plum season

The Wine Train

2008-11-18T21:37:00.000-08:00

To celebrate our first wedding anniversary (hooray!), we decided to book a tour on the Napa Valley Wine train, an old-fashioned fancy dining car that takes its passengers deep into the wine country. Now, you may think it was odd for us to take a trip on the wine train since we don't drink alcohol. Well, it sort of was. But we've decided the train is the best way to travel with the baby - spacious, relaxed, no driving, and a meal -- so we thought it could be the perfect thing.

It's hard to describe exactly what was so odd about the wine train. The scenery was beautiful, with the grape leaves in their fall colors, and the train itself was pleasant enough. I think the oddity came from participating in Tuesday afternoon tourist culture. As soon as we entered the large hotel-lobby looking "station," with old-fashioned plush benches smattered with middle-aged tourists and three gift shops, we realized we were in for an experience. With the old West themes, wandering photographers, and a robotically-delivered "seminar" on wine-tasting, we realized, as Hannah put it, this was a "Disney ride for adults." (To get a sense of the banality, we think this video really says it all. Note Alma's face looking around as if to say: "Whose idea was this, anyway?")

And so it was. Slow, pleasant, with a constant food intake, it should have been perfect for a nursing mom and, well, me. But instead we felt like teenagers just a little too old to be at Disneyland. Probably several glasses of wine would have helped us feel more at ease. (Where's the Kombucha train, people? It could run from Fairfax...)

Anyway, we took our pretty-good gourmet meal - that tasted suspiciously like every other pretty-good gourmet meal I've ever had -- and camped out in the back of the car to reflect on a busy and overwhelmingly grace-ful year of marriage.

Alma Noor was in top form as usual. Orating, playing, and giggling away, she never lets us take things too seriously and is a constant reminder that life is funny, frustrating, amazing, uncomfortable, luminous, and so much more ... sometimes all at once.

Morning Light

2008-11-15T13:46:00.000-08:00

On Katie's Couch

2008-11-15T13:22:00.000-08:00

I love this look. What is she thinking?

Happy to be home

2008-11-15T13:20:00.000-08:00

Laughing at Dad

2008-11-15T13:15:00.000-08:00

Family

2008-11-02T21:35:00.000-08:00

We're headed East for a week to visit family (you!), so we enjoyed a beautiful California hike this morning before getting on our first plane flight with baby tomorrow...stay tuned.

Election Commentary by Alma Noor

2008-11-02T21:09:00.000-08:00

Yes, we dressed our child up as a reindeer

2008-11-02T21:06:00.001-08:00

It seemed like a dignified choice. Thanks to Katie for the costume!

Cute Faces

2008-11-01T21:13:00.000-07:00

Sacked Out at Sol Food

2008-10-21T22:48:00.000-07:00

Afternoon with Frances

2008-10-21T19:36:00.000-07:00

Alma had her first impromptu play date with her next door neighbor Frances, who is just 6 weeks old. I think they hit it off.

It was unofficial Collar Day on our block.

Afterwards Alma turned over and fell asleep peacefully on her own.

Learning to Fly

2008-10-10T16:40:00.000-07:00

She actually likes it. She smiles up there...

New Tricks

2008-10-10T13:16:00.000-07:00

Alma's been up to some new things lately, namely, grabbing toys and putting them in her mouth, grabbing her knees and toes (she's very flexible) and, as of today, rolling over! She is really digging her activity mat and all the cool noisemakers. Pretty exciting stuff. I mean it.

Storytime

2008-10-05T18:53:00.000-07:00

Lake Walk with (Grand) Papa and Emily

2008-10-05T18:39:00.000-07:00

note: "wolves for obama" t-shirt designed by hannah, available at cafepress

The Grandparent's Visit

2008-09-30T20:53:00.000-07:00

There you have it, folks. After months of arm-aching grandmotherly angst, my mom finally had the pleasure of meeting Alma Noor.

The love was flowing, to say the least.

Grandfatherly love was none too shabby either!!

Matching my brother for cuteness in terms of my siblings falling in love with my baby, my power sailor sister Shireen also flew down Vancouver. She was a delight, regaling us with homemade pizza and scurvy tales of adventure from her recent sail to Alaska. Of the many things I never guessed would happen in life, one is that I would have a baby at age 28 and another is that my sister would become a sailor. Both are wonderful blessings!

Tummy Time

2008-09-28T19:39:00.001-07:00

Represent

2008-09-28T19:38:00.000-07:00

Sleeping Beauty

2008-09-28T19:37:00.000-07:00

Smiley Afternoon, Part II

2008-09-17T17:45:00.000-07:00

Bright Eyes

2008-09-10T11:40:00.000-07:00

Ramadan Baby

2008-09-10T11:38:00.000-07:00

Too hot to move

2008-09-05T17:04:00.000-07:00

Another little video...

2008-09-05T15:08:00.000-07:00

a case of hiccups & smiles

Tio Kaveh

2008-08-30T18:02:00.001-07:00

This weekend we had a visit from my brother Kaveh, a brand new uncle. His first night here he got a serious lesson about unclehood from the owner/universal surrogate grandmother at our neighborhood Mexican restaurant. From what I could understand in her rapid Spanish, it essentially consists of being forever in love with the first niece or nephew. I think Kaveh took it to heart.

We had fun showing off the weather and other advantages of Marin county complete with our own slow food festival to rival the one in SF this weekend. The hardest thing about living here for us is we're so far from East Coast family, so we we're making the hard sell to get the most visits as possible. The main advantage definitely seems to be Alma.