El Corte de Madera Creek OSP, redux

Editor's note: Kevin has pointed out that I'm supposed to be the optimistic one in this relationship, but this post was surprisingly negative. So, to clarify: when I say "diminished our ability to enjoy this hike," I mean "reduced" or "lessened," and not "eliminated" or "removed all enjoyment from." The fact is, though, it was buggier and hotter than when we first visited, suggesting that it's more of an early-spring park than an early-summer park.

Peter and I investigate some redwood stumps.

We revisited ECdMC this weekend, after realizing that the drive to our first choice (Purisima Creek Redwoods OSP) was a bit long and winding for some stomachs to handle. (Plus, we'd thought about a seven-mile hike, which would have been really interesting. And not in a good way.)

You may remember the crazy family, and the tafoni sandstone formation, from previous posts.

We chose this alternate trip after remembering the trail as easy, although as we started Kevin had a change of heart:

Kevin: I thought you had trouble on this trail. Toward the end you were struggling.
Amy: Kevin. (Pause.) I was seven months pregnant. And having contractions.
Kevin: Oh, yeah.

The hike was nice, but two things diminished our ability to enjoy it:
- the hot weather;
- the bugs, including, but not limited to, mosquitoes.

Really, if this is what a Bay Area summer is like, why not move back to NC? Oh, yeah...the humidity.

El Corte de Madera Creek OSP

17 photos

just like sweet tarts

This might be the most singularly delicious food product I've had in the past two months: Acai Pomegranate Wildwood Foods Organic Soyogurt Smoothie.

It tastes so scarily like Sweet Tarts, I even made Kevin try it. Kevin, no fan of the texture of a soy drink, was reluctant to try it. He conceded it was "tasty," but also reminded me that he'd have "texture issues" with drinking any more of it.

sunset

Last night's sunset was pretty nice, especially from 50 feet up.

..

so many ripples

Peter's a bit...er...zaftig.

..

Monte Bello Open Space Preserve

It's like the Bjorn was made for mountain lion attacks!

We returned to the trekking life today, after our recent success with the Bjorn. Our destination? Monte Bello Open Space Preserve, chosen because of its proximity and its promise of some shade.

Well, we could have used more shade, and it is close - though, it requires driving on a queasily-curvy road to get there.

But, a hike we did take! It was a relatively easy 3-mile loop, with just a few hundred feet of elevation gain, but probably exactly what we needed. Let's just say that Peter might be the most in shape of all of us.

In a patch of shade, and very happy to be outside again.

Monte Bello Open Space Preserve

16 photos

ducks, all grown up

Seriously, the only thing that grows this quickly are weeds and Baby Davis-Ross.

lunch with the Bishop

As reward for our good work, Kevin and I were invited to have lunch with the Bishop today. At his house. Which looks like this:

It is seriously one of the nicest houses we've seen in the area, with the largest yard to boot. So why are we trying to raise $100 million?

Anyway, the lunch was quite nice. And we got bags of candy at the end, which always plays well with this crowd. Curiously, though, in the midst of peppermints and Werther's Originals, was this little piece of sweetness:


I really like the image of the Bishop going out and picking up a bunch of gummy SpongeBob candies. (I really enjoyed eating it, too.)

Required Reading #9: Ice Haven

Let's hear it for the Mountain View Public Library, who are starting to carry a great array of graphic novels. I've avoided reading this one, mostly because I couldn't justify the price for the quantity of content, but I'm glad that I was able to get it for free - it's fantastic.

I'll be brief in description (since the book is brief in itself) and suggest that it's Daniel Clowes's homage to Sherwood Anderson's Winesburg, Ohio. That is: a portrait of a town, with all of its dysfunction, for us all to enjoy.

What's perhaps most remarkable about this novel is that each character believes himself to be at the pinnacle (or, I suppose, depth) of despair, only to learn that actually others are much more pathetic than himself. Indeed, the most pathetic character (Random Walker) is perhaps the only character who fails to view himself as such.

Did I like this book? Let's just say I dug out my I-make-you-go-blind tiny book lamp to read this last night, while baby Peter and Kevin softly snored next to me. (Of course, I compensated by taking a nap today. But. I gave up sleep to read this.)

yum-a-la, yum-a-la, yum-a-la

I risked the happiness of my son to purchase this: Breyers Fried Ice Cream flavored ice cream.

It was worth it.

Plus, it's allegedly "light" ice cream. Score!

dirty crosswalk man

On Castro Street, in Mountain View.

reading list

What's lamer? The fact that these are now the books I check out of the library, or the fact that I'll not even have the chance to read them.

dvd town 3 - now with a side of DVR

So, about the only thing you can do with a newborn who likes to eat and sleep and be held all day is watch television. I've tried alternatives - like reading a book, or knitting - but unless I develop a third and fourth hand, that's just not going to happen.

Plus, let's be honest: my attention span has collapsed, in part from sleep deprivation and in part from constant attention to a baby that might be on the verge of a freak-out. I can barely handle reading Newsweek, let alone a novel.

So...television it is. Which is terribly embarrassing as Kevin and I had agreed to a TV-free world for Peter's first two years; we've since amended it to TV-free once he actually seems to pay attention to the screen.

In a serendipitous turn of events, we're mysteriously getting super-extended cable again. (Actually, it's not so mysterious, but entirely related to the cable meltdown of a few weeks ago.) Which means hours and hours of DVRed movies.

A few hits and misses:

28 and 35 Up

These two entries continue the stories of the cute British kids who (for the most part) grow up to be remarkably normal and boring British adults. I confess to being a fan of Nick, the cute farm-boy-turned-nuclear-physicist; Bruce, the sensitive mathematics teacher; and Tony, who very prophetically said at 14 what his life would be: he'd be a jockey, but, if he weren't successful, he'd be a cabbie.

We all were much cuter 14 years ago.

It's a bit tiresome to watch the archival footage from previous years with each episode, but I suppose it's useful given these documentaries were released seven years apart. In some weird way, it's like attending a high school reunion. (Point of fact: I have never attended a high school reunion, and I doubt I will. But I can imagine.)


Little Children

"Mmm...sexy naked Kate Winslet." - Kevin Ross, movie critic

Kevin's no Pauline Kael (or Roger Ebert, for that matter), but he does hit the nail on the head: much of this movie rests on the shoulders of sexy naked Kate Winslet.

Kate Winslet gets much naked-er in the movie.

Both Kevin and I had read the book a few years ago, while on vacation, and we both agreed that while the movie was nice, the book was much better. In fact, the only thing the movie had going for it was - all together now - sexy naked Kate Winslet.

In fact, the only other difference offered in the movie version of this story (other than, of course, sexy naked Kate Winslet) was the newly-appropriate conversation Kevin and I had regarding which of us were more likely to be a character in the movie: me, as bored housewife and mother (although not nearly as sexy or naked as Kate Winslet), or Kevin, as bored stay-at-home dad with failed career.


The Family Stone

Preface: the ONLY reason we watched this movie is because it didn't demand our attention. The plot was as transparent as a piece of Scotch tape, which is useful when watching a movie during your infant son's witching hour.

What the @*$?

Seriously.

In what sicko, perverted family would such wife-swapping be okay, let alone joyfully celebrated? Yick, yock, yuck.

And while love at first sight is a nice plot device, it demands something more than a quick glance and a short conversation for the audience to buy it. Otherwise, it reads a lot more like lust at first sight - which is probably a much more efficacious, if less noble, plot device.

In fact, the only interesting part of this movie was Kevin's outraged response, which included many "what the @*$@?" and "are we supposed to believe this *$(#*@?"

In conclusion, "it sucked." - Kevin Ross, movie critic.

Volver

Who knows? We had to return it, since we realized that watching anything with subtitles would be out of the question for the next few months.

Half Moon Bay

Yesterday, we took my mother and our baby to Half Moon Bay.

Fish was eaten by some; fun was had by all.

Half Moon Bay

stress test

Castro Street's own Scientology Information Center.

We live remarkably close to a Scientology reading room, and we find ourselves walking past it frequently.

More often than not there's a dude outside asking us if we'd like to take a stress test. He's always very polite when he asks, and we're always very polite when we decline. My goal, after encountering him several times, is to show him just how unstressed and happy I could be without his alien-based religion.

On Tuesday, Kevin, Peter and I walked past said Scientology dude. He offered us only a familiar "hello," which we returned in kind.

Have we won? Perhaps. But consider this: I'm certainly more stressed now that we have an infant than I've ever been. So, maybe we've all just lost.

important life lessons the Lost season finale taught me

This is about as realistic as Jack's future beard looked.

(1) If you ever survive a plane crash, you may get something called a "gold pass" that allows you to have free flights for life.
(2) Always let the plucky fat man help out, because he's actually quite helpful.
(3) One-eyed Russians are almost impossible to kill.
(4) Don't even try to put on a fake beard and mustache, because it will be painfully obvious to all.

worst. endings. ever.

Part 1: 24

Please point that somewhere else, I'm too busy yawning.

Look, people who make 24, I suffered through your barely palatable season with very few complaints, but I cannot abide by your season finale. Lame, lame, lame. Who cares? Unless you:
(1) Told me that Josh Bauer was indeed Jack Bauer's son, as we all know his is;
(2) Killed Audrey Raines, because she is bor-ing;
(3) Finally resolved Agent Doyle's vaguely evil status.
(4) Is Wayne Palmer dead? Seriously. He might be. Why not a check-in with the President?

Although, some credit:
(1) Chloe as a mother could be entertaining. Certainly pregnant Chloe could be hilarous.
(2) Ricky Schroder's amazing acting chops. (And if you want to know way more than anyone ought to about why he's Ricky again, check this out.)

Part 2: Heroes

Hiro the Hero

So I'll avoid highlighting some of the more obvious plot holes (like, why were people so concerned with keeping the invincible cheerleader safe? and why did Nathan have to escort Peter Petrelli to his atomic explosion - why couldn't Peter fly himself? and why could a well-positioned bullet kill Peter Petrelli but not his atomic explosion?) What makes Heroes finale so dumb is that the whole season was building to this episode and it turned out to be so lame. "OK, I'm Peter Petrelli with lots of cool superpowers at my disposal. I'm facing my archenemy in a fight to save millions of people. What should I do? Oh yeah, I'll just punch Sylar in the stomach a few times. That should do it." This supposedly epic showdown was just so dull. And the "connections"? What was Mica's job - to make sure they could use the elevator? So that Nikki could hit Sylar with a parking meter? And why isn't Mohinder - i.e. the worst character & actor on TV - dead yet? Lame.

Lost better be good.

the not-so-baby ducks

Probably the last baby duck post, since they're growing up so fast:

They've been hanging out by our back porch quite a bit, but Peter's aversion to anything other than being held while in bed or on the futon makes visiting the ducks somewhat difficult.

Human Giant

Oh, I love Human Giant. It might be the funniest thing I've seen in a while. Maybe it's Lil' 9/11, maybe it's terms like "child arsonist," or maybe it's the deer that pushes strollers into oncoming traffic.

Plus, any show that gets cameos from Ted Leo and Devandra Banhart (and plays some Iron and Wine along the way) has to be pretty solid.

babies, babies all around

I'll try to minimize the over-baby-posting, but I should note that

the baby ducks are back!

And Baby Davis-Ross is one week old.

Luckily, this isn't a face we see often.

Sleep Log (Cumulative since May 9): 8 hours.