March: a month in pictures

I didn't think March was going to be particularly busy, but here it is the end of the month and it has pretty much been a blur. Steve went to Boston and Chicago in separate trips, both my parents visited, and we made the rather life-altering decision to move again. So, I guess it has been a little busy. Since I know I will never get around to actually writing the numerous draft posts in my queue, here's what March looked like...

We started out with a fun day trip to Pescadero to meet up with Paul and Ashley. We took a "hike" (walk), had a picnic, and played on the beach. Grace, the little monkey, thought it was great to wade in the freezing cold water just two weeks after refusing to do so on Maui.

The next weekend Pop came for a quick visit.

We had the very special treat of a date night during his visit, which allowed Steve and I to thoroughly discuss the Boston decision in peace (we had about 24 hours to finalize it once he had all his offers, a nerve-wracking 24 hours to be sure).

UCSF held family night at the Exploratorium while he was here.

We met up with Grace's best friend, Alli, and when they saw each other they ran across the room and did this (bummer the photo is blurry).

Grace and I snatched a sun break to head to the zoo to ride the grizzly bears.

Grace stopped by my office to help out.

Grace joined the preschool swimming class and had her first lesson with neither Steve nor I in the water.

GoGo came for a visit and did us the huge favor taking care of Grace during her spring break.

During her visit, we did some shopping

and some ballet. (Check out that adorable shirt - custom made by a colleague's husband (disregard the CAS sticker). He does such cool, unique designs - more on Esty.)

Did some biking with Great Uncle Hilary.

And had a blast in the Greats' new kitchen (ok, the people who cooked did - I just enjoyed the results).

We celebrated Katy's birthday.

Grace hung out with her pal "that other one." When we got to Hilary and Kristie's she had asked Kristie where Scott was, and then she asked where "that other one" was. It's okay to call him that, seeing as how he's a Dodgers-hater.

We finished GoGo's visit and the month with a visit to Fairyland in Oakland with Natalie, Chris and (not so) Baby Gavin. What a fun little park! It has storybook themed play areas with music, lots of stuff to climb and explore, farm animals and a few rides. It's perfect for kids Grace's age. I think we will go back soon.

We ended our Fairlyand visit with a little dance party.

Vegan cooking: pasta and fried rice

A little update on the veganism... we tried the pasta with beans and tomatoes. This was disappointing - it was a little bland. Maybe I didn't use enough tomatoes, but overall it had all the makings of a good recipe and ended up edible but bland. We leaned heavily on ground pepper at the table to give it a little kick. Nevertheless, adding beans to a pasta dish like this is a a great idea. One of my go to cookbooks is No-Cook Pasta Sauces - all the recipes I've tried over the years have plenty of flavor, so I think I will trying tossing in some beans.

I also made the fried rice. It was good, but not amazing. It was also a little on the bland side, but it was good enough that I would experiment with it again to perk it up. It did remind me I need to get back to cooking with tofu. I used to use it a lot but fell out of the habit when we moved to San Francisco (how does that make any sense?).

So I guess neither of these come with whole-hearted recommendations. My guess is that in both cases it had more to do with me than the recipes. If you try them and have success, pass on your tips please!

On the move

It is now official! Steve has accepted a job at MGH starting summer 2013 for two more years of fellowship. I think he will then be done with training. He will top out of the PGY scale, which sets salaries for postgraduate/post med school trainees, after the first year, so really I don't think he can do very many more years? I say that sarcastically, but don't get me wrong - I'm 100% supportive, while somewhat ambivalent about the implications, and incredibly excited for him.

My friends, we agonized over this decision. Ultimately, it came down to the fact that Steve feels this will be much better for his career, will give him more flexibility long term for whatever academic jobs are open in 2015, and he cannot actually do the same type of training here because it's so specialized. We are very happy to be going back to Boston. I know it won't be the same as when we left - many friends have moved out of the area or to the suburbs and you can never go back to another phase or time of life. Things were pretty idyllic our last year there since I worked part time in a great job and we had lots of friends with babies or young kids in our neighborhood. Even knowing much has changed, we are really excited to enjoy seasons again, have warm summers, walk by the river, pop around our favorite neighborhoods on foot, enjoy the magnolia trees on Comm Ave, walk along brick sidewalks, hear the squeaking of the T, picnic in the garden, eat JP Licks, secretly root for the Lakers, stock up for the first big snow, and, most of all, reconnect with the friends and family still in the area and do weekend trips with the other peeps spread around east of the Mississippi. And, I'm planning on taking Grace to the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade in 2013 (probably the worst idea i've ever had).

On the flip side, I'm desperately sad to be leaving San Francisco, and more so, the west coast. In the two times we've lived "back east", I've realized that I'm truly a westerner in heart and soul. I need huge open spaces, tall craggy, snow covered mountains, dramatic coastlines and evergreen trees. I love the Pacific Ocean. I love west coast cuisine, the diversity of California, the misty mossy grey-green of the Pacific Northwest, the mild winters, and the ethos. Plus, we have seen my family so much more since living here. Yes, we're still nearly a thousand miles from my parents and Bucket and Lindee, but we've not gone more than a few months without seeing some or all of them as well as Steve's parents. And we have such dear family here in the Bay Area who have opened their arms and homes and holidays to us. Add to that the old friends with whom we've reconnected and the new friends we have made, and I just feel sick to think of saying goodbye. I have a really good job, and we love Grace's school and our church, and finally after almost two years, San Francisco is feeling like home.

In a nutshell, I love Boston, but I desperately wish it was on the west coast. Whenever Steve or I get on a cross country flight, we think "does it feel like we're going home or leaving home?" And heading west always, fundamentally, feels like going home. It's possible that we could spend the rest of our professional lives on the east coast, but we are westerners.

We will celebrate our tenth wedding anniversary shortly after returning to Boston. If you're counting that will be five cross-country moves in ten years. I'm already overwhelmed at the logistics, most notably applying to preschool. And Steve has already said we cannot purchase any more "durable goods." Despite all the to dos, we are determined to enjoy our last year here and to be present here. It's too wonderful not to.

Days 7-8: Beach and Aloha

I was a little sad Saturday morning, knowing we had just one more full day of vacation before heading home. I felt like we needed to maximize the day by totally relaxing (it is so ridiculous that i stress myself out about whether i'm relaxing enough). We had a lazy morning and enjoyed the rainbows - double at first and then a full one.

We headed over to the playground for a bit.

I love this picture because Grace is actually off the ground.

Then for the main event, we headed down to the beach again.

Grace collected seashells

and played in the sand.

Steve and I rented snorkel gear - it would have been fun to go together, but obv we couldn't so we traded off. I know this will make me sound like an idiot, but it was just amazing to see how there's a whole world under the surface! We don't have an underwater camera, but it was really so beautiful. You can see some underwater pix from Kapalua Bay on Lars' site. Tempting as it is, I'm not claiming credit... i'll leave that to Steve. Anyhow, there I am snorkeling!

After lots of beach time and reading (and lamenting the end of vacation) we enjoyed one last sunset.

Sunday we walked over to the village for breakfast. We really got no good photos from the day since we had packed the camera and were being kind of lazy. Grace had stuck a sticker to her forehead the previous night and it was caught on her hair and she refused to take it off. She really liked her giant chocolate muffin (vacation!).

We were right next to the chapel at at the resort and though we hadn't planned to go to mass, it turned out we were there just before it started. Grace saw the people streaming into the tiny church and said she wanted to go so we went. It was packed and we had to stand and although we had none of our usual paraphernalia to keep her entertained, she did great. Plus, the music was really good - a lot of Hawaiian styling to the hymns.

We headed out to the airport, and it was another breathtakingly beautiful day to drive along the west coast of the island. It was interesting that all along the beaches there were small, impromptu gatherings of chairs set up with banners for worship services.

We waited in the loooongest security line I've ever seen and just made it in time for our flight. We got lucky because after takeoff Grace quickly fell asleep with her head on my lap and slept for about two hours while I read (Girl with the Dragon Tattoo - totally obsessed now!).

It was such good trip and bonus, the bridge was open when we got home which made the late night return much easier. I immediately started researching when we can go back, if we should try another island, or if we should go somewhere else tropical. It's' nice to dream...

A few other thoughts -

I had actually been a little ambivalent about going to Maui in the first place. Having been to the Big Island and Oahu as a kid, I just had this bias against Maui as if it was too touristy and commercial. Parts of it were, but other parts were amazingly rural and authentic. Of course, the anthropologist in me was really intrigued by the remnants of Hawaiian culture and trying to figure out what's real and what has been overdone for tourists. And I wondered about the extent to which the native culture has been destroyed and replaced by the service and tourism industries. Plus, the divide between the affluent touristy areas and the residential areas was blatant and sobering. Of course, at this point the economy is reliant on tourism so I don't mean to be paternalistic. Furthermore, Hawaii is, apparently, the most isolated place on Earth. I kept being struck by the fact that people ever found it (seriously, what are the odds that their outriggers found these tiny islands in that huge ocean). So now I need to do some reading about how the islands came to be inhabited, how the culture developed and what happened when white colonists arrived (my old Hawaiian friends from when I lived in San Diego always talked about how incredibly racist Hawaiian society is). Remember, anthropology degree.

And finally, another thing that surprised me, was how often I heard roosters - in rural and developed areas. Who knew?

Ready to go back. Aloha.

Days 5-6: Beach, whales, beach, repeat

Thursday we were eager for another laid back day. We headed out to the Coastal Trail at Kapalua for a walk. The clouds made it especially beautiful, but it was extremely windy with spitting rain. But oh, how lovely tropical rain is - still warm enough to be outside. We walked up past Oneloa Bay to the pool and set up camp by the kids' pool again via lawn bowling.

After reading, napping and popsicles on the lanai, we wanted to check out DT Fleming beach. Apparently it was names "America's Best Beach" in 2006, so we had to see it. It was beautiful, but stormy and late enough in the day that we weren't up for swimming. I enjoyed my book while Steve and Grace did some serious building. Grace thought jumping in and out of the hole the dug was the bee's knees. For dinner Steve grilled mahi magi by "our" pool. Yum. I will be so happy when we have a grill of our own and Steve cooks dinner every night.

Up early again on Friday, this time for whale watching. At first we were bummed that the sunrise boat was the only one available when we finally booked, but it turned out to work for our early rising child who pretty much stayed on Cali time until the day before we left. Plus, the water was so pretty and calm early in the morning.

Setting out from Lahaina Harbor

View back to West Maui

We weren't allowed to hold Grace while the boat was moving, but she of course was in one of those moods where she had to be attached to me. So, we found a nice little spot at the front of the deck and sat down. It turned out to be an ideal spot.

We saw lots of females with calves, lots of spouting and lots of tail flukes. It was really cool and the views of Lana'i and Moloka'i were lovely.

The off the port side a whale breeched. We were pretty psyched and in the remaining hour or so, we saw several more breeches from various whales. At one point, there was a double breech of a mother followed by her calf. It was amazing. The pictures don't do it justice at all (but Steve made a valiant effort to get a good one, but those whales were just too unpredictable). They told us the grand slam of whale watching is one breech, and we ended up seeing five plus lots of other whale excitement.

We had a really great time and once Grace stopped saying her favorite part of the trip was the flight there, she decided it was the "going on the boat and seeing the whales." I wasn't sure she would enjoy it or realize what she was looking at, but she really did.

Back in Lahaina, we checked out the largest Banyan tree in the US

And wandered around Lahaina's waterfront (so touristy but still charming). Grace shopped for and selected an ukulele on which she now plays lovely songs while singing .

Since it was too early for lunch, we got shave ice. Maybe it's silly to have it for brunch, but we did it for the president so actually we are true patriots. Grace luuuved it (and it was approximately the size of her head).

We finally killed enough time to head to the main event... yum. Thanks for the tip, Katy and Anthony!

And we just loved this picture of Maria Lanakila church in Lahania, West Maui mountains in the background.

After naps and reading and a fair amount of ukulele strumming, we hit Kapalua beach again. There was another wedding. Steve went for a swim and found sea turtles (which of course made me think of you, Megan). Grace and I built castles and made sand oatmeal. I love the beach. We all do.

Just another pretty sunset.