Rocko and the Coyote

On Christmas Eve, I read the traditional "Night Before Christmas" poem to Stormy and Rocko, then we got into the hot tub to settle down a bit before bedtime. Stormy got out after a few minutes and Rocko and I cuddled and looked at the stars together. We heard a howl, and Rocko said "daddy, a coyote!" 

Christmas Morning, after all the gift unwrapping and phone calls, Rocko and I again found ourselves alone in the hot tub. I asked him if he thought we would hear a Coyote again and he looked at me as if I was incredibly stupid and said "coyotes are asleep in the daytime, daddy!"

Rocko, My Hero

Recently Rocko has told both his mother and me: "if you are ever in trouble, I will save you"
just. makes. me. cry. 


Rocko, I love you man. 

Stormy makes an "S"

Rocko's Night Visit

The kids have been having a hard time sleeping since we got back from Texas and with the time change and all. So when we finally do get them to bed, any noise or movement in the night sets us both on edge, like when they were babies and we never got any sleep. So last night, when we heard Rocko get out of bed at 3:30 am, we were both dreading him getting in bed with us, and having to try to put him to sleep again. But an amazing thing happened. We listened intently as he went into the bathroom, took off his pajamas and diaper, sat on the toilet, peed, got off the toilet, put his diaper and pajamas back on, walked back to his bedroom, shut the door behind him, got in his bed and went back to sleep. 

Homecoming x 2

After four days with my family, it was time for me to go to work. I drove to Austin and left Stormy and Rocko with my mom and dad. I checked into my hotel, then picked up Liz at the airport. She arrived as radiant and fresh as only a mother of twins who has just had her first real break in three years can. I almost didn't recognize her. The last three years has been amazing; but it has been hard for us both- especially Liz, since her life changed so drastically. She went from being a respected, talented, well compensated creative professional with a free-lance schedule to full time mother of the aptly-named Stormy and Rocko twins in the blink of an eye.


It was nice to see her smile like that- I need to make sure this happens more often. We had a nice dinner, walked around Sixth Street and in the morning I went to my conference and she went to the airport to meet her children and fly home.

On the way home, R and S even got to meet the Captain and Co-Pilot in the cockpit. 

Texas Time

I had some travel to Austin the same week my sister Kerrie was celebrating her daughter Anna's first birthday. I hadn't been out since her baby shower the year before. After much coercion from my parents to bringing the kids, (as well as a monetary bribe strangely equal to the price of airfare) and an equal amount of coercion from Liz to leave her at home for a few days, Stormy, Rocko and I boarded a flight to Austin one rainy Saturday morning. 


We had a pretty great flight, with the kids so excited about looking out the window, eating snacks and talking non-stop, that they barely got bored enough to watch the Box Set of Classic Bugs Bunny cartoons I bought just for the flight. 

We spent four days at Grandpa and Nana's house. It was a jam-packed visit: Anna's Birthday party, where they met their cousin for the first time, as well as several great Aunts, cousins and extended family, including Great Mammaw. They went to Breckenridge park and rode the train, went to the zoo and saw crocodiles, took the a tour on the riverboat through San Antonio, ate at La Gloria with the chef- (Johnny Hernandez, my Culinary School room-mate who I'd not seen in years) had authentic Chinese prepared by their uncle Len's wife Li Wah and authentic Texas BBQ at a roadhouse outside of New Braunfels, where I used to go tubing. 

Strong Beer Experience in the Haight

I am staying in San Francisco tonight since we are opening a new Whole Foods Market at Haight and Stanyan tomorrow. Magnolia brew pub is having an event called the "Strong Beer Experience" so I stopped by and sampled this exceptional Barleywine (11.2% abv) called "Old Thunderpussy"