Hosanna's birthday + our weekend escape

The birthday party

Friday was Hosanna's birthday, for which we had a small dinner party with Gabe, Kathy, and a couple of Hosanna's friends, Jessica and Charlie (no relation to our cat). We made a couple big lasagnas, which Aria helped me assemble. She loved helping to make them, and she also loved eating the cheese and sauce along the way. :)






I put Aria to bed that night, making it two in a row for me. I had promised I would do that for Hosanna's birthday, but perhaps more importantly, I needed to do it again to make up for the night before, which was positively the worst bedtime experience we have ever had. I don't care to retell the experience here except to say that both father and daughter had tears during the ordeal.

Meanwhile, as Aria and I were upstairs, Hosanna got a pretty nice dinner with her friends, followed up by a round of Cranium, which is a surprisingly fun game. It's really four games in one: it has word puzzles like spelling, jumbles, etc; trivia questions; art stuff, e.g. drawing a la Pictionary and even sculpting with little balls of clay; and music/theater stuff like impersonating an actor or trying to identify the song your partner is humming. All in all, it's very challenging. Gabe was the hero since he can draw or sculpt anything, but we found that even those not artistically inclined had a really good time.

The weekend getaway

The next day, Hosanna and I packed up an overnight bag and headed out to Santa Rosa for our first ever overnight trip away without Aria. She was staying at our house, where Kathy and Aunt Lynn were on deck to look after her until Sunday afternoon.

We had this trip planned for several weeks, but it turned out to be especially good timing since the past week was particularly horrid for both of us from both a work and parenthood perspective. (Shocker: it turns out that being a parent is really hard work.) In short, we really needed a couple days off.

We arrived in Santa Rosa about 1:00 p.m. Had a great lunch at Pearson's Deli, then went to Annadelle State Park for a 3 hour hike. Spring there is so magnificent, as I hope the pictures show:




Hosanna was a champ - even 4 1/2 months pregnant, she made the 5-mile round trip hike up to Lake Ilsanjo and back with no problem. A little slower than usual, perhaps. :)




We enjoyed a long, deep conversation together during which it felt like we were catching up for the past several months. It's funny, because all those years that my sister was telling me how hard it is being a parent because you don't ever get any uninterrupted time to think, let alone hold a conversation with somebody - it's just impossible to understand what that is all about until you experience it yourself. (Suffice to say, I understand what that is all about now.)




As we walked along the path and drew in the beautiful scenery, we both realized just how badly we had needed this bit of time together. It was very romantic, very relaxing, and very much what the doctor ordered.





After the hike was over, we went and checked in to our room at the Hotel la Rose, which is in Railroad Square right across from A'roma Roasters coffee shop. We got up onto the king-size bed, switched on the TV, and had a blissful, quiet cuddle while watching the Star Wars movie marathon on Spike.

We rounded out our evening with dinner at Jhan Thong Ban Bua, the best Thai restaurant in existence, then back to A'roma's for dessert and decaf. Then a bath in a jacuzzi tub, and then we fell asleep. Only bummer is that I forgot to turn off my cell phone and got a wrong-number call at 3:00 a.m. which scared the piss out of me. Thought it was Kathy because something was wrong with Aria. Or maybe it was my work calling. It was from a 916 area code. Here's a tip. If you actually need to call someone at 3 in the morning, I suggest you make REALLY DAMN CERTAIN it's the right number you are calling.

Anyway... next morning we had a leisurely breakfast at the hotel, then headed back home. Aria was in a fine mood. We suspect that the break from us was as good for her as it was for us. She had a great time with Kathy and Lynn - she got to play in the mud! and go to the park and go down the slide over and over and over again! - but she was also excited to see us again.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch...

Later that afternoon, as Hosanna was taking a nap, Aria gave me a spontaneous concert on the piano, which I had the good fortune to catch on camera. There are so many ways I could gush about it, but ultimately I think I will leave that to Aria's own voice. :)

Charlie was also pretty excited to see us again...




...and within moments, Aria was back onto her singular mission: torment, annoy, and vex the cat.