Dave and Ben Do Damage at Tadashi.....

Dave and Ben went for a ride from our home to La Jolla today. I'm not sure how far it was (20-25 miles??), but some nice pictures from their ride...

Dave and his blue outfit

(I think he needs some more variety in his closet. Hm, I gotta go shopping!)

Bro excited for the ride
Dave heading through Rancho Santa Fe

Just past Del Mar, heading through Torrey Pines

About to head up the dreaded BIG hill!

On La Jolla Shores Drive... realizing... there's ONE MORE HUGE HILL coming up right before reaching La Jolla!

Melissa to the rescue! (37 weeks)

After picking them up, we drove the short way to our favorite all-you-can-eat place sushi place in La Jolla, Tadashi! I was limited in my choices (soup, salad, and some tasty gyozas), but I let the boys enjoy themselves thoroughly. Dave was absolutely ravenous and we had to hurry up and get some food in him....
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Round 1 for the boys (forgot to take pics of the soups and gyozas they got):

Uni, Scallops, Ikura, Mackerel, Oyster, Smoked Salmon, Hamachi, Tuna, Salmon

Round 2:

Salmon Skin handroll, Snow Crab handroll, Eel Sushi

Round 3:

Amaebi (yes, the heads are fried up nice for eating!)

This is how you eat the head

Round 4:

Hamachi and Inari

Round 5:

Soft Shell Crab Roll, Eel Hand roll

Round 6:

Agedashi, Gyoza, Tempura

Mmmmmm.... Good food.

View from Whole Foods

Nice views of the La Jolla sunset from Whole Foods after work.....

36 weeks

First look at the nursery....

Since I am 4 weeks away from the due date, Dave and I have been working on getting the bare essentials ready in her room. We've spent the past few weeks emptying out the baby room (which was being used as quasi-storage) and filling it in with baby furniture. The closet is still a nightmare, but I hope to work on it when I start maternity leave (3 more days of work left!).

Here's a first glimpse of the room.

A rocker/recliner in the "tower" area, and an Aquarium bouncer...

Ignore the IKEA furniture on the left since that will disappear at some point.

Crib and Dresser

Another view of the crib and dresser

One of my coworkers at Agilent made a Diaper Cake for me at my baby shower. I'm so impressed, I don't want to take it apart.

Dave's coworker gave him a massive box of Butt Paste?!?!?!?!?!

Close up of the Aquarium themed bedding

Handmade Gifts!

Dave's workplace organized a very cool surprise Baby Shower for him a week ago. He had absolutely no clue, I wish I could've seen his face.... A coworker made a soft purple quilt/blanket. Here' s a close up of it.

Picture of the entire thing. Cute and WARM!

My coworker spent the past couple months knitting a baby blanket as well. It was pretty amazing to see it come together over time (she sits next to me and couldn't keep it a surprise). Here's the final product!

Lastly, I just received a package in the mail from Helen Bailey! Look at this adorable hat and sweater set she made! I'm soooooo impressed. If you look closely, notice how the stem of the flower connects to buttons on the sweater.

I truly admire our creative friends with nimble hands. Thank you so much!

Dave's First Half Marathon - Silver Strand

Today was the big day. Dave's first half marathon. He and Mike planned to run the Silver Strand Half Marathon which took them from Coronado, through Highway 75, and ending at Imperial Beach near the Mexico border. It's a scenic route, fairly flat... and usually a nice run (since November usually has lower temperatures in the 50s/60s).

Unfortunately, this year, all the competitors were in for an unpleasant surprise. Strong Santa Anas were in force. All of Southern California was HOT with intense fire danger. Big fires were present in LA and OC this week (thank goodness, San Diego was spared). The weather was immensely dry, and by the end of the race, temperatures were in the high 80s/low 90s. Mike and Dave are not strong runners in hot weather, so they were a bit worried about this situation.
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The half marathon was to begin at 7:30. We arrived at Coronado between 6:30-6:45. It was nice and cool low 60s at the time. The start time was delayed a bit, which did not make the runners very happy, as any delay would lead to warmer temps during the run. By the start of the run, the sun was shining brightly and I think the temperature was near 70. Yikes!
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START - at Sunset Beach in Coronado

Right next to the beach and ocean

Mike and Dave trying to relax and get mentally prepared

Dave, all ready to go!

Start line.... rollerbladers and wheelies were preparing to start ahead of all the runners

There were about 200 rollerbladers registered for the race. Hmmmm... we may try this one year!

The runners are getting ready to go!

Find Mike and Dave!

If you can find Mike, then look to the right, you may see the left side of Dave's head. A tuft of his hair is poking out behind some tall guy blocking my view of him.

After all the runners took off, I headed down to Imperial Beach to find them at the finish line. I somehow got lost around Coronado, and ended up driving along the runners on Highway 75! They closed off half of the highway for the race.

This shot was pretty cool because I was looking for the 1:40 and 1:45 pacers, as that's around where Mike and Dave would be. I then took a random shot. After downloading the picture, I realized that I think I got Mike in the picture! He's the one in blue shirt, blue hat, and running belt with water bottles! Cool!

Imperial Beach

Look off in the distance at the buildings on Coronado. That's where they started!

Dave's coming in!

Finishing strong...

I think 1:48 something was his time. Not what he was planning, but I think it's a fantastic time considering the heat.... Good job, Dave! (I missed Mike's ending, but he was only a few minutes behind Dave - and Mike REALLY hates the heat. Excellent job, Mike!)

Fire in Tijuana can be seen from the beach. Sigh.

Good job, Boys!

We celebrated with massive omelets at Le Peep, and huge naps in the afternoon....

So what's next, Dave? Carlsbad Half?

A Spontaneous Weekend Away in LA...

Last weekend, Dave and I felt we needed a vacation. We were reminiscing of a spontaneous weekend away to La Parguera in Puerto Rico back in 2002 when we were living in NYC, so we decided at the 11th hour to go check out LA.

We never go to LA. The thought of driving in traffic is too daunting for us. And LA is... well, LA... I mean, c'mon, what can beat San Diego? (okay, Hawaii doesn't count)... But we decided at the last minute to go up to the Malibu area and see what's there... So we booked a hotel around 11pm on Halloween night... and drove up at 8am the next morning. Early enough that traffic wasn't terrible at all.

We went to the Getty Villa in Pacific Palisades, which is "an educational center and museum dedicated to the study of the arts and cultures of ancient Greece, Rome, and Erturia" (so says Wikipedia).

Here's the history from Wikipedia (I'm too lazy to write my own stuff):

Oil tycoon J. Paul Getty originally opened a gallery adjacent to his home in Pacific Palisades. Finding that he quickly ran out of room, he decided to open a second museum on the property (his original home still sits at the back of the property). In 1974, Getty opened the Getty Villa as his second museum in a re-creation of the Villa of the Papyri at Herculaneum, incorporating additional details from several other ancient sites. In 1997 the museum's collection was moved to the Getty Center in nearby Brentwood and the Palisades museum, renamed the "Getty Villa", was closed for renovation.

Reopened on January 28, 2006, the Getty Villa once again holds Greek and Roman sculptures housed in the interim at the Getty Center. The Greek, Roman, and Etruscan antiquities are arranged by themes including Gods and Goddesses, Dionysos and the Theater and Stories of the Trojan War, housed within Roman-inspired architecture and surrounded by Roman-style gardens. The new architectural plan surrounding the Villa is designed to simulate an archaeological dig.

There has been controversy surrounding the Greek and Italian governments' claim that objects in the collection were looted and should be repatriated. In 2006 the Getty returned or promised to return four looted objects to Greece: a stele (grave marker), a marble relief, a gold funerary wreath, and a marble statue. In 2007, the Getty signed an agreement to return 40 looted items to Italy.

So some pictures from that afternoon:

Starving and anxiously waiting to be fed

Dave showing off his food

The inner peristyle

Herb Garden

Dave bonding with a statue

Another garden, the outer peristyle... 33 weeks.

Hmmmmm

The Ocean

That night we ate some yummy Argentinian food at Gaucho Grill. Mmmmmm... steak... Sorry, no pictures. We were too hungry to take pictures.

Since we're so used to doing something active and outdoorsy every weekend, we decided to check out Topanga Canyon the following morning. It was a beautiful state park and a good place for Dave to run and train for his half-marathon (he's running the Silver Strand half-marathon on the 16th), and me to walk/hike.

Deer!

There was supposed to be a trail that went to some nice waterfalls, Santa Ynez Trail. We followed it for a while, but then had to turn around to the overgrowth of POISON OAK on the trail! Apparently, there was a better path from a different route from the other side of the state park.

Since I get bored when I hike by myself, I started messing around with the camera.

On the Santa Ynez trail...

Dave coming back to tell me to turn around or else I'll be poison-oaked!

Afterwards, we went to the Woodland Hills area and ate a huge amount of food at the Champagne Brunch Buffet at our hotel. Yum! Yum! but no champagne for me :(

End of short weekend away.

(We gotta do that more often!)