Home Again Home Again

We are back in
And I thought there weren't any grocery stores in my neighborhood. Every other store in Chinatown is selling produce! I've only shopped in one of them so far.
This area isn't the most take-a-walk-with-your-kid-friendly place I've ever been, but we have to get out of the house at least once a day. Mostly we walk around Jack London Square on the waterfront path. I started noticing these mysterious rock towers appearing along the path. Finally one morning I saw their creator. I guess even homeless guys need to express their creativity.
Another decent walk is to the city center. We meet Britton's aunt Aileen for lunch sometimes. She's working at a nonprofit organization nearby.
Sometimes it's worth the walk just to get our Jamba fix.

A walk I try not to take is the Madison Park/Lake Merritt area. I took this picture of the Madison Park Apartments because I like the look of the brick and wrought iron. It's a historical landmark believe it or not. I handed the camera case to Will to distract him from crying. We continue walking past the Lake Merritt Bart station, and I notice Will dropped the camera case. (He always does! I don't know why I expect him to hold on to stuff.) Two minutes! It's gone.

Here's another interesting landmark in the area. The Light of Buddha Temple. I wonder if monks live there...
So this is our 'hood. I'm over it. I'm ready for Stanford again.

Getting Our Nerd on in D.C.

Britton has a CSGF (Computational Science Graduate Fellowship) Conference every summer in the fantastically busy metropolis that is D.C. He went alone last year since I was working and 6-7 months pregnant. This year I got to tag along with Will in tow. Plus, this year Britton's sister is living in Arlington so I had family to hang out with, and a friend from Stanford is living there this summer. Perfect!

The real reason we were in D.C.
Britton is presenting his research at the poster session. His poster/presentation made it to the final round! I think there was about 60 students from around the country that have the CSGF fellowship. The hardest part of the presentation for them was making the presentation short enough for the average attention span and simple enough for others to understand. I had to be careful not to look too interested in their posters or they would give me long explanations of their research while I was holding Will.

The Touristy Stuff:

The National Zoo (It's FREE!)


Erin was a great sport and tour guide. She has enough experience with all the people she's had visit her in the last year!
She also took us to Mount Vernon, and made sure we saw the best parts of the area.
Here we are in front of the Potomac. It was a hot day so the Washington's shady back yard hit the spot.
She also took us to the Udvar-Hazy Aerospace Museum with both Sam and Olivia even though they have all been there countless times:) Aerospace museums are always better with Britton.
Britton and Will are posing in front of a giant rocket engine (thingy). Britton's research has to do with simulating the turbulence and shock waves that occur in these bad boys.
I had to post these next two pictures because Olivia took them! They're very cute Olivia!
I also went to the American History Museum, the National Portrait Gallery, Gallery of American Art, the National Gallery of Art, and the Holocaust Museum. Here's Will enjoying some Monet.

Lessons learned:

Book tickets to the top of the Washington Monument weeks...months in advance
Get tickets online for the Holocaust Museum and get a time earlier in the day. (there's so much to see)
Be prepared for a long line at the National Archives. I really wanted to go here for the constitution and "BIG exhibit" but wasn't up for standing in the line forever with Will.

I guess I have reasons to go back then:)

Finally I was told it was best to see all the monuments at the mall at night. I thought about booking a bike the sights tour, but decided we could bike it on our own! We put Will to bed, and biked into the city from Arlington.
We saw EVERY monument and memorial! And it didn't take too long. The only problem was figuring out what to do with the bikes while we walked up to Lincoln. He was so much bigger that I imagined.
Britton convinced me to lay down, block out my peripheral, and pretend like I was walking up the side of the Washington Monument. It works:)

So that's all our vacation this summer. I have to figure out what to do in Oakland for the rest of August...

Self Control?

I am looking in the fridge for something to munch on for lunch.

Conversation inside my head:

Oh, Pineapple Upside-down Cake.... I should save that for dessert tonight. Why not eat it now? It doesn't make a difference if you eat it now instead of later in the day. OK. Munch, munch, munch.
I should save the other piece for Britton.

You can guess what happened to the other piece.
This is why I try not to even buy junk food. Win the battle at the grocery store.

Getting Back to Nature

There's nothing like spending a few days sleeping on the forest floor to help you appreciate modern conveniences. I appreciate clean carpet which keeps my son from covering himself in dirt every day.
I was in charge of the Sommercorn reunion this year...not sure whose idea that was. I think it went pretty well for my first reunion planning. We camped in Hidden Springs in the Humboldt Redwoods State Park. We were within walking distance of this river.

This is the BEST swimming river I have ever encountered! It was surprisingly a pleasant temperature, pretty calm water, clear, plenty of skipping rocks, and a large rock and tree to jump off of. It was perfect for Will's first river swimming experience. There was also some fish that would swim by your ankles so Britton took Alex fishing one morning. (We brought Britton's little brother Alex along for the fun.)
Alex kept himself busy falling into rivers and bugging Hailey. (Or was Hailey bugging him by pushing him into rivers?)

Camping in the redwoods we saw plenty of big trees. Here's the famous drive-thru tree. (I think there might be more than one drive-thru tree.) It's big enough for minivans and suburbans to fit through! Most of the bottom part is dead, but the top is still living and climbing higher! These trees just don't quit.



It seems like you spend half your time camping making food. There's nothing like s'mores to bring the family together.
Here's the whole Sommercorn-y group.

Why do I look SO short!? I'm wearing heels for the next family picture.

Life in the City

Will starts his morning like any city-dweller, eating a bagel and reading the paper.
Next he spends some time in the bathroom eating toilet paper and getting ready for the day.
We love to take walks along the waterfront. There's so many different sailboats, yachts, kayaks, and other such water vessels. There's also always animals to look at. There's people walking dogs (Will's favorite animal), geese, ducks, and other birds. And there's plenty of hobos and other passersby to give Will lots of attention.

Apricots for FREE!

What is it about free stuff that just makes you go overboard? Picking apricots was so much fun we just couldn't bring ourselves to stop. There was always the chance that the next tree had just the perfectly ripe fruit. Then there was the next tree that had fruit so low to the ground that you couldn't pass it up. What did we do with all the fruit you ask? (Besides eat it and throw it at each other)

apricot jam (cooked and freezer)
apricot syrup
apricot crisp (I just found Smitten Kitchen, it's fabulous!)
apricot in my oatmeal
chocolate covered apricots

All yummy. You just can't beat the flavor of produce picked RIPE!

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