The boys went for a hike, and I was able to grab the below shot:

Lewis must have been extra good this year because Santa showed up with lots of gifts!

We went out to Point Reyes for Miles birthday party, and here is one of the Smilin' Shmoo!

Music day at Marin Day School.

We took our tricycle over to the Civic Center duckpond and did a lap while stopping to feed the ducks.

We went flying airplanes in the park, and Lew had a blast!

Lewis and his new horse -- ride'm cowboy!

Jan dropped by last night to hang out before starting his grand adventure of moving to New York City. New York City? Get a Rope!

Fuzzy wuzzy was a bear. Fuzzy wuzzy had no hair.


Here is Lewis sporting his new do and ready for some baseball.


D'oh! Keep those eyes open when you swing!

Guess who was real excited to go and see the Easter Bunny?


There he is!

What Goes Up...

Must Come Down!

The past couple days have been awesome for me. Thanks to my friend and neighbor, Dorothy, I have been joining her on morning constitutionals up in the foothills overlooking our homes.

Anyone who knows me knows I normally avoid hills. I will walk much longer than I have to to keep from facing a hill. I look at the hill and my entire body aches. Dorothy is this driven taskmaster who somehow gets me up. Whining and pain are acceptable as long as I keep ascending. It is completely wonderful that she does this, because the payoff is so good in many ways. First of all, the views from the top of these hills are amazing. Then there are these beautiful oaks and the beauty from the surrounding hills. Then there is the feeling of accomplishment from climbing the hills when you think you can't. When the walk is over I feel really proud of myself and I feel like I am doing something affirmative for myself mind, body, and soul.

I really want to get my camera up there soon, so I can show how beautiful it is up there. It is amazing that we get to live here.

Last weekend, John, Lewis, and I went walking over at the Las Gallinas Wildlife Ponds. I am thinking we may go back this weekend and bring the camera. This place is a flat place to walk in the wetlands. There is a small airport nearby so you can see small planes land and take off almost over your head. This makes it a great place to take small children who love planes. We saw many birds and Lewis discovered many rocks he could jump off of.

Afew weeks ago we went walking at the Rush Creek Open Space Preserve in Novato with Dorothy, Ken, and Miles. John took some neat photos of the walk. Lewis and Miles had fun with the puddles that were left behind after a rainstorm. It was great to walk when the air was so clean and crisp after storm.
Other Walks: China Camp State Park
Deer Island Open Space Preserve
Loma Alta Open Space Preserve
Indian Valley Open Space Preserve
Pacheco Valle Open Space Preserve
Blackstone Canyon

So, this is what my dream kitchen would look like. Cabinets come in this cranberry or dark deep blue. The cabinents are Venicia from Kraftmaid's Mirra Collection. The specific kind shown is in Chianti Gloss with Alta Styling.

I like brushed stainless steel appliances, counters, stainless sinks, table, and accents. Zen mist green walls, with with zen mist, pacific pearl blue, and pale color to coordinate with cabinets mosaic tile backsplash. Green, blue, and chianti/brick red/orange are colors I use throughout the house. I am also very interested in contemporary/modern styling.

While looking at tile, I found some really great options for the dream kitchen. One was a tile. This option is great if I want to go for more on monotone stainless look for the kitchen and just vary texture.

Another tile I liked was Modwalls Mambo. A more subtle choice would be . If I just wanted to go with the greentiles, there is . Another way to go is .
I would either go with a stainless steel or , with a double stainless steel . Of course, we would go with stainless steel .

Valentine's Day inspired me to bake treats for friends and family. Success with two recipes, Mocha Bundt Cake and Banana Chocolate Chip Cake, made me want to learn more recipes. The latest two were Banana Nut Cake and Pumpkin Spice Cake.

The Pumpkin Spice Cake is so good that it is going to be added to next year's Thanksgiving celebration. I just need to come up with a recipe for frosting that would make it easy to decorate.

It was not just Valentines that got me into the baking habit, but the discovery or re-discovery of baking molds. I bought myself some more fancy molds, but I decided to go with muffin-sized mini-bundt molds. These would lend themselves to being gifts, and make sampling my wares a little less fattening.
Did I mention that all of these recipes are from scratch? I do not try any recipe with cake mixes or any pudding mixes. There is nothing like having the old fashioned taste of scratch baking.
I am thinking of eventually taking a cake decorating class, now that I can make awesome tasting cakes. Eventually, I may be able to make a business out of it.
Maybe, just, maybe.