Metz Family

Letter

2025-12-19T08:52:00.000-08:00

Holiday Letter 2025, here we go! Some big happenings this year, so without further ado I'll get into it....

On New Years' Day we went up to Ft. Funston again, only this time we had a different dog. So far Reese hasn't been quite as willing to swim in the ocean as Splash was (it may be a name thing), but she still had a great time there (as did we all).

Reese posing with a bit of kelp at Ft. Funston.

Reese with the boys at Ft. Funston.

Evan has always wanted to have Reese sleep in his bed, but so far she's not been interested. Still, he keeps trying.

Reese with Evan in his bed (not for the night, just for a picture).

Alex is not as pro dog-in-bed, but he's willing to have company for short stints.

Reese with Alex on his bed (definitely just for a picture).

In February we took Alex to see one of our favorite bands, Guster, when they played a show in Oakland (Evan opted out of joining us to do stuff with his friends). This isn't the greatest picture ever, but it's the best we got while we were there, and I only talk in these letters about events that have pictures so I've got to include something. And I really wanted to make sure to mention this show because it comes up again later in the year (you'll see below).

At the Fox Theater in Oakland to see Guster.

Later in February we went up to Tahoe for our annual Presidents' Week ski trip. We went to Northstar again this year after enjoying it so much in 2024, and it didn't disappoint. The weather was particularly warm this year (you can see in the picture below that only Stephie is really bundled up, and even she wasn't that bundled), which was kinda nice.

Skiing and snowboarding at Northstar.

Both boys played soccer for their high school team (Alex on JV, Evan was captain of the varsity team), and had pretty successful seasons. They both got awards at the end of season banquet as well, Evan was All-League 1st Team and Coach's Player of the Year, and Alex was Most Improved.

Evan and Alex with their high school soccer awards.

Some of you may remember from the last two years' letters that we did a number of college tours during the last two fall breaks, and the school that Evan clearly has the most positive reaction to was Oregon State University. Well, he applied there early admission and got in to his preferred major (Mechanical Engineering) and to their Honors College (which he was very interested in). And once all the other acceptances and rejections and wait listings came in, OSU is where he decided he wanted to go to school. (There are more pictures about moving in and Fall Family Weekend below.)

All of us in the OSU gear that Steph's sister Melissa got us.

We did a little day hike at Villa Montalvo in May, and we got the dog to pose well for once, so I'm definitely including that picture.

Hiking at Villa Montalvo

Later in May and then on into June the end-of-school and graduation-related events started piling up. First on my birthday was Evan's senior honors ceremony, where pretty much all of his friend group received honors of one type or another (Evan for being one of 14 valedictorians, among a few other things).

Evan and his friends at the Senior Honors Ceremony.

Next up was prom, which Evan attended (the first and only school dance he ever went to!) with most of that same group of friends.

Evan before he heads off to prom.

Then it was time for graduation! We had both sets of grandparents in attendance, and we got pictures of all of us attendees in the stands:

The family in the stands for graduation.

And with the valedictorian on the field after the ceremony.

Everyone with Evan after graduation.

Our little family with Evan after graduation.

It should come as no surprise that both our boys are pretty accomplished artists, especially when it comes to drawing. Evan recreated a scene from one of his favorite animes for his cap decoration.

Evan's graduation cap, inspired by Evangelion.

Our other big family news from graduation day was that Northrop Grumman, where I've worked for 25 years, announced they were closing our San Jose site and moving all the work there to other locations (primarily Sacramento). I had several offers to move to any of a variety of sites around the country within the company, but we Metzes are pretty happy in Silicon Valley, so I was laid off on Halloween. As of this writing I'm still interviewing for my next position (and I'm hopefully really close to what I think will be an excellent new opportunity, but nothing's final yet), and enjoying some time off (for the first time since I was 20 or so).

[UPDATE 1/20/2026: I accepted a position at Google as a Site Reliability Engineer with the Google Distributed Cloud Air-Gapped team and started today!]

Anyway, back to happenings in June. Steph answered a call back in January from a new arts space in downtown Seattle, Cannonball Arts, to create a soft-form rideable sculpture over a mechanical bull base. She submitted a couple proposals, one of which was selected (out of 80+ submissions), and in February she started work on creating a realistic, 10ft long nudibranch (a sea slug) out of foam and felt.

Steph with one set of volunteers around the finished nudibranch.

Steph with another set of volunteers around the finished nudibranch.

With the help of many many volunteers, Steph finished Toxic Beauty in early June and rented a truck to road trip it up to Seattle with her good friend Shelley from college. Actually, they were friends from well before college, but they both did go to the University of Oregon, where they got to stop along the way.

Toxic Beauty loaded into a U-Haul and ready to transport.

Once it arrived in Seattle and they got it off the truck and onto the mechanical bull base (which was apparently even harder than it sounds), Steph had a few former students and studio assistants who live in the area help her put on some finishing touches (like felting over the panels where the sculpture was bolted to the bull form).

Jen, Steph, Mercer, and Jen with the finished nudibranch.

While Steph was on this adventure, Alex and I were down in Los Angeles for SoCal Cup, his first club volleyball tournament. Alex has played volleyball with his school team all through middle school and this past year on the high school JV team, but this summer we let him try playing for a club team as well.

Alex with his team (he's the tall redhead in the middle) at SoCal Cup.

His cousin Delaney (who played volleyball practically her whole life, including through college) lives in the area and was able to join us one day to watch his games, which was a treat.

Delaney came to watch Alex's games one day of the tournament.

Then at the end of June/beginning of July we went to AAU Nationals in Orlando. (The whole summer season was just two big tournaments, first in LA and then in Florida.)

Alex with his team at AAU Nationals in Orlando.

My parents happened to be road-tripping across the country to see my mom's sister in Daytona Beach, and they were able to come through Orlando and see two days of the tournament.

Scotty and Linda joined us in Orlando to watch some volleyball.

And also, who on earth thought The Licking was a good name for a restaurant chain?! Only in Florida....

Alex posing in front of The Licking.

Alex and I flew home on the 4th of July from the tournament (Steph had to come home a few days earlier to deliver some artwork to a show), so we mostly missed the normal festivities and fireworks. We were able to see cousins Finn and Parker a few days later, though.

Seeing Finn and Parker in Pleasanton.

Steph was in Minneapolis, MN a week after that teaching a felting class at Textile Center, which was a new venue for her.

Steph with many of her students exploring Minneapolis.

Before Alex started school again in early August we took one last quick family trip to go canoeing on the Russian River with our friends (and the boys' classmates) the Bustas. Unfortunately our phones were packed away in dry bags for most of the canoeing, but we at least go a few pictures at the glamping place we stayed at the night before.

Eating breakfast before heading out to the river.

Just a few days later Evan and I flew up to Corvallis (well, we flew to Portland and drove to Corvallis) to attend his orientation at OSU.

Hayden and Evan at Reser Stadium during Launch.

A week after that Steph and I were up in Seattle for the official opening of Cannonball Arts and Toxic Beauty.

Mercer, Steph, and Jen with Toxic Beauty during the friends and family opening.

Hayden riding Toxic Beauty for the first time.

While we were in Seattle we also went to to the top of the Space Needle for the first time and went to the Chihuly Garden, which was pretty awesome.

Hayden and Steph at Chihuly Garden and Glass.

And this wasn't really something we'd planned, but we got lucky that the same weekend we were going to be in town anyway Steph's cousin Joanna was getting married, so we got to attend her wedding and catch up with a lot of Steph's extended family.

Steph and Hayden at Joanna's wedding.

But August was not done yet! Remember how I mentioned that in February we saw one of our favorite bands Guster in Oakland? Well, in late July they mentioned in their email newsletter that they were playing their first ever show in Hawaii in late August at the Four Seasons Lanai, and everyone staying at the resort got to go to the show for free. We didn't have any other plans for our anniversary, so we made a snap decision to go to Oahu and Lanai for our anniversary and see Guster again!

First we spent a few nights on Oahu at a nice little resort I found in Kaneohe (on the northeast shore of the island), Paradise Bay Resort. We'd been to Honolulu before but we'd never seen the rest of Oahu, so we really wanted to get outside the city and Paradise Bay didn't disappoint.

Snorkeling in Kaneohe Bay.

Unfortunately we were only able to stay at the resort for two nights (they were all booked up on the third night), so we spent one night in Waikiki at the Royal Hawaiian just doing beachy things. Then the next morning we got on a little plane for a half hour flight over to Lanai for two nights at the Four Seasons.

Eating lunch at the Four Seasons Lanai.

We had activities booked for each day, so between all the lazing around we did a ropes course:

Pausing for a picture on the ropes course.

Took a snorkel trip:

Catching some sun (turned out to be a little too much) after snorkelling.

And went to the archery range for a lesson:

Showing off how we can both hit fake reindeer in the antlers (definitely not by accident).

The highlight of the trip, though, was defintely seeing Guster in an absolutely amazing setting.

We watched pretty much the whole show from right up front.

And we even got to meet a few members of the band and chat with them for a few minutes during the trip (they were all staying with their families at the resort as well)! All in all it was an amazing trip!

Unfortunately we did have to come home eventually, though. And not a moment too soon, because the day after we got home Steph had to install work at a solo show at Felix Culpa Gallery in Santa Cruz. Fortunately Evan was still home (OSU is on quarters, so he didn't start college for another few weeks), so he was able to help her install.

Evan helping Steph install her show at Felix Culpa Gallery.

Evan dragged his feet forever taking the driving test (he waited so long his learner's permit expired and he had to retake the written exam), but he finally got his driver's license just a week before he started college (we had to mail his license to him at his dorm when it arrived).

The newest licensed driver.

Speaking of which, at the end of September we rented a big SUV and drove Evan up to Corvallis to move him in at Oregon State.

Evan's dorm room, at least partially decorated.

At the very end of the month Steph and I went back to HopMonk Tavern, the small concert venue in Novato we found last year, and saw Stroke 9, which was a real blast from the past (which is true of most of the bands we've seen at HopMonk).

Steph and Hayden seeing Stroke 9 at HopMunk Novato.

Remember how I said I'd been at Northrop 25 years, and that I was being laid off at the end of October? Well, earlier in October Steph and I went to a company banquet in Beverly Hills to celebrate peoples' 25- and 50-year anniversaries (yes, there were 2 people in attendance who'd been with Northrop 50 years!). Ironic? Certainly. But it was a pretty good party, and we got a free trip down to LA out of it.

Hayden and Steph at Northrop's 25-years of service banquet.

While in LA we also went to the Getty Museum, which we'd wanted to do for years but had never made the time for before.

Hayden and Steph at the Getty.

And Steph got us tickets to see Chappell Roan play at the Rose Bowl, where our neice Riley and her friend Alex joined us for the awesome show!

Steph, Hayden, Alex, and Riley seeing Chappell Roan.

In November we all went up to see Evan at OSU's Fall Family Weekend (which was Alex's first time back to campus since we did a tour last fall when Evan was still figuring out where he wanted to apply). We got to see a football game (although we only stayed through halftime, since it was kinda cold):

Hayden, Evan, Alex, and Steph at the OSU football game.

And walk around campus now that Evan knew his way around better:

Hayden, Alex, Steph, and Evan in front of Weatherford Hall.

We had Evan home briefly for Thanksgiving, and that's when we able to take our Christmas card picture:

Our Christmas card picture.

2025 has been quite an eventful year for the Metz family. Some big changes are afoot to say the least. I feel like I say this every year, but it was all more good than bad, so I'll call that a win. We hope you had a good year too, and 2026 brings you more of the same!

Letter

2024-12-14T01:06:00.000-08:00

Another year, another Christmas letter. I'm mostly going to work chronologically, but we had two big dog-related events that kinda book-ended the year so I'm going to address those first. Then I'll work through the rest of the year.

First, we had a fairly rough March, when we had to unexpectedly say goodbye to our spectacular dog, Splash. Steph wrote a very poignant letter to many of you when it happened, so I'm just going repeat it here:

Dear friends and family,

I’m writing to share sudden and devastatingly sad family news; today we said goodbye to our incredibly good dog, Splash. Since you’re receiving this you probably know to some extent how much she’s been an important part of our family since we first adopted her in the Covid summer. For the past nearly four years she has been a constant source of joy, laughter, comfort, and the forging of new friendships, canine and human alike.

I still can’t wrap my head and my heart around this. Four weeks ago she was perfectly healthy; we went on a sunset walk at Ed Levin county park; they’re my last ‘normal’ photos of her. Over the past three weeks she suddenly developed an autoimmune disease called pemphigus vulgaris, in which the skin and mucous membranes break down, painfully. We sought every answer and solution possible; it took over two weeks to really get a diagnosis. We took her to specialist vets; we treated her there and nursed her at home. This is a very rare disease, and the treatments didn’t work. She held up and held on, but after another hospital stay and a lack of a miracle, we helped her let go.

She was a remarkably clever dog, AND loved to eat anything and everything-- which helped her learn lots of tricks as well as the names of all of her family members, many of her dog/human friends from our extended neighborhood dog community (and she knew, of course, which dog went with which person), and she could identify by name and bring over many of her toys. It seemed like she understood compound sentences; at least she certainly learned ways to get what she wanted by paying attention to what paid off. She was affectionate; she was barky when excited, although she could also ‘whisper’ if there was food in it for her. When you would stop patting her she’d paw at your hand for more. She will be missed.

We will never know if it was a genetic disease waiting like a ticking time bomb, or if it was triggered by something external; none of the testing revealed any source. We have to settle, somehow, for the nearly four years we had. Her fourth birthday would have been tomorrow.

It has been terribly hard on our whole family, and we’ll get through it bit by bit. If you see us soon, just hug us through bouts of sobbing, or else give us a moment to figure out what we need. Her presence was felt through every part of our lives, so there are dog-shaped holes all over the place. I didn’t want to have to explain it over and over, thus the somewhat impersonal email.

Here is a sampling of pictures we took of her earlier in the year, before she got sick (those last two are from the sunset walk Steph mentioned in her letter):

We took the Spring and Summer to mourn her passing, and I'll confess there were some benefits to not having a furry friend to take care of everyday. We are kind of a dog family, though, and as Fall rolled around (and Steph finished installing her big solo art show In The Glow... more on that below) we started looking more earnestly at puppies that were out there in the world.

After we returned from a trip to the Pacific Northwest visiting colleges in early October (more on that below too) Steph connected online with a breeder of Australian Shepherds in Turlock who had one puppy in her litter that unexpectedly became available (the person who was going to take her backed out at the last minute), and two days later Steph was coming home with Reese:

Reese was 8 weeks old at the time, so she's almost 4 months old as I'm writing this. She's turning into a wonderful little dog (although she obviously won't be little forever, we're expecting her to top out a smidge under 50lbs when all is said and done), but the first month we had her was rough. Having a young puppy is somewhat akin to having a mobile infant with very sharp teeth, and Reese was extremely willing to use her teeth. Just in the last few weeks it's gotten a lot better, though, and we spend significantly more time with her snuggling than we do being nipped at.

Anyway, here are a few more pictures of her the first week or so she was home:

OK, so that's our big dog news, the bad and the good. Now, on to the rest of the year....

On New Year's Day we went up to Fort Funston with Splash and some dog friends (sadly, it turns out this would be our last trip to the beach with Splash).

Walking at Fort Funston.

On MLK Day Alex and some friends wanted to go hiking at Alum Rock Park, and I somehow got elected as the one parent who would accompany them.

Hayden and Alex hiking with some of his friends at Alum Rock Park.

At the end of January Steph and I took our annual trip to Las Vegas to see friends for Super Bowl weekend (this year since the Super Bowl was in Las Vegas we went for the conference championship games instead).

Hayden, Steph, and Elizabeth at the Year of the Dragon display at the Bellagio.

We also went hiking at Red Rock Canyon at the end of the weekend, which has become pretty much a tradition as part of this trip. If you click on the second picture to make it bigger you can see the Strip in the background down in the valley.

Steph and Hayden hiking at Red Rock Canyon.

Steph and Hayden at Red Rock Canyon w/ the Vegas Strip in the background.

We went skiing a few days at Northstar this year for our annual Ski Week trip. I remember not really liking Northstar that much when I was coming up to Tahoe a lot more often back in grad school, but we had a great time there on this trip. I think it probably helped that I found us a condo where we could ski-in/ski-out, so we just came back to the condo for lunch. Fingers crossed that we can find something similar next year.

On the slopes at Northstar.

The rest of the Spring was relatively uneventful (at least as far as the family photo album is concerned). Alex graduated from middle school in June, though, which kicked off a busy start of Summer.

Outside the stadium gate for Alex's middle school promotion ceremony.

Our big vacation this summer was a trip to the east coast to see my extended Metz family and celebrate multiple milestone birthdays (my cousin and I both turning 50, and my aunt 75, all within a month of each other). We were meeting everyone in the Outer Banks of North Carolina, which meant the closest airport was Norfolk, VA. We spent an extra day in Norfolk before driving to NC and visited Colonial Williamsburg.

Visiting Colonial Williamsburg.

Then it was on to Corolla, NC in the Outer Banks with the extended family. We rented a huge house (14 bedrooms) right on the beach together, all 26 of us, and spent a week doing beachy things.

Hayden and Steph in the gazebo at the end of our private boardwalk to the beach.

Steph can't help but sculpt things, even on vacation.

The boys got to do a little ocean fishing.

Evan and Alex with their cousins Dylan and Finn.

The wild horses that live in the Outer Banks dunes came up on our deck at one point!

We all went go carting one day.

Hayden and the boys with our beach vacation towels on the pool deck.

Back home, Steph and I went to see Toad the Wet Sprocket (a favorite of Steph's from high school) perform at a small outdoor venue in Novato, Hopmonk Tavern.

Steph and Hayden at the Toad show in Novato.

At the end of summer Steph was up on Whidbey Island in the Seattle area teaching at the Pacific NorthWest Art School. While she was there she also got to visit with some friends and family before and after her class.

Steph with her cousin Aaron on a beach hike.

Steph kayaking around the Johnson-Pate's cabin on Marrowstone Island.

Then the summer was over and it was time to start school. Both boys are in high school this year, Evan a senior and Alex a freshman, so this is the last year that they'll both be at the same school (barring attending the same college, I suppose).

First day of school.

August and September were largely consumed with doing final preparations (including finishing the artwork) for In The Glow, Steph's big installation and solo show at the Triton Museum in Santa Clara. Obviously Steph was doing all the real work, but the family helped with getting the art ready to transport to the museum (among other things).

At Steph's studio getting artwork ready for In The Glow.

We had another date night around then to see Foo Fighters (one of my favorite bands) in Concord.

Hayden and Steph at the Foo Fighters show at Toyota Pavilion in Concord.

Content Magazine did a profile of Steph in their Fall issue, so they wanted to show a few of her pieces at the magazine pickup party.

Steph at the Content Magazine Fall issue pickup party.

We got Alex a new (to him) mountain bike over the summer (he'd long outgrown his previous bike and was always stealing mine or Evan's), and the family went on a biking excursion around the summit of Mt. Umunhum. A not entirely successful excursion... the climb killed us all, and my bike popped a tire early on in the descent. Still, we had a good time, and got some exercise. ;-)

Mountain biking Mt. Umunhum (Steph and Evan are pointing at the old radar tower).

The Mesa Contemporary Art Center featured several of the Hanging Pods from In Touch in a show that opened at the same time as In The Glow (it was a very busy summer and early fall for Steph!). The opening reception happened to be on our wedding anniversary, so we flew to Phoenix for the weekend, stayed with my parents, and brought both sets of parents to the opening.

The week after our Phoenix trip Steph went down to San Diego for the weekend for her friend's birthday with her high school friends, and they all went to see Indigo Girls (we went to more concerts this past year than we have in a while).

Steph seeing Indigo Girls in San Diego with friends from high school.

The opening reception for In The Glow was the following weekend, and Steph's sisters Melissa and Kim both flew in to town to attend.

Melissa, Steph, and Kim in the City the night before the opening.

Uncle Roger, Aunt Linda, Melissa, Steph, Kim, and Cousin Lauren at the opening.

Kim, Evan, Alex, and Melissa at Alex's soccer tournament the same weekend.

For the boys' Fall Break we went up to the Pacific Northwest to visit a few colleges, University of Oregon, Oregon State University (the winner of the weekend), and University of Washington. We also got to see some friends in both Portland and Seattle, and most importantly PLAY WHIRLYBALL! For those of you who don't know (probably most of the non-Metzes out there), Whirlyball is sort of a cross between lacrosse and basketball played in bumper cars, and it's awesome. We used to go every year to play at a place in Detroit for Thanksgiving when I was a kid, but that was well over 20 years ago. It was a blast to get to do it again, and take our kids this time.

Visiting University of Oregon, Steph's alma mater.

Playing Whirlyball!

Walking around downtown Seattle after taking the Underground Tour.

For Halloween the boys didn't want to get dressed up or go out trick-or-treating, but they did have a bunch of friends over to carve pumpkins, cook for each other (and us!) and give out candy. Given Reese's name we had to get her a little dressed up, though.

Reese in her "costume".

The kids' pumpkins lined up on the front porch.

We didn't go anywhere for Thanksgiving and it was just the four of us at home, but my sister Hallie and her family came up from Monterey for the day after.

Hayden, Steph, Parker, Finn, Alex, Evan, Hallie, and David on Thanksgiving Friday.

Both boys made the high school soccer team (Alex the JV, Evan is captain of the Varsity team), which means twice a week all winter we're going to be watching cold soccer games in the dark for 4 hours. So far Reese is doing pretty well as a soccer dog... it helps that she loves the cold. ;-)

And that pretty much brings us up to now. Well, once I add in or Christmas card photo (taken outside the Triton) and one of us posing in front of In The Glow.

Our Christmas card photo.

Standing in front of In The Glow at the Triton Museum of Art.

2024 was certainly busy, and had some pretty dramatic ups and downs. Easily more ups than downs, though, and you can't ask for much more than that. We hope you had a wonderful year as well.

Letter

2023-12-08T23:41:00.000-08:00

It's time for my annual "collection of pictures posing as a Christmas letter" post. Our biggest news for the year is that we took a big trip to the Mediterranean this summer with my parents (our holiday card picture is from this trip, taken in Venice), but I'm going to rip through a bunch pictures chronologically (it's just easier that way), so those pictures won't show up until the middle of the post. Note that several of the pictures are actuallyy galleries where you can click through multiple pictures with the left and right arrows on the pictures. Anyway, let's get started...

We went ice skating with some friends at Sharks Ice during Christmas/New Year's break (which isn't really that significant an event, but I liked the picture of Steph and the boys):

Hayden and Steph went up to the Napa Valley for a weekend at the end of the month. We did some wine and champagne tasting, had lots of great food, and visited the di Rosa Center for Contemporary Art:

We went skiing in Tahoe (Heavenly) for a few days during Presidents' Week (which has become a tradition for us it seems, or at least 2024 will be our 3rd year in a row doing so). The conditions were pretty nice the first day, but it got very cold and windy by the end of our trip:

Steph let herself get talked into completing a mural in the zen garden at Evan's high school that the parent booster club started a while ago, so that's what she spent a lot of the boys' Spring Break doing (with help from some volunteers):

Also around Spring Break Hayden had to travel back east for work, and he went to a Washington Nationals baseball game with some co-workers and got to see Testudo, the University of Maryland mascot (they were playing the Orioles)!

Later in April Evan broke his nose in a soccer game when a kid on the other team tried to do a bicycle kick and instead kicked Evan in the face! This picture was taken a week or so later after his surgery (really more of an outpatient procedure) to reset his nose once the swelling went down. You'll see in later pictures that it looks totally fine now, and he was a real trooper through the whole process. ;-)

With all of the rain we had in California this past winter one of the geocaches we placed in the past was apparently washed away, so we took a short hike one weekend to replace it:

Everyone had a birthday this year (Hayden turned 49 in May, Evan 16 in June, Steph 47 in August, and Alex 14 in October), and since we're up to late May on the timeline I'll insert a gallery of all of our obligatory cake pictures here:

Also in May (over Memorial Day weekend) Steph went to Santa Barbara with some friends for a girls weekend away:

In June Evan went away to a week-long engineering summer camp organized by the National Youth Leadership Forum. The camp was on the campus of Georgia Tech, so Hayden and Evan flew to Atlanta to do some sightseeing (visiting the Georgia Aquarium and Centennial Olympic Park) and get him setup in the dorm for a week on his own. He then got to fly home on his own, which was a first for us!

Just before leaving on our big Europe trip we went to the Alameda County Fair with Steph's cousin Lauren and her partner Jorge, and we got to meet a very special pig:

Then it was time for our European Adventure!

We flew from San Francisco to Venice, Italy (by way of Rome), where we met up with Hayden's parents and spent 2 days:

We then took a train down to Ravenna, where we boarded a cruise ship to sail the Adriatic, Ionian, and Aegean Seas over the course of 10 days.

Our first stop was in Trieste, Italy:

After walking around Trieste for the morning we hired a taxi to drive us to Slovenia to see the Škocjan Caves, which were totally awesome!

The next day we were in Koper, Slovenia, where we rented electric bikes and cruised along the Adriatic coastline and beautiful valleys and vineyards:

Day 3 found us in Hvar, Croatia, where we went sea kayaking for the day:

Next we visited Kotor, Montenegro, where we did more sea kayaking (paddling on back-to-back days wasn't our smartest plan ever, BTW) and walked around the beautiful old town:

After Kotor was Corfu, Greece, where we rode buses around town and walked around the old fort:

On the island of Santorini, Greece we took a bus to Akrotiri (a Doric trading village that was buried in ash in 1600 BC) and a winery, then walked through Fira and down the Donkey Path back to the dock (the line for the cable car was super long):

Next we went to Mykonos, Greece, where we took a short boat trip to Delos to tour the ruins there, then walked around the town of Mykonos for a bit:

After our one day at sea on the cruise we went to our final stop of Dubrovnik, Croatia, where we took a tour of the old walled town and some of the near countryside:

The cruise ended up back in Ravenna, where we said goodbye to the grandparents (who were flying home) while we took a short flight to Rome for another week. We didn't arrive in Rome until early evening, so we got settled in our apartment (which was a few blocks from the Spanish Steps), then walked around the neighborhood a little bit before bedtime:

On our first full day in Rome we took a bike tour around the city center, seeing most of the big tourist landmarks while we hurried from shady spot to shady spot (Southern Europe was in the middle of a record heat wave while we were there!):

On our second day we took a train down to Pompeii to spend the (extremely hot and humid) day at the Archaeological Park:

Back in Rome the next day we went to Vatican City and the Leonardo Da Vinci Experience museum:

On our last day in Rome we went to the Pantheon, then the Colosseum and the Roman Forum:

And for good measure, I took portraits of each of us at our last dinner in Rome:

Barely a week after we got home Steph got back on a plane to North Carolina to teach for a week at the Pocosin Arts School of Fine Craft:

And then it was time for the boys to go back to school, first Evan to 11th grade:

And a week later Alex to 8th:

The weekend between the boys' first days of school Hayden's sister Hilary and her family came to stay with us for a few days on their summer trip to the west coast. We spent a day walking around San Francisco with them, among other things:

Hayden and Steph spent a weekend in Mill Valley for our 21st anniversary, where we got do so hiking at Mt. Tamalpais and Muir Woods:

Steph had a few art events to attend at the end of September, including the gala for the San Jose Museum of Art, where a collector commissioned her to make a fur bra she could wear to the event (Steph first made a fur bra years ago, but it wasn't meant to be worn):

And a show in the gallery of Evergreen Valley College that was organized by a friend of hers:

We spent the first week of October (both boys' Fall Breaks... that's a thing in our local school systems now) in Southern California doing college tours with some family friends who have boys in the same grades as ours. We visited:

In addition to all the college visits we also got to see our niece Delaney and her boyfriend John for dinner, Steph's friend Penny and her husband David (and toured David's research lab at UCSD), the San Diego Zoo, and Steph's Aunt Lisa and Uncle Bob:

The day after we returned home Steph flew tp the east coast again, this time to attend the International Sculpture Center conference in Jersey City, NJ. After the conference she got to spend a few days with her Sister Kim and her family in Park Ridge, NJ, which included a trip to the Dia Beacon Art Museum and a girls' night in the city to see The State:

Two final art-related photos.... First, Steph and Hayden attended the annual fundraiser for The Belle Foundation at the end of October, which was being held at the house of a couple who've collected a few of Steph's pieces, including her first Hanging Pod (the test piece she made before working on InTouch):

Speaking of InTouch, Steph has recently started work on another huge installation piece for a solo show at the Triton Museum of Art in Santa Clara next September, which she's calling In the Glow. One of the intermediate steps towards creating the main piece is a 1/4 scale model carved out of Styrofoam, which she'll use to lay out patterns over that she can scale back up to make the full piece (which will be 4 times as big!):

Here's a final snapshot of the family for good measure from just a few weeks ago, making cookies for Thanksgiving:

2023 was certainly a busy year for us, in a good way. We hope it was a good year for you and yours, and that you have a wonderful holiday season and coming year!

Letter

2022-12-10T16:53:00.001-08:00

Another year, another minimalist Christmas letter / photo gallery. We'll just go through some pictures in chronological order... it's easier to organize that way....

We went up to Fort Funston again several times this year so Splash can play in the ocean. Here we all are back in the parking lot for lunch on one of those trips early in the year:

Eating lunch after walking along the beach at Ft. Funston.

Some of our friends from our first dog walking group back when Peekay was just a puppy (so, close to 20 years ago!) finally decided to get a new dog, and when they went to pick him up they mistakenly brought home two puppies instead of just one. (Actually, I'm mostly kidding... getting two dogs wasn't their original plan, but Hachi and BaoBao were the last two puppies in the litter and they didn't want to split the brothers up, so they took them both.) And we're always willing to help socialize puppies!

Alex and Evan with the puppies.

Steph and Hayden were able to resume their annual trip to Las Vegas for Superbowl weekend this year after it didn't happen in 2021, although we had to reschedule for conference championship weekend (two weeks earlier) since Steph had a show opening in Santa Monica that weekend. Watching the game is just an excuse to get together with friends, anyway, and this way we actually had two games to watch instead of one! (Huh, that's the second time the idea of two-for-one came up. I didn't plan it that way, but maybe I'll have to make it a theme of this letter... I'll see what I can do there.) Here we are at the Venetian on dress-up dinner night:

Steph and Hayden at the Venetian in Las Vegas.

We rented a condo in South Lake Tahoe and went skiing/snowboarding at Heavenly for a few days over Presidents' Day week:

Skiing and snowboarding at Heavenly.

This picture isn't of anything particular, it's just Evan giving Splash the "chin" command (where she's supposed to rest her chin on whatever's in front of her, including your hand if necessary), and someone thought it was cute enough to capture:

Evan hanging out with Splash.

On one of our trips to Fort Funston we also visited Sutro Baths and Lands End for the first time (we usually don't make it that far up into The City on our Fort Funston trips, but for some reason we did this time):

Fighting the wind at Sutro Baths.

For Hayden's birthday we all went indoor skydiving together. Steph and Hayden had done it once before (back in 2008!), but this time we brought the boys along as well:

Indoor skydiving at iFly for Hayden's birthday.

Hayden's family rented a house (an estate, really) on the Virginia eastern shore this summer to get everyone together to celebrate his parents' 50th anniversary (a year late... this trip was supposed to be to Europe, and it was supposed to happen last year, but it wasn't and it didn't). We chose to extend the trip a bit and see Washington, D.C. first, to which the boys had never been:

On the National Mall, with the Washington Monument in the background.

Getting ice cream outside the International Spy Museum.

Steph and Alex at a fountain in D.C.

After three days in the District we stayed with friends of Hayden's from college for a few days, including a visit to the University of Maryland campus:

Rubbing Testudo's nose for good luck.

From there we drove down to the Virginia eastern shore for a week of extended family time at The Laughing King. The property had a main house with five bedrooms, a separate tiny house (where Steph and Hayden slept), and an Airstream trailer (where Alex and a cousin slept two nights before they came in to stay on the couch). It also had a pool and a dock on the Chesapeake Bay with several kayaks and paddle boards. It was a great place for us all to hang out for a week and get some good cousin time in.

Looking out over the Chesapeake Bay from the top of the dock at sunset.

The main house and Airstream trailer looking back from the top of the dock.

Evan, Alex, Finn and Parker in Cape Charles.

Walking thru the bay at low tide looking for interesting wildlife.

Evan, Alex, and Graysen hiking at Savage Neck Dunes.

After a week in Virginia we flew up to Boston for a few days because Steph had some of the Hanging Pods from her InTouch project in a show in Brattleboro, VT. Since we were already on the other side of the country we figured we'd take the chance to see the exhibit and do some more sightseeing along the way (another two-for-one!).

We were only in Boston for a day and a half, but we had time to do some walking around and take a hop-on/hop-off bus tour (since it was raining on-and-off during our full day in town) to see a good chunk of the old part of the city:

In front of the Longfellow Bridge (with Cambridge behind) at sunset.

On the hop-on/hop-off bus tour around town.

Hayden and Evan in front of the Bunker Hill Monument.

Steph and the boys in front of the Cathedral Church of St. Paul.

We then drove three hours across Massachusetts and New Hampshire to Brattleboro, Vermont to see Felt Experience at the Brattleboro Museum & Art Center. It was a beautiful venue, and Steph's pieces looked wonderful under a skylight with big picture windows looking over the Connecticut River to New Hampshire behind:

Steph's Hanging Pods in the Brattleboro Museum & Art Center.

In addition to allowing Steph to give an artist's talk about InTouch and making these pieces we also got to see Steph's sister Kim, who drove up from New Jersey with her girls Lola and Ruby and our niece Riley who was staying with them:

All the family that joined us in Brattleboro.

One more thing before moving on from our summer trip... I wanted to mention that Steph wrote a much longer blog post about the trip on her website, including several more pictures and anecdotes, if you're interested.

It was our 20th anniversary this year, and we went away for the weekend to Austin, TX to visit some friends of ours who moved there from the Bay Area a few years ago (the same friends we meet in Vegas every year). We'd never been to Austin before (aside from the airport) and had a great time there:

Steph and Hayden with Chad and Elizabeth in Austin.

Steph and Hayden on the Boardwalk with downtown Austin behind.

The boys weren't too interested in getting dressed up for Halloween again (I think those days are done, at least until they go away to college), but Steph bought a roll of caution tape at the hardware store earlier in the month so they wrapped a few strands around themselves and called it a costume:

Evan and Alex in their Halloween attire.

I guess Evan spends a lot of time on the ground with the dog, because we seem to have several pictures of the two of them:

Evan and Splash discussing his AP History textbook.

We stayed home for Thanksgiving this year, and the boys helped cook:

Evan mashing potatoes and Alex making cookies for Thanksgiving.

Our Thanksgiving spread (we made ham instead of turkey).

And now it's early December and it's almost Christmas. We hope your 2022 was filled with laughter and love, and you have more of the same in 2023. Happy Holidays!

Our Christmas card picture.

Letter

2021-12-08T23:18:00.002-08:00

Once again, it's time for a Christmas letter, or rather, a series of pictures with the briefest descriptions I feel like I can get away with. Normally I tend to go through the year roughly chronologically, but I figured this year I'd try something new and organize the pictures first by theme. We'll see how it goes.

First, let's talk about some outings and events that happened in the past year. We took a number of local day hikes as usual, although we kept ourselves pretty exclusively to hikes where we could bring the dog, like Almaden Quicksilver and Uvas Canyon county parks:

Evan & Splash at an overlook in Almaden Quicksilver

Boulder scrambling while geocaching in Almaden Quicksilver

At Uvas Canyon

We went cherry picking with some friends at an orchard in Morgan Hill on Memorial Day. Unfortunately neither of the boys is a big cherry fan, so while they enjoyed picking them it was mostly up to Steph and I to eat them. We did our best, but we had to find some creative uses for fresh cherries, like cherry mojitos (which just tasted like regular mojitos with a pink tint).

Picking cherries in Morgan Hill

Making cherry mojitos with all the extra cherries

Broadway San Jose brought Hamilton to the Center for the Performing Arts in October, and Steph and I loved it when we saw it in San Francisco last year so we took the opportunity to bring the boys while it was playing in our backyard!

Seeing Hamilton in San Jose

Steph's sister Megan got married in July, although we managed to get essentially no pictures from the event itself aside of the one below of the boys and their younger cousins after the ceremony. Steph and her sisters did a bachelorette getaway in Napa a few days before, and that there were pictures of:

Steph and her sisters in Napa before Megan's wedding

Evan and Alex with cousins Lola and Ruby after the ceremony

Steph's youngest sister Kim and her family flew in from New Jersey for the wedding, and they stayed with us a few days afterwards before heading back home. We took them down to Monterey one day to ride e-bikes along the 17-Mile Drive (which my sister Hallie turned us onto earlier this year):

The biking crew taking a break along 17-Mile Drive

Evan, Alex and Hayden waiting for everyone to catch up

Steph and Kim at Lover's Point

We also went up to the city for a day and visited the California Academy of Sciences and Golden Gate Park:

The cousins on Strawberry Hill in the center of Stow Lake

In August Steph taught a week-long felting class at Penland School of Craft in North Carolina. Since she was going to be in the area a gallerist in Asheville invited Steph to show some of her work in her gallery, and they worked the timing out so she was able to give an artist's talk during the opening reception:

Steph giving her artist's talk at Katrina Chenevert Gallery

While there was no dog to exercise, Steph's gotten in the habit of taking a couple hearty walks a day, which she continued at Penland. After spending so much time in the yellow-to-brown hills of Northern California at the end of summer she especially appreciated the verdant green landscape of western North Carolina.

Steph in a field near Penland School of Craft

Steph's in-person workshop had been pushed back a year thanks to COVID, and it was limited to a much smaller group than usual -- with a much longer wait list. But, like many others, she took the opportunity to 'pivot' as a result, and spent nearly nine months of the year creating a video version of her popular workshop, filming and editing in the home studio. Teaching in person may never be the same now that she's harnessed the wonder of time-lapse in video demonstrations of what is normally a very slow and gradual process. If you're interested you can check it out at http://courses.stephaniemetz.com, which includes a brief video overview of the class near the top.

OK, next topic, assorted nice pictures of the family. Over the last year we took a series of pictures of the boys on the back patio steps with Splash to mark all of their growth. I think this will be the last one, since the dog is pretty much full grown now.

The last picture in the porch stoop series

Steph gave Alex a new haircut at the turn of the year, and she took this nice picture of her and the boys while she was staging a portrait of him for the school yearbook.

Just a nice picture of Steph and the boys

Speaking of which, both boys moved on to new schools this year. Evan finished up middle school in June, and is now a freshman in high school.

Evan graduating from middle school

Alex finished elementary school, and started at our neighborhood middle school in the fall.

Alex graduating from elementary school

Both guys are really doing well at their new schools, and I think they like being back in person this year. I know I like not having to drive kids to school every morning since they can both walk to school!

They also both had low-key birthdays at home, Evan turning 14 and Alex 12.

Evan's 14th birthday

Alex's 12th birthday

We took the obligatory "first day of school" picture on the front porch, although this happened to only be Evan's first day of school. The high school district is separate from the elementary/middle school district here and they have independent schedules. Luckily most of the significant breaks overlap this year (that hasn't always been the case), but Evan's start and end dates are a week earlier than Alex's.

First day of school (for Evan, Alex started a few days later)

The boys decided they were getting too old to dress up for Halloween and go trick-or-treating, but when I pulled down the boxes of old costumes along with the decorations they took the time to try a bunch on (none of which fit anymore, of course).

Trying on way too small old Halloween costumes

By the fall both boys' soccer teams were back in full swing, so most evenings involved driving one kid or the other to soccer practice and most weekends saw us all around the South Bay (and sometimes beyond) at a game or three.

Eating lunch at Alex's soccer tournament

We spent a quiet Thanksgiving at home this year, playing board games and a fair amount of ping pong on our new back deck (more on that later). The dog really wants to play ping pong, too, although her version involves more running and ball carriage than normal.

Splash's version of getting involved in the ping pong game at Thanksgiving

Speaking of Splash, let's go over a few very dog-specific pictures. Ever since we brought Splash home last summer every day involves at least one, usually two significant dog walks. Most of those go unremarked and unrecorded, but some of them generate a picture or two, and there are enough of those that there were a lot of pictures to sift through to find a few shareable ones.

Steph and Splash on one of their morning dog walks

Splash and the boys at Cardoza Park, a frequent destination over the winter and spring

Splash from the adoption flyer and at one year old

Splash with some of her best friends at Cataldi Park

At the top of the bluffs at Fort Funston

Down on the beach at Fort Funston

Finally, Steph has been taking Splash to agility classes starting in the spring, and she really seems to like doing it (by "she" I mean the dog... I know Steph enjoys it). A few weeks ago they participated in their first "Fun Run", which is basically a practice competition where no one actually runs a timer or keeps track of mistakes (normally you get penalty time added on if you miss obstacles and such). Here's a video of Splash making one of her runs (the last one of the day if I remember right):

Last, like so many people during the pandemic we did a lot of yard projects this past year. In 2020 we repaired and repainted our back patio portico, took out a row of dense juniper bushes in the back yard and had our back fence rebuilt, along with removing an old fruit tree we never liked. That was all in preparation for replacing them with new fruit trees this year and building a series of raised planting beds for a garden and a flagstone patio where the juniper bushes used to be.

Lots of wheelbarrow trips were involved... mostly moving rock

Digging holes to plant a few more fruit trees (apple and nectarine here)

Alex and Splash both like laying around on the patio (in progress here)

The area along the back of the house that used to be solid juniper bush

The flagstone patio and raised planting beds pretty much finished

We maaay have planted too many zucchini plants... this is one day's harvest at the peak

A day's bounty from the garden near the end of summer

One stand of tomato plants

The other big project was building a low deck over the aging concrete patio. Ever since we bought our house 6 years ago we'd planned on cladding the two sets of stairs down to the patio with some type of composite to better match the stairs into Steph's studio and bring the top step to the same grade as the inside floors. Since we also needed to do something sooner or later about the patio itself, someone (I think this one is my fault) came up with the brilliant idea of expanding the stair project into a full blown deck project. I'm not sure I really appreciated just how much work would be involved, but we're pretty happy with the results so all's well that ends well I guess.

You end up in some weird positions building a deck

The messiest task of the whole project was grinding down a concrete step

Nothing like a little concrete dust to freshen up the environs

The best shot I actually took of the deck when it was almost finished

The new flagstone patio, raised planting beds, and new back fence at night

Splash in one of her favorite resting places on top of the new patio steps

So here we are at the end of another calendar year. We've seen some very visible changes- not just in the yard, but also in our growing boys (Alex truly rocks his hairstyle, and Evan wants you to all know he's as tall as Steph, broader, and still gaining). We've missed connecting with you in person, but look forward to that happening again...some day soon. In the meantime, thanks for being part of our lives, if mostly in spirit and through phone calls. Happy Holidays!

Our 2021 Christmas card picture

Letter

2020-12-16T22:17:00.001-08:00

What a year, eh? I really don't know what to say about it, so instead I'll just jump into the pictures.

We started off 2020 visiting some friends up in Lake Tahoe, where we went skiing at Donner Ski Ranch.

Skiing over New Year's in Lake Tahoe

Less than a week after we got back was the opening for Steph's InTouch project at the de Saisset Museum, on the campus of Santa Clara University. Steph had been working towards this for over 2 years, marshaling the contributions of over 60 volunteers and 3 studio assistants in addition to countless hours in the studio. The show was scheduled to be open for almost 6 months (more on that in a bit), and included a number of community outreach events besides the 2 openings.

Steph's sister sent flowers for the opening.

The point of the exhibit was to get people involved with the art...

...which the boys were more than happy to demonstrate.

The artist and support staff on the night of the grand opening.

Among the art on the special donors and volunteers thank-you reception.

Later in January we had a date night in the City to see Hamilton at the Orpheum, which was an incredible show.

Seeing Hamilton at the Orpheum.

While my parents were visiting we went to see a Santa Cruz Warriors game (the Golden State Warrior's G-League affiliate) with my sister Hallie and her family (they moved to Pacific Grove in the Monterey Peninsula a few years ago, BTW).

Meeting cousins to see a Santa Cruz Warriors game.

In February Steph and I took our now-annual trip to Las Vegas for Superbowl weekend. Unfortunately our friends who got us into this tradition couldn't come this year so it was just the two of us, but it was still a great weekend away.

Year of the Rat display at the Bellagio.

Hiking at Red Rock Canyon on the last day in town, which is part of our tradition.

At the end of the month we were up in the City again, this time to see Guster, one of our favorite bands, perform an all-acoustic show at the Castro Theater.

And then it was March. You know what that means.

Despite how disruptive the pandemic has been, our family has weathered the storm better than most. The boys adapted pretty well to school-at-home (actually extremely well compared to lots of families we know), although they obviously missed seeing their friends IRL and their soccer careers are on hold. Aside from the first week of the shelter-in-place order in the Bay Area (when my company was still figuring out what rules applied in what circumstances) I've been going into the office like normal (with some of the staff working from home there's enough space for everyone to have their own office, so maintaining social distancing is a piece of cake).

The pandemic brought InTouch to a screeching halt, though. What was supposed to be a 6-month exhibition ended up being open for only 2 months, and all of the programming and community outreach besides the opening was cancelled. The response while the show was accessible was fantastic, but it was a real disappointment for it to be cut short. Going forward, who knows when people will be comfortable again with touchable art that's meant to bring strangers together in a shared experience? In the meantime Steph made videos of the artist talk she was scheduled to give part way through the show's run (this is basically a documentary about making InTouch) and walkthroughs of the two separate parts of the show, the Hanging Pods and the Holdables.

We celebrated Easter in the backyard (which probably wasn't that different than what we would have done if we weren't locked down).

Collecting Easter eggs in the backyard.

We went hiking at Coyote Valley Open Space Preserve just south of San Jose.

Hiking at Coyote Valley Open Space Preserve.

We had planned on taking a big trip to Europe this summer, but that obviously didn't happen. When we returned we were going to start looking for a new dog (Peekay passed away in January after 16 years), but we moved the timeline up a bit since our travel plans were thwarted. Steph spent months scouring the interwebs looking for the perfect opportunity, which paid off at the end of June when we got to adopt Splash, a Border Collie/Australian Shepherd mix puppy, from Jake's Wish Rescue in Gilroy.

Adopting Splash.

In the car ride home.

In the card ride home.

Splash's first day home.

Splash is a really wonderful little girl - extremely outgoing and friendly towards humans and dogs alike (and very different in personality than our old gal Peekay, even before her dotage). Now she's nine months old, and reviewing these photos from the first few days and months it's remarkable to see how small and fluffy she was.

Sunset walks with the family.

Having a puppy in our lives, especially an intelligent and active one, has ushered in some new traditions such as the morning walk, the mid-day training, the evening walk, the puzzle toys, and the close-your-door-she-grabbed-your-sock-again yelling and chasing game. Steph has been the main trainer and walker, which means she's also Splash's de facto favorite. It's an investment of time and energy away from artmaking that she sometimes laments, but it's making for a really nice and well-mannered dog.

Quality time in the pool.

Splash's enthusiasm is entertaining.

'Splash,' by the way, was the only name all four of us agreed on when putting forth acceptable options; it refers to her white splashes of fur on black, but since she also likes water a lot and has a splashy personality, it fits well.

Evan and Splash, probably rolling their eyes at Steph.

When we'd had Splash for about a month we were able to get together with her litter mate Willow down in Monterey. Of the four puppies in the litter one other family was interested in keeping in touch, so the girls met for some beach play. It's hard to say if they recognized each other; both were happy to wrestle and frolic. We hope to meet again in the future.

Splash and her sister Willow.

The evening dog walk tradition became an afternoon expedition as the summer days shortened into fall; Steph and the boys appreciate daily outdoor non-screen time at our local parks and school yards, with the added bonus of watching dogs playing.

Splash treeing her prey at Cataldi Park in San Jose.

Typical brother behavior at sunset.

You may be aware of all the fire activity experienced in our region (actually, the whole left half of the country) this year; we were keeping a close eye on the SCU Lightning Complex fires in our nearby foothills but only had to go so far as to make a list of things to grab (and Steph took precautionary photos of each room in the house). It was frightening and more real than ever before. While the fires never came close enough for us to be evacuated, we have friends and co-workers who were not so lucky and lost their homes. Two days before the fires were started by a lightning storm our family decided to beat the heat by hiking in Alameda Creek in the Sunol Regional Wilderness. Later we watched the online map showing the fire's progress appear to move through this area. We haven't checked on it yet in person, but we think the area we visited was just barely spared; the green verdant stream bed was surrounded by the dry grassy hills that burned out of control for weeks.

Hiking in Alameda Creek.

What it looks like when a wet black dog rolls in the dirt to dry off.

As you can tell, much of the latter part of 2020 was focused on activities with the new dog. Besides providing entertainment and cuddles, Splash also forced us to find ways to safely get out and about on occasion and even make new friends. Steph now has a contingent of 'dog friends' whom she's gotten to know on regular trips around the neighborhood and to the park. Aside from the fact that she's never seen some of their lower faces, it has added richness to her life to create new connections with people from all walks of life, united by their common desire to not have their dogs tear up their homes out of boredom and restlessness.

A boy and his dog.

At Fort Funston beach in San Francisco.

Hanging out in Splash's roomy crate.

Hilarity caused by the dog (in the way back, just over Alex's shoulder) trying to join the boys in the backseat for a car ride.

We have spent a LOT of time in very boring, non-photogenic, repetitive routines at home this year. We missed our friends and family, and Zoom get-togethers can only do so much. At long last we took advantage of having similarly cautious family members nearby and visited with cousins in Monterey. When kids are little they change and grow so much when you haven't seen them for months, and that's best revealed in person. Hopefully in this coming year we will all get to revel in those transformations by spending time in the same room with our loved ones again.

Metz and Connell cousins historically all looking at the camera AND smiling at the same time.

Ice cream, puppies, and lounging in fleece robes are our recipe for 2020 happiness.

Looking back at this strange year, our photos show a lot of smiles and laughter. Despite so many disappointments and challenges and fears, we've got a good little group going here. At 11 and 13, the boys' senses of humor (often with their poor parents as targets) help get us through. Well-timed quips, witty ripostes, actual funny puns, weird physical humor (man there's a lot of that), and an appreciation for the ridiculous make us particularly proud as parents. We're looking forward to once again unleashing them upon you, our friends, family, and community. Because we love having your in our lives, and we can't wait to laugh with you again.

The annual family holiday card portrait. Not pictured is the dog gallivanting behind the tripod that made this photo possible.

Letter

2019-12-17T00:29:00.000-08:00

Let's see, what interesting stuff was going on with the Metzes this year? Or to put a finer point on it, what photo-worthy events happened in 2019? Well, here are all the pictures I considered as possible fodder for the Christmas card... it's certainly not everything interesting that happened throughout the year, but it's a pretty good sampling.

For years we've talked about going up to see the Lick Observatory, which sits on top of Mt. Hamilton at the southeastern edge of Silicon Valley, and on New Year's Day we finally motivated ourselves to make the drive. Evan got a little bit queasy on the way up (there are well over 300 turns in the road as you climb up the mountain!), and he was the least motivated of us to begin with, so he didn't make it into any of the pictures, but Alex thought it was pretty cool:

Steph has been getting some big deliveries of industrial felt at her studio as part of her InTouch project (which starts installing TODAY after over 2 years of work!). The show at the de Saisset Museum on the campus of Santa Clara University opens January 9th and runs through June (it'll be up for 6 months!), so if you're local in the Bay Area (or you want to come and visit) you should be sure to check it out.

At the end of January Steph and I spent a night in San Francisco while seeing a concert (Guster, one of our favorite bands) and rented bikes the following morning to see some parts of the City from a different perspective. Here we are at the bottom of Lombard St. (we didn't bother going to the top... it's already enough pedaling to get to the bottom coming from the Marina):

I don't remember what the occasion was, but we got ice cream one evening while walking around downtown and we bothered to take a picture of that:

In March we went to see Cirque du Soleil when one of their traveling shows (Volta) came to San Jose:

For spring break we drove down to Newport Beach to see Steph's sister and stopped at Hearst Castle along the way:

We also took a day-trip down to Carlsbad to go to LEGOLAND again (probably the last time we'll make that trip until we have grandkids someday). Here are the boys dwarfing one of the displays in Miniland:

We went through Malibu on the drive home, just because:

Alex played violin at school this year, which meant he had to get dressed up at least once:

We went frisbee golfing at the new (to us) course at Kelley Park a couple of times:

Memorial Day weekend we did some hiking and geocaching (including creating our first cache!) in Santa Teresa County Park:

In June we ran the Terrain Race as a family at the Santa Clara County Fairgrounds. Note that, despite the fact that this 5k advertises itself as an obstacle course in the mud, Evan wore a white shirt and managed to largely keep it clean by being very selective about which obstacles he would conquer:

Later that month we made our annual trip to the Alameda County Fair:

For the 4th of July we visited Steph's parents at their new home in Prescott Valley, Arizona (which, thanks to its elevation, is only "really hot" in the summer, not "measurable risk of spontaneous combustion during daylight hours hot" like much of Arizona):

Later in July we went up to Napa for a weekend with Hayden's sister and her boyfriend to see a concert (Guster again, twice in one year!):

And we finished off the month by camping with some family friends in South Lake Tahoe at Camp Richardson:

It was time to get back to school in August, Evan starting 7th grade and Alex 4th:

Steph and her sisters spent labor day at a dude ranch (Coffee Creek Ranch) in northern California celebrating one of their 40th birthdays:

We got a trailer hitch installed on Steph's Subaru this year so we could take our bikes with us all around the South Bay, although when we ride to Alum Rock Park we don't need it since it's only a few miles from our house:

We learned about Viva Calle, a program run by the city of San Jose where they shut down several miles of major streets downtown to car traffic so people can bike, skateboard, walk, and generally play around in parts of the city they wouldn't normally get to see that way:

We did some mountain biking in Calero County Park in October (well, Steph, Alex and I did... Evan lodged a formal protest against mountain biking since it involves work):

Steph had an artist friend in Oakland (Splady Art Studios) fabricate an apparatus to suspend the Hanging Pod pieces from as part of InTouch, and in November we all went to his studio to get a crash course in how to assemble them. While we were there we all (including the boys) got to try several types of metalworking, like using a plasma cutter and metal bender, and see some demonstrations of welding, forging steel, and melting 2-inch steel plate with some insane focused-heat-generating thingy-dingy (I didn't get the official name). The boys also got to hold the largest mallet they're ever likely to find (Alex is over 4'8" now, and Evan 5'0" -- it's a really big mallet!):

When I compiled these pictures I didn't have any yet for December, but maybe I'll add a few in the coming days. In the meantime, I'll leave you with the one we used for our Christmas card:

We hope your 2019 was filled with happiness and joy, and 2020 brings you more of the same. Happy Holidays!

Letter

2018-12-14T19:08:00.001-08:00

Another year, another last-minute half-hearted attempt at a holiday letter. As usual, this isn't really much more than a bunch of pictures with extended captions, but hey, less reading for you, right?! There was a lot more going on in 2018 than I'll talk about here, but this is what I had reasonably good pictures of....

In January we went hiking Almaden Quicksilver Park, which was supposed to be the first of 7 hikes in some of the prettiest county parks for the PixInParks program, but we fell off the wagon right away. Maybe next year.

Hiking in Almaden Quicksilver County Park.

In February we went to Kauai for Steph's Mom's 70th birthday, along with all her sisters and their families (17 people in all).

Building sand castles in Kauai.

Spouting Horn in Kauai.

Waimea Canyon (Evan is pointing at a helicopter down in the canyon).

Looking down onto the Napali coast (it was pretty cloudy, but we had a few moments of clarity).

Hanging out at the Marriott (which is not where we stayed) on our last day on Kauai.

I couldn't find anything photogenic going on in March, but in April we took a cruise from Galveston, TX to Cozumel, Mexico over Spring Break with some friends from the kids' school.

Before one of the dress-up dinners on our cruise.

Among a sea of towel animals one morning.

On a snorkel tour in Cozumel.

With our friends the Aroras on the last night of the cruise.

Also in April Alex got glasses for the first time, so that makes a whole family of near-sighted people.

The boys posing in their new glasses outside of the eye doctor's.

Evan finished elementary school in June, so they had a promotion ceremony for the kids at the end of the year (he's loving middle school, by the way, partly because he can walk around the block to get to school, so he doesn't have to wait for Alex to get ready in the morning for me to drive them to school).

After Evan's 5th grade promotion ceremony.

Also in June both boys' soccer teams had an end-of-season event at an Earthquakes game, where Evan's team were flag bearers during the opening ceremony and Alex's team were escorts for the player introductions.

Outside the Earthquakes game.

The summer was a mix of busy weeks of camps with quiet weeks of hanging out at home relaxing and playing with friends. At the end of summer we went away to the Lair of the Golden Bear (the Cal alumni family camp) in the Sierras for a week.

Down at the stream at the Lair of the Golden Bear Camp Blue.

Once school started back up again Alex's soccer team had a kick-off-the-season event at a Santa Clara University men's soccer game where they played a scrimmage at halftime (Evan got to tag along, too).

After providing the halftime entertainment at a SCU men's soccer game.

We went up to Angel Island for the first time in August, too, with some friends of Steph's.

On the ferry back from Angel Island, with San Francisco in the distance.

This sculpture in Tiburon (where you catch the ferry over to Angel Island) was pretty cool.

Neat shark fin sculpture in Tiburon.

In September Steph and I went to Chicago for our anniversary for a long weekend, and we got lucky with absolutely awesome weather. We had a great time (it's always wonderful to get away and be adults for a bit)!

Hayden and Steph in Millennium Park in Chicago.

At a Chicago Cubs game.

Skydeck at the top of the Willis Tower in Chicago.

In October I took the boys to a Warriors practice, which was a kick, and waaaay cheaper than going to an actual game.

Hayden and the boys at a Warriors practice.

In November Steph had an open studio event at her studio complex.

Steph getting ready for Open Studios.

We just stayed home for Thanksgiving this year, and played a lot of board games amid all the other lazing around.

Playing some Settlers of Catan over Thanksgiving.

Peekay participating in the lazing around spirit over Thanksgiving.

And I got a bunch of pictures from our annual trek up to the Santa Cruz mountains to the Patchen Christmas tree farm to get our tree.

Our Christmas tree in its natural environment.

Evan seems to be allergic to smiling nicely for the camera.

See, he just can't do it.

OK, it's possible for him to smile on demand, just difficult.

2018 was a pretty good year for us overall, and we hope it was for you too. Happy Holidays, and best wishes for 2019!

Letter

2017-12-12T22:07:00.003-08:00

As we've done most years recently, we're going to take the easy way out with this end-of-year letter and basically just post a bunch of pictures in lieu of any real narrative about the year. At 1,000 words/picture, though, I figure this is just as good as a nearly 30k word essay! So, here we go through 2017 in pictures....

Apparently not much happened in January that was photo-worthy, but this picture of the boys and Hayden after getting haircuts was kinda cute:

In February we went to a San Jose Barracudas (the Sharks minor league hockey team) game for a friend's birthday:

We did some hiking at Pinnacles National Park in March, which was a new experience for all of us -- it was the boys' first time, and even though Hayden and Steph had been there several times before (back when it was just a National Monument) it was always to go rock climbing, so the hiking was just something in the way of our reason for being there.

Later in the month Hayden and Steph spent a weekend away, although we just went to Danville. Here we are at the top of Mt. Diablo:

For our first big trip of the year we went to Maui for spring break with our old next-door neighbors. We hadn't been to Hawaii in over 10 years, so the boys has obviously never been. Now that they're old enough to go snorkeling we figured it was finally time, and it was a great trip!

When we got back we tried to keep the island vibes going by drinking Maui Mules (just a Moscow Mule with some POG added, which we made up on the trip) and eating Hawaiian chips in the backyard:

Here are Steph and the boys at Evan's school band spring recital (he plays the clarinet):

Hayden had to travel back east for work several times in the late spring and early summer, and on one trip his flight home was on Evan's 10th birthday:

We didn't have any big adventures over the summer break, but among a variety of day excursions we went to the Exploratorium in SF:

the Alameda County Fair:

and the California Rodeo in Salinas:

For Steph's birthday we went to a recording of Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me at Davies Symphony Hall in SF:

The end of August brought the start of a new school year. Evan is now in 5th grade, and Alex 2nd, meaning this is the last year they'll both be in the same school until their Senior/Freshman years in high school:

In October Alex turned 8, and he insisted on having his birthday party at the house:

Also in October the entire 5th grade went away to Science Camp for the week, which was a big hit:

Alex and I went to the last San Jose Earthquakes game of the season, which ended up being quite an exciting last-second 3-2 win that sent the Quakes to the playoffs:

Steph is starting on a big new project in her art practice, InTouch, that's going to need a lot more space than she had at her old studio, so she took an opportunity to move to a bigger studio downtown:

For Halloween, Evan was a penguin and Alex a Pikachu:

We spent most of our Halloween prep time working on the boys' costumes, so the adult costumes consisted of Steph making a Wonder Woman tiara/headband:

For the first time in several years we made the trek back to Columbus, Ohio to see Hayden's side of the family for Thanksgiving:

We needed a picture that included Peekay for the Christmas card, so after we got back he staged on on the front porch:

And finally, here we are with our Christmas tree:

All told, we had a pretty great 2017, and we're already looking forward to 2018. We hope you all had a wonderful year too!

Letter

2016-12-16T00:37:00.001-08:00

It's that time of year again when I'm supposed to write a Christmas letter. I've been dragging my feet getting around to it, but the Christmas cards will be arriving any day now so I've procrastinated as long as I can!

As most of you know (although not from this forum, as I didn't write a letter last year) we moved a few miles north of our old house at the end of last summer. We're still in the same basic neighborhood in northeast San Jose, in fact the boys are still in the same school, but it's a bigger house with a bigger yard, which we appreciate since we have to accommodate ever-bigger boys. The new house was in good shape structurally, but in addition to refreshing pretty much every surface in the house we took on a few significant remodeling projects and did a lot of the work ourselves (the boys even helped!). It wasn't until the end of this summer that we considered our move-in/remodel effort "done". Of course, there's always something else to do when you own a home, and we have a project list that's pages long, but all the big stuff we planned on doing "right away" is done. ;-)

To prove Evan and Alex helped (some), here are a few pictures of them in action, redoing the stucco under the new studio French doors with Steph:

and helping Hayden build the stairs up to those same French doors:

Of course, remodeling a house wasn't the only thing we did this past year, it just felt like that to us! We also had our normal lives to lead, Alex (7 years old) in 1st grade and Evan (9) in 4th. Steph turned 40 this year (who knew 40 could be so young!) and is still making her way through the Bay Area art scene. Hayden (42) is still working at Northrop Grumman, although on a new program for the first time in the last 8 years or so. All us boys are soccer players, but Steph prefers roller hockey for her athletic fix. Oh, and Peekay (13) is still going strong, just with more white hairs in her muzzle.

And now, photographic evidence that we did some interesting things besides day-to-day life throughout the year....

Super Bowl 50 was in Santa Clara this year at the 49ers new stadium, so I took the boys up to Super Bowl City in San Francisco with some friends for the day back in January:

Evan turned 9 in June, and as is our tradition Steph made a nigh-indestructible piñata for the party:

We made a point of going to the Alameda County Fair around the 4th of July, as we do every year. We tried going in the evening this year instead of in the morning to see some bonus fireworks before Independence Day. Being there later in the day meant we also got to see a demolition derby:

In August Evan managed to break himself at a local playground, falling off one concrete stump and smashing his forehead on the neighboring stump on the way to the ground. It was quite a trying experience for kid and mom alike, and Evan had to get 20+ stitches put in by a plastic surgeon in the ER to sew his forehead back together! He was a trooper at the hospital, though, and has been a very conscientious patient throughout the process, so 4 months later the scar is fading nicely:

Just a few days later we went camping with friends at Sunset Beach outside Santa Cruz:

Then another few days after that we went to Breckenridge, Colorado for the week to spend some time with Hayden's family and celebrate his dad's 70th birthday. While we were there, among other things, the boys did a small ropes course at the resort:

We all took one of the lifts and hiked around up on the ski mountain (and there was some snow up there even in mid-August!):

We rented bikes one day and rode down from Vail Pass into Frisco (that's Hayden's sister Hallie and her son Finn you can see there... her youngest Parker was there too, but he's blocked by Evan in the picture):

All the boys (well, the bigger boys... cousins Finn and Parker had to take naps) went Frisbee golfing one afternoon (this is Evan and Alex with Hayden's dad):

It was Breckenridge's art festival week the week we were there (called BreckCreate). One of the coolest events we saw was called Saurus, which was a few artists walking around in these "life-sized" dinosaur-like costumes that looked like something from a movie special effects department. Here are Steph and the boys down by the Blue River with the dinosaurs in the plaza behind them:

Back at home, Alex turned 7 in October, and he needed a piñata for his birthday party too:

Near the end of October we traveled back east for a week to attend Hayden's cousin Dan's wedding in New York City (you can catch a glimpse of the groom over Steph's shoulder in the mirror!):

We only stayed in Manhattan for 2 days, but we made sure to visit the top of the Empire State Building while we were there (which was super windy on a rainy October day):

After the wedding we traveled down to Allentown, Pennsylvania to stay with Hayden's sister Hilary and her family to keep the Metz reunion going another few days. While we were there we did some hiking at Blue Rocks, a glacial moraine that Hayden remembered from his childhood growing up in Bethlehem (Evan and Alex are sitting with their cousins Henley, Finn, and Graysen on one of the bigger boulders):

Next we drove to Park Ridge, New Jersey to stay with Steph's sister Kim and her family before flying home. While we were there we visited the Liberty Science Center, among other fun activities:

And that was about it (or at least all I bothered to select pictures of). I figured I'd throw in a few bonus pictures of the boys doing boy things throughout the year, just because....

And last, but not least, this is the family picture we used for our Christmas card this year, taken on the front porch of our new house:

2016 was a great year for us, and we hope it brought happiness and joy to you and your family as well. Happy Holidays, Merry Christmas, and Happy New Year from the Metzes!

Letter

2014-12-09T11:18:00.001-08:00

Since I can easily put lots of pictures in an online letter, that's what I'm going to do. In fact, this is going to be more a series of images with captions than an actual letter. If you want to you can read our letter from last year and everything I said then pretty much still applies. Here are some of the things we did this past year....

We visited Hayden's sister in Santa Fe, NM for Christmas in 2013. Here are Evan and Alex getting ready to go sledding one day:

From there we drove to Denver, CO to see Steph's sister for New Years. Here are the boys with Aunt Kim, Uncle Bill and cousin Lola at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science:

In April Steph started renting a studio at a new arts space in downtown San Jose called the School of Visual Philosophy. Here are the boys helping her move in:

And here's Steph showing some friends her new space:

Steph was also invited to show people her work as part of the opening of the new Skulls exhibit at the California Academy of Sciences. Here she is manning (womening?) at Night Life at the Academy:

In May Hayden turned 40(!), and Steph and Hayden went to Monterey for the weekend and then did a ropes course in the Santa Cruz mountains on the way home:

In June first Alex graduated from preschool:

Then Evan finished 1st grade (this picture was taken at his end-of-the-year dance event, where the 1st graders performed a dance to "In Summer" from Frozen):

In July the boys learned to play the train game (I swear it was their idea once I described how you play the game):

We visited Steph's parents at Lake of the Pines just after the 4th of July:

It was a particularly dry summer in Northern California on top of a run of dry years. The percolation ponds close to our house where we used to take Peekay most days are almost completely dry, so Steph took the boys on a walk where they did some nature drawing of the exposed pond beds:

In August we visited Steph's oldest sister in Newport Beach for a long weekend. While we were there we went to Legoland with cousins Delaney, Riley and Paige:

Later in the month Hayden and Steph ran the Ridiculous Obstacle Challenge 5k race at the Santa Clara County Fairgrounds (this picture was taken after the race next to the bubble machine):

And, of course, the end of August brought the first day of school, Evan in 2nd grade and Alex in transitional kindergarten (he missed the cutoff for kindergarten by 1 month):

In September Hayden and Steph went on a 14-day cruise through the Panama Canal for our 12th anniversary (Hayden's parents came to stay with the boys while we were away). We started in Los Angeles, CA:

Then went to Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, where we did some snorkeling at Las Islas Marietas, a marine national park a half hour or so outside the city:

Next we went to Puntarenas, Costa Rica, where we went ziplining in the forest canopy outside town:

After Costa Rica our ship went through the Panama Canal, although we didn't actually set foot in Panama:

The day after the canal we spent in Cartagena, Columbia walking around the old part of town:

And then the day after that we were in Aruba, where we went snorkeling off a pirate ship:

The pirate ship included a rope swing (as pirate ships are wont to do), and after our 3 different snorkeling stops we got to jump off the swing a few times:

Aruba was our last stop before the end of the cruise in Fort Lauderdale, FL, but we had a lot of fun on board, winning scrapheap boat building competitions:

and going to nice dinners (Hayden is eating escargot here), among other things:

After the cruise we spent a few days in the Florida Keys, going snorkeling in Key Largo and spending the day in Key West before flying home:

I put pretty much all the pictures we took (a few hundred altogether) online on Flickr, if you're interested in investing some browsing time.

As soon as we returned we had to put the finishing touches on Alex's 5th birthday party (his actual birthday happened while we were in Aruba):

A week later one of Hayden's indoor soccer teams won their league championship and one of Steph's roller hockey teams (we play at the same facility where the boys also play soccer) did the same:

For Halloween we first had to get our pumpkins:

before our bat and robot went trick-or-treating:

We went to Newport Beach again for Thanksgiving, and took the opportunity to take our family picture for our Christmas cards:

And that's pretty much it. We had a nice 2014, and we hope you all did too. Happy Holidays!

Letter

2013-12-17T21:55:00.002-08:00

Reading through some of the Christmas letters we've already received, I was struck by how much can change in a year. New houses, new jobs, new kids. We haven't really been the best at keeping our friends up-to-date with what's been going on in our lives (I just checked and I haven't written an honest-to-goodness Christmas letter since 2007!), but rest assured that none of those big events have been happening to us, just people we know. We've only experienced an accumulation of life's little shifts and changes that you don't necessarily notice day-to-day, but taken together add up to a pretty good year.

Alex is four years old and goes to preschool at the church around the corner (the same preschool his older brother attended at the same age). He plays soccer, takes swim lessons, builds LEGO creations a kid twice his age would be proud of, and has developed an unhealthy preoccupation (dare I say obsession?) with Angry Birds in all its many forms. Alex considers himself to be quite the young photographer, and has recently branched out into cinematography as well.

Evan is six, and is in 1st grade. He really likes school, and is something of a teacher's pet (he inherited brains from both of us and Steph's joy of following the rules). During his summer vacation Evan got to attend a few different week-long camps, including a LEGO camp and one focused on building things (like bridges out of tooth picks and play-doh and cool paper airplanes). He's also a soccer player and swimmer, shares his brother's fixation on Angry Birds (they share a lot of things), loves loves LOVES to draw, and is going to run out of teeth at the rate he's losing them.

Steph (age withheld) spends every hour she can manage in her studio, which is unfortunately not nearly as many as she would like (raising two little boys will do that to you). She continues to work almost exclusively in felted wool and show around the country, but has been developing a new body of sculpture over the past year or so that is similar to some of her previous work but significantly larger. She conducts workshops intermittently around the Bay Area, and spent a week this summer teaching at Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts in Gatlinburg, Tennessee. Steph also plays roller hockey 2 or 3 times a week in a few adult leagues (which actually started last year, but since there was no Christmas letter...) and regularly has the bruises to prove it.

Hayden is rapidly closing in on the big 4-0! He still works as an engineer at Northrop Grumman and has been primarily on the same project for over 6 years now (in the Special Intelligence Operating Unit, which is... "special", I guess). This year he also contributed to a few business development efforts (which means no one in the government is willing to pay for them yet) which was an interesting change of pace. Hayden doesn't have to travel that often for work, but when he does he usually takes the opportunity to do something fun (like spending a day snowboarding after a conference in Utah) or visit friends and family (like seeing college friends outside DC or his sister Hilary in Allentown, which is also fun) along the way. He plays on a couple different soccer teams, both indoor and outdoor, throughout the year.

And last but not least (well, actually she is least, which is why she's last and didn't make the Christmas card) Peekay turned 10 years old this year and is still going strong. She doesn't get taken on walks anywhere close to as often as she did a few years ago, but some days I think she's perfectly OK with that. She is continually mellowing in her old age, although the neighborhood squirrel population and the mailman would certainly disagree, and she enthusiastically provides slipper delivery service anywhere in the house (to Steph at least... I refuse to give the dog a treat for getting slobber on my slippers).

Our boys spent the first week of summer vacation with their grandparents in Phoenix (yes, you read that right, we shipped our children to Arizona in the summer, which might be viewed as child abuse in some states) and loved it. While Mom was away teaching in Tennessee, Dad and the boys spent the week taking fun day trips to places like the Oakland Zoo, Emma Prusch Farm Park, and Berkeley Adventure Playground (if you don't know what that is check out the web site -- you will be amazed that such a place can still exist in modern America). We spent the week of the 4th of July at Lake of the Pines with the Goetsch clan, and sandwiched a day in Legoland and a 3-day cruise from Los Angeles to Ensenada, Mexico around Thanksgiving with the Davisons in Newport Beach. We'll end the year visiting Hayden's sister Hallie in Santa Fe for Christmas and Steph's sister Kim in Denver for New Years, and sprinkled throughout 2013 were numerous visits to Happy Hollow, the Children's Discovery Museum and the California Academy of Sciences.

We hope 2013 was kind to you and your family, and 2014 is better still. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Bath Rumble

2010-03-26T20:24:00.000-07:00

After Alex's bath tonight Evan joined in for the bundling and drying phase, and the three of us got a bit tangled up in the process:

Chicken Wing

2010-03-26T20:10:00.000-07:00

I can't for the life of me remember what prompted this, but after dinner tonight Evan came up behind Alex while Steph was holding him and started flapping his arms like a chicken:

Then he gave Alex a big hug (that actually isn't so unusual):

Alex didn't know what to make of any of it:

D Bunny

2010-03-23T17:13:00.000-07:00

I don't remember if there was anything more going on here than Evan playing with D Bunny ("D" because his cousin Delaney gave it to him), but I like the picture a lot so I thought I'd share it:

Visiting Terrapin

2010-03-21T18:26:00.000-07:00

My best friend from college, Katy, came out to the Bay Area for a conference this week and she stayed with us for a few days afterwards. As is our way, we hardly turned the camera on the two days she was here, but we did take this one picture of her with Evan:

At least in the only picture we took he was wearing the Maryland shirt Katy brought for him (it's one of his new favorite shirts).

Obviously you can't tell from a single photo, but Evan had a great time having an extra person to play with around the house! Over the last few months he's become much more willing to interact with new people, and he took to Katy right away. He even requested she join in with our bedtime ritual of reading a story, saying what we did that day, and singing Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. That was the first time either Steph or I can remember anyone who wasn't a family member or his regular babysitter participating in bedtime, let alone at his invitation.

Running Man

2010-03-18T18:41:00.000-07:00

I know I've mentioned before how much Alex likes to kick his legs. Well, as you can see, he comes by it honestly:

More Car Lineup

2010-03-17T15:46:00.000-07:00

Evan spends a fair amount of his time lining up cars in nice rows, so we have plenty of opportunities to take pictures of him doing it. These pictures start to become a bit repetitive, but he looks so cute we can't help ourselves:

Take Your Bow

2010-03-11T12:16:00.000-08:00

With all of the enthusiastic dancing Evan does he needs to learn to take a little credit for the entertainment he provides every once in a while:

Potty Practice

2010-03-09T20:36:00.000-08:00

We've been working on potty training Evan a little bit at a time over the last month or two. So far there are four main challenges we're facing:

He is pretty unwilling to go pee in the potty unless we're changing his diaper anyway, at which point if he wasn't wearing a diaper it would already be far too late;
He insists on standing up to pee, so the degree of difficulty is a little higher;
He likes the idea of pull-ups and big boy underpants but resists even trying on either; and
He vehemently refuses to even think about going poop in the potty.

The first three issues are all things we feel like we can make progress on, but on the fourth he's been quite recalcitrant. We now consider it a victory just to get him to sit on the potty even to read a story (which should be good practice for pooping, right?):

Hard Hat

2010-03-07T20:04:00.000-08:00

One of the really cool Christmas presents Evan got this year was a hard hat with a built-in microphone/loud speaker, headlamp, and flashing lights from his cousins. Only he didn't think it was that cool, or at least its scariness (he didn't much like its random "construction site" sounds) and awkwardness (he doesn't like hats to begin with, and this one is much heavier than any other hat he's ever worn) outweighed its coolness.

Recently, though, Evan has become so obsessed with Bob the Builder that he wanted to wear his hard hat, so we had to document the occasion:

It's still a challenge to get it to fit him well, but now instead of just walking away he keeps pestering me to adjust the sizing. Actually, I'm not sure this is better....

Callie Kitty

2010-03-07T19:57:00.000-08:00

A few posts ago I mentioned how much Evan likes to sing the Bob the Builder theme song. Well, he was at it again today, this time while dragging Callie Kitty along for the ride:

I'd translate what he's singing for you... if I could figure it out. I think it's basically the lyrics of the BTB song if every line ended with "Callie".

The Hard Way

2010-03-07T19:54:00.000-08:00

Evan is quite a fan of his learning Learning Tower, and he's become very adept at climbing into and out of it in creative ways:

Folding Clothes

2010-03-07T14:34:00.000-08:00

It's always a challenge to find tasks you can perform while wrangling a baby, especially as that baby becomes more interactive and figures out how to use his hands. One chore Steph has found she can get done is folding clean laundry, which is a task we both seem to be pretty good at avoiding. You've just go to do it a certain way so that Alex stays entertained:

Bob the Bunny

2010-03-07T11:10:00.000-08:00

Bob the Builder is Evan's new favorite show, and he's taken to singing the theme song at any occasion with a variety of lyrics. I'm sure he picked up that habit from us (Steph and I are prone to changing a line or two when we're singing around the house), but the bunny obsession is entirely Evan: