Hockey & Corn Maze

After many many hours and lots of hard work by John, his annual hockey event went off without a hitch.  The two Genentech teams played each other at the San Jose Sharks rink (John's team won), then we all got to ice skate on the ice, and then that night we all attended the Sharks game (which was won in overtime!)  

The next day, we went to a farm in the middle of nowhere for a scavenger hunt through a corn maze, had homemade fudge and slushies, and tried our luck at the pumpkin slingshot...

9 week ultrasound!

Here's baby Heltemes looking a little more human like!  Mom got to see his/her little arms and legs moving, it's heartbeat, and him/her put it's hand/thumb in it's mouth (with a little imaginative help from the doctor)  :)  The doctor said everything looks great.  Mom has had morning sickness almost daily for the past few weeks, but has realized eating makes her feel better (and only yummy bad-for-you-food sounds good)...sooo...she's feeling like she looks about 4 months pregnant instead of 2 1/2.  It seems to be lessening in the past few days though, so hopefully the binge eating will be less needed soon.  And yes, she's feeling tired all the time, but doesn't know if that's just being pregnant, or the fact that finding out she was pregnant happened to coincide with an 8 week intern starting at work (who will be done this week-yay!), and starting a night class 2x/week (which doesn't end until mid-Dec).  She's managing to not slow down too much though...we'll post pics from her Kinsey Girls trip and events from this past weekend soon.

Fall Arrives

This Saturday, John and I went to the Tony winner for "Best Musical" in 2007, "Spring Awakening"--a show that "celebrates the unforgettable journey from youth to adulthood with power, a poignancy, and a passion you will never forget--a groundbreaking fusion of morality, sexuality, and rock 'n roll."  A great show, but not one you want to take your young kids to.  

That evening we went to the 25th wedding anniversary reception of one of John's co-workers.  The bride and groom are both Hawaiian, so the best part was an hour long show of hula dancers of all ages, including John's co-worker. (we didn't bring our camera, but when we get one from a friend, we'll try and post it)

Sunday, John played his championship hockey game of the quarter, but lost unfortunately.  I went down to Monterey to hang out with Celia and Sean and to meet their 2 kitties (Sean brought them from FL when he moved a couple weeks ago).  One of them, Lily, and I became very close--I think Celia has pictures she may post on her blog...  Celia, Sean and I checked out a new theatre (to us anyway) in Carmel to see a Shakespeare show we had never heard of, "Troilus and Cressida"--the show/plot didn't thrill me, but the theatre was neat...the stage was a small circle and there were only 3 rows of seats for the audience that circled the stage, so it was an up close and personal performance.  

That night we went out to dinner and shared a "Tapa" style meal and then went back to the apartment where the fall season inspired us to carve pumpkins and make carmel apples.  For not having done this in a few years, I say we did ok!  

Attack of the Butterflies

This past weekend Celia and Sean drove up to visit. Friday night we went out to dinner to a restaurant in Burlingame on a street well known for its cute & little restaurants, afterwards we enjoyed some frozen yogurt at Yogurtouille. On Sunday we headed to Golden Gate Park (the Central Park of San Francisco) to visit the Conservatory of Flowers. 

The Conservatory of Flowers was having a special exhibit of butterflies. We enjoyed roaming around the room with butterflies softly fluttering through the humid air. Sean made a "friend" who wanted to hitch-hike his way out the the real world...so Sean squashed him--just kidding :)

After the butterfly exhibit, we enjoyed a few hours of Free Comedy Day in the park. Under the overcast sky we spread out a blanket on the grass and set up camp, it was quite chilly so we huddled together to stay warm. Most of the comedians were locals or unknowns, but Hal Sparks (of Talk Soup and Dude Where's My Car fame) made a special appearance. Most of the comedians were quite entertaining, but Hal Sparks definitely stole the show.

We then enjoyed lunch at Pluto's in the Sunset District (which is where we first lived when me moved to SF) and, of course, had a small dessert at Tart to Tart. Mmmmmmm....

WI visit

The pregnancy bandwagon...Here I am with two of my friends from high school, Hayley and Michelle--all pregnant at the same time!  some more than others :)

John and I went home last weekend to WI for a collection of events:  my grandma's birthday which we celebrated at my parents' house with dinner and a pontoon boat ride on the lake, John's cousin's wedding in Oshkosh where we got to hang out with his side of the family (including our sister-in-law who is also pregnant), and Hayley's baby shower!  

It was a jam packed weekend as always, but also as always, lots of fun.  Here's a shot of the "high school" girls that attended Hayley's shower.  We had a great time hanging out after the shower and catching up.

Our Little Miracle

That's right....we're PREGNANT!!!

For those of you who don't know, Cheyenne had some fertility issues (or so she thought) due to episodes of ruptured ovarian cysts and subsequent pelvic/tubal adhesions and for the past 14 years has wondered if she'd ever be able to have her own children.  After a few months of diligently charting her cycle, a dye test to see how blocked the tubes were, and lots of praying and hoping, we decided to start trying.  

We're calling him/her our "little miracle" because after all of that, Cheyenne got pregnant on the very first try!  Cheyenne got the first positive pregnancy test on 9/7, the morning we were going out of town for our anniversary.  After blinking about 50 times to make sure she wasn't seeing things (the line was very faint), she ran out to the store while John was in the shower and bought a baby name book and a little baby outfit to put in a bag with the pregnancy test for John's "anniversary" gift.  :)  Then it was a waiting game for a couple weeks, but after an ultrasound yesterday to confirm he/she was growing in the right place, it's official!  We are thrilled.  So I guess we have officially jumped on the baby bandwagon.  

Cheyenne is 6.5 weeks pregnant, which for those of you who haven't entered this world yet, means that the baby is 4.5 weeks old.  It's only 3mm long and still has a tail, but it has a heartbeat, which we got to see on the ultrasound.  In the picture, you'll see a dark circle, and the tiny little dot in the middle of that is the baby.  The estimated arrival of baby Heltemes will be May 18th.  So yes, he/she will be born in CA, but we plan on bringing him/her home to WI permanently next October.  Watch for the 1 year countdown for moving to appear soon!  We know there is good reason not to share the news until the first trimester is over, but neither of us is good at keeping secrets, so please keep our little one in your thoughts and prayers!

Here are the ultrasound photos:

Chipmunks, Coyotes, & Bears...Oh My!

Over the weekend, we drove 4.5 hours southeast to Sequoia National Park to enjoy the wilderness. Sequoia National Park, which borders Kings Canyon National Park, is known for its meadows, wildlife, and, of course, the gargantuan Sequoia trees. We arrived on Saturday afternoon, but Celia and Sean had been there since Friday night. It was a "Welcome to California" camping trip for Sean; he has officially moved here. After we set up camp, we cooked dinner (Mmmmmm...hotdogs) under the starry sky illuminated by the full moon. That is when we had our first unwanted "visitor"--a coyote stopped in to see if we had any leftover S'mores. 

After an attempt at sleeping, we awoke to a chilly but beautiful morning. We drove towards Moro Rock, our first trail of the day, and came across another "visitor", a black bear. He walked straight towards our car and veered off onto the shoulder. Sean got a few great photos of him. After the road was clear we were able to climb Moro Rock.

Throughout the remainder of the weekend we saw General Sherman's Tree, Tharp Log, 

Tunnel Log, General Grant's Tree (the nation's Christmas tree), and Panoramic Point (views of Kings Canyon--the forest version of the Grand Canyon, and deeper than it in some areas). 

Spa-tacular!

This past weekend, we drove north, past Napa valley, to the quaint town of Calistoga. Calistoga is known for their mineral water springs and spa treatments. Surprisingly, Calistoga is also home to the "Worlds Largest Petrified Forest" and "California's Old Faithful"; which, of course, we visited.  The geyser place also had these "fainting goats" that Cheyenne fed.  The goats don't actually faint, I guess they have some genetic mutation where their body freezes up when they get scared, and they just fall over.  Interesting.  I thought we should test out that theory, but Cheyenne wouldn't let me.  

The second day we got up and enjoyed a couples massage followed by showers in the mineral spring water.  We then took our time heading back home through the wine country stopping in the little towns for shopping and snacking.   A great weekend to finish celebrating our anniversary!

Happy Anniversary!

We're celebrating our 2nd wedding anniversary this week!  Over Labor Day weekend we had a lot of little stuff to do--playing catch up with errands, chores, and work stuff in anticipation that the next few months were going to get real crazy around here.  John has had the summer off, but his MBA classes resumed this week, and Cheyenne is taking one more massage therapy course this semester (2 nights/wk) so she can finish what she started before physical therapy school and sit for the national exam.  After 2 years of working as a PT, Cheyenne is also now a "clinical instructor" for an intern for the next 8 weeks at work.  So needless to say, we didn't do too much anniversary celebrating over Labor Day weekend.  We did manage to get out and enjoy one lunch at a Greek Festival to reminisce about our honeymoon in Greece....ahh, the memories.

On our actual anniversary, the 3rd, which happened to be a Wednesday this year, we didn't even see each other!  John left for work before Cheyenne got up, and then Cheyenne had her class right after work and when she got home at 11pm, John was in bed.  But Cheyenne did have a nice surprise at work that day...beautiful flowers!  Here's Sienna EATING them...

And here is Sienna's all-time favorite pose.  She's so lady like!!  In the last couple weeks you can find her pretty much in this pose 24/7, we think because we've been having a heat wave, and she's trying to cool off :)

You know us though, we couldn't let our anniversary go without using it as an excuse to travel...so this weekend, we are heading north a couple hours to a town called Calistoga (north of Napa) to finish celebrating.  We'll post more when we get back!

Rockin' and Rollin'

Last night, I was laying in bed watching a movie when the bed starting to move gently. I just thought that the cat was playing around underneath or had jumped up on the bed. Nope, she was laying at my feet. Then it clicked...EARTHQUAKE!!  I walked out to the living room and Cheyenne was sitting straight up on the couch, she had felt it too.  Sienna had assumed her typical earthquake pose as well--back arched, nails dug into the carpet.  Yep, we had an earthquake last night. It was a 4.2 magnitude, about 40 miles east of here. 

Not only that, but it has been bloody hot here. Not the usual constant 70 degree temperatures. I am talking 90's. That is way too hot for me now that I am acclimated to the 60 to 70 degree range.

"Part of your World" & "Take me out to the Ballgame"

I was looking for something for Celia and I to do on Saturday in the San Francisco area and I came across something that just made me laugh...I thought to myself, "there might not be anyone else i know that would enjoy this, but Celia and I would!"  Are you curious now?  We went to the Castro district of San Fran (do you see the rainbow flag?) to the old theatre (very ornate inside with an organ that comes out of the floor for your pre-show entertainment), and saw Disney's "The Little Mermaid".  Now that doesn't sound sooo bad right?  Well, this was a sing-a-long...complete with a goodie bag for each person filled with a princess crown, a string of pearls, a glow in the dark wand, noise makers, bubbles, and a "dinglehopper".  So picture a whole room of people with their goodies and singing at the top of their lungs and reminiscing about their childhood.  Good times.  

Sunday, we went to the SF Giants baseball game with some of John's friends as part of a match-making project for a couple of single people.  Not sure if it worked out that way, but the game was fun. 

August

I'm back from my hiatus...i got mad at the computer one day because it wouldn't download my pictures, but we're friends again...so here's what we've been up to the past few weekends.  I apologize to those who are friends with both Cecelia and I...you can skim if you want...

1st weekend:

Another girls weekend in Monterey...Celia and I had sushi for dinner (a treat we get to enjoy when our boys aren't around) and then joined Celia's friend Andy for the Will Smith movie, Hanncock--an entertaining movie if you haven't seen it.  The next day we hopped the $4.50 shuttle bus, the "Grapevine Express" for a Carmel Valley wine tour.  4 wineries later we were glad to be taking the shuttle home.  Here's one of our "teachers" who put up with our lack of knowledge!  :)

2nd weekend:

John and I finally decided to take advantage of our apartment's top floor social area and throw a poker party for John's co-workers.  So we rented it out (1/2 indoor, 1/2 outdoor) and had a BBQ pot-luck and played a little poker.   We gave Celia, the rookie, a quick run down on the rules, and guess who beat us both?!  :)  

After a great breakfast out the next AM, we walked around our neighbor town's festival.  And that evening, Celia and I made a picnic dinner and took in the musical, Pericles, at San Mateo's "Shakespeare in the Park"

3rd weekend:

Well, before the weekend, John's company had one of their "offsites"--they basically take the day off and go do something fun together, fully paid for by Genentech, in addition to getting paid that day..I know, rough.  This time they took a Bay cruise in San Francisco.

John stayed home over the weekend again to go to a co-worker's birthday party and go to his hockey game.  I joined Celia in Monterey.  Saturday night her friend Andy treated us to free wine tasting at a place in Cannery Row right on the waterfront where he is a member.  When we asked the guy serving us the wine where he would recommend eating, he recommended a sushi place, so we were off for more sushi!  

The next day, Celia and I went to the Monterey County Fair for some good ol' fashioned fair food, exhibits, and a fun dog trick show.

Uppies re-unite again!!!

Q:  What do you get when you combine traveling + dancing + great people + culture + zero sleep??

A:  Up With People of course!  

This time the occasion for our mini-reunion (Sheena, Kris, Andrew, Bernie, and Me) was Sheena's wedding in Nova Scotia.  After an a 12 hour traveling day (overnight with 2 layovers), I arrived on Friday AM.  I met Andrew at the airport and we were picked up by the groom's best man and his wife.  After a quick shower to freshen up, we took a walking tour of Antigonish (a university town) and then met the bridal party/family for dinner.  Andrew and I were then off to the airport again (2 hour drive one-way) to pick up Bernie from Germany and David from Africa/London (one of Sheena's friends from the International House she lived in) for their midnight arrival.  

This is Eelyn, Kris's newest addition to her family (after twin boys)

Just when we thought we could sleep in on Saturday AM, we were jolted from deep sleep by at least 100 bagpipers outside our windows!!  All we could do to keep from screaming, was laugh. We spent a couple hours at the Highland Games (Scottish festival) watching some dancing and tug of war (did you know there's actually strategy and synchronized movements in competitive tug of war?)  Then it was time to head to the wedding, which was amazing.  The ceremony was held outdoors on a bluff overlooking the ocean.  The reception was a ton of fun for us veteran dancers as Sheena's family/friends taught us the traditional Scottish social step dance (an amazing workout and tons of fun!)  That evening a group of us talked into the wee hours of the night back in our hotel (sheena's brother and his girlfriend/sheena's ex-roommate from the Czech, and Sheena's friend Jessidee from Cuba/Florida).

Here is a video of about 1/10th of the dance

 

Sunday we had brunch at Sheena's parents house, then played at the beach for a bit, and ended the evening back at the Highland Games to show off our new dancing skills and to listen to Sheena's bridesmaid, Kim Fraser--a professional fiddler.  www.kimberleyfraser.com

Monday Sheena, Phil, Phil's daughter, and Sheena's highschool friend, and us Uppies piled into a van and drove to the airport and had one last meal together before we parted ways again, already longing for our next reunion...

For those who were there...I finally got my Timbits at my layover in Toronto!  :)

Our Weekend with Sara Strube

This past weekend we had another visitor: Cheyenne's cousin, Sara Strube. 

Thursday evening, we went to San Mateo's Central Park to grab some dinner and listen to "Music in the Park". 

Friday, both Cheyenne and I had to work so Sara toured our adorable little town by herself and then left to go to a party in the city with an old friend. 

On Saturday, the girls took a scenic drive to Half Moon Bay to window shop and hang out on the beach. Upon returning to San Mateo, they enjoyed take-out Chinese, wine, and a movie. As for myself, I was out with my hockey buddy, Andrew, watching Step Brothers and eating some delicious San Jose pizza! 

Sunday, we all drove down to Gilroy to meet Cecelia for the world-famous Gilroy Garlic Festival. We ate garlic flavored EVERYTHING -- including ice cream. We even watched a garlic food competition which imitated the TV show Iron Chef. One of the contestants was San Francisco's own Ryan Scott, who was on Bravo's Top Chef -- he was the fan favorite. On our way home we hit up the Gilroy Outlet Mall. 

Monday, we drove through our foggy city and over the bridge to Muir Woods where we enjoyed a nice walk. We then went to Ghirardelli Square, Fisherman's Wharf, and China town. After a steak dinner, the girls went out to see the "Dark Knight". 

Then, early Tuesday morning Cheyenne dropped Sara off at the airport and we said goodbye to another visitor. 

Do you feel like visiting us? Well, we have some availability for later this year and next year. Call 414-732-1807 to make reservations. Hurry! We are booking up fast.  Ha.