The Visit

This is Matthew Cole, the newest member of our clan. Cute, no? Adrian and I spent our weekend up in the bay area visiting little Matty, his parents, and a few others. But can you believe how very cute he is at only 6 weeks? He was early, so he is smaller than he might be, but not so anyone would notice. And he is perfectly formed. Good job all around.

We arrived on Friday afternoon. I baked a strawberry cake for Peter and Karen, we tasted some Arizona wine from their recent trip and then went to a killer restaurant, Burma Superstar. Great way to start a weekend. Their Tea Leaf Salad is famous for good reason. I am still craving it. Even the Arizona wine was good.

We got up early the next morning because Natalie was participating in a triathalon! What a woman. She went swimming in the Pacific Ocean (after cutting her feet on the gungy rocks by the shore; such poor planning.) Then she biked, her favorite part of the day. Finally she raced past us. We had missed the other two parts. I thought she looked great, even though this was the last leg of the event.

Here are her adoring fans. It was freezing. For some reason, Adrian and I forgot that the bay area can be cold. And somehow the swimming part absolutely eluded me. But here are Peter, Kevin, Karen, and Adrian, waiting for the runner to return. Oh, in front is Maggie. I wonder if she had any butterflies in her stomach at this moment. The Mini-mermaid run took place as soon as most of the tri-athletes crossed the finish line. She was amazing. Her dad joined her on the last leg (I thought he'd run the whole thing) to cheer her on. She would have made the 1.5 mile run without his help, but is was fun to see them running together.

We spent the rest of Saturday, Sunday and Monday at Kevin and Natalie's house. On Sunday, we visited Mark and Trina. This is where the adorable child comes into play. I love this picture of him sleeping on Kevin's shoulder as Kevin eats yet another strawberry cake. Don't worry, strawberries will go out of season soon. Don't you think Matthew's bib looks like a speech bubble? He must be talking up a storm.
Then it was Adrian's turn to hold the sweet bundle. See what I mean by tiny? All these guys tower over the wee one. Mark was not concerned about damage to his offspring. Adrian is really very good with the young of our species.

Natalie was in front of me, taking an official family portrait. But I like the slightly aerial view of this now complete family. It will be fun watching Matthew as he grows.