Bodega Bay Getaway

Andrea and I usually find some time in winter to get away for a mini vacation. With time running out on our ability to travel, we decided to take advantage of the Martin Luther King Jr's birthday weekend for a quick getaway to Bodega Bay.

On Saturday, we dropped Kodi off at his pal Blackberry's house and drove up to Bodega Bay, which is about 70 miles northwest of San Francisco. Since the check-in time at our hotel was at 4 pm, we decided to take the whole day and took the scenic route along the Pacific Coast Highway. Along the way, we stopped at the Station House Cafe in Point Reyes for lunch. Winter is the slow season for tourism along the Marin and Sonoma coastline. The combination of unpredictable cold and wet weather along with narrow winding roads keep most visitors away. However, winter is also crab season and most restaurants were serving crabs on their menus along with their usual repertoire of oysters and other fresh seafood. So the lunch at the Station House Cafe did not disappoint. We ordered a half dozen of fresh oysters, crab cakes, fresh crusty bread and a pint of Great White Beer (Andrea drank Izze's instead). [A side note here about Great White Beer... I drank Great White Beer exclusively for the whole weekend. Andrea pointed out the label to my attention which stated that Great White Beer is made with a "secret blend of Humboldt herbs"!!!] Do we know how to have a relaxing weekend or what?

UPDATE: Baby 1.0 (code name "Thor")

As most of you know, Andrea and I are expecting a baby boy on April 19, 2008. Things are going ok now but for the first 4 months of the pregnancy, the "Blob" was a major pain in the arse (obviously from Andrea's side of the gene pool). All the Blob wanted to do was to chill out, eat, grow and play mad biologist with Andrea's body and mind. Andrea was constantly in a state of nausea, fatigue and discomfort. But with my loving care, bedside manners and encouragement, we made it through those rough few months and are now enjoying the glow of the pregnancy.

The Blob has been kicking and moving around for a few weeks now and we have given him a better nickname... "Thor". I have yet to feel a real kick from Thor. Everytime Andrea guides my hand to her tummy, Thor stops kicking. He's already figured out how to push my buttons!!!

This is the 1st ultrasound picture of the Blob. It was taken on September 11, 2007 which would put him at around 8 weeks. How could something so small, measuring at less than 3/4 of an inch, bring so many changes???

This was taken on September 27, 2007, around 11 weeks. He's looking less like the Blob and more like Thor.

Here are the latest 3 ultrasound pictures of Thor taken on November 26, 2007... about 19 weeks old. Our doctor assured us that this is the cutest baby she's ever seen in her life. I can't really find any fault with her professional analysis.

Ok... so maybe the doctor was wrong. These face shots are quite scary. I'm not sure if Thor has developed eyeballs or other facial organs or if the ultrasound actually picks up these facial details. Andrea vetoed my suggestion to nickname him Skeletor instead of Thor. Good thing for

Thor that Andrea is going be a wonderful mom! Besides, the above ultrasounds are over a month old. I'm sure by now, Thor is stunningly handsome like his father!

I'll try to keep the blog updated more frequently now (and not just about the baby update). Hope all is well with everyone. Happy New Year!