Pappy birthday.

A few weeks ago I was home in California for a week with the fam. Well, most of them--Allison and her family stayed in North Carolina since she recently had a baby and they just moved into a new house. But the rest of us were lucky enough to spend a few days hanging out, overeating, watching the Olympics, and celebrating my dad's 60th birthday.

My first day there, we drove to Santa Cruz for a morning at the beach, followed by lunch at Sarah and Joel's favorite Brazilian place.

On the way there, David made friends with Lily, Becca and Austin's new puppy.

We quickly discovered that Lily likes to dig in the sand:

  This sand is makin' me thirsty.

   The rest of us had an okay time. Although maybe I ended up with some semi-permanent red socks as a result of rolled-up jeans and a sunburn. I don't want to talk about it.

  Brazilian lunch with my peeps.

That night we were joined by Krissy for some cut-throat go-karting and mini-golfing.
  I'm not going to lie to you, it got a little intense.

On Saturday morning we drove into San Francisco to have breakfast with Jeff and Jess at the farmer's market at the Ferry Building. The day was pretty gorgeous even without the aid of Instagram filters.
  The Bay Bridge.

  Outside the Ferry Building.

  We took a quick look back at the city from Treasure Island.

Then it was time to get back home for the main event--my dad's party. While we got food and decorations ready to go, Lily and Posey (Jess and Jeff's French bulldog) wrestled pretty much non-stop.
  This picture is my new happy place.

The party went off without a hitch, complete with great food and dozens of friends and family members who came to pay their respects.  The best part was knowing that even at 60, my dad (and mom, for that matter) can put me to shame at the gym and can most certainly leave me in the dust on a bike.  I'm okay with it.      Mom toasting the birthday boy.

  Gemma, helping the old man extinguish his birthday candles.




Gemma had the right idea.


The girls. We'll just Photoshop Allison in there, okay? Okay.

I also got to spend a little long-overdue time with Marisa, her husband Rob, and their adorable daughter Fara.  Sometimes I forget that we're grown-ups.  Like, who is this child and isn't her real mom wondering where she is?    

We also spent many hours watching the Olympics, naturally. I especially loved how some fringe sport would come on and at first we'd be like, "Ugh, not synchronized swimming," and then we'd end up getting seriously into it. Don't you think Spain was robbed? I really think they were robbed. How about that BMX biking? We definitely watched that. Canoe sprint? Check.

Sarah, Joel, and the kids were the first to leave, and when Sarah came out of their room to say her goodbyes and was already crying, Becca shouted, "OH GREAT" and immediately burst into tears.  You'd think we like each other or something.  I guess it's a good thing we'll all be getting back together (everyone, this time) in a little over a month.

I like Colorado.

Here are some reasons why:



Cash incentives (and ego boosts).



Birthday brunches, complete with Sarah blowing out the candle on the traditional birthday pancake (and then devouring the traditional birthday breakfast burrito).



Walks in the sunshine with mini-me.



Spectating in the shade with the puppy.



Being the best babysitter of all time (I messaged this picture to Sarah while they were out to dinner).



Dress-ups.



Roastin' peeps.

Some honorable mentions (not pictured): going running at Red Rocks and not suffering a pulmonary embolism, a James McAvoy appreciation session with a good friend, dear sweet cousins forgiving me for not visiting (right?), and the long-awaited return of Sherlock. It was a fantastic weekend! And really, anytime you can say, "I feel outstanding about everything I've eaten today," you've pretty much won at life.

Fried stuff and milkshakes.

Based on my posting frequency of late, I've decided that from now on I might as well just blog once every four years. So happy Leap Day, everyone!

A couple weekends ago I booked a somewhat last-minute flight to visit Allison and her family in North Carolina. I had Monday off for President's Day and I'd been feeling like I wanted to get out of town. The winter blues always hit around this time of year, so I texted Allison, "What are you up to next weekend?" She enthusiastically agreed to let me come crash their party.

Once I arrived, Allison kept apologizing that she didn't have any fun activities planned. I pointed out that a) I had invited myself to come visit last minute, and b) I don't come to sight-see. I come to hang out with blonde babies and relax. And to eat at Cookout and Bojangles. Mission accomplished! I was especially excited to see Annabelle since since it had been 9 months since I'd last seen her and she's changed so much. Plus, she is just really cute, am I right?

Emaline continues to be awesome and is now super into cats, which I find hilarious. Above is a PSA she created that now hangs on their refrigerator. It's a warning we would all do well to heed. The girls both have headbands with cat ears on them that they wear all day, every day, and anytime Em draws anything it involves cats. (We had a contest to see who could draw the scariest animal and her giant cat that shot sharks out of a laser gun totally destroyed my bear.)

Allison still looks skinnier than me even though she's pregnant. She is a jerk.

A couple days before I arrived, I got a text from Allison that said, "We will have chocolate delight for our second course of Downton Abbey finale. First course is, of course, popcorn." One thing I like about my family is that they have really good ideas.

They are also good at making weird faces.

We had a great time playing outside in the sunshine, reading books, eating lots (and doing a 20-minute workout video!), playing Blokus, and checking out cute neighborhoods for their future house. I also bought two boxes of churro cereal at Wal-Mart to take back with me. And then on the way home, my topknot got a patdown by the TSA! All in all, a successful weekend.

Booked.

Dear Peru,

[source]

See you in September.

This weekend some friends and I officially booked our 4-day, 3-night trek through the Andes that ends with a sunrise arrival at Machu Picchu. I am about 10% freaking out and 90% super excited.

Who wants an alpaca?

Babies, sunshine, and milkshakes.

For President's Day weekend I went out to North Carolina to visit Allison and the rest of my peeps out there. I know I always talk about how nice it is to get out of the city, and I promise I really love living here, but this trip came at a perfect time. It had been frigidly cold here for a while, and between that and a couple other things, I'd been feeling kind of down lately. So spending a long weekend in the sunshine with family was just what I needed.

I flew in on Friday night and our first stop was to pick up some Bojangles fried chicken and biscuits on the way home from the airport. It's always a nice welcome to the South to be licking grease off your fingers at 10pm. In the morning, I was awakened by two little blondies and we got round TWO of Bojangles--this time, breakfast biscuit sandwiches. Delicious.


The weather was supposed to be sunny and in the 70s all weekend, so we spent most of the morning playing outside. I can't say for sure that Emaline was more excited about this than I was.


In the afternoon we went to the Charlotte Nature Museum and had fun checking out bugs, birds, and butterflies.




Next to the Nature Museum is Freedom Park, which loyal fans of reality television will recognize from Emily's hometown date on The Bachelor. Allison told me beforehand that she had recognized the park from a preview in last week's episode, and when my face lit up, she said, "See, Dave! I told you she would think it was cool!"


After Allison and I shared a romantic embrace on the bridge, we headed to Cookout and gorged ourselves on burgers, fries, and delicious milkshakes.


On Sunday, we had waffles with the Spekuloos I had brought from NY. Seriously, this stuff is joy in a jar, I am telling you. My roommate eats it with a spoon. Anyway, we went to church and then while Allison worked on an awesome roast dinner, I enjoyed tea at Emaline's restaurant, aptly named "Emaline Fiesta Crab". We had a few rounds of Mario Kart and then the kids went to bed and we watched Amazing Race with a big bowl of buttery popcorn. Bliss.


On Monday, Emaline had to go to school thanks to a bunch of snow days earlier in the month. After she was dropped off, I dragged Allison and Dave (with the jogging stroller) out on a 3.5 mile run. I couldn't stop exclaiming about how gorgeous the weather was and I was seriously loving the abundance of vitamin D. We stopped by Emaline's school for lunch, which was fun--I loved seeing the tiny kids going and buying their lunches, acting like they're real people.


Allison and I spent the afternoon shopping and chatting, and then it was time to head back. And to add insult to the injury of returning to 20 degree temperatures, halfway to the airport I realized I had left my coat at their house. Awesome. Allison offered to let me take the Strawberry Shortcake blanket that was in the back of the car (Emaline had some strong objections to this plan) but I toughed it out (aka took a cab home from the airport). It was a great weekend, and just what I needed to get me through these last few weeks of winter!

Firsts.

So with the beginning of a new year, I'm already looking forward to a couple of new experiences I'll be having in the near(ish) future.

One of them is a trip, probably in September or October. I've been wanting to take a big trip for a while, because it's been a few years since I've left the country (I don't count my weekend in Montreal last year, since Canada is basically America Junior). (Just kidding, Canada, don't be offended! Your citizens are actually extremely nice and friendly and your crepes are delicious.) Anyway, where the "first" comes in is the destination: Africa or South America. I'm very lucky to have been several places in Europe, and while I absolutely love it there, I want to try something different. Originally the plan was to go to Egypt, along with spending a couple days in Istanbul. I still really want to do that, but recently another idea has been forming: Machu Picchu*. I'm talking the 4-day Inca Trail hike through the Andes that finishes with a sunrise arrival at the ruins.



And now I'm torn, because both trips sound really awesome and don't worry, I've already spent hours on Lonely Planet and TripAdvisor planning both of these getaways and I have them all budgeted out, and they will cost roughly the same amount. So, thoughts? Where should I go? And also, do you want to come with me?

The other first showed up in my inbox the other day in the form of an email confirmation:



It's happening. November 6. On my last day of being 26, I plan to run 26(.2) miles for the first time in my life. Cute, right? And also mildly terrifying. So if you want to come and make some signs and cheer me on, I would be fine with that.

*I included the Wikipedia link for people who don't know what Machu Picchu is. When I mentioned to my friend that I was thinking about it, he stared at me blankly until I showed him a picture. He then claimed that if I'd just called it "Peru Mountain City" he would have totally known right away.