JoJo's Early Birthday & Pre-Birth Dinner

November 30, 2011

On Tuesday night, a few of the girls took JoJo out for an early birthday dinner (her birthday is on December 19) and the last girls dinner before she was going to give birth (due date is December 11). We headed to Range for good food and company:

Happy early birthday to JoJo and good luck to JoJo and Chevy on their expanding family!

Run Wild for A Child 2011

November 27, 2011

On Sunday morning, I met up with a gaggle of folks (Sandy, Sue Hee, Wendy, Coco, Sara, etc.) at GG Park for the annual Run Wild for a Child post-Thanksgiving 10K. 

Wendy, Sandy and I had a nice run together, way more catching up than actually hard-core running.

Hooray for post-Thanksgiving calorie burn!

Park Tavern

November 27, 2011

Will and I flew back to SF in the wee early hours of Friday morning, so it was nice to be home for the weekend before getting back to work.

On Saturday night, we joined Robert and Sue Hee for dinner at the new hip and happening restaurant, Park Tavern, in North Beach across from Washington Square Park. Park Tavern is brought to the foodie scene by the very capable folks from Marlowe in SOMA.

We started with some appetizers/tasters to share. The Whitefish dip with smoked salmon roe and crostini:

Deviled eggs with bacon, pickled jalapeno and chives:

Demons on horseback:

Housemade charcuterie plate (tuna conserva, coppa di testa, duck liver crostini, mangalitsa prosciutto served with grainy mustard, caper berries and cornichons):

For entree, I had the "Marlowe" Burger, with carmelized onion, cheddar, bacon and horseradish aioli and fries:

For dessert, Robert ordered the November "Birthday" cake: Casey's carrot cake

Overall, the meal was very good, and similar to the quality and service you'd expect at Marlowe.Very hip and "hot".

Gobble, Gobble 2012

November 25, 2011

A couple pics of how exhausted the twins were pretty much every day after Disney:

On Thursday (Happy Thanksgiving!), my folks, Will and I played one more round of golf (at the Reserve Course at Orange Lake). We took some time at sunset to take an updated family photo:

The goofy family photo:

The resort also had a great deal, where you could order an entire Thanksgiving meal (cooked turkey, mac n' cheese, buns, gravy, cranberry, green bean casserole, mashed potatoes, cornbread stuffing) and it would be ready to be picked up and taken back to your condo around 4:30 PM. Thanksgiving dinner without all the effort? Yes, please!

The dinner was really tasty, and it was a nice dinner to unwind to after a busy and hectic week. Hope you all had a fantastic Thanksgiving!!

Ball Golf, Goofy Golf, Disc Golf!

November 24, 2011

To convince Will to spend Thanksgiving week in Orlando, I persuaded him with promises of golf with my Dad.  So, for the rest of the week, that's exactly what we did while the rest of the family went to the other Disney resorts.

On Monday, we played the Legends Golf Course at the Orange Lake Resort (where we were staying). My mom joined us as well, and we had a great day of golf, with a few sprinkles and then a gorgeous rainbow:

That afternoon, we met up with the kids at the massive River Island water park:

On Tuesday, Will, my Dad and I went for a round of 18 holes at the Disney Magnolia Golf Course:

Will's Goofy headcover was excited to be back "home" (his nephews and niece bought it for him from Disneyworld years ago):

Baby alligator (ai-ya!):

The signature hole with the "Mickey" sand trap:

On Wednesday, Will and I had to do some work, then headed to the gym, and then drove over to
Bill Frederick Park @ Turkey Lake to check out their fancy disc golf courses:

Super fun, especially as I really do suck at disc golf, but really nice and fancy course.

Happiest Place on Earth...

November 21, 2011

I got back to SF from Basel on Friday for less than 24 hours to do laundry and re-pack, as on Saturday, Will and I were off to Orlando, FL to meet up with my family for the week of Thanksgiving. My sister and Jack surprised the kids with a week in Orlando (Disneyworld!), with surprise #2 being the arrival of my parents, and surprise #3 being the arrival of Will and I.

We got to Orlando in the wee hours of Saturday night/Sunday morning, so we surprised the kids in the morning. We then headed off to brunch at Cracker Barrel...and then to Disney's Animal Kingdom!

Will, Jack and I took Simon on his first roller-coaster ride, Expedition Everest:

Me and the sabre-tooth tiger I won kicking Will's butt in the racing derby game:

From Animal Kingdom, we grabbed dinner and then headed over to Magic Kingdom for the Electric Parade and Wishes Nighttime Spectacular (e.g. fireworks):

It was a great day at Disney and super fun with the kids. Just magical.