thoughtful and kind to send us flowers and well wishes and gifts! We feel very blessed to have such a wonderful network of friends and family and we love each of you as well!

Holiday Season 2008 begins and baby updates

2008-12-07T06:08:00.001-08:00

I guess we've officially entered the holiday season - the mall traffic definitely indicates as much! Alberto and I took a long 3 hour stroll around the Galleria last night, trying to see if we could kickstart the baby's arrival. I am 39 weeks today and my due date is 6 days away!

We had a great Thanksgiving this year in Houston. I was really happy to be able to spend time with friends and my sister too, and grateful that Alberto enjoyed himself as well.

We had a small Thanksgiving dinner at home with Elizabeth and our friend Erik. I cooked Cornish game hens again, and this time I did it Cajun injector style. I had no idea what I would end up with, but everyone agreed that the birds were juicy and delicious. Erik was also sweet enough to send flowers after the weekend to thank us for having him over. Thank you Erik for spending the day with us! We really enjoyed your company.

That night, Alberto and I went to see Bartek and Edyta for their Italian-themed Thanksgiving party.

We met some really fabulous people as well, and hope to be able to hang out with them some more.

They were friendly, gracious, and fun-loving, and we had a super time!

We also celebrated Edyta's birthday which is just around the corner, since she won't be able to celebrate here in Houston.

A week later, it was my 33rd birthday on December 3.

Quite different from last year, I firmly stayed put at home! I am way too pregnant to be going anywhere fast, even on my birthday! :)

My sisters were so cool to commemorate the day too! Stephanie sent a lovely bouquet of flowers and Elizabeth showed up after work with a decadent chocolate cake. Thank you ladies!

Also on my birthday, Andrea's baby finally made his big appearance! Dylan is adorable, and takes after Andrea with his dark hair, dark eyes and dark skin. He is going to be a ladykiller.

In between and after all of this, Liz has tried her hand at some photography with me. I asked her to take some maternity photos before the baby comes and I must say she has done really well! A few of the unedited photos are below. We'll be choosing our most favorites to touch up and print. Thank you Liz for your hard work! Everything is beautiful.

So, where does that leave us? Waiting for the baby!

Like I said at the beginning of this post, we are looking for ways to encourage Baby Serrano to make his debut. I have been working on the exercise ball and finding ways to squat down for things (thanks to a timely tip from Andrea! :) ). We also did our 3 hour walk around the Galleria last night.

By all indications, it's beginning to work! But since this period of time is totally unpredictable, I'll have to leave it at that.

The next post you see from us should be post-delivery!

Operation Prep Nursery

2008-11-22T15:46:00.000-08:00

We've been focusing heavily on getting the baby's room ready for a few weeks now.
We have:

*painted the walls

*gotten the crib set up

*set up the playard/changing table

*prepped the nursing station

*gotten the cd player and baby music ready

*and washed every single thread of clothing the baby owns

And what a wardrobe he has!

Check out at all the cool stuff our kid is going to wear, thanks to all the gifts our friends and family have given! He is definitely going to be the coolest kid on the block.

He has sports themed outfits, monkey themed outfits, teddy bear sleepers, doggie nightgowns and lots of sea turtle and froggie towels.

I can't wait for him to wear one of his home-made beanie and bootie sets too. They are beautiful and handmade!

And don't get me started on the hats - beanies, caps, hats with tassles....what a cutie-pie we will have.

Here's his crib all put together!

Isn't the bedding great? And the rich cherry of the crib is a beautiful contrast.

Our adorable plush monkey toy sits in the corner, patiently waiting for his new friend to arrive!

Liz and Alberto were kind enough to tackle the matching wall border a couple of weekends ago.

It was a lot more work than one would think! But they managed to have a good time getting the task done, even though they got a little wet and gooey.

Here's me on November 16 - when I officially reached 36 weeks.

I'm nine months pregnant now!

What a journey it has been.

We can't wait to meet our little boy.

Why Sea Turtles?

2008-11-14T10:40:00.000-08:00

I have chosen to theme much of the Baby's world around the Hawaiian Sea Turtle, called Honu by native Hawaiians. His room is sea turtle themed, and much of what we asked for in clothing and accessories is turtle related.

People have been asking me why I chose this. Maybe it seems unusual to center a baby's world around such ancient or odd creatures. I thought I'd spend a few minutes talking about why I made this decision.

Alberto and I were lucky to be able to spend a fabulous week together in Maui earlier this year. This trip was a way to rejuvenate ourselves and renew our commitment to starting a family. It's no coincidence that we got pregnant around the same time! It's still up for debate whether we got pregnant on this trip or in the few days after our return, but one thing is certain - the vacation was the catalyst to making it possible!

While we were there, I got to witness these amazing creatures up close and personal. To be frank, it was impossible to avoid them! They are very social creatures and enjoyed swimming near where snorkelers and scuba divers gravitated. I had the personal privilege to swim with two of them (one on each side of me) during one of my snorkel trips to the place dubbed "Secret Cove" in South Maui.

I was completely enchanted with them from the moment I first laid eyes on them. They are graceful and elegant in all that they do, and their beautiful fluid motion carries a sense of high dignity and wisdom. Honu grow to be very old, sometimes as much as 80 years! I believe that their species carry a sense of old word wisdom that is only gained from millenia in close contact with the earth.

For Hawaiians, the honu is a symbol of longevity, peace, humility and the spirit within. I have read that the Hawaiian word for peace comes from the word Honu because of the embodiment of peace that is represented by the Hawaiian Sea Turtle.

In short, I developed a deep sense of respect and wonder for them.

We also learned on the trip that the Hawaiians also consider Honu to be good luck. If you have spent any time with me during the last 8 months, you have probably seen my most cherished momento from our Maui trip - my necklace that has a Honu pendant with a plumeria flower on his shell. I believe it does bring me luck, as my days always seem to go a little better when I am wearing my Honu necklace than when I'm not!

I decided that I wanted our new baby to be surrounded by these characteristics, in the hopes of cultivating them within himself. If my baby becomes a wise and dignified man, surrounded by luck and known for his peaceful ways, then my goal will have been accomplished!

Here's a little more information I found about the honu. I hope you love them as much as I do!

Info links:
http://www.turtles.org/hawgrnd.htm

http://www.hanauma-bay-hawaii.com/marinelife.html

A short video from YouTube:

Photo Gallery:

http://gohawaii.about.com/od/oahuphotos/ig/Hawaiian-Green-Sea-Turtles/

Houston Baby Shower - Oct 26, 2008

2008-11-09T19:46:00.000-08:00

We had the great pleasure of spending an afternoon with dear friends and family is welcoming the impending arrival of little Baby Serrano. Jennifer was awesome to host the party, and everyone had a fabulous time.

I loved being able to share this with Alberto and tried to make the day not about me and the baby, but us and the baby. We had a great time talking and joking and laughing with people and taking photos that will help us remember such a good time.

Along with Jennifer, Alberto and me, the following people were also there:
my Mom and Dad, Mark and Stephanie, Elizabeth, Jeff and Joelle, Debbie and Alan and Tracy, Desirae, Marcus and Geneva, Alex, Meha, Hiro and his friend Luz, and Rob and Caroline and Zoe.

The food was quite yummy, and the cake, brought by Brent and Andrea, was fabulous. We also made a video of the day and everyone giving advice to the baby for him to watch when he gets older.

Thank you all for sharing the day with us!

Here are a few photos from the party:

OBAMA WINS!!!

2008-11-04T20:43:00.000-08:00

Simply Amazing! What an incredible day for our country!
Alberto, Dudley and I watched with relief and excitement as the announcement was made on CNN!

NO MORE BUSH! NO MORE CRAZINESS!

I feel like I can breathe again.

We then did a little victory dance in our pajamas and watched Obama's victory speech over celebratory bowls of yummy chocolate ice cream!

I Voted!

2008-11-04T06:38:00.000-08:00

Voting here in Houston was easy and fast. My polling location is just around the corner of where we live, so I got up a bit early so that I could walk over and vote before my doctor appointment this morning.

It was at an elementary school and yes, school was in full session - I had to weave my way through munchkins of all sizes to get to the auditorium. Fortunately, my name was already on the rolls! Through a snafu last week with the registration office here, I was expecting it to not be there. It's a testament to the the efficiency of our resources here that my name got put on the list within just a few days.

All in all, I was in and out in about 10 minutes. The only thing I was not comfortable with was that there was no option for a paper ballot. What happens if an election volunteer accidentally trips over the power cord and the machine goes down? It's like I was never there. Stupider things have happened - it always makes me a little nervous!

VOTE VOTE VOTE! I'm going to be so stressed out waiting to see how this turns out!

Renaissance Festival - October 19, 2008

2008-10-25T07:17:00.000-07:00

I had the great pleasure to take Alberto to his first ever Renaissance Festival last weekend. The Renaissance Festival that takes place annually in Plantersville, Texas is one of the largest of its kind around the country. It lasts for 6 weeks, and is an annual tradition for Texans everywhere.

During the six years I was in California, I lamented October every year because I knew that everyone I grew up with was having at the RenFaire and I was going to miss it again! I couldn't very well let our first year back home go by without a visit!

We chose the weekend with the theme of 1001 Dreams.

I love the flight and fancy and whimsy of fairies, so I was hoping to see more than the usual amount by going on this particular weekend.

During the day long trip, we did see many beautiful fairies, with very elaborate and iridescent wings and beautiful costumes.

We also got to see the King and Queen's proclomation to open the festivities, and the King's Court dance for the Queen.

We started the day off by listening to a bagpiping band called Tartanic.

They had a great sound, mixing traditional bagpipe melodies with modern rock n roll beats and rhythms.

They were also a bit crazy, so it was a fun way to start the day.

Of course, Alberto had to see the Ded Bob show - no RenFaire virgin can miss out on that!

He really enjoyed it and the show was enhanced by the beautiful mid morning sunlight streaming through the thatched cover over the stage.

We also saw The Other Brothers who were a bunch of goofs that like to play with fire a lot.......

and the oh-so irreverent Mud Show, which really got us laughing our heads off!

At noon we watched the parade as it wound through the festival grounds, with the entire King's court and representatives from every shop and performance in the line.

In the afternoon we found some games to play, and Alberto won a couple of cute stuffed monkeys for me, which will now hang proudly in the baby's nursery :)

Jousting was of course a fun event, though we chose to go during the hottest part of the day - full sun in the Arena was not agreeing with me!

We managed to sufficiently cool off afterward though with some drink (water for me, a margarita for him!) and food.

Alberto tried so many things! Steak on a stick, cajun fries, the gigantic turkey leg, grilled corn on the cob.....while I had the crawfish etoufee and then a shrimp poboy later. I must have been in a seafood mood.

The only thing I regret us not getting is something sinfully sweet toward the end of the day! By the way, all of this food was after we'd started the day with two breakfast burritos on the way there! We were quite fat and happy by the end of the day.

It was a lovely trip, and we were fortunate that it wasn't totally packed with the usual droves of people that the RenFaire receives.

This was only the second weekend the Festival was open, and I really wanted to get there before my pregnancy got any further along.

The day was fabulous and Alberto absolutely loved it. By the end of the day he was already talking about how we bring the baby next year, maybe even dressed up in Renaissance gear!
By the way, the photos you see of me here are at the 32 week mark. I am officially 8 months pregnant!

Pregnancy, week 28 and week 29

2008-10-11T11:31:00.000-07:00

Some photos from Week 28 of the pregnancy:

And one from Week 29, with my friend Andrea who is pregnant too! We are only three days apart in our pregnancy.

People pictures

2008-10-11T11:11:00.000-07:00

Ok, now here are some photos of people.

While we stayed in Lafayette, we took the time to take a few photos with my mom and dad.

These photos also feature my new haircut, that I got while I was there! What do you think?

This was during Week 27 of the pregnancy. One more week till the third trimester!

Finally - pictures!

2008-10-11T10:22:00.000-07:00

After a stupidly long time where I couldn't find my camera charger but had my camera, then I couldn't find my camera but had my charger, then I couldn't find the cable to upload the pictures (moving is hard!) I finally have all the pieces in one place and the time to upload some pictures!

This post's pictures will be about Hurricane Ike. We have some photos from the trip back to Houston from Lafayette and what we saw (this was on September 20, 2008).

Here are a few of what we found in Houston, as well as the condition of the house when we got back. The Frinks had already come by and cleaned up the branches out of the yard, so all we got to see was how high it was piled at the curb.

Lastly, the condition of the downed power lines that caused us to be without electricity for 11 days.

Next post will be some people pictures!

Hooray for modern inventions!

2008-09-24T14:42:00.000-07:00

I am very very happy to report that we got power back yesterday afternoon! Woo Hoo!

I had no idea how difficult it really is to live without power. We were constantly searching for how we were going to 'survive' the next few hours -

where are we going to get our meals? Our stove is electric and the refrigerator hasn't been on for over a week.

where are we going to get a hot bath?
our water heater is electric too, so we were left with frigid running water.

how are we going to keep our perishables cool?
every bag of ice we purchased was melted in the coolers within a matter of 12 hours.

how are we going to sleep through the night?
the first night was comfortable enough with the cool front, but each night after that became progressively worse, especially for me at 7 months pregnant.

should we suffer through the stifling heat of a closed up house or leave the gaping hole open where our bedroom window was blown out and sacrifice ourselves to the mosquitoes?
all of the windows of the house we are renting are sealed shut, so there was no hope for fresh air or circulation. The only window that is "open" is because a tree branch crashed into it during the storm.

What a nightmare. I am so thankful we only put up with that for 4 days and 3 nights and the rest of the time we were in a much better state in Lafayette.

To celebrate our newfound civility again, we took hot showers, got dressed in some nice duds, and went out to dinner at a Thai place we hadn't tried yet. Ah, it felt good to be normal again!

SUPER BIG THANK YOU to those who helped us out!! -
The Frinks, who were kind enough to clear out our yard while we were still gone, clean out our fridge from the fuzzy scaries inside, let us come over and swim in their pool, and help us set the bedroom back to normal again after discovering all the glass everywhere.

Jenn who graciously opened her home to us for two days for hot cooked meals, a hot shower and laundry facilities. We loved spending time with you!

Bartek who was so sweet and kindly opened his home to us in the middle of the night after we called him at 1 am on the last night without power and asked if we could crash on his floor. The heat and humidity and the mosquitoes were so bad that I just couldn't take it anymore! By 12:45 am we had packed a bag and Dudley into the car and ventured into the city to find refuge. Bartek didn't even hesitate to say yes and 45 minutes later we were snug inside of his apartment with wonderful blessed air conditioning.

Also, thank you Mom and Dad who were so great to have us invade their home for 9 days!! The RV was great and the hospitality was more than we could have hoped for. We enjoyed seeing you.

Special thanks goes to my nephew Nic who wanted his Aunt Natasha to stay in Lafayette one more day so much that he offered to make me an apple pie in return for one more day. How could I say no to that! :) And boy, that pie was yummy-licious!

the cause of our problem

2008-09-21T12:37:00.000-07:00

By daylight it is easy to see why we have no power. There is a gigantic tree that got ripped right out of its roots that decided to pull down an entire section of power lines on its way down to a twisted death. I say twisted because that's kind of what it looks like...the 4 or 5 lines that came down are all twisted around the gnarled branches. In fact the residents of the house that the tree fell in front of say they believe it must have been a small tornado that picked everything up and dropped it back down again.
They say they've had the city councilman from our neighborhood out to look at things and centerpoint has been out multiple times as well. All they say is that its a big project...then they leave.
There are people from centerpoint out there now so everyone cross your fingers for us!!!

Houston by candlelight

2008-09-20T19:38:00.000-07:00

We are back in Houston tonight and are sad to say we do not have power at our house! We really thought that we could have it by now. With a 30ish percentage of people still out in our zip code we chose to look at it like there was a 70 percent chance we had lights. Alas, no power!

We went to the Frinks tonight to swim and cool off.

Ike Update - Thursday Sept 18 2008

2008-09-18T11:05:00.000-07:00

The local Houston newspaper, the Houston Chronicle, has made their website a very useful tool to read about all the efforts going on in Houston after the hurricane. You can see the paper here:
http://www.chron.com

I found a cute article featuring contributions from Houston folk on things like what they've been eating during the power outage and how to keep the kids entertained:
http://blogs.chron.com/weatheringike/living_without_power/

Another gallery of photos. These span from way north of Houston (Conroe) to Southeast of Houston on Galveston island.
http://www.chron.com/news/photogallery/In_Hurricane_Ikes_Aftermath.html

Here is an article from the paper regarding power:
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/hotstories/6008231.html

As of noon today, there is 29% of the people left in my zip code without power. The article referenced above says that all of CenterPoint's main grids and stations and stuff like are operational again, except for the one on Galveston island. Now they are shifting to going out to individual areas to restore lines. This will essentially reduce the number of restored residents per fix from the thousands to the hundreds. But, that means progress is being made!

Alberto got the call from his company that they are back up and running again. I have been working nonstop all week from my parents' house on a deliverable for my own job, which bounced back pretty quickly after a few hours of regrouping on Monday. (Since we all work remotely anyway, and we get emails on our mobile devices, it's not like we were at any big loss for the office being out of commission. The only thing most people have had to wait on is power for their computers.)

We couldn't have left Lafayette before now anyway because I've been tethered to an internet connection and phone line since Monday afternoon trying to get the deliverable done. I am happy to say that as of noon today, it is DONE! At least until next week.... :P

So, it looks like we'll be headed home tomorrow. Even if the power isn't back yet, we know it won't be long, and we hear the weather is still quite nice at around 80 degrees thanks to the cool front that came through earlier this week.

I hope to take some pictures of how our property turned out to show how Ike treated our street.

Ike Updates - Wednesday, September 17 2008

2008-09-17T07:02:00.000-07:00

Things are really starting to pick up in Houston. I can't say the same for Galveston.
The Mayor of Galveston had instituted a 'look and leave' policy from 6 to 6 for residents who just couldn't wait to get back and see what was left of their home. However, I have heard that she has suspended this.

One of Houston's local new stations has a running blog of all of the businesses that are open - this incluedes banks, drug stores, and businesses that sell food (restaurants/groceries) and ice and fuel. Of course, the liquor stores have to be included too! The list is becoming very long, and I was happy to see that our local Walgreens and Kroger are on the list today. Our local bank branch is not yet open.

CenterPoint Energy's website is back up, and they report this morning that 62% are still without power:
http://centerpointenergy.com/staticfiles/ike/outages.html

They've also posted a zip code breakdown of power/no power, and I can see that for our zip code, there are a total of 5,973 still without power, to make up 41% of the zip code.

Here's an outage map of the Houston area, as of 8:00 pm CST on Wednesday 9/16:
http://centerpointenergy.com/staticfiles/CNP/Common/SiteAssets/doc/Ike%20outage%20MAP_9.16_8PM.pdf. The red areas are those still without power.

Tracy let me know that they got power back at their house on Monday night and were quite happy about that. The water boil restriction has also been lifted, and hot water is beginning to flow into showers again! Small but important victory!

The city of Houston has changed its curfew hours from 9 pm-6 am to 12 am-6 am. The mayor says the curfew is in place primarily for the safety of roads and neighborhoods. This curfew has also been extended to Monday 9/22 (from Saturday 9/20)

Here is a link to photos:
http://www.khou.com/perl/common/slideshow/sspop.pl?recid=12016&nextimage=0
This appears to be a collection of photos sent in from residents to the news station. There are a lot there, so it may take an extra few moments to load.

It's looking a lot like we'll be ready to head home tomorrow. We'll make the decision once we know for sure that the power has or has not been restored to our house today. Tracy's instincts told her it would be, and I agree. Cross your fingers everyone!

Ike updates - Tuesday Sept 16

2008-09-16T08:12:00.000-07:00

500,000 people in the Houston area have now had power restored. I think this means another 1.5 million are left to go. I can't check the CenterPoint website because it's been down for 2 days.

I talked with my friend Jenn last night - she is the one who works for one of the news stations - and she echoed what Tracy told me on Sunday. Houston is not devastated, just severely inconvenienced. Roads are not impassible, and the flood waters have largely receded. They haven't gotten rain since Sunday morning, and there is not any more rain expected for around 5 days.

With no power for going on 4 days now, many people who thought they'd just wait for the lights to come back on are deciding to head out of town and stay with relatives for a while. The same is true for Galveston, which is a good thing because the Galveston mayor has been asking people to get out and let the clean up efforts begin for days now.

Here is a link to a broadcast I found on the internet. This one is not local news, it's national, but it illustrates the destruction of Galveston well:

Galveston mayor: 'There's nothing to come here for'

We are thinking about heading home tomorrow. Will keep you posted.

After Ike

2008-09-13T12:25:00.000-07:00

It is Saturday, and broad daylight has shown us what happened with Ike last night.

There is quite a bit of destruction.

Here are some photos that I found:

http://www.click2houston.com/slideshow/weather/17465520/detail.html

And a few broadcasts of Houston news stations:

http://www.click2houston.com/video/17467286/

http://abclocal.go.com/ktrk/story?section=weather/hurricane&id=6375108

One of Houston's signature restaurants for the last 40 years, Brennan's, has burned to the ground after a transformer blew.

Galveston is quite devastated. There are starting to be a multitude of photos coming out of the island showing utter destruction of homes, and severe flooding of businesses.

Downtown Houston seems to be ok, though many of the skyscrapers have been damaged and trees bent over like a blade of grass.

We are still in Lafayette, and of everyone I know in Houston, only one still has power. One friend has said that power may not be restored for a week. However, local Houston broadcasts, which I am reading over the Internet, say that it could be up to 4 weeks. I am sure this is more for the very hard hit areas of southeastern Houston and below.

The bayou near our home, Buffalo Bayou, did breach its banks, though it looks like the water didn't go very far. I have been told that there is no power where we live, much like the rest of the city. I don't know anything else related to damage in my neighborhood.

City officials have been urging people to stay indoors all day today and let the emergency crews and the utility crews and the police get out onto the roadways and assess things. I hope we learn more tomorrow.

Anyone with no power can tune into KPRC (NBC) news on 1560 AM. If you know someone in Houston without power and needs to tune into what's happening, let them know about this station.

If I can find some more photos, I'll share them with you. In the meantime, we are kicking back in the RV in my parent's driveway!

Our plan for Hurricane Ike

2008-09-11T10:41:00.000-07:00

Wanted to give you an update on what we are doing for Hurricane Ike...

Ike is pointed directly at the Houston-Galveston area now. I've been watching it for the last 24 hours and it has significantly shifted toward us from where it was yesterday. Instead of being on the outer fringe of the cone of uncertainty, Houston is now in the dead center of it.

You can visit the NOAA website here to see the latest 3 day forecast of the storm:
http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/refresh/graphics_at4+shtml/143912.shtml?3day?large#contents

That said, Houston is inland by 50 miles. We are well out of range of storm surge, but we will get lots of rain, which will be bad for such a flood-prone city, and very high winds. Last estimate showed winds in excess of 78 mph in Houston - it takes 50 mph wind to uproot a tree.

Houston is NOT under evacuation, but pretty much all of the areas to the south and east of us are. We have decided that we are going to head to Louisana to my mom and dad's house in Lafayette. The likelihood for loss of power appears to be high, and I don't want to be in a position of no power for any period of time while I am pregnant.

Because everyone south and east of us being evacuated as of noon today, we have decided we are leaving today too. It appears that leaving tomorrow would be a waste of time. Landfall is estimated to be sometime in the middle of the night Friday, but the storm is so big we'll be feeling it way before then. Even leaving at noon tomorrow would be too late.

The only thing holding us up now is that as I type this I sit in the Dallas airport waiting for my delayed plane to arrive and take me home. Liz and B are both ready, and they are being nice enough to wait for me! :D

So, that is the plan. We do not think we are taking I-10 East - we will search for other eastbound routes north of I-10 to avoid those evacuees on the highway along the way.

We will return to Houston when power is restored. If Houston ends up not losing power, then we'll just come home!

We'll post again after the storm has passed and let you know how it all turned out!

We are in Houston

2008-09-06T12:47:00.000-07:00

I couldn't let the day pass without also updating you on the move to Houston.

Yes, we are here!

We moved the week of August 16. It has been a long and arduous process for us, and I am just now getting my head above the mountain of things to do back in San Diego and here.

Everything got here in one piece, and we are grateful to the army of folks who came out in both San Diego and Houston to help load/unload the truck. We had that monster unloaded in less than 3 hours! Then we started the hateful task of unpacking our lives again, starting with clothes and things to eat.

We are still unpacking, but are fully functional once again in the house we are renting. The mosquitoes are truly a force to be reckoned with, and I have been unpleasantly reminded how common cockroaches are in this city. We are lucky enough to have the flying variety in our backyard, thanks to our next door neighbor's banana tree.

I have been spending almost every single business day in Dallas, so it has made the adjustment more difficult. Unpacking boxes has been a painfully slow process, and I am at the point now where I don't feel like doing it anywhere. I hate that in-between state.

Alberto has gotten back into full time work and Liz has also found a full time job. Dudley has adjusted to the new house, and has even started to 'take ownership' of the front and back yard. Basically, he acts like it's his yard now, not like he's in someone else's territory. He still enjoys laying in the sun whenever we go outside, which is very rare now due to the heat and the aforementioned mosquitoes.

I'm looking forward to fall, when the temps will cool a bit and we can go to the Renaissance Festival!

We miss everyone in California but are grateful to spend more time with our friends in Houston.

We'll be back online to post some photos soon, of the house and also of the progress of my pregnancy (I am 25 weeks this week!).

Leg Cramps!

2008-09-06T12:38:00.000-07:00

I experienced my first really unpleasant aspect of pregnancy last night. I was woken up out of a very nice sleep with excruciating leg cramping all up and down my right calf. Holy moly, it was awful and I had no idea what to do.

I woke Alberto up and pleaded for him to save me and he came to the rescue with leg massage and Ben Gay. He knew exactly what I needed to do because he gets the same kind of leg cramps from time to time playing soccer.

However, I was stubborn and refused to stretch out my leg or stand up or walk. I went through 3 throbbing painful leg cramps before I was finally convinced to get up and stand. After that it was a very slow process of stretching my calf muscle, hobbling around, and trying to find the coldest surface to stand on (my 'what to expect' book suggested this).

Today, my calf muscle is as hard as a rock and I am still hobbling around the house. Of course, the baby didn't mind all the activity - he was happily performing a tumbling routine in my tummy through it all! :)

Happy Parents to Be

2008-08-07T07:27:00.001-07:00

Here are some photos of Alberto and me on the day that we found out that our baby was going to be a boy! (one week ago)

This shirt is so comfortable, and I almost don't even look like I'm pregnant! Thank you Stephanie!

You can tell from this photo how much I am carrying the baby all up front.

Alberto was so happy that he's having a boy I think his feet were actually floating 6 inches off the ground!

I'm beginning to wonder who the baby will look like. Will he have my green eyes or Alberto's big brown eyes?

What if the baby has blonde hair? I've been paying closer attention to people as I travel, and there are lots of blonde babies with dark-haired parents.

The baby has been moving around quite a bit this week. I'm back in San Diego today, but was in Austin and Dallas earlier this week. I have taken a total of 5 planes since Sunday night. The baby doesn't seem to mind traveling too much, though he did give me a well placed kick just as we were taking off from Houston to San Diego last night. Maybe he knew we were going home!

BABY ALERT!!!

2008-07-29T17:25:00.000-07:00

The time has finally come!

The time for us to share the sex of little Baby Serrano!

We had such a wonderful visit today and the ultrasound was everything we could have imagined.

We saw the baby's head, the brain, and the little beating heart, with all four chambers!

After that we saw the baby's spine, the strong little femur bones, and the arms floating dreamily in the amniotic fluid.

Then there was the full face, where we saw everything - the eye sockets, the mouth, the nose....

And then finally, we got to the best part.....

We saw the baby's little winkie!

So, we are proud to announce that little Baby Serrano will be a

B O Y ! ! !

Our little guy was such a good model, he turned for the technician as if on cue. We got to see him making chewing motions with his mouth and I swear we saw a little smile :)

We also saw him punch up into my tummy at the exact moment I felt the jab! That was the coolest thing ever to actually see for the first time what my baby was doing at the same time I felt it.

We saw from the top down and the bottom up and saw him curled up into a little sleeping position along the bottom of my uterus.

It was something I couldn't have imagined. We loved it!

New Belly pic - Week 19

2008-07-24T18:14:00.000-07:00

Here's a new belly pic of the baby - taken today in the back yard...

Weird stuff, man....

2008-07-22T10:32:00.000-07:00

I just found out some very interesting news from a friend of mine in Israel, named Yossi. He and his wife, who were married last year, are also pregnant. Not only that, they are in exactly the same week as me!

That makes 3 people, all in week 19 this week.
Me, Andrea, and Yossi (well, his wife).

How weird is that?

Yossi already knows his baby will be a little girl
Andrea finds out her baby's gender this week. I have no basis for why I think this, but I believe her baby will be a girl too.
I find out my baby's gender one week from today.

Wouldn't it be nice if I had a little boy and already had two great options for future girlfriends for him? LOL!

Houston-bound

2008-07-21T13:54:00.000-07:00

As most of you already know, we have decided to relocate to Houston, TX. This was a really difficult decision for us because we absolutely love our home and being in Southern California. But with a baby on the way, frequent travel for me was becoming troublesome, and we'd also like to be nearer to family for support.

So, we made the big decision to make the move to Houston this summer!

The move will be made easier by the fact that I'll continue to work as normal for my company, ePartners. My boss has been very flexibl and considerate in finding a way to make the move happen for us. With my employment situation all lined up, we've been able to focus on how we would transition Alberto.

We've also contracted with a Property Management company to rent out our house here in San Diego. That way we'll keep the property...who knows, we may come back one day!

In preparation for the move, Alberto and I just spent a week in Houston. We drove one of our cars there (1,500 miles and 21 hours!) to leave in Houston so we wouldn't have to worry about transporting with the rest of the stuff. Then we spent the week doing a number of things:

Looking for a place to live
Looking for work for Alberto
Looking for a doctor for baby+me

We got some excellent referrals on all three important tasks from our friends - thank you everyone! Because of all of the help we received, we managed to accomplish all 3 of our goals!

So, we'll be moving to a cute little house in Hyde Park (Montrose/W. Gray area) that was built in 1910, has all hardwood floors and a garage apartment in the back. Dudley will have a little yard in both the front and the back for sunbathing, and a wooden porch outside of the kitchen to watch the squirrels from.

Alberto got some great referrals and and after a few days of calling, finally got connected with a tile company that was so eager for him to get started they actually asked for him to start work the very next day. He managed to wiggle out of that one, but has a standing arangement to start with them once we get into town for good.

Finally, I found a great doctor in the medical center for me and the baby, thanks also to a great referral. Dr. Samuels is a very straightforward and no-nonsense woman who has over 20 years of experience delivering babies. One notable about her in this Olympic summer season is that she is also the doctor for Mary Lou Retton :)

We also had a great time getting to know the area that we'll live in and meeting up with friends for meals and entertainment. Thank you to everyone who was able to share some time with us!

As we were waiting to head back to San Diego on Sunday evening, Alberto and I chatted about how well the week had gone, and how good we feel about the move. Now that everything is in place, and now that Alberto has had some time to get to know the city and what it's like and what it's potential is, we both feel like we're ready for the big event.

We'll be spending the next few weeks packing what we want to take with us and selling the rest. Garage sales are happening this weekend and next, so feel free to stop by and see what we've got!

Third OB visit - 7-7-08

2008-07-08T08:41:00.000-07:00

My third OB visit was today, and I met with the nurse practicioner of the office. It was very routine, nothing at all to really remark about.

We heard the heartbeat again - it was 148 beats per minute this time. This is down a little from 160 bpm last time, but she said that it is constantly fluctuating between 120 and 160 bpm.

I asked if we could find out the sex today since I am in week 17 and my next appointment in 4 weeks would actually be past the 20 week mark that they like to do it. They told me no, but instead scheduled my next appointment for 3 weeks from now, so it will be during the 20th week.

So, here is the big news of the day:

We will find out the sex of the baby on Tuesday, July 29 in the afternoon.

Look for updates then!

Week 16 of pregnancy

2008-06-30T07:20:00.000-07:00

I am back from another trip to Dallas - arrived Friday night. We spent a very nice weekend relaxing and getting out of the house, which did wonders for my perspective on things. I have become too firmly entrenched in the day to day operations of work and needed to come up for air.

Our biggest secret - no longer a secret!

2008-06-07T08:00:00.000-07:00

You may be wondering what took us so long to come back online and post again. (or you may be thankful that you had 2 months off). Whatever the case may be, we had a very good reason for not going online. It's hard to send messages to our family and friends without spilling the beans on the biggest secret around.

But that time has come and gone now, and we are happy to share with you the biggest news of our lives -

we are going to have a baby!

Tomorrow will be the beginning of my 13th week, and I am doing very well. We have confirmed that everything is just fine, and have also been able to hear the baby's heartbeat not once, but twice.

I absolutely refused to believe it at first, and had to take three pregnancy tests just to convince myself of the truth. After wanting this for so long, it's hard to acknowledge that it's finally happened!

But each test showed an immediate positive with absolutely no doubt, so I decided I'd better start taking it seriously :)

Two HcG blood tests from the doctor later, it was confirmed, there's a bun in my oven!

Our first OB Visit

Our first OB Visit was on May 8. Dr. Murillo did a check on our family history for anything she should know about, and then talked to us about what I've been feeling and how things have been going.

After going over a few things, it was time to do the first ultrasound :)

As far as ultrasounds go, I have to say I'm very impressed with mine. My little baby was very helpful in very clearly showing us his shape and form. (by the way, we are calling it a 'he' until we know for sure) I never know what I'm looking at in those blobs, but mine is pretty easy to make out.

Dr Murillo confirmed we were 8 weeks and 4 days pregnant, and said that our due date is going to be December 13, 2008. Another December baby!

Then we listened to the heartbeat and it really was as amazing as people say. I couldn't help but get all teary and Alberto laughed and took my hand in support.

I left the office with a lab slip for a ton of bloodwork to be done, all routine checks on me and the baby at the beginning of the pregnancy.

Our 2nd OB Visit

Yesterday we had our second appointment, and this is when we heard the heart beat again.

This time it was just an audio device, no video, and we had trouble finding him! The doctor called him 'a little stinker' and said that at this point in the pregnancy it's really easy for the baby to evade the sensor because he's still so small and has lots of room to move around.

After about a minute though, his heartbeat came through loud and clear. During one funny moment, she picked up both my heartbeat and the baby's heartbeat, so the room was filled with an odd kind of syncopation.

I also learned that my blood type is O negative, so I have to get a shot at 28 weeks to suppress antibodies that might reject the baby, just in case Alberto has a blood type that might not be compatible with mine and he passed that to the baby. Fun for me.

Otherwise, all of the bloodwork that has been done for cystic fibrosis and every other thing they tested for have all come back fine. I am due for the downs syndrome test next month.

We'll continue to post updates as needed so you can learn what's happening too!

Day Seven - March 21, 2008 - our last day in Maui

2008-06-06T15:34:00.000-07:00

It's been a very busy two months since the last blog entry - were you wondering what ended up happening on the Maui trip?

Well, Friday was a very lovely day but since Alberto and I spent it together I didn't write in my journal about it like the others days. As a result, it never got written down and my expectations for it to magically pour out of my head and into the computer never really happened.

So, as a recap...

We had a very nice time of exploring places together for the day. We decided to take a ride up the north curve of the island, basically retracing the steps I had taken a few days before when I hiked to the nakalele blowhole.

First it was the sacred Hawaiian burial spot. I took him to where this spot was and told him the story about how all the poor dead Hawaiians kept getting unearthed by the hotel developers.

Then we walked the line down the edge of the golf course all the way to the cliff's edge, and there we found a spot that my guide book called "Dragon's Teeth". This is where the high winds and the constant crash of sea water have eroded the rocks along the edge to glassy razor sharp formations. Aren't we cute?

Afterward we drove to the starting spot for the hike to the nakalele blowhole.

I really enjoyed sharing with Alberto this hike that I had already done. I showed him the little blowhole and the craggy alien landscape, and the spongy ground right near the main attraction.

Then we went out the edge and whoosh! we were witness to a huge blast of water straight up in front of us. Here are a couple of photos of us in front of the blowhole (it never blew quite as big as when we first got there!)

Then we decided to do what I was too chicken to do myself. Hike down to the bottom and come right up along the blowhole itself. We were armed with our waterproof cameras this day, so we put all the fancy electronics safely away in my bag and hiked down. A family that had arrived right after us decided to follow suit, so there was a little gaggle of humans in the belly of the blowhole after a couple of minutes. One thing we didn't think about - the surf! Very unexpectedly, usually when someone was trying to take a snapshot right in front of the blowhole, a huge crest of water would come over the side and drench us all. What fun!

After this, we decided to go and seek out the elusive Olivine Pools from the other day. We were all crusty with sea spray, so I was looking forward to a nice relaxing dip in the natural wadepool.

This time, we had no problem finding it and I learned that, as usual, I had just barely missed it having turned around right before the landmark I was looking for. We walked out to the cliff's edge and saw the path we had to take to get to the pools....straight down.

I was pretty nervous about this because I didn't have hiking shoes, just tennis shoes, and the last thing I needed to do was be my usual clumsy self and slip. I could have tumbled all the way down! But Alberto assured me we'd go slowly and we'd be fine. And that's what we did, with me gripping the rocky landscape all the way down until we reached the bottom and found this:

It was quite lovely here. Not serenely quiet like I foolishly thought - after all it is right in the middle of the ocean! But the waters are still and cool and the pools are protected on three sides from the surf. We still needed to have some kind of footwear because the bottom was quite rocky and uneven, so I slipped on my rubber flip flops and clumsily sloshed through the water with them.

We had to be especially careful on the side that was still vulnerable to the surf. When the waves crested they did so with no warning and with a lot of force. We saw one girl whose back was turned when a wave came crashing over the side, and she was knocked face first into the pool below. Not a fun way to spend your vacation! Fortunately, that did not happen to us, though some of things in our hands were knocked away and I had to go fishing for them.

But for the most part it was quite a serene spot, and I especially enjoyed the little natural alcove that had been formed at the base of the rock wall. Back in this little corner there were lots of little fish of various shapes and colors curiously watching the people walking above them.

After all of this, it was still only the middle of the day! We had intended to be back at the harbor by 12:30 to pick up our video from the snorkeling expedition the Sunday before, but we didn't have enough time to make it. So after calling the videographer with apologies and making arrangements for him to mail it to us in San Diego, we decided instead to stop in downtown Lahaina for a repeat visit to my new favorite restaurant in Maui - the Cool Cat Cafe!

I was so ravenous I knew I was going to overeat big time, so I ordered the Marilyn (the same super delicious hamburger I had last time) plus a basket of french fries to share with Alberto. Mmmm, the Cool Cat did not disappoint and I am very happy I had one of my last meals in Maui there!

After a short post-lunch stroll downtown to pick up any last minute souvenirs we had intended to get but never gotten around to, we headed back to the car to spend our last afternoon at Alberto's favorite spot on the island: Black Rock in Ka'anapali.

The only thing I regret about our trip to Black Rock that day is that we did not snorkel together. That means, during the whole trip, we didn't get an opportunity for this once. But by then we had only one snorkel and mask left, so we had to share. I went out first, and this time I was determined to make it around the side as I vowed to do last time! I navigated around a wave of teenagers (almost undoubtedly new arrivals staying at the Sheraton with their parents) and kept swimming until I got to the curve.

I veered right, but slowed down because my mask was already starting to fog. Where was that cool no-fog stuff that the people on the boat had given us? I paused in the water to defog my mask the old fashioned way (spit and rub!) and continued on. There were lots of fish here, and they were all very interested in me. They clearly thought I was going to feed them and I was a little creeped out by how closely they watched me and kept close to me. It wasn't long though, before I found what I was really looking for - more sea turtles!

There were two, though they were a long way down, and they were resting in the sand on the sea floor. I wanted to dive down into the water to get a closer look like I did at Molokini crater, but I became distinctly aware that I was completely out of sight from Alberto and the only other people around were snorkelers who were being very careless about where they swam. So I stayed on the surface and floated for a while, enjoying that sublime quiet that only being in the water can provide.

After some time I started back around the curve to head back in, and found once again that it was a lot harder to swim back to shore than it is to swim out. I must be out of shape, there wasn't even really much current, but I was pooped by the time I got back. Alberto remarked that I was gone for a long time and I agreed and wanted nothing more than to lay out on my little thatch blanket and read.

Alberto got up to go into the water next, and stayed much closer to shore than I did. Ironically though, he got the big treat! Very close to shore, laying in the sand was a huge sea turtle that Alberto thought must have been like 60 years old. He was just hanging out, letting the people swimming nearby curiously glance his way as they swam. Alberto got a photo with his underwater camera.

As it got closer to dark we decided to start thinking about dinner. Alberto voted for Bubba Gump in Lahaina. I was opposed at first - after all, there are Bubba Gump's in every tourist spot, but he persisted and so that's where we went.

We went back to our condo just in time to see our last sunset of the trip. There was something going on out there, as a helicopter kept circling and guiding a small rowboat back to shore.

Perhaps the boaters didn't realize how far out they were, and with it getting close to dark they were in trouble.

After a brief rest at home and a hot shower, we got dressed up for our last night out and headed into town. We made a stop along the way at a lovely deserted beach along the highway where we kicked off our shoes and enjoyed a few last beautiful moments of peace, sand and surf under the stars. That was a really cool moment, and a very fitting way to say good bye to the ocean and all of our friends under the sea.

Then we arrived at Bubba Gump, where we thoroughly enjoyed our shrimp dinners. It was really good! I really enjoyed where we sat too, because we were in a booth against the far wall and I could look right out of a window and down into the ocean lapping the sides of our building as we ate. I tried to take a picture, but I couldn't capture how pretty it was.

All in all, it was a fabulous day and a perfect end to a much needed and lovely vacation. We headed to the airport the next morning and took our respective planes home. I do hope to go back to Maui again some day. There are still things I didn't get to do, and now that I've explored I'd be happy to be take things slowly and savor things even more than this time around.

Day 6 in Maui – Thursday, March 20, 2008

2008-04-05T21:12:00.001-07:00

South Maui exploration day!

I started this morning by heading as far south as I could. La Perouse Bay was my destination, where there was literally no more road.

Everything was ultra rocky and the place was a strange mixture of three very distinct landscapes – lush green mountains as a backdrop, electric blue shores in the foreground and dark red and black lava rock all around.

What a sight! I was at the place in the guidebook called Fishbowl, and there were several snorkelers around. The books says that Fishbowl is where the better snorkeling, though the state wants everyone to go to "Dumps" a little further north up the road. Apparently there is a lot less political baggage tied to that location. I believe it too – I passed by there on the way down and there were clearly guided snorkeling excursions going on in there.

I made sure my laces were tight on my sneakers, and I started walking south through the lava fields. Another alien landscape, and fields of lava rock all around made it a very desolate looking jorney for the first several minutes. You can see the path that the lava took down the hill.

Then a short distance later the landscape opened onto a rocky shore and tree lined path. Not long after, I was under the shade of the great trees as I clambered over the roots that lined the shore.
I saw so many interesting things along my 1.5 hour hike! Tons of little white butterflies; tiny little black crabs scurrying around on the rock, trying to avoid the crashing surf; locals fishing on the outcropping edges; and hundreds of gnarly twisted trees forming a separating wall between the lava rock and the ocean.

I met a friendly Canadian couple (they were from Toronto) as I rested underneath the shade of a particularly large tree near the shore. Just beyond us in the water where 3 paddleboats carrying snorkelers. I think at this point I was at the spot they call "Aquarium".

At that point I decided to start heading back, hoping for a place I could dip my feet into the water but pretty convinced I wasn't going to find one. The edges were riddled with reef and slippery algae encrusted ecosystems! Bt just when I had decided it was a lost cause, I happened upon a perfectly smooth 20 foot stretch of sand, complete with gently lapping waves coming up onto the shore. Woo hoo! Off went my shoes and into the water I went.

Back at the car, I loaded up to find my next destination – Secret Cove. This is just south of Big Beach at Makena, and is supposed to be pretty difficult to find. I had to keep my eyes peeled for a specific telephone pole and a narrow little entrance onto the sand. I found them with very little trouble and grabbing my sandwich and passion orange soda and backpack, headed in…

Secret Cove is VERY cute. It's not exactly totally secluded, but it's pretty close. It's also a favorite place for dog owners – there were 5 dogs here today. I went snorkeling in clear aqua blue water and saw 2 turtles! It was delightful to see them, but I was a little intimidated too! It was, after all, just me and them in the water. But I kept my cool and just floated along with the surf and they did the same.

The surf was getting pretty strong though, and it was really hard to tell where the reef under the water met up with the reef above the water. I had trouble orienting myself, so I decided it was time to get out.

Secret Cove is definitely one of my favorite places already. After relaxing for another 30 minutes or so, listening to the friendly chatter between people on beach towels, it looked like it was going to rain. I packed up and headed to my next destination.

Big Beach is just down the street, and my book says that many consider it "the" beach on Maui – who am I to pass it up?

It sure is an idyllic setting here. Lots of flowery umbrellas, the same ultra-fine soft sand as Secret Cove, and a long sloping crescent of crystal clear aqua blue water lapping at the shoreline. Molokini and Holo'okwae are still perfectly in view from here. There are lots more families here too. I am assuming that on the other side of Earthquake Hill (Pu'u Ola'i) sits Little Beach, so christened by the 60's era hippies who designated it clothing optional.

I'm going to stop at Makena Grill, just across from Secret Cove, for a fish taco. This is literally a cart that sells food on the side of the road, but the book says they're excellent and I don't think a trip to Hawaii would be complete without one! J

MMMM…..Mahi Mahi. That fish taco was MONDO delicious! It was huge and expensive ($8.25!) but it was worth it. The Mahi Mahi was fresh and tender and the pineapple salsa really made the flavors come together. Of all the places to eat on Maui, Makena Grill's chef has been named the best on Maui for the last two years. The owners have turned the roadside spot next to their cart into a makeshift dining area, with lots of colorful chairs of all shapes and sizes, and a picnic table painted in Rastafarian colors. They have a little radio propped against the base of a tree playing reggae music that the guests enjoy listening to.

With lunch behind me, it's time to head to Wailea. I'll stop at points along the way if something catches my eye.

I've stopped at another beach along the way to see what's it's like. I went in through the south entrance, since the main entrance was really crowded. I'm not sure, though if I hit the right spot. There is no sand here, and not much of water access either. The only part that leads to the water is a tiny little opening on the right.

Speaking of the opening…there is in that little inlet of water a green sea turtle! He's not very big, probably about 2 ½ feet long. He's just riding the current in and out…closer and closer to shore. A family is perched on a rock nearby watching him. It's nice here.

Final stop of the day – glamorous Wailea beach! Favorite beach of the stars, it's apparently rated one of the best beaches in America. It's nice here – very big and lots of chairs and umbrellas everywhere; they are, of course, for guests at the Grand Wailea Resort ONLY. There are also surfboards, catamarans and other beach sporting gear lined up against the beach wall waiting to be checked out by the hotel guests. There are sailboats and kayaks milling around in the water, and a huge floating trampoline floats on the surface where many children are running and screaming and bouncing and jumping, falling into the water at random intervals. And…….no wind! :D

Here's the best part about Wailea – NO ROCKS in the water. This is the first beach I've been able to enjoy without having to worry about stubbing my toes or scraping my feet. Halleluiah! I feel like I'm at heaven on earth. A nice guy said he'd watch my bag while I took a dip and it was awesome. Calm and serene, smooth as silk, I floated on the water like it was a cloud. Aaaaah…….peace. I'm glad I'm here.

It seems fitting that after my long trek I finally get to laze on the sand and do absolutely nothing. I slept for a little while, I people-watched, I sunned….and I finally got to start the last Harry Potter book. Three chapters down!

After my day trip to South Maui, Alberto took me to Lahaina Oyster Bar for dancing. His coworker Alonzo went with us. The place was cool, but the music – very disappointing. We ended up at a little patio bar underneath Cool Cat Café at the Wharf and chilled for a while. Alonzo is very nice, a little young but very intelligent and has a good sense of humor.

Tomorrow is our last day here. I have lots of things planned to do with B, who finished work today and will be able to spend the day with me. What a nice way to wrap up the vacation!

Day 5 in Maui - Wednesday, March 19, 2008

2008-04-05T17:51:00.001-07:00

This morning I decided to do some swimming/snorkeling in Honolua bay, and then meet Alberto for lunch. My plans were thwarted though by my own confusion and not reading my guidebook very well. After dropping Alberto off at work I headed to the spot that the book states was Honolua Bay. However, I was sure I'd got it wrong. My trek took me through an area clearly marked private property, through what seemed more likely to be the backwoods of Louisiana than the coast of Maui. In the clearing lay a very small area filled with rock and very gritty black sand. There was no beach to be seen. A couple of people were clumsily trying to wade into the water with their snorkeling gear, and a few elderly women sat perched on large rocks looking a little miserable. How could this be the legendary Honolua Bay so many have spoken of? A quick call to Alberto confirmed that maybe I was in the wrong spot. So, I packed up my gear and went in search of what my true destination was.

I never found it, but I did end up at the nice area of Slaughterhouse Beach just up the road. This beach was very sandy and cute. There is a little cave off to the left of the beach that I'd like to explore with Alberto. However---it's way too windy to swim. I tanned for a few minutes, watching the sand quickly fill up with other folks and decided to keep moving.

Next stop – DT Fleming Beach, which is a very well-established and large beach. I decided, though, to not stop here. My book says it's a favorite beach for locals, and I am a little intimidated by them. Alberto's admonition keeps ringing in my head – "No Hawaiian, No Aloha". He told me stories about how ugly locals can be to tourists, including burnt out cards along the Road to Hana. I don't mind exploring more with B, but not while I'm alone.

So, I turned around and kept right on driving down the road. I decided, since my morning was dwindling and I had to meet B for lunch, that I'd head back to Oneloa beach in Kapalua. Surely, with it being much earlier in the day, the wind would be considerably less. I was looking forward to an opportunity for a quiet sunning session on a quiet beach. Plus, I was dying to get back in the water after yesterday's 'zen' moment. This also gave me the chance to just pop over and grab B when it was time for lunch since it was right down the road.

The beach was still windy. L Not as bad as yesterday, but a bit uncomfortable. I was determined though to stake a claim and get in the water so I laid my stuff out and headed in. All I wanted was to swim out into the aqua blue water….but when I got to the water's edge I noticed something I had not seen before – rocks! Lots of them! I was so disappointed. There was still water and sand but there were so many rocks – large and wide ones – that I knew I'd stub my toes or scrape my legs if I tried to wade out into the surf with them just below. FOILED. So I sat at the water's edge and let the water lap at my toes.

Lunchtime arrived and I went to pick Alberto up. We went to a little store/market/lunch counter called Honolua Market with one of his co-workers Alonzo. Alonzo was picking lunch up for the rest of the grup. We sat at a small picnic table outside and I got to hear stories for the next 45 minutes of things the guys had done during their stay on the island. After dropping the guys back at the house, it was time for my afternoon adventure!

I decided that since I probably wasn't going to the Iao Valley (just not enough time), I should do as much of the drive around the top of the island as I could today. What a great idea that turned out to be! The highway along the coast is filled with the most breathtaking scenery! There were lots of hairpin turns, just like at Haleakala and some of them had signs advising you to blow your horn so cars coming from the opposite direction would know you are there. In some area the road is, to me, a little too close to the edge. It was beautiful – boundless green above and all around and endless azure down below. I couldn't help but film the landscape as I drove.

I had the unlucky misfortune, though, to be doing this as I passed a little Hawaiian village in one of the valley. Littered also with burnt out wreckage at the entrance to the little village, a man playing a ukulele while sitting on a sofa on the side of the highway decided to give a nice Hawaiian 'fuck you' and flipped me off. That's just ignorant.

My guidebook made mention of an interesting sight on the coast that involved a little bit of a hike, so I was curious for the adventure. At mile 38 I parked my car and started the journey to the Nakalele blowhole.

What an interesting trip that was. You start off by descending a steep rocky path alongside an old lighthouse overlooking the ocean. Once at the bottom, you have to hide east for about 15 minutes. On this hike, you walk through terrain that you'd swear must have come from another planet. The constant crash of the water and the sea salt that flies everywhere has slowly turned the landscape into a beautiful mess of rocks with holes eaten through them and incredibly sharp edges. Some of the rocks look like giant loofah sponges. Others seem to be teetering on nothing as the bases have eroded into nothing. There are massive brick red striations that course across the rock walls and the ground is actually spongy beneath your feet!

About ½ way there I encountered a shelf below that is almost constant being battered by the surf. There was a blowhole in the corner of the shelf which made a lot of noise buy only small eruptions of water. This was the little blowhole but not the Nakalele blowhole of my destination. So I kept walking and two alien landscapes later, I found it.

Down below, another shelf about 3 times as big as the one I'd just seen lay there battered by the elements. The wind was high and surf was so violent that it sometimes crashed higher than the rock walls of the shoreline, leaving me and the other hikers that had found this spot spattered with sea water.

Just to the left of the middle of the shelf lay a gaping hole, about 3 feet in diameter. It reminded me of the jaws of sarlacc though not as wide (any Star Wars fans recognize the reference?). As the waves would crash against the wall, the ole would alternately spit some water out or such the water deeper down into the hole. This seemed like the biggest vacuum cleaner I'd ever seen! Then with no warning at all, the hole let out a gigantic plume of water, at least 20 feet high! The wind carried the water inland and soaked us all on the right side of the blowhole. It was fantastic! I couldn't take my eyes off it, mesmerized by the way the water was so violently being sucked in, just to erupt more violently afterward.

My book said that you can never tell when a blowhole is going to erupt. The most monstrous waves could produce nothing, while the smallest waves could trigger a massive spume of water. It was great! I walked around to the front and just inland from the blowhole, sure I'd stay dry here, and set my videocamera on the scene. Sure enough, when I was least expecting it, a huge blast of water erupted and came right at me, soaking both me and the video camera. It was time to go!

After I got to the car I went to go find one more spot that the book described called the Olivine pools. It was supposed to be a calm pool of water amidst the ocean and seemed like a perfect place to relax after my hike. I pulled over at a couple of different spots, including a dirt road where I quickly discovered my little Chevy Cobalt was tough enough to go offroading! However, despite searching for it I was unable to locate the right spot before it was time to meet Alberto after work. Since he is sure he'll be done with work tomorrow, we'll be able to spend Friday together before going home. I'll postpone the search for the Olivine Pools till then; maybe we'll find them together.

Back at the condo that night, we watched the sun sink behind the horizon from the comfort of our lanai:

Day 4 in Maui – Tuesday, March 18, 2008

2008-04-02T08:30:00.001-07:00

Black Rock – at Ka'anapali Beach – B says this is his favorite beach. I've set myself up at the foot of the black lava rock, at the furthest north point of the sand. There are lots of families here, and kids are running all over the place with little mini masks and snorkels. The sand here is a salt & pepper looking mixture of white, black and orange. The black lava rock is really impressive up close; as it juts out into the water it is narrow and craggy and shows the wear of constant tidal splashes – the bottom is jet black, with a ribbon of rusty brown above it, slowly fading into darker black-red that characterizes the rest of the formation. There are torches mounted at regular intervals along the top of the rock, and they look from here like primitive spears used by wild people. My guide book says that this jetty called Pu'u Keka'a, was the place on Maui where recently deceased peoples' souls jumped off from their earthbound coil to eternal life with their ancestors. If there was no one there to greet them, the spirits would wander around the rocks and cause mischief for the living.
...
Just got back from snorkeling. The water was just like it was at Molokini – cold to the touch upon entry, but as soon as your body is submersed it's sublime. Swimming in the waters of Maui is an awesome experience. The water temperature is so perfectly alighed with your own sense of self-temperature that the ocean feels like just an extension of yourself. You swim in the water feeling as if the water is a part of you. The waters of the Pacific in California are too cold, and the waters of the Gulf of Mexico (though quite comfortable for me) are still warmer than my own 'self-temperature'. Here in Maui, there is no sense of boundary between my skin and the water. It's quite a feeling.

The craggy rock of the jetty extends outward much more under the water than above. I thought it was an optical illusion at first! There were two main kinds of fish here – medium sized fish with white, yellow and black stripes (I think these were butterfly fish) and larger fish that were kind of a pearlescent blue. The blue fish stayed much closer to the bottom of the ocean, which dropped off very quickly from the shore, but the yellow and black fish preferred to stay close to the snorkelers. Maybe they were looking for food, but I got the sense that they liked to ride in the gentle wake of the snorkelers' fin kicks.

I swam all the way out past the jetty, where the book said I was much more likely to see more fish and maybe some turtles, but I saw very few things swimming about. Maybe next time I go out I'll round the corner of the rock and head a bit north.

Oh yeah, did I mention that the panoramic view from the sand includes a bird's eye view of Molokai off the coast? It's beautiful! I'd describe how the clouds are hovered over the isle, but a large family just decided to setup camp *right in front* of me. Drat. Guess it's time to move on….

I spent the afternoon on a mission to see the rest of the West Maui Beaches (well, the good ones) that were featured in my guide book. During the journey I found:

A memorial site at the northernmost end of Lower Honoapiilani Road – it dead-ends into a Kapalua community and just to the right of a golf course was the site. Here's what my guide book says about the site:

The Ritz-Carlton Hotel was supposed to be an oceanfront hotel. The lawn
was to be its location. The only things standing in their way were approximately
2,000 ancient Hawaiians buried in the area. The developers began digging up the
graves and, when the Hawaiian community learned of it, they began a series of
emotional protests. Nearly 900 remains were dug up before common sense
prevailed, and the hotel decided to relocate the buildings and reinter the bones
in 1990. A state law was enacted after this to prevent such a thing from ever
happening again.

Imagine, stirring up 900 ancient Hawaiian spirits and incurring their wrath! If there's one thing I've learned about Hawaiian culture, it's that they don't mess around! It is still a very savage culture underneath the surface. I wonder if there are any stories of hauntings or mischief that occurred on or around the site as a result…

Upon turning around, I found Oneloa Beach. It was deserted, just like the book promised, with about 10 other people scattered on the sand, but windy as hell! They say that the best time to go to the beach on West Maui is between 8:00 and noon. After that the afternoon trade winds start kicking up, making it uncomfortable to relax on the sand. Well, it was only 10:30 am, and the wind had already arrived! The wind was so strong the sand was blasting my legs. Some surfers were up in the water trying to make the most of the swells, which looked to be about 5 feet, but they were pretty difficult to wrangle. Here, the sands were a beautiful creamy white color.

Next stop on the guide book – Kapalua Bay. I found the access points as described but it was incredibly crowded. Apparently, I'm not the only one who heard it was a "gem". Parked cars snaking alongside the road told me I'd better accept defeat and move on.

And so it was that I got to Napili Beach. This looks like a little cove, and the shoreline is very steep. To the left is a really large lava rock reef poking out into the water, but I didn't have the right kind of shoes to explore. Instead, I decided to stake a claim on the sand and watch the families body surfing.

Tuesday Night, The Feast at Lele Luau

Tonight we went to the luau that Alberto had reserved for us, called the Feast at Lele. We got a beautiful lei around our necks and a potent mai tai placed in our hands upon entry. What a nice welcome!In purposely booking a luau that didn't have a buffet line, I overlooked the most obvious drawback to this – they have total control over how much food the guests get. The food was delicious but Alberto and I felt that, for a "feast", the servings were a bit skimpy. That said, they made very interesting use of things like sweet potatoes, taro root/taro leaf and coconut milk. We had four courses, each from a different area – Hawaii, New Zealand, Tahiti and Samoa. I did NOT like the Samoan dishes, which surprised me because I generally like everything!

Speaking of not liking something, I decided officially that I don't like Mai Tais. It must be the dark rum. Instead, I had a Blue Hawaiian which counteracted the rum flavor more effectively.

The dancers were beautiful, and there were lots of different types of dances done. Boy, can those girls shake! They have elasticity in their hips that I never would have thought possible if I hadn't seen it for myself. Anyone care to take some luau dancing lessons?

We also got a sneak peek at some of the competitors in this summer's 'best Polynesian dancer' competition. The dancers were all clearly proud of their routines and have been practicing had to win.

But the best part about the feast was the view onto the horizon. We got great seats first row on the second level, so our view of the dancers and the sunset behind was completely unobstructed. The use of the beach line below was beautiful with bright orange colors and, later, firesticks being thrown below. Yellows, oranges, pinks and purples streaked the sky, and two cruise ships anchored at sea made for an interesting landscape. As the sun continued to go down they each turned on their twinkly lights from front to back. It was very picturesque. I liked doing luau, but I think it's definitely a one-time only thing for me. One of those must-do's as a tourist, but I am happy to go back to the more down-home personal exploration of culture and food around the island.

Day 3 in Maui - Monday, March 17, 2008

2008-03-31T08:38:00.001-07:00

Today was Haleakala day! Haleakala is the big volcano on Maui that everyone says you have to visit. See the picture on the sign? Take a closer look at it, and then read the story below...

The volcano of Haleakala is over 10,000 feet in the air – so high that when you get up there you are *above* the clouds!

We had to get up SO early! I'm so glad we got to bed as early as we did last night. Even though we got up at 3:30 am, we still managed to get six hours of sleep. Alberto was really stressed about making it up ot the top in time for the sunrise even thought it was so early. It made me nervous about how long the road trip was going to take – I hate long trips!

The trip was not bad, though it was a bit long. We twisted and turned up the side of the volcano, taking one hairpin turn at a time, all the way up….Most of the drive was in the dark of night so that I could not see what lay below. I am kind of glad for this! The roads are narrow and hug the edge tightly. Alberto told me of how we also needed to watch for errant cows wandering the roads. Cows? Apparently so! Thankfully, we encountered none!

We made it to the top almost exactly 2 hours after we left. Alberto had warned me it would be cold, and I had brought gloves and a fleece pullover for the occasion. However, this was not nearly sufficient for the cold we experienced. The car's temperature reading said it was in the 40's, but that is NOT what it felt like. The wind was so bitingly cold that it was almost unbearable. Alberto and I went up the stairs to the overlook and found a small crowd of people already waiting, huddled in groups of two and three.

Thank goodness Alberto had thought to bring the blanket from the condo because this was all that shielded us from the elements. We had to wait about 20 minutes for the sun to come up, so we spent the time taping our surroundings (with my cute little video recorder I got for Christmas! :) ), chatting about small things and, oh yeah, freezing to death.

About 15 minutes into the waiting I couldn't take it anymore. My gloves were useless to me – my fingers were in severe pain from the cold. We took shelter inside the glass enclosure that had been created at the site to provide a warm haven from which the sun's rises and falls could be observed.

This turned out to be no good though – all the windows were completely covered in fog and humidity from all of the warm bodies in the room:

After a few minutes of emergency triage to my fingers (step 1- remove gloves step 2 – stick fingers inside mouth step 3 – BLOW!) we bundled up again and headed back outside for the sights that was about to occur.

It was beautiful – magnificent – awe inspiring…There were a lot of clouds in the sky so we couldn't experience the 'full' glory of the moment but I think that actually made it more beautiful. The light danced off the clouds in so many different ways and in so many different hues, it was a wonder to behold. I started to really see how high up we were (somehow 10,000 feet means more when you're at the top looking down) and was treated to a vista of a sea of clouds wafting below us.

So, here's the thing about the sunrise. You think the wind is bad, and you think the dark is cold, but it's NOTHING compared to when the sun has arrived. Winds were no longer just winds – they were blasts of frigid air that penetrated us to the core. Don't believe me? I think this picture tells the story best:

The sunrise was awesome and a sight that I am so glad I got to see, but I can't effectively describe the joy I felt to get back to the car and activate the car's heated seats.

As we sat in the car, the clouds arrived at the summit of Haleakala. All around us and through the moonroof we watched billows of white cloud rushing past, as the sun pushed them further in. Alberto wanted us to see the valley landscape on the other side of the summit, but there was no way we could see it with all the clouds rushing in.

After about 15 minutes of waiting, we gave up and decided to start heading down. We stopped at the 2^nd highest point and visited the gift ship, and I got to read the story associated with Haleakala. It goes something like this:

One of Hawaii's demigods named Pele, who was young and mischievous, decided one day to do something about the lamentable fact that the sun passed over the island way too quickly. The people of the island wanted more time in the sun and Pele concurred. So he fashioned a set of nooses out of ropes and lassoed the sun's rays, anchoring it to the Haleakala volcano.

The sun begged to be set free, but Pele would only acquiesce after the sun promised to move more slowly across the earth. Pele then freed the sun, but left a couple of the roped tied to the sun as a reminder of its promise. That's why it takes so long for the sun to pass over Haleakala (the sun can have risen for several minutes on the coast of Maui before it gets to the volcano summit).

We got a few souvenirs while we were in the gift shop and then headed back to the car. After one more fruitless attempt to see the valley from an outlook further down the volcano, we finally gave up and decided to find breakfast. As we winded down the mountain, we saw many bicyclers biking downhill. In fact, we'd seen several of them get ready to go from their launchpoint just outside the borders of the U.S. national park. I admired their drive to do something so strenuous, but I couldn't help thinking that I didn't see any biking groups heading up the mountain…

Based on another recommendation by Eric K., we searched for and found the Kula Lodge, about halfway down the volcano and in the little town of Kula. Kula is really cute. The roadsides are filled with little B&B's, flower shops, fruit stands and general stores. The Kula Lodge was just as picturesque. I expected it to be very touristy and for the staff to be a bit stuckup, but I was very mistaken. The restaurant has a little sitting area where people can warm their bones in front of a beautiful stone fireplace while waiting for a table. Our table was right at the back of the restaurant, in front of the floor-to-ceiling window that framed the breathtaking landscape below.

Our waitress was very pleasant and helpful and the food was delicious. Alberto had something called the Moco Loco, which the menu said was a local favorite. It featured a sausage patty covered with sticky white rice, smothered in brown gravy and topped with a fried egg. Sound gross? It was Yummy. Our toast was also served with two jars of freshly made jam, one being pineapple-mango and the other being a mixed berry variety. Once again, YUM. This is a great place to eat!

After breakfast we headed outside to enjoy the beautiful landscaping that had been done around the property. There were so many different trees and bushes of different variety and texture, and they all had some sort of beautiful flowering bloom spread across the branches. The hill looked a lot like what I envisioned for my own hill. They even had some of the same stuff that I have, or in some instances, had before it died. I loved it. It was like a mini-paradise inside of paradise.

Back in the car, we called Liz to wish her happy birthday (she turned 22) and got caught up on what she had done over the weekend. Afterward, I couldn't help but settle deep into my chair for a nap. Alberto needed sleep too, so when we got back to the condo we decided to nap for a few hours. Have I mentioned yet how wonderful it is to sleep to the sound of the crashing waves? We were asleep almost instantaneously.

A few hours and a refreshing beer later, we decided to go to Black Rock to snorkel for the afternoon. Black Rock is Alberto's favorite place to go on the whole island, and we thought that would be a great thing for us to do together before he headed back to work the next day. Black Rock is reputed to be one of the best places to snorkel or dive on Maui. (Here's a link to another blogger page about this beach: http://www.threebestbeaches.com/2006/05/kaanapali-beach-maui-hawaii.html)

However, the gods must have felt otherwise. Just as we were packing up our bag to head out to the car, it started to rain. Not to worry, Alberto said, the rain will be finished by the time we get to Ka'anapali, just 10 minutes down the road. So we pressed on, got to Ka'anapali, parked and headed into a small outdoor shopping center called "Whaler's Village", which is next to Black Rock. It was still raining. We did a little window shopping and looked at some pearl jewelry. It was still raining. Alberto introduced me to the super-cool and very useful ABC Store, which is kind of like an upscale convenience store. It was *still* raining!

So, with a look of regret on his face, Alberto made the decision for us to give up on snorkeling for the afternoon. We still had to buy something at the shopping center in order for our parking to be validated, so I asked to go into the Borders bookstore just upstairs from where we were. I was still mad at myself that I hadn't remembered to by a Frommer's or Rick Steve's book on Maui before I had gotten on the plane the day before! So we went into Borders and I found this GREAT book called Maui Revealed by Andrew Doughty. It is published by Wizard Publications. There was a similar book for almost every island of the Hawaiian chain. A brief glance through it told me it not necessarily a big listing of all the restaurants, hotels or nightclubs you could go to with corresponding costs (which so many guide books are), but more of a real book on Maui with tips on all sorts of really cool places to go, complete with a bit of a story to make it more meaningful. $16.95 later, we were headed back to the car.

We decided to head back to Downtown Lahaina, that cute little coastal setting with the big Banyan tree in the middle. We got there a little before sunset and I enjoyed strolling among the shops and picking up a few souvenirs along the way. As it got dark, we found ourselves surrounded by young revelers – it was Spring Break after all, and St. Patrick's Day to boot. After spending another hour or so walking around we went home to take refuel from the crowds.

Today was a beautiful day. I hope I can find ways to fill my days with things just as fun and exciting as Alberto was able to show me. Hopefully, my book will be the guide I need to making it happen!

Day 2 in Maui – Sunday, March 16, 2008

2008-03-30T13:14:00.001-07:00

Sunday night sunset, around 6:30 pm

After staying up until 1 am the night before, it was hard to accept that we had to get up early (5:45) to be out of the condo and on the road in time to meet up with a boat from Boss Frog's called "Quicksilver" to do some Sunday morning snorkeling. Our excursion included a snorkeling trip to Molokini, a visit to a place in the water called "Turtle Town" and a BBQ lunch.

It was undoubtedly worth the trouble of getting up as early as we did.

Molokini is a little half moon piece of land that is actually the only part of an ancient volcanic crater that is sticking up out of the water. The trip was about a 30 minute cruise into the Pacific to reach Molokini, and along the way we got to see a group of humpback whales in competition for a female whale's affection. The male whales were trying to outdo each other in impressing the female, which the captain said is very common at this time of year.

Once we arrived, the crew gave us all a face mask, snorkel and fins and had us either jump off or push off the back of the boat into the water. The water was a cross between aqua and seafoam green, and you could see all the way down, 170 feet to the coral-encrusted sea floor. It was really lovely, and it didn't take long to get almost all the way up to the edge of the crater. After getting acclimated to my mask and snorkel, I took a couple of dives down into the water to get closer to the sea life.

There were so many kinds of fish down there! I saw coronetfish and butterfly fish and a little puffer fish too. Some beautiful fat iridescent blue fish, and some little tiny yellow fish also were not scared of me at all. In fact, it was obvious they've been fed by humans for a long time. They all kind of hovered around me expectantly, as if I was going to magically produce some yummy fish food from the insides of my swimsuit.

I also saw a slinky moray eel on the bottom, weaving his body in and out between rocks. He wasn't very interested in me, which I was glad for. Also there, but I did not see it (thank goodness!) was a baby white tip shark swimming around and observing the action. I don't think I would have been able to handle that one very well!

We snorkeled for about 45 minutes and it was awesome to paddle around in the water. I was so sure the water was going to be cold - undoubtedly the people on the boat wanted us all to think that because they made plenty of announcements along the way how their wetsuits were available for rental. I found, though, that the water was perfectly sublime. A little cold upon entry, but in no time your body has adjusted perfectly to the temperature and I found the whole experience to be wonderful. After dealing with such cold temperatures in San Diego for the last 6 years, I was ecstatic to be able to enjoy the water while still having feeling in my toes!

After some time passed, we were called back to the Quicksilver to head to our next stop - Turtle Town. Turtle Town is just another area off of the coast, not far from the Molokini crater, but it is known to be a favorite spot for turtles to hang out, and sleep at.

I went out with a group following a videographer (John), while Alberto stayed behind and swam closer to the boat. About 100 yards from the boat, John stopped and asked us to stay put for a moment. He dove down into the water below, and when he came back he brought a funny looking specimen from the sea floor to share with us. This was a pencil urchin, and they look like this:

He laid the urchin in each of our hands, and you could feel its tiny little scrabbly hooks trying to find a way to latch onto our skin. The pipes protruding from the body were dark red, and John told us that in the more primitive days of Hawaiian times, the Hawaiian women would rub the red off of the pipes and use the coloring as rouge coloring for their cheeks. I thought that was very creative.

Another dive down brought another surprise - this time John brought us a collector urchin, which looks like this:

It was much smaller and was black with very sharp hard little spikes. This one was even more aggressive about trying to find a way to latch on to us, and it was a little disconcerting to be holding it in my hand!

Show and Tell concluded with a brief swim further away from the boat and one more dive down into the water by John. This time, he was looking for turtles.

He went straight to a little shelf underneath the water that turtles are known to nap in, and sure enough, there was a big turtle, estimated by John to be around 60 years old, taking a morning snooze. It wasn't long though, before our presence woke him up, and he swam out from under the shelf straight toward us! He was headed to the surface for a breath of air, but I think he was curious about us and decided to survey us all on his way up. He made a couple of turns on his way up to the top, and at one point was coming straight at me and was so close that I had to back up a bit to get out of his way!

He was dark green with all the distinctive patterns on his skin. He had lots of marks on his shell - he had clearly been around for a while. His back fins were flat and wide and he had a sharply pointed tail that jutted out from the back of his shell.

After swimming over the top of some reef and taking in a few more breaths of air, he passed over to the the other side of the reef and let his momentum glide him down once again to the bottom of the ocean. A few minutes later, you could hardly see him, and the sand moving on the bottom of the ocean had already partially covered his body.

The group started heading back to the Quicksilver, and I lagged behind the group a little bit, hesitant to leave the water again. I made a couple of more dives down into the water and heard the most amazing sound - whale song! You can hear the whales singing in the ocean when you submerge. I guess the sound waves carry along the water. It is the most peaceful and tranquil experience I've ever had.

I *really* didn't want to get out of the water after that, but I was ready to get back to Alberto and share with him everything I saw. Back on the boat, the Quicksilver crew was busy barbecuing chicken and hot dogs for everyone. While we were waiting, the bar opened and the alcohol started flowing! A superb rum/pineapple juice drink later, I was gnoshing on a delicious grilled chicken sandwich with different salad greens, onion and tomato, with pasta salad on the side. Snorkeling makes you tired! It was also great to get some nourishment after taking in a few swigs of salt water during the morning's adventure.

Once people got to finishing up their plates, the crew came around with plates of delicious homemade cookies. Mmmmm, they were yummy.

On the ride back to the island, we saw a few more great things! Another set of competition whales were making a beeline toward Molokini, and they were going so fast that we had to stop the boat so we wouldn't be right in their path. They were really active, with lots of tail slapping and fin slapping causing small explosions in the water.

After starting up our journey again, we saw a couple of dolphins swimming and jumping alongside the boat. They were showing off their acrobatics and enjoying the water current being generated by the boat's engine. A little later, we came upon a sea turtle near the surface, the curved surface of his shell popping out from the top of the water. We slowed the boat again, and let a few minutes pass where the turtle bobbed along the surface next to us, picking up his head from time to time to take in his store of air. He looked at us curiously as we floated next to him, and then headed back down into the depths again.

Much closer to land, we saw one more interesting sight. A mother whale was with her calf in the water, and it appeared that she was trying to teach him how to do some acrobatics. We first saw them from a distance because the calf had just successfully breached the water! As we got closer, he was much more focused on trying to splay his tail wide out of the water. The mother did it as a demonstration, and then the calf tried repeatedly to copy her. But either he was just too young or just not strong enough because he would start off well, arching his back and heading downward into the deep, but when his back end would start to come out of the water it would just flop clumsily over to one side. Try as he might, he just couldn't get it! The mother demonstrated it once more, and then they swam out of sight a minute or so later. My guess is that he was ready for a feeding and a nap!

All in all, our Molokini snorkeling adventure was top notch from start to finish, and we bought a souvenir video from John to commemorate this most unique of experiences.

As awesome as all of this was, it had still only taken half of our day! We got back on land around 12:30. We spent the rest of the day relaxing at the condo and taking in the beautiful sights of the ocean at the end of our building. The photos of Alberto and me in this post are from the sunset that night.

Sunday evening sunset, 6:30 pm

NOTE: I'm sorry that I do not have photos of this day. We were concerned about bringing all of our digital equipment onto the boat - since we weren't going to be able to take them into the water it didn't make much sense to leave them unattended for anyone with sticky fingers. We did take some underwater photos that have yet to be developed! I will come back and post some underwater photos of the things I've described here if any of them look good!

Day 1 in Maui – Saturday March 15, 2008

2008-03-30T13:06:00.001-07:00

First day in paradise, and it started off with the 6 hour flight from San Diego to Maui-Kahului airport. The flight was long but exceedlingly bearable thanks to 2 very friendly ladies sitting next to me, traveling to Maui with a group of women all going to one of their teach colleague's wedding. That coupled with the warm chocolate chip cookie and milk served during hour 5 of the flight made it overall a very pleasant experience!

Alberto and I stopped at costco on the way back to West Maui and I got us some of the delicious "Aloha Maid" fruit drinks I'd discovered on the plane. My favorite: passion-orange. Yum.

Then it was a driving tour with alberto as the guide all the way over to Lahaina. He showed me Haleakala, which we were going to visit on Monday for the sunrise, Ma'alea Harbor where we were going in the morning for snorkeling, and Ka'anapali, a resort area that has awesome snorkeling. He also pulled over at a vista outlook over the ocean to show me my first glimpse of whales in the water. Sure enough, just out to sea I could see a whale swimming in the distance, blowing water out of his blowhole as he went. How cool is it, to be able to just pull over on the side of the road and see whales in the water??

Alberto has lots of things planned for us while we are here. He has got all the bases covered between now and when he goes back to work on Tuesday. We are going to go on a snorkeling trip, we're going to do a little sightseeing, we're going to see the sunrise at Haleakala, and on Tuesday night we are going to a luau. I can't wait!

Since we couldn't enter my condo until 3:00, we had some time to kill – about 2 hours. Alberto walked me through Downtown Lahaina, which truly is a little whaling/boating establishment right on the water. There was a crafts fair going on underneath the massive Banyan tree in the central square, and I thought of my old coworker Rik Nieves and the gourd art he makes. I was hoping to see him there, but of course I did not.

Right around then, I realized how HUNGRY I was! Cheeseburger in Paradise (recommendation from Eric Klauss) was just up the street, but we opted to hit the Cool Cat Café, just across the street and overlooking the activities beneath the Banyan tree. I'm so glad we did! Their Mai Tai's are AWFUL but I had a very refreshing pineapple and rum drink and their burgers were super good. I had the Marilyn Monroe and actually ate every single bite of it!

After we were stuffed and happy, we headed to the condo at Maui Sands. I had no idea what to expect and was prepared to be a little disappointed – it was the cheapest option I was able to find and the pictures made it look a little run down. It turns out that this place is great! It's cute, it's functional, and it's obviously maintained with love by its owners. The roar of the ocean waves is very strong and, true to the photo online, I can sit out on my lanai (balcony) and watch the waves crash in. It short, it's perfect J

That night Alberto treated me to a night out dancing at the very post Spat's, at nightclub inside the Hyatt Regency in Ka'anapali. Cover charges apply and dress code is strictly enforced! Here we are, we paused to take a photo before heading over there:

The place was very nice, but I was surprised to see that my beer was served in a can. The bartender said that guys tend to want to use bottles as clubs, so only cans are allowed. There's nothing like being dressed to impress and sporting an aluminum can of beer. :P Crazy Hawaiians!
The dance floor was nice, and I was tickled to see that every song played was accompanied by its music video being played on several big screen tv's mounted on the wall. I got to catch up on some of what I've been missing! J

Alberto remarked that the crowd that had filled up the place was a lot different than what he'd seen before – where there had been a majority of tourists, it was clear that the crowd had a much more local element that night. It's so odd for me to see the locals – I know it's generalizing, but my distinct impression of the local population is that they are pretty much all short and fat – with the exception of the occasional gigantic fat people I see. Nobody seems to smile very much.

After dancing until about 12:15 we headed home for bed. I was seriously jetlagged (my body thought it was past 3 am), and I wanted to make sure I was going to be my best for our snorkeling excursion in the morning!

Jury’s over and we are back from Maui!

2008-03-30T12:13:00.001-07:00

I didn't realize till Erik pointed it out, but I forgot to update my blog after Jury Duty was over. It lasted for a week, including deliberations which took a whole day. At the end, we were able to come to a unanimous decision about each of the six charges that had been brought against the defendant, and the trial was successfully concluded.

Then I had one tiny week to get caught up on all of my work before flying out to join Alberto in Maui! He was there for a total of six weeks – Feb 8 to March 22. My plan was to join him the last week of his stay, from March 15 to March 22. We had lots of things planned, and I was ecstatic about taking some much needed time off!

I am going to start posting excerpts from my journal for each of the days that I was in Maui. About one a day, and it will include photos, since we took almost 400!!

Maui was awesome and I am elated to be able to share some our experiences with you here. Stay tuned…

Papa Loves Mama

2008-03-04T13:05:00.000-08:00

well, the jury drags on and I am getting frustrated by the pace of things. we are going through a series of direct, cross examination, then redirect, then recross, and even once so far we had a re-re-direct....still interesting though and I am in it for the long haul.

This weekend Liz and I let down our hair with Tan. On Saturday, we had Tan over for dinner and beer, and after dinner was done we decided to randomly try a new place in Oceanside.

We ended up at a bar that overlooks the Oceanside Harbor called the Jolly Roger. Yes, Tan and I seem to have a thing for piratey places :)

We walked into the Jolly Roger at close to 10 pm, and found a small group of what were clearly bar regulars, all of which were directing their rapt attention to one corner of the bar where a karaoke setup was loudly playing a country song. After ordering a pint at the bar, I got Liz to agree that if I went up and did karaoke, she would too. It took a little bit of coercing, but finally we shook on it, and started poring through the massive books of songs and artists that were floating around the bar.

It was a great time! I can't say that I was any good whatsoever, but my goal was to get Liz on stage. She has a great voice and only lets her own shyness get in the way of letting it shine. She got up on stage first and belted out a beautiful rendition of Alicia Keys' "Fallin'". Remember that song? It's the one that made her famous thanks to the vocal range and acrobatics the song features. Liz did not disappoint and Tan agreed that the performance was quite impressive.

Then it was my turn. I decided to do something that had absolutely nothing to do with my voice range or singing style, instead opting for a song that I've had in my mind for a few weeks and just wanted to hear again. I selected Garth Brooks' "Papa Loves Mama".

What a hoot! I made sure to tell the lady working the karaoke equipment that this was my first time, hoping to ensure a forgiving attitude after my performance.

It was hard! No matter how well you know a song, you have to really keep your wits about you to know when to sing and when to wait. It's just not the same as hearing it on the stereo.

Sure enough, as soon as I was done, the lady encouraged everyone in the bar to give me a hand as this was my first time (Phew! what a relief!), and I made my way back to the bar, high-fiving Tan as I went.

After another beer, we convinced Liz to go up there once more and sing a Frank Sinatra number that someone else (a handsome boy around her age) had just sung and which she had expressed surprise and disappointment - apparently it was the same song as she had originally intended to sing, but she had changed her mind.

After about 20 minutes (yes, there was a waiting list!) she made it back up on stage and sang again. We had the unfortunate timing that the cute boy ended up leaving with his family at the same time, so the impact of singing the same song was a little lost on him, but she did great anyway.

Afterward, we were ready to pack up and move on.

The lady behind the bar said that a bar called "The Beach Club" was a likely happening place in Oceanside, so we decided to find it. It turned out to be the bar right across the street from the Beach Breaker Cafe! Small world.

It was kind of ghetto. I wasn't too impressed, and I think Liz and Tan felt the same.

It wasn't long after that when we headed home, and gobbled the rest of the pad thai that Tan had brought over earlier that night.

It was a fun time and I was glad to be able to relax and take my mind off business for a while!

Natasha will be on a jury!

2008-02-27T17:26:00.000-08:00

I'll get the opportunity to serve on a jury for the first time in my life. I have been called for jury duty three times since moving to California, but have never actually been seated. Today was different - it seemed like fate that I would have to sit. I was called to be sent to the first available trial of the day, I was one of the first to be called to the jury box, and I ended up remaining one of the few original people to be in the box at the end of the day.

I am very curious to see how this goes, though I really hope it won't be too boring! The trial is expected for 10 days, so who know if my attention span can hold out! :)

It's a good thing I have some people working with me on BPI, since I'll be out of pocket for a while. eP will have to settle for me playing catchup at night.

I planted my political flag today

2008-02-21T11:35:00.000-08:00

Well, I finally did it. I made a donation to my Presidential candidate of choice. It's not much - we don't have much to give after the surgery and the property taxes - but it's a stake in the ground and I have firmly planted it.

My candidate of choice is Barack Obama.

Don't worry - I'm not going to inundate anyone with propaganda or persuasive messages about anyone. I know some people didn't like it when I tried to spark some conversation on W and sent out messages about why he had to go in 2004. But I felt like my country and all of the principles it was founded on were being snatched away from me and I couldn't just do nothing! I was irrevocably compelled to make my voice heard - to cry out at the injustice of everything that Bush embodies!

But like I said - I am not going to do that this time. The reason is because this time the race is about building up the American dream again, not about tearing it down. It is a new kind of politics, and one that I believe should speak for itself. I'll remark on things from time to time, but no active campaigning will be in my future. You are safe :)

The only two things I will do is:

1) Give you a link to the page where you can donate too, if you want:
https://donate.barackobama.com/page/contribute/decmatch?match_campaign_id=5&source=feature_million

and

2) Show you a music video that was put together recently for Obama:

This video was released a couple of weeks and already has over 4 million views on YouTube!

So, there you have it. Obama is my man. I'll still love all of you who don't agree with me, and I hope you'll feel the same way about me!

Natasha

Lunar Eclipse tonight

2008-02-20T21:22:00.000-08:00

Tonight we had a lunar eclipse - the last one until 2010. A lunar eclipse occurs when the Earth goes between the sun and the moon and is in direct alignment with the other two bodies so that the shadow of the Earth covers the moon.

For what we could see, it was pretty cool! We weren't able to see much of it for the clouds - it rained all day today so we had a lot of cloud cover in the area. But then, when the Earth's shadow started to recede from the moon's surface, the clouds cleared and the crystal clear blackness of the sky took over. As more clouds passed in front of the moon they made swirly patterns against the inky blackness. Liz and Dudley and I sat outside on the back porch and watched the celestial action.

Did you know that that some say the world is supposed to end on Dec 21 2012? Or at least a crossing over from this reality to the next. Liz told me all about it while watching the eclipse. Not sure what that means? Me either, but I know this - It's based on the Mayan calendar, and apparently of the 7 ages that the calendar represents, the 7th and last one ends on 12/21/12. Do you believe it? Read more about it here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2012
http://www.planetpapp.com/br21december2012/
http://www.greatdreams.com/2012.htm
http://curious.astro.cornell.edu/question.php?number=686

And now, for contrast, something damn funny - a clip from one of the more recent episodes of The Colbert Report:

Better Know a Lobbyist - Part 1 of the Gay Lobby

Cherries for Change

2008-02-18T23:06:00.000-08:00

Apparently the makers of Ben & Jerry's ice cream (yes, Ben and Jerry) have decided that Obama is their choice for President this year. They are creating a new ice cream called "Cherries for Change" and will be giving a large supply to Obama's Vermont campaign, where it can be given away on all of Obama's campaign stops.

Here is the report:

BURLINGTON, Vt. - The founders of Ben & Jerry's endorsed Barack Obama on Monday, and lent his Vermont campaign two "ObamaMobiles" that will tour the state and give away scoops of "Cherries for Change" ice cream.
"If there was ever a need for real change, and if there ever was a candidate to inspire us and make that happen, it's now," said Ben Cohen.
Added Jerry Greenfield: "Barack is showing that when you lead with your values and follow what you have inside that good things will happen."
Echoing Obama, Greenfield said he and Cohen succeeded when they opened their ice cream shop 30 years ago in Burlington by doing things differently, instead of copying the "tired ways" of doing business.
"What we saw is that when you want real change it's not a marketing slogan. You have to do things differently. And that is not going to be done by someone who's been involved in the system for years and years," Greenfield said. "It needs to come from inside and Barack Obama has it."
Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., and his wife joined the ice cream duo to announce their radio campaign backing the Illinois senator.
Cohen initially supported John Edwards, who dropped out of the race earlier this month.
Rob Hill, director of the Vermonters for Obama campaign, said he looked forward to getting behind the wheel of one of the two ObamaMobiles — retrofitted Honda Elements.
(taken from http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap_campaignplus/20080219/ap_ca/on_the2008_trail)

I hope it's as good as the ice cream they created for Dave Matthews Band, One Whirled Peace...mmmmm..................

Momentous week for presidential politics

2008-02-07T10:51:00.000-08:00

The aftershocks of Super Tuesday are still being felt, as Mitt Romney, who vowed two days ago to take his campaign all the way to the end, decided to concede to John McCain.

This came after a crazy whirlwind and (at times) shocking turn of events on Tuesday, Feb 5, when Mike Huckabee emerged as a legitimate candidate of preference (although it still appears to be a regional preference in the Sounth) and Clinton and Obama are virtually in a dead heat.

Another important moment - when Obama and McCain won Missouri, after the votes were so incredibly close that it was only after California's victors were announced that they could actually declare the winner.

This is important because for the last 100 years Missouri has all but once accurately selected as nominee someone who ends up winning the presidency.

You may be one of the many of us who have complained once or twice over the years how disengaged you've become with presidential politics because you never really have the chance to help decide who the nominees are going to be. By the time you get to vote, it's usually all over and a presumptive nominee has been unofficially announced by the press.

If that is the case, then here is your chance!

There is NO clear nominee on the Dem side, and no one knows if Huckabee's grassroots surge will continue against McCain.

If ever there was a time in American history where we are all truly being given the opportunity to impact the future of the country, this is it.

Many more delegates need to be won by all of the candidates before they can claim to be their party's nominee. In the Democratic party this is especially true.

Super Tuesday did NOT coronate each side's nominee and other states will have a chance in the very near future to weigh in, including Louisiana.

Come on Katrina victims, make your voices heard!

Here are some links in case you are interested in the more interesting points of what has happened this week:

A graphic representation of the number per state as the primaries continue: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21660914

Romney bows out:

Obama raises $7 million since Tuesday.... http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23050238/

...while Hillary has to loan herself money! http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23037431/

The significance of the Missouri vote:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Missouri#Status_as_a_political_bellwether

Lastly...what happens if there is no clear winner of the delegates in the primary? That's right folks, the national convention takes on a whole new dynamic (something that hasn't happened in about 30 years) -

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brokered_convention

Today's episode - Jen's visit from Houston

2008-02-01T09:23:00.000-08:00

Time for the next installment of let's play catchup!

A few weeks after my birthday in December, my sister Liz moved out to SoCal to live here with us, and my nephew Nic did the road trip with her. Alberto and I wanted to do something fun with them during the weekend Nic was visiting and thought of taking them to the Gaslamp since they are now both 21. Right around the same time, an old friend and fraternity brother made a trip to Southern California for business and made a stop to see us!

Jennifer is a reporter down in Houston. She and I went to college together, and are in the same business fraternity.

Tan, who went to school with us too, came out for the festivities as well. He brought along another Houston friend that we all know, Hiro. Then Jen also brought another familiar face with her on the trip, another university alum named Ernesto that we all knew. What resulted was a confluence of different people showing up in town all at the same time. There's only one thing to do when that happens - party!

Dinner in the Gaslamp

First, we met up on Friday night at a Persian restaurant in San Diego's Gaslamp District. We really treated ourselves to some delicious, hot, steamy food and a couple of bottles of wine for the table. Yum!

After completely stuffing ourselves and feeling a bit tipsy from the wine, we set out on foot to see what we could find. I was really looking forward to what was in store, since our last trip to the Gaslamp on my birthday had been such a smashing success!

Fun on the Rooftop

We walked along the edge of the Gaslamp and saw Petco Park gleaming in the distance - Ernesto was interested in seeing it up close, so he and Alberto took a walk down the street while the rest of us decided to go into a hotel that was located on the corner where we were, and see what the bar was like.

What a great idea! The bar ended up being a rooftop lounge, decked out with firepits, twinkly lights, chairs and tables covered with plastic tents to keep out the cold, and a bar underneath a palapa. In the corner was a long and narrow swimming pool that was illuminated from below, washing the whole scene in a soft glow.

Most of us got some drinks and just enjoyed chatting and relaxing by the pool, while Nic and Liz explored every corner of the roof and found the designated area for smoking. They took some fun photos all around the scene and then joined us for drinks.

After a couple of drinks we started getting itchy feet and decided to set out and explore again.

jimmy love's

This time we ended up at Jimmy Love's, a very lively venue with a bar, stage and dance floor upstairs, and another lounge-type bar with cushy chairs downstairs for those who want to rest their dancing feet for a bit.

That night, a live cover band was performing all sorts of hits from the 80's and we were immediately surrounded by thirty and forty - somethings who were boogying like it was 1999 again :) It wasn't exactly the crowd we were expecting, but everybody had a great time getting into the fun of the music and the crowd.

Liz and Nic stayed on the sidelines for part of it, watching us dance and probably laughing at the music (they weren't even born yet for half of the songs that were being played!), and Nic kept snapping away at funny moments and odd dancing facial expressions.

As 2 am neared we started drifting in small groups downstairs to the lounge-type bar. As the dance floor cleared upstairs, we were having a round of something called Liquid Cocaine to celebrate the fabulous time that was had by all.

After leaving Jimmy Love's we decided to pause for a group photo on the street. Are we hot?

The Long Walk Home

After the long walk back to the car, we headed back to Tan's for a brief respite before heading home for the night.

Tan's House

It didn't take long for us all to become very sleepy after we arrived at Tan's house.

Jen and I took advantage of Hiro's air mattress on the floor and cozied up under a nice electric blanket.

Ernesto dozed off in the armchair while Alberto and Liz sat at the fireplace, quietly surveying the scene.

The rest of the boys played around a bit on the internet with silly videos and cartoons, but not much passed before we were ready to turn in for the night.

You go home!

Saturday Brunch at Beach Breaker

The next morning, we met up for brunch at the family-owned and always bustling Beach Breaker Cafe here in Oceanside. After rubbing shoulders with the well-dressed, cosmopolitan and hip crowd that frequents the Gaslamp, I wanted to give Jen another perspective of San Diego.

The place is loaded with all sorts of surfing memorabilia and gear, and the atmosphere is laid back and very friendly.

We had delicious omelettes, pancakes, and scrambles and sat with a sense of relaxed satisfaction and pleasure when our plates were empty.

Oceanside Pier

To finish off the visit before Jen and Ernesto headed back up to L.A., we took a short stroll on the Oceanside Pier.

It was a perfect day. Beautiful blue sky, shortboard surfers out in droves, and the air was just chilly enough to put a brisk spring in your step.

I am so happy that Jen got to take some time to see us, and that we were able to get such a fun group of Houstonians together! It was such a special treat for us to see everyone and have such fun times. Thank you for the great memories! We love you!

Fin

Happy Friday - Something to entertain you

2008-02-01T07:18:00.001-08:00

I found a fun and creative music video this morning with a very catchy little tune. Thought I'd share it with you.

Happy Friday!

let's play catch up! today's episode - my birthday

2008-01-31T10:54:00.000-08:00

I've let the gaping hole between November and January alone long enough. It's time to fill you in on what we did over the holidays!

First, will be my birthday blog. My birthday is not technically during the holidays, but it is in December, so it counts :)

I was waiting to post till i had photos (Tan???) but it's been way too long now.

So, I turned 32 on December 3. :( That was a sad day. I didn't like it, but I couldn't stop it.
But, we ended up having a very fun time the weekend before, so it was worth it! Here's what we did....

Tan invited Alberto and me out with him and some friends visiting from Orange County on the Saturday night before my birthday.

We had Korean BBQ which was really unique and delicious. The meal comes with about 10 different side items, plus wonton soup plus sticky rice. YUM!

We had pork and beef and chicken and shrimp, all marinated in their own unique sauces and ready for cooking. Then we just dropped them one by one onto the grill in the middle of the table and picked up whatever we wanted to pop in our mouths as the items were cooked to our own unique preferences. We polished off the super yummy dinner with the blue bottle of very smooth saki recommended to us by the waitress.

We rolled ourselves out of the restaurant an hour and a half later and decided to work off some of our food by going dancing downtown in the Gaslamp. We ended up at this place that is connected to Martini Ranch called The Shaker Room. They were giving out VIP cards for free cover and so we decided to try it out. This place was super sexy. The dance floor was cramped and steamy and there were extremely hot women dancing in practically nothing up on the raised platform areas around the dance floor. The lights were really great, I have a newfound appreciation for the way moving lights are set up and run because of Backstage Presence, and these lights were the perfect mix of color and movement to play off the dancing masses. There is an upstairs area with a second bar and very cozy little couch areas tucked against the wall. The bartender upstairs made the yummiest vodka/cranberry drinks. One of the local stations was broadcasting from there that night so one of the upstairs areas was blocked off for their private party.

Then, for those who are tired of the hordes of beautiful people, there is a tiny little adjoining room where, on the other side, you walk through another door and into a very casual but lively sports bar and grill.

When we were ready for a switch we left there and went to another place I've always looked at but never gone into called The Bitter End.

The Bitter End appears to be just another pub from one of the British Isles, but it is actually much more! It has an underground dance floor that plays a variety of music from many different genres. The lights are almost nonexistent, just enough to faintly illuminate the big open floor with a few twirly lights to make things interesting. We danced to hip hop, electronica, new wave, 80s hair bands, and even a bit of country until the lights came up and the staff shooed us out the door.

By this time it was after 2:00 am, but none of us were tired. As we made our way back to the cars we kept our eyes peeled for any late night activity and Tan spotted a hookah bar with lots of people inside. We popped our head in and made our way to the counter where there was a menu of different kinds of things you could smoke in the hookah.

There was all sorts of flavors, ranging from regular tobacco-sounding things to fruity flavors to rich and chocolatey items. We decided on two fruity flavors - since none of us really smokes we thought this would be easiest for us to handle. A few minutes later after we sat down, a young guy dropped two hookahs at our table, one ready with strawberry flavored stuff and the other with mango flavored stuff. We each also got little plastic mouthpieces to put over the hookah tube so that we wouldn't catch each others germs.

It was very interesting! You could definitely tell the difference between the strawberry and the mango flavor, and I preferred mango :) The only downside to the experience was when we asked the guy for some water (we were, after all, smoking a lot!) and he paused, turned his nose up at us, and said that the only water available was for purchase.

By the time we exhausted the hookahs we were much more mellow and ready to wrap up the night. We could have also been a little green from smoking so much, but no one fessed up to it.

We parted ways shortly thereafter and headed home for the evening.

A great time was had by all, and it turned out to be one of my favorite birthday memories of all!

Natasha had Surgery on Friday

2008-01-26T15:51:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I had outpatient surgery here in North County. Apparently, symptoms I have been experiencing have indicated to my doctor (OBGYN) that I may have endemetriosis, and he recommended we do a diagnostic laparoscopy to see if there was anything that needed to be taken care of.

As a result, I went in yesterday morning for the procedure where they cut two slits in my tummy area and inserted a light, a camera and a laser. 45 minutes later, they had lasered off two areas of scar tissue that were found (translation: endemetriosis confirmed) and they found a third that they could not get to.

I am not sure what my doc plans to do about the third spot which, as luck would have it, is most directly related to the pain I have been experiencing over the last few months. I will find out on Feb 4 when I go back for my post-op visit with him.

Lucky me, I got full-on glossy photos of what I look like on the inside. We have photos for both before the scar tissue was removed and after. We also have a vivid picture of what the inside of my uterus looks like. Believe me, it's not that pretty!

Overall, I was really frightened about the whole procedure. I didn't even realize how scared I was until I chatted with the anesthesiologist before the procedure and he started telling me about how they were going to put a tube down my throat to assist with spontaneous breathing during the surgery. I, who am terrified of choking and generally anything going into my throat (I can't even really swallow pills), had to choke back tears as soon as he said that. I managed to pull myself together, but it was even more overwhelming as I made my way into the actual room where the procedure was going to be done. It was just me, the nurse and a hundred different menacing sterile, shiny bright objects all waiting to be used.

When the nurse laid me down, the anesthesiologist came into the room and they both took one of my arms for different purposes. The nurse had my right arm fully outstretched and the anesthesiologist had my left arm fully outstretched. I felt like I was being hung on a cross! I didn't cry in the full sense of the word, but I was in such sensory overload that as I lay there with my arms outstreched tears started streaming down both sides of my face. The nurse noticed and said in a soothing tone to the anesthesiologist that I was a bit nervous, and he responded kindly that we were all going to be fine and I shouldn't worry about a thing.

And he lived up to his word as he was very gentle and made sure that the anesthetic went in nice and slow so that I didn't feel like I was being pulled under (another very frightening thing for me!). It wasn't more than a minute or two as he was talking to me about skeet shooting in Houston after he learned that I grew up there that I was out.

Next thing I knew it was an hour and 45 minutes later and I was slowly waking up in the recovery room where I could hear the murmur of different nurses as they made their rounds checking on all of us who had just been operated on.

My nurse, Liz, was very friendly and quiet and made the whole experience as plesant as possible for me. Both my docs (the anesthesiologist and the OBGYN) came to visit me and made sure I felt at ease before Liz brought me into the secondary recovery room where Alberto could join me.

Alberto did pretty well, only blanching a bit when he saw the needle from the IV being taken out of my wrist. After reviewing all of the things that needed to happen over the next 2 to 3 days to Alberto, Liz loaded me up in a wheelchair and whisked me out to our car in the back.

You'd think that after such a brief surgery, done on an outpatient basis, would be pretty easy and painless - or at least that's what I thought. Clearly, I was wrong. I am alternating regularly between Motrin for inflammation and Vicadin for pain, and I can't really be on my feet for more than about 10 minutes without feeling like I am going to be sick.

Alberto has been great and has a very gentle bedside manner. He has made sure that I have a ready supply of Apple Juice, water, and Saltine crackers which are the only things I can really eat without feeling sick. In the meantime, I have spent the last 24 hours or so alternating between sleeping and reading my Harry Potter book ( I am up to number 4!)

I'll be hanging out here in bed for the next day and a half or so, and then should be ready to get back to work on Monday. If you come across this post over the weekend and feeling like giving me a ring, please feel free!

Obama at King Memorial

2008-01-22T08:09:00.001-08:00

Another effective delivery by Obama. This one was for Martin Luther King's Memorial service on Sunday January 20, 2008.

When I look at these speeches, I look for a sense of earnest and evidence that the speaker is truly engaged in what he is saying. Not all of Obama's speeches can fall under this category, but this is definitely one of them.

It's kind of long, but worth it:

I'm a doctor Jim, not a film critic!

2008-01-21T16:55:00.000-08:00

Holy megamovies! Guess what I just found:

http://www.paramount.com/startrek/

Hopefully having J J Abrams on board will give it a pretty decent shot at being a good flick.

Everybody make your Christmas plans accordingly...