Bill & Carlotta AND Mike & Rois: Stateside!

It had been 4 years since we had seen Bill and Carlotta, our great friends from Trento IT. Since then, Bill has moved up in the Universita' di Trento, Carlotta has worked through a series of projects in her field and most importantly, they became parents for the first time!

It was very exciting to finally meet Saverio! What an adorable boy! We were lucky that they came to the States, Bill was working on a project at JPL in Pasadena. David, Bill's brother resides in San Francisco now, so they were up for a few days to visit and we caught them then.
It was so awesome to reconnect with them. It had been too long!!

Beautiful parents:

Carlotta and I in the Mission, at the park:

Saverio, Bill and CD in the sunshine:

Saverio and Carlotta on the beach:

While we were down in the Bay area, we also got a chance to meet another new person. Our friends, Rois and Mike have recently moved to the states from Ireland and we had yet to meet Michael. Here, Mike shows Michael what not to do with crayons:

Rois and Michael just hang out

Mike is such a sweet kid: full of wonder and energy! He's like the happiest kid ever!

Melissa

My friend Melissa came up from Oakland to visit and check out Humboldt. I love having visitors and we took a nice stroll on the beach by the jetty. She's such a cool girl and I certainly don't get to see her enough, considering how close we live. I hope to make more plans with her soon!

Easter brief

Easter was pretty low key around the house. Holly and I consumed a few too many mimosas while waiting for our guests to show up to Easter brunch which was marked by a brief snow storm. The snow didn't stick, no one's car got stuck, and sadly no one wore moon boots!

The night before, we dyed some Easter eggs. I usually color some with my nephew and nieces names, and/or flowers and bunnies. In addition, this year, I made one with a rocket on it. Not sure why. It just seemed a whimsical thing to put on an Easter egg. Insight?



Our table, all ready and set including oatmeal muffins with crosses and pineapple crowns of thorns! We went with the traditional theme!

Signs of Spring

Flowering begonia:



CD digging for some berry beds:



He's so hands-on, love it!



A close up of the fern fiddleheads unfurling (it is a process called circinate vernation, or so they tell me!)