Halloween Party at the Drinan's

The past couple of years Susan & Davie throw a Halloween shindig at their house.  I was really impressed with all the decor - motorized ghosts that flew, mechanical eyeballs in the tree, bats, dry ice...and the hosts were dressed as a witch and dracula.  The early part of the party were all kids (I guess what's in store for us), but later on in the night it went to sambuca and tequila and the kegerator. 

As for our costume, we decided to play on the whole baby bump thing so we went as Juno and Bleaker from the movie Juno.  Of course only the people who saw the movie got it - Todd even had tictacks attached to his headband.

Birds In the Nursery!

the decorating is done!
 again, not much to say, so i'll just skip to the pics. the lovely birds in the trees are wall decals that we ordered online. although not pictured, there's a set of three pictures that my mom took of babe 'n me in 2001 in the corner. i thought it was a nice touch having photos of mom and dad in baby's room, yea? also the first bit of really cool "dad gear" arrived - courtesy of our dear friends Agnes and Gertrude Wong - the Maclaren stroller (the Triumph model to be exact)! Oh man, it is so sweet - it floats, light as an glistening 11 pound aluminum feather, cutting turns to make a flamenco dancer jealous. anyways, on to the "birds in the nursery!"

view of the wall just above the crib

babe next to the crib, and, technically, below the birds

boo-ya, triumph baby, triumph

~ love, dad

Now & Zen & Golden Gate Park

for those of you who don't know, alisa is the big planner - you're shocked, i know - she loves to plan events and "fun stuff for us to do." so my babe treated us to a little bit of sunshine and cultuer at the Radio Alice Now and Zen Concert in Golden Gate park on a beautifly sunny Sunday, October 12, 2008. It was a really cool show and there was lots of good music - but I'm going to skip to some cute photos of my babe cuz hey, that's what really matters to me! Oh, and we ran into two fellow "Buzzles" which is the cute and rediculous name for those of us that work at BuzzLogic, a startup in SOMA (by the way, we pay great ad premiums for top notch content so hit us up if you want high performance blog ads on your blog!).

The Now & Zen crowd and the beautiful day!

Babe L-O-V-E-S ice cream these days (and who doesn't love an It's-It?!?)

And there we are - isn't she cute?

so this photo should tell you a bit about alisa's fortitude, her iron will, her ability to dig down deep for the strength to lug her 29 lb. baby oven, using sore and strained muscles, all the way out there just to make sure that we have a little fun. love that woman...

Under Construction!

After several months of very diligent shopping, Alisa and I finally found Lima's first bed and dresser. Special thanks to Lima's WONDERFUL grandmothers - Mrs. Chan for the crib and Mrs. Berliner for the rocking chair! The bed, of course, is like some huge transformer and will fold all the way out to a toddler bed for Lima. Initially though it cracked me up - I mean look at the size of that mattress! As a matter of fact, the mattress is something like 27" x 50" and assuming Lima will be about 10" x 18" we'll be able to fit 7 and 1/2 Lima's in that crib! You'll notice that babe's not there - she was in the other room doing yet more diligent shopping!

dad's proud of his work! (and, i must say, lookin' hard core with the tattoo ;->)

On a slightly more serious note, it was a really moving experience for me to build this stuff. My dad absolutely loved building things and he also absolutely loved being a dad. So as I worked late into the night, obsessed with finishing, I literally felt the ancestry, the history, anchoring me to my past, to my family, as I lovingly furnished the room for the next generation. I felt good about starting my family, about trying hard to fill the gigantic shoes of my father. For a few hours I felt like him, fevered, with parts stacked in neat rows (never scattered or unorganized!), pouring love into the work that will surround my child, fill our family's home and feed the timeless current of each generation of Berliners loving their children. And that is about the best family tradition I could ever hope to uphold.