A vacation in California...

We were very lucky to have our wonderful French friend Xavier come and visit us recently. Our friendship began in Lyon where Mark and Xavier had a French/English language exchange. Mark wanted to improve his skills in French, and Xavier was preparing to live for a year in the USA, so it was a perfect combination! It quickly turned into an incredible friendship, and the rest is history. Xavier is now in his final month here in the USA, so it was amazing to see him and hear his thoughts on US culture and such. It's safe to say that for the first time since we left Lyon, we actually felt like we truly missed France. Now we're back to dreaming about being there again, maybe doing a sabbatical there one day... sigh...

Mark was sick, and so the backpacking trip he and Xavier had planned didn't happen. Instead, we explored places closer to home, which meant I got to join in on the fun. Xavier gave me permission to display his expert photography skills here on this blog, as most of the photos are from him (thank you, Xavier!). Take a look:

Half of the Golden Gate Bridge, as seen from Baker Beach

A ghostly bridge without an end...

The next few photos are from the famed California Coast, as seen from Highway 1.

I think this color blue is my favorite color...

Takes my breath away...



Inside a clam at the Monterey Bay Aquarium

Evan loves fish now, and has been looking at photos of them every day since going to the aquarium!


...and the jelly fish, amazing!

Evan has watched this video sooooooo many times. It's great for self-hypnosis (argh)!


Xavier went whale watching and saw 22 blue whales! Lucky!!

I love this photo!


Mark chasing Evan at Muir Woods

I can't believe we live here!! France, San Francisco...so, so lucky! Having Xavier visit, we got to experience both places at the same time. What richness!

We've had so many adventures lately! Oh, so much to blog about, but for now, a photo:



Evan is 18 months old tomorrow! Hooray for our big little boy!

The view that could have been...

We took a dive into the world of real estate this summer when we realized that we might be able to save a lot on living costs by buying rather than renting. We love the condos that we live in, and we loved the idea of owning one (still do). We had to jump through all of the hoops of getting a purchase contract before we could get clear answers from the HOA about various questions we had. We weren't satisfied with the situation in regards to earthquake insurance, and so we decided to pull out of the deal. Wow, we sure learned a lot, though, and we're super excited to buy a house someday!

We loved the condo with which we were in contract. It was perfectly situated on a little pond, with weaping willow trees wistfully blowing in the breeze and the sound of water fountains gently splashing... This would have been our view:

Sigh... oh well... :)

What happened to the summer?

Whew!!!! Hello again, dear blog readers...it's been too long! :)

It's been a very busy and very good summer. We've enjoyed a long visit from Grandpa Butler, we almost bought a condo, we had a good friend visit from Germany, Mark had minor surgery on his hand, and Evan had lots of firsts and is running and talking more than ever. Hopefully I will have time to blog about all of these, but at a minimum here are some photos and a promise to be a better blogger from this point forward:

Evan discovers Mommy's cosemetic bag

Evan's introduction to Legos

Mark shows off his cool cast

Evan and the giant redwoods in Muir Woods

We visited the Little Farm in Tilden Park, and Evan got to see all the farm animals that we've been pointing to in his books. The excitement in his eyes was incredible to see, as he made connections in his brain between his books and the live animals.

Evan steals a piece of lettuce from a cow.

Climbing on a mountain Lion

Evan and Daddy dance to Michael Jackson

'Cuz you asked...

Here is a plethora of videos that showcase all of Evan's amazing skills!

First, we have Evan walking and holding a ball that's half his size:

And here he bounces the ball and then talks about it:

Next, he shows us his ninja skills, as he spies into the neighbor's patio:

At bedtime, he hides behind the coffee table, trying to escape our grasping arms that will carry him off to bed. In this video, he's talking to us in one of the dialects of Evan-speech:

And then he came to my arms to say night-night...

The next morning, he demonstrates walking backward, before discovering the cat food:

I let him have one of the birthday lollipops from Aunty Audrey (thank you!!)... He loved it!

If only he would eat so peacefully when I feed him veggies in his highchair (currently after 5 or 10 minutes he screams at the top of his lungs to be let free, but I didn't film that)!

Smiles in the mail...

We've had the pleasure of receiving several packages in the last couple of weeks, each containing something that has made Evan and his parents very happy.

First, Grandpa Butler sent two shirts that are the perfect size of Evan (he is growing out of his wardrobe fast), and Evan was happy for the extra room to move around in! Here he is enjoying his new rockstar shirt, while reading a book with Daddy.


Next, Evan got a very nice white shirt from Shannon at Mother May I (in Florence, OR). He looks so sharp in it! This especially made Mommy smile. :)


Then, Grandpa Butler blew us away when he sent Evan some very special shoes. They are designed perfectly for this stage of his career in walking, with a soft and flexible sole that is just hard enough to give him extra balance. We opened the package right before bed, when he was in his pajamas. He took off like a bullet as soon as we put them on his little feet. He had soooo much fun tromping through the house in his new shoes, and he was more solid on his feet than ever. He will now bring them to me to put on his feet. Transforming!


And then yesterday we opened a package sent by his Aunt Sara (my longtime friend with whom I shared my own childhood years). He loved the catepillar toys and extremely cute outfit inside the box (they got him through a difficult afternoon in teething), but afterwards he discovered the box! He likes to get inside boxes, no matter the size, and this was no exception...


Here is a video of Evan saying "hi"

And then he starts rocking the box...

He did eventually end up falling backward, and thought it was great fun. He wanted me to pull him around in the box, and started pouting when I didn't immediately start...

I'm such a mean mommy! Don't worry, he got lots of box-car action after I turned off the camera...