Are We *THERE* Yet?

Are we THERE yet? Apparently not. More contractions today but no progress. Grrr...argh. I really do think I'm going to try that castor oil tomorrow, unless something changes (come on Isaac, I DARE you! Get out already!).

It was, however, a wonderfully pleasant and distracting day. The three of us went to Chuck E. Cheese up in Rohnert Park in the morning for Iris' birthday party, and it was nowhere near as bad as you might think, considering that it was a huge room filled with kids, video and arcade games, play equipment, and bizarre larger-than-life animatronic characters singing covers of bad '70s and '80s songs with the words changed. Eli, of course, had a blast.

After a couple of hours of Chuck E. Cheese insanity, we hit the road back to home, whereupon Eli, all tuckered out from the previously mentioned insanity, fell promptly asleep. So since it was still gorgeous outside, and we had nothing better to do, Josh and I decided to take a detour through the unbearably scenic, Spring-luscious hills of Petaluma and West Marin. I wish I had Suzanne's way with descriptions and could really do justice to how lovely, how soul-enriching, how just over-the-goddamn-top beautiful it was out there today. But mostly all I have to fall back on right now are cliches: puffy clouds moving through clear blue sky; placid black and white cows dotting rounded valley hills lush with new and prolific bright emerald grass, reminding me of Scotland; fantastically gnarled and gothy dark oak trees tricked out in green-mossed bark, their tiny light green leaves bursting out at the ends of every branch into a fancy new hairdo, like old ladies with bright unlikely dye jobs on their fresh permanents; fields, whole fields of wildflowers blooming white, purple and yellow amongst the new green grass; the sparkling blue silver of the resevoir in the mellow afternoon sunlight. And the warmth of the air; and the smell of it...fresh and alive and delicious in that soft Spring way. Ooooo! I loved it.

We stopped for lunch in Pt. Reyes Station at the Cowgirl Creamery--oh god, the cheese, the cheese! It's the best place in the world if you're a cheese lover. We got 5 different kinds of artisanal cheeses, including the incomparable Red Hawk, made on the premises, and crackers, and smoked salmon, and Scharffenberger chocolate. So decadent. So outstanding. (Eli, in case you were wondering, had half a bag of potato chips and a bite or two of smoked salmon for his lunch, but not for lack of coaxing.) I also had a lovely time chatting with the nice Jewish man working at the cheese counter (who had just had a baby boy, also named Elijah, at the same hospital and with the same doctors that delivered Eli and will deliver Isaac) while we tested cheeses, and with all the rest of the folks who ebbed and flowed out of that place. (Of course it helped that Eli was once again dressed in his full Captain Hook costume, which really makes people want to chat with us.)

After our delightful and decadent lunch, we wrapped up our extra cheese and drove back home (through more exquisite scenery), and got home around 4:30pm or so. After a bit of downtime, we headed back out to Max's for dinner with Mom and Dad, which was surprisingly tasty and mellow as well (despite some intense bargaining sessions with Eli to get him to eat a couple of carrots). Then home again, kid to bed, some good phone time with my friend Galila (she who always manages to put things in perspective for me), and boom, here it is bedtime.

So. Good night's rest. Good breakfast. These are my short-term goals. Then we shall see.