(PS Sorry I haven’t blogged much; Facebook has been getting nearly all of our picture and video uploads, since frankly, it’s so easy. I have a goal to start doing longer blog writing more again; expect that to start “any day now!”)

Upon arriving back in Seattle, I had finally got around to buying a kazoo for myself to entertain Aviva last weekend. As I dropped it on the floor by mistake last evening, Aviva “scooted” towards it, and picked it up – turns out, she’s quite a natural kazoo player – who knew?

Here she is learning the kazoo:

And here she is putting on quite a performance: (and yes, she’s starting to sit a little – can’t really hold it too well yet, so I am holding on to her feet in this video)

(as always, you might need to view the actual post to see the video.)

Pictures, as usual:

First airplane ride

Quite excited for the trip!

Meeting Dan London

First Muni (tram) ride

A lot of stuff to schlep!

Checking out the fish in Chinatown

Very San Fran

Hanging out with Erica

Up the steps we go

Ferry Terminal Farmer's Market

They sell schmaltz! (treyef, though...)

Cousin Karen

I love picnics

That's a big head

Checking out the Giants game

Sam the cat did not like Aviva

Ready to see the town

First bus ride

Meeting my cousin Rebecca

On the plane ride back home

Between Joelle and I, we got everything done, but I made sure to schedule painting for a day when Joelle was at work – even though we were using Low-VOC (i.e. low toxin) paints from Benjamin Moore. So Clodagh (thanks again!) came on over, and painting her and I did. Turns out, this paint (we used Aura paint in Acadia Green for the nursery, and Aura in Queen’s Wreath for the bathroom), is amazing. One coat, no primer, even over our brick red bathroom; no paint even dripped off of the brush while painting – it was pretty darn thick. Highly, highly recommended, especially for the time savings, but also for the cost savings due to not needing the primer or second coat.

Pictures, of course, tell the story:

One present I wish I had received was a shovel; having one would have made our snow easier to deal with, especially, as I pointed out in previous blog posts, the city did nothing to deal with it. Friday of last week, I drove around to quite a few stores, looking for a snow shovel, so that I would have one for the future, if not this storm. Being unsuccessful (everyone was out, at least for a week), I decided to place an order on Amazon, especially since I have free 2-night shipping due to Amazon Prime. This way, we will have one for the next storm (3-4 more years?), and I won’t be caught shovel-less again. I figured if I waited for the stores to get stock back, I would forget about it, so ordering online it was. The box finally came today – and the FedEx guy said to me: “Wow, that’s a weird sized box – and strangely light – what is it?” Informing him that it was a shovel, he just laughed – and mentioned it was a great idea – he’s going to order one now too! He’s right – the box is strange – and very, very tall – look at how much it dwarfs Molly. At least I am prepared now for the next snowstorm!

A couple of updates from the real world, many through the blogosphere.

• We spent time this weekend hanging out with our friends Mike and Elisabeth (and their son, Rudy). It actually was really great seeing them, and it was great to get a chance to have Molly hang out with Rudy; as any amount of training and getting her comfortable around babys will make our lives easier once Hobey is born. (and for the record, Molly’s not ferocious!)
• Congratulations to Carrie and Josh on the birth of their beautiful daughter – Ayelet Nomi Hearshen. The baby naming ceremony on Sunday was wonderful, and a great testament to the love you have for your new baby girl.
• A few weeks late, but congratulations to Aaron and Julie on the birth of Eytan Henry – we can’t wait to meet him when we are next in DC (or overlap in Detroit).
• Stephanie started blogging on the FidLorb life up in Lynnwood – welcome to the crowd! Abe has also been blogging, on a great foodie idea – there’s a tremendous amount of restaurants up on Hwy 99 (also known as Aurora) by them, some sketchy, but theoretically, some good – so their goal is to eat at all of them, and write up the experience. (in fact, we joined them for one: Spartas Pizza)
• On a completely unrelated note: Seahawks and Lions and Michigan and U-W – wow, the football teams I like are awful. Combined record: 5-30. Not a fun year on the football side.

Pictures (as always, click on the pictures for larger versions)

Is that a pumpkin in your stomach, or what you’ll look like come early next year?	Little Hobey is about this big right now!
Thankfully, the ultrasound shows Little Hobey to be a person, not a pumpkin!	Riding the hay ride with Stephanie Lorber (née Fidler)

Tonight, we decided to get a head start on carving – as it’s election season, we’re showing our support via the patterns up at yeswecarve.com/

(and yes, for Friday night, we’ll use Shabbat candles and make the pumpkins our candlesticks…)

1. It is close, only an hour or so away (including ferry time), so it was easy on my back for travel.
2. Our friends Shannon and Damon have an amazing house they built on the Island – and by that, I mean built by hand: “hammer, hammer, saw, saw”. It was great to see them and spend time with them, and their new son, Griffin (and their dog, Ebey). They are great college friends, who we do not spend nearly enough time with.
3. Because we stayed with them, I knew I could rest as much as my back needed to; taking breaks regularly to lay flat, etc… and not feeling obligated to do too much.
4. We happen to just really like Whidbey Island – artsy, beautiful, friendly, and close.
5. And of course, get Molly away from the loud bangs of illegal (and legal) fireworks.
6. In particular, Greg and Clodagh had called out, on a past trip, the wonders of Double Bluff Beach’s off leash dog park on Whidbey – a few mile long open beach for off-leash access. We wanted to get Molly into the water again.
7. I have been cooped up in the house for a while now – I was looking forward to just getting out of here for a weekend as I move back into working more.

It was just what we needed – it fit all of those goals above, and we are really super-appreciative of the Arndt’s for hosting us. Molly had a fantastic time too – she got to run around their property, go swimming, get lots of fun new treats, and just be one happy (and tired!) dog.

Pictures – click for larger ones as usual:

People:

Dogs:

Arndt House:

Videos – might need to visit the actual blog post to view:

jarsenalofdemocracy.blogspot.com/

“There are certain things you expect at weddings: white dresses, vows, rings, cake, dancing. But every now and then I’ll photograph a wedding that has something unexpected in it, and Joelle and Aaron’s wedding was one of them. It was a wonderful surprise from the bride for her groom.”- Eliza Truitt, 2007

Our wedding photographer often blogs about her past photo shoots, and she asked us earlier in the week if it was okay to write up our wedding. We of course agreed, and after getting online for the first time after taking a few days off-line in honor of Rosh Hashana, Joelle noticed that she had posted an article up over the holiday.

She primarily focused on Joelle’s major surprise to me – which, as Eliza stated, was wonderful – for most people we talk to, it was the primary memorable moment of the ceremony, and well deserving of that honor… but Eliza also covered many of the key moments and photos of our wedding – thanks for the great pictures and post, Eliza!

elizatruitt.wordpress.com/2007/09/12/wedding-joelle-aaron/

(by the way: Eliza was a fantastic wedding photographer, so if any of you are looking for one in the Seattle area, get in touch with her at www.elizatruitt.com – she gets our full recommendation).