Big Girl

It feels like we blinked and Clara suddenly became a toddler.
Here's our big girl enjoying our beautiful back yard.

More photos to come...

North to Eden and the Jeeps of Wrath

To me, there is something about "packing up all of your possessions and hitting the road" that can only be encapsulated by John Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath. This is one of my (Drew's) very favorite books, and the fact that our trip took us through Salinas, CA, birthplace of Steinbeck and setting of many of his novels and short stories, made it all the more pertinent.

The warm glow of my dissertation defense and going-away party on Monday evolved very quickly into an intensely burning fire of activity, as Heather and I (with much help from Mr. and Mrs. D, and her cousin Ben) scrambled to fit all our possessions into a rental truck by Wednesday night. Like the Joads, our longtime (six years!) pattern of of subsistence had come to an end, and we were leaving town in hopes of better economic prospects.

Skipping forward to a comparison to the conclusions of the stories, ours turned out much happier than the novel's. Heather, Clara and I are now happily settled in our mountain home in Ben Lomond, enjoying sunny days, cool nights, and beautiful time together. Family members gathered around us to make the move-in smooth and make us feel very supported and loved. Contrast this with bouncing between migrant work camps, peach-gorging-induced dyssentary, and an awkward finale in a barn, and we are really doing well.

Sadly, though, our journey did parallel The Grapes of Wrath in the loss of a family member along the way. Don't worry: Everybody made it safely. The loss was that of our faithful companion, the Jeep. Heading out of town in 100-degree heat, a failure of the heater control valve caused a sudden, massive overheating, a burned-up engine, and a reluctant but necessary sell-off. Like Granpa Joad, who succombed to a stroke before the family left Oklahoma, it seems the Jeep preferred death on I-5, just south of Del Mar Heights Road, to the thought of leaving San Diego. Or maybe the Jeep was more like Granma Joad. She held on just long enough, passing silently on the Grapevine so that the caravan could reach its destination of the Central Valley. For the last six years we have prayed that the Jeep could "just make it through grad school," which it did, stoically and successfully. In retrospect, hoping that it would "make it to the postdoc" might have been a better idea.

(As timing would have it, we were at that moment purchasing a "second" car, so we do have wheels, and are hoping to find another car soon. Life is good. )

The Jeep incident aside, the move and transition went very well. I start work next week, and we will post pictures of our beautiful new house, and our excellent stay-cation activities (beach, San Francisco...) soon.

Dr. Drew!

As you can tell from the blog title, there's another Ph.D. in the family!

Drew passed his defense today, wowing his committee members and speaking with confidence about his work. During the defense I couldn't help but proudly think, "Yeah, I'm married to him." :)



The magnet (in cake form) and the binary code for "Ph.D."

The newly appointed Dr. Drew!

Getting ready for the toast.




The lab: Brennan, Drew, Mumtaz, Brian, Tom, Dimitri, Greg, Logan, Omar, Maggie, and Alex

The happy family.
We did it.

Clara Has A First Cousin!

Ian Patrick Donahoe was born this morning to proud parents Sean and Jessica!
(Look at how cute he is...am I a proud Auntie or what!?)




Clara is so excited about "Baby Ian".
She can't WAIT to teach him loads of things.
...

Like the joys of swinging...

...and the seriousness of Elmo's awesomeness...

...and the importance of wearing a frog hat while you type...




...and why dressing like a cowgirl (or cowBOY in Ian's case) is the most fun...

...and how even though you live in the city, you gotta rock the John Deere boots.

(Don't worry Ian, we can get you green ones.)

I'm excited you are here Baby Ian!
xo, your cousin Clara

Hips...

Big news! We had an appointment with the pediatric orthopedist today and x-rays revealed that Clara's hips are nearly perfect! For the next three months she will still wear her brace while sleeping but she gets to run around during the day brace-free, without anything to slow her down.

We are in awe of God during this time and are so thankful for good doctors, modern medicine, and the support of you--our friends and family.

A Favorite...

 

This was taken at Drew's birthday celebration... I love this photo.

Summer

Summer is winding down. Drew has a defense date, we have a moving date, and we're in our last month of living here in San Diego. We're enjoying our last weeks here, as evidenced by the photos below...



We took Clara to the Balboa Carousel. She wasn't too sure about it at first but quickly warmed up to the ride!

Um, Dad, are you sure this is okay?

Yay, horsies!

Heather Robb and her band, The Spring Standards, came to San Diego. We saw them in concert (amazing show) and the next day Heather stopped by to meet the peanut.

One of Clara's favorite places is "outside"... it's also one of her favorite words.

Clara and Daddy on their inaugural bike ride! Thanks, Grammy; Clara loves her bike seat.

Clara at the beach, a new favorite. Thank goodness Santa Cruz has one!

Clara and I had a ladies lunch with friends of ours: Summer and her daughter Hannah, and Aimee and her daughter Stella. We tried to get a photo of the girls together but this is what we wound up with. Poor Stella, she was ready and waiting for her photo shoot, but Hannah (not pictured) and Clara (trying to escape the stroller) didn't want anything to do with it.

The heat warranted a kiddie pool. We can't get Clara out of it!

Yeah, it's shaped like a whale... tail included.

Tonight we had a BBQ with our Mesa neighbors. We had such fun celebrating with these wonderful friends.

Heather, Clara, and Geoff

Arpita, Drew, Clara, Consuelo, and Sebastian

Consuelo, Sebastian, Kanu, Arav, and James

Kanu and Arav

Consuelo and Sebastian