Crushing

I've been meaning to do this post for a while now, but have learned that when you are living in the Otto-man Empire, nothing ever quite happens on schedule. But, more about that in a later post, because today I wanted to talk about the 2011 Grape Crush!

For the last 5 years, Sarah and I have been making wine with a loosely organized group of people, in could what maybe be described as a Co-Op. Unfortunately, for a number of reasons, ranging from people moving, to money, to just having too much wine, most of the people bowed out of the group this year. With the recent arrival of Otto, plus the ongoing basement remodel, Sarah and I seriously concerned taking a year off ourselves... but, in the back of our minds, we were worried that -if we took this year off- we might not pick the hobby and tradition up again next year.

So, after some soul-searching and convincing the old groups ringleader and organizer, Gary, to buy in on a third of our barrel, we decided to solider on ahead. But, since the grape crush has traditionally been held at Gary's house, and because Gary recently moved, we'd need to host it somewhere new: Our house.

This years crush would be significantly smaller than previous years. But, calling on friends old and new, we planned on having people meet at our place to crush grapes, enjoy a potluck meal and, of course, drink wine. And, since it was hosted at our house, I thought it might be fun, this year, to walk you all through the process.

(One of the surprising bonuses of this years crush was that our friend and fellow baby-sitting Co-Op member Erika Warner-Court and her family attended. Erika is an amazing photographer and all the photos featured in this entry were taken by her and, obviously, © Copyright Erika Warner-Court.)

The Grapes! In past years, we've generally purchased 2-3 tons of grapes directly from a grower in Eastern Washington. This year, with only one barrel to fill, Sarah, Gary and I ordered 500lbs of Syrah grapes from WWAWA (the Western Washington Amateur Winemakers Association... I think).

The Crusher! From the truck, the first place the grapes go is through the crusher. The crusher, like the press (more on it later), has plenty of Old World Charm™, and has connections to noted food writer Angelo Pellegrini. The crusher is used to loosely break up the grapes. From there it's off to...

De-stemming! Probably the least glamorous, but arguable the most important part of the Crush. A team of workers digs through the tubs of crushed grapes separating stems from the grapes and juice. Many winemakers try to remove nearly all the stems from the grapes before fermentation. But, we traditional try to leave some stems, which we feel helps add to the tannins in the wine.

The Vats! The separated grapes, juice and some stems are then dumped into our fermentation vats. At the end of the day, we'll add SO2 to the grapes to help kill any bad bacteria. Then the following day, we begin adding SuperFood and Yeast to the grapes to begin the fermentation process, which will last for several weeks.

The Press! After being separated from the grapes, the stems are dumped into the press. After the press is filled with stems, they're pressed to extract any last juice from them, and that juice is also added to the vats.

The Clean Up! - After successfully crushing and de-stemming the grapes, everyone is eager to get on to the drinking and eating (OK, so we've been drinking and eating the whole time... but still), but it's important to get things cleaned up, especially since most of the equipment, from the crusher to the press to (in this case) my dad's truck are on loan. But, that taken care of, it's on to...

The Feast! - Traditionally, this takes the form of a spaghetti feed in Gary and Cynthia's garage. But, this year, it took the form of a backyard banquet, with lasagna, chili and a variety of sides.

The Wine! - The Crush also serves and an opportunity to drink wine. Lots of wine! This year, we opened a bottle (or two) of our four previous vintages. (Photo by Ambika Beck, who also took some really great pictures.)

Sarah and I were both really pleased with how this years Crush went. And, while we miss having it at Gary's house, we both agreed that we'd be happy to continue hosting future crushes at our place. Now, for the grandparents and various family members, some additional pictures of Stella and Otto...

Mad Dash

Something clicked in May, I think, and suddenly as the reality of having an impending a new edition hit, we found ourselves in a mad dash to try to enjoy as many activities as we could, see as many friends as we could and get the house into some sort of shape before we re-enter that duck-and-cover world known as "having a newborn." We've already talked about our trip to Mexico here, but here are a few other events and activities that have filled up the last month or two...

The Bay Area
At the start of May, even before our Mexico trip, Sarah had to make a trip to the Bay Area for work, so we leveraged that into an opportunity to visit with her brother and sister-in-law who live near San Jose (in Fremont). In edition, Sarah's dad and step-mom ended up coming in to town too, making for a quick family get together, as we hung out in the Bay Area and made a day trip to Monterey.

Stella disembarks at San Jose airport. Someone's getting to be old-hat when it comes to flying. But, notably, this marked the first time that Stella and I flew together without Sarah, since she had flown down a day earlier for work.

Walking on the beach in Monterey. (To golf fans: That's Pebble Beach on the bluffs in the background.)

Stella strikes a pose by a small pond in Monterey.

Smokefest
No, this isn't some variation on Seattle's Hempfest. But, instead, it was a backyard BBQ party (or rather smoking party) organized by several of our friends who have become masters of smoking meats.

Jason and Todd, the SmokeMasters™, do their thing.

The Ribs! (There's was brisket too, as well as a huge spread of food provided by the rest of the guests.)

Stella, and her friend Lucy, try our the John Deere. Note the bungee cord which kept them safely circling in place.

I've got my fingers crossed that this becomes an annual event.

Dry Falls Camping Trip
Shortly after returning from Mexico (literally, three days later), Sarah, Stella and I traveled to Eastern Washington to do some camping with our friends, Shahaf and Pnina, at the Dry Falls State Park. While the campgrounds themselves proved to be more of a glorified parking lot, the hikes were amazing, and reminded us -yet again- how different and varied the terrain, climate and wildlife can be within our own beautiful state.

Stella stops to smell the flowers, or at least point them out, on our first hike

Sarah... 8-months pregnant... carrying Stella... through the desert. Stella's definitely able to do more hiking herself this year, but we still spend a lot of our time with her riding on our backs.

Shahaf and Pnina trail blaze on our hike the second day along a stunning lake.

We're not sure if we are going to have the chance to do more camping this year, with the baby set to arrive. But, we can still hope and dream!

Art Projects
In addition to being busy professionally, I also had several exciting illustration opportunities that I got to take part in in early June. First off, I was part of the Gallery (206) Project which featured art by over 206 local artists. 20 artists created pieces for the glass panels on the outside of a re-purposed phonebooth, while the rest of use contributed pages for the "phonebook."

My piece. You can see more pictures of the booth itself on the website linked above.

In addition, I also took part in the Bureau of Drawers "Economy of Line" one-night exhibit, the conceit of which is that we started the night with a blank gallery, and attempted to fill the walls with our drawings which we creative live at the event.

The space at the beginning of the night. There was also a second group in another room upstairs.

Gallery goers take a look at our creations as the night went on. All the pieces were made available for sale for anywhere from $1 to $20. Though I only sold one piece in the "Things Wearing Underpants" series.

Alki Point Light House
Sarah's coworkers also hosted a baby shower for us at the Alki Point Lighthouse. Normally, this lighthouse is closed to the public, but someone that Sarah works with lives there, since her husband is an Admiral in the Coast Guard, so we got the rare opportunity to walk the grounds, tour the lighthouse itself and get quintessential Seattle photos like this...



4th Annual Housewarming
We also held our 4th Annual Housewarming BBQ, which -true to tradition- we barely took any photographs of. Since the party was being held exactly one month before Sarah's due date, I offered to do most of the organizing and food prep... which I promptly delegated to the guests by making it a potluck.

The backyard waiting for the party to start.

We always do the same thing, where we take a bunch of pictures right as things are starting, then set the camera aside and forget to pick it up again, until after everyone has left. Maybe we need to hire a photographer for them. Still, it was definitely a success, with probably our biggest turn out yet (over 50 people, easy) and perfect sunny weather (despite ominous predictions that morning).

This year was a major sausage fest... er, wait, that's not what I mean. This year, I organized a "Build Your Own Hot Dog" bar, with a variety of hot dogs and more toppings than a person could ever want.

Stella enjoys the festivities, in the "sherbet-cupcake tutu" she picked out for the occasion.

The Remodel
The remodel of our basement continues in fits and starts. We're still excited about what it will eventually look like, but at times we still feel depressingly far from ever reaching that point. Most recently, we've had the old oil furnace replaced with a new, electric one. And, then had our basement floor literally jack-hammered up so that plumbers could lay in new pipe work for the future bathroom. We've still got our fingers crossed that the plumbers will be able to wrap up their work before the baby arrives. But, if working on this remodel has taught us one thing its that things never move quite as fast as your like.

On the upside, we feel like we've finally rounded the point where we are disassembling and demolishing things in our basement and are now adding to and improving on it. Hopefully, it'll only get better from here! And, someday, we'll have exciting pictures of our new basement to share.

...and on, and on...
In edition to all that, it feels like we've done a million other things: Sarah's Birthday, Father's Day, yard work and, oh, we bought a new car! As the weeks have passed, we've started changing gears from travel and adventures to just trying to get our house and lives in order and prepared for the new edition to our family. Nesting has definitely started to take hold, and both Sarah and I find ourselves doing all sort of random and unexpected cleaning activities in preparation. Cleaning and organizing random cupboards. Endlessly dusting. Building IKEA furniture.

Tomorrow, Sarah has a final ultrasound to determine if she'll have to have a C-Section for sure, or if there's a chance she can have a natural childbirth. We're trying to stay realistic about it, but also can't help but cross our fingers that something has changed. Regardless, we'll probably be meeting our newest family member in the next week or so. Egad!

Time after time

These days, it's not uncommon to find Stella standing at the door to the basement, furiously signing the symbols for "baby," "time" and "more" in rapid succession. It's pretty amazing that Stella has picked up such a wide array for sign language symbols in such a quick period of time (she probably knows well over a dozen now, with "leaf" and "tree" being new just in the last day or so), but the less fortunate side effect is that she spends a lot of time begging to watch Baby Signing Time.

But, that's not the only time she is obsessed with these days, she also loves...

Toddler Time!

On Tuesdays and Thursdays, from 10am until sometime in the early afternoon, the nearby Jefferson Community Center host a Toddler Play Time. Basically, for $2 a baby, its an unlimited playtime in their gymnasium filled with toys. Like this...

Look at all those toys, but...


...this is easily Stella's favorite toy. She would probably be happy to sit in this car the whole time. Or, preferably, have me push her around the whole time... Ow, my back!

Stella and I tend to get there a little early (actually, usually around 9:45) because A) her nap time usually falls around 11:30 and we want to make sure she gets plenty of time to play, and B) I've discovered that Stella tends to take a little time to warm up to changes, and giving her a little time to play on her own before the other toddlers start to arrive helps her be more ready for the chaos that soon arrives.

The other toddlers descend! Usually there's only a dozen or so other kids, but sometimes a Day Care brings a group of another 20 or so... it's pretty out of control those days.

It's also been nice for me too, because it allows us to get out of the house on a rainy day and not go too stir-crazy. Also, now that we've gone for a couple of weeks, I've started to meet some of the other parents there, and it's nice to get a feel for some of the other families living on Beacon Hill.

But, yeah, for Stella, Toddler Time = Good Time. Between that and the Baby Signing Time videos, Sarah and I have learned that T.I.M.E. is one of those words we need to spell to each other, instead of say.

Stella's First Hike (with bonus "car" video)

Today was one of those glorious days that reminds me why I love living in the Pacific Northwest: the sun was shining and every direction I turned revealed beautiful snow-capped mountains, the Olympics, Rainier, the Cascades. It was the perfect day to go on a hike, which was exactly what we did, with another friend from our PEPS parent group and two of her friends from her childbirth ed class.

View of the Olympics from around the corner from our house

I had never hiked Rattlesnake Ridge, and besides the beautiful weather, it was great to go on a weekday (it's close enough to the city that it gets mobbed on the weekend). Apparently we made a notable sight, four women, four babies, hiking up to Rattlesnake Ledge. (Though the father I saw carrying one kid on his back and one on his front had all of us beat!) All the babies did great. I had a little trepidation this morning, sure I would forget something or that Stella would lose it at the top, making for a really long trip back down the trail, but she was either fascinated or asleep. She seems to do well in the outdoors--which is great news since hiking is one of my favorite things to do. I thought I'd need to develop the "10 Essentials" for hiking with baby, but we did OK with one fresh diaper, the Soothie, and a burp cloth.


And we're off!


My first trillium of the season


The view from the ridge


We made it! Unfortunately, it was too windy to hang out here for long


Hiking is hard work, apparently even when you're riding on someone else's back

It was a great day--fun to be in the outdoors, meet some new people, and get a peek into what summer could be like. Besides today's great hike, we've been having the usual daily routine, which has recently included an incredibly happy Stella in the evening when I get home from work. As I mentioned in the last post, she's started hanging out in her "car" in the kitchen while I make dinner. The other night I captured some of that fun when Stella was feeling talkative:

.

And she's still doing lots of rolling, but no action to get back to her back. The 360 is still to come!


Look at me, happy on my tummy! And still not rolling back yet....

In a week and a half we're scheduled to go to Texas to visit my family as a little birthday present for me. Let's hope the swine flu doesn't cause any problems.... And we'll get to see how Stella does in the heat (and see how cute she looks in her dresses that haven't gotten much air time yet).

Congested

While having a baby daughter has been probably the most wonderful experience of my life, it is important to let you all know that Stella isn't always raspberries and sunshine (to steal from Sarah's last title). In fact, sometimes, babies can be pretty gross.*

For example, over the last couple weeks, Stella has been sort of congested. We aren't sure if its early allergies, the drier Spring air or maybe just some sort of cold that refuses to give up. But, regardless of what it is, its helped earn Stella the new nickname "Snuffles."

"Just how congested is she?" you ask.

This congested.

Poor, congested Snuffles!

(I think its telling that I still find that photo a little cute.)

Luckily, that was last weekend, and at this point most of her congestion has cleared up. So, we might even have to retire the nickname "Snuffles" soon. But, that's probably for the best.

Also, I'm sure most of the regular readers of this blog already know this, but even though I can't post as often as I would like, I'm still trying to do my best to upload as many pictures as I can of Stella to my Flickr stream. So, if there is ever a dry patch where Sarah and I fail to post here, be sure to still check in there.

Finally, with the arrival of Spring, Sarah and I have found ourselves more and more interested in working around the house and yard. This includes taking photos of the various plants in our yard as they bloom, and repainting our bedroom (the last couple photos here.

Happy Spring, everyone!

* As a side note: There was a two day period where the phrase "so gross" replaced "PJ Hat" as the Funniest Word Ever!™

A year ends, a year begins...

I'd be lying if I said it was all smiles and roses here at the 4964 17th Ave. And, I'd be lying if I said having a baby is easy. In fact, the last couple of weeks have convinced me of one thing: If I ever talk to a parent who says that they don't think they'd be able to do a Round the World trip because it would be "too hard," then I will be left with little choice by to remove my white-satin, gentleman's riding glove and slap them across the face. Because, in comparison to six weeks of sleep deprivation and crying babies, having stomach amoebas while trapped on a toilet-free boat floating down the Nile is easy.

Sleep deprivation and screaming babies will break the strongest man. And, being snowed in for roughly a week and a half doesn't help. Neither does me coming down with food poisoning shortly after the New Year. It always comes back to my stomach.

But, to be fair, I'd also be lying if I painted the last couple weeks as entirely doom and gloom. That's not a fair portrait either. Despite the best attempts by mother nature, Christmas actually ended up being a pleasant low-key affair with my parents, and my brother and sister-in-law coming into town to surprise them. Sadly, my brother had to leave early Christmas morning, but I was still happy for Stella to finally get the opportunity to meet her aunt and uncle. And it was nice to have the family together for the holidays, albeit briefly.

Stella meets Uncle Travy. She likes him so much already, she's already dressing like him.

Several days later, and after the snow finally relented, Stella got to meet some more relatives: Her great-Grandma Gloria, great-Aunt Debby and great-Cousin Nolan, all of who we had originally intended to spend Christmas Eve with but were unable to because of the weather.

Stella meets great-Grandma Gloria. Hopefully, later this year, she will get to meet her other great-Grandparents in Illinois and Texas.

New Years itself was pretty much a normal night for the three of us. Well, except we managed to stay up till midnight watching a James Bond film and toasted in '09 with a glass of sparkling wine before retiring to bed by 12:30.

Cheers! Happy New Years, Stella!

Then, the new year brought the visit of Grandpa Bob and Grandma Dixie (or as Sarah's step-brother, Brent, suggested they be called "G-Daddy" and "G-Mama). While the visit was over too quick, it was still great that Stella got the opportunity to meet another set of Grandparents. And, after being snowed in for so long, it was nice to have some visitors again.

Grandpa Bob tries his hand at soothing Stella by bouncing on the yoga ball.

Finally, last week, we had a reunion with our Centering group from the Mid-wife clinic where we had the chance to be introduced to all the other babies including Cleo and Jayan. It was good to see everyone from the class again, meet the babies, and especially it was nice to commiserate with all the other new parents and realize that they are all going through the same struggles and sleepless nights.

So, in closing: Yeah, having Stella in our lives is tiring and challenging. But, is it worth it? Definitely! Need proof? I now present this Stella Moment of Zen™...



More Christmas photos.
More Stella photos, including New Years and great-grandma's visit.
Still more photos, including Bob and Dixie's visit.

Let it snow, let it snow, let it... good god, it's still snowing?!

As I think I mentioned in the previous entries, Seattle isn't a town that gets much snow. And, when it does, that snow generally only last a day or two, and then we are back to our usual cold and wet weather. So, as you might imagine, it's been a bit of a surprise for those of us living here, that it has effectively been snowing for over a week now.

Compare this picture to the one in our previous entry to see how the snow keeps piling up outside.

And, with a newborn baby, a house on a hill, and only a Honda Accord, we've essentially been snowed in here for that time. Needless to say, while the day to day beauty of the snow isn't lost on us, we are getting a little stir-crazy and cabin fever has started to set in. So, what do you do when you are trapped at your house for a week? Well, here's a short list:

1) Change the babies diapers.
2) Feed the baby.
3) Watch the baby sleep.
4) Construct elaborate charts tracking babies diaper changes, feeding patterns and sleep patterns.
5) Stare at the tree.
6) Stare at the snow.
7) Shovel snow.
6) Watch shoveled sections of sidewalk re-fill with snow.
7) Play games.
8) Design new games from scratch.
9) Drink hot chocolate.
10) Drink egg nog.
11) Drink wine.
12) Fixate on the Cliff Mass Weather Blog.
13) Repeat.

...another occasional snow sotrm activity.

Yup. That's pretty much it. I've actually been a little luckier than Sarah because I've been able to get out of the house once of twice. Generally, it's just to do a quick loop around the neighborhood to scout out the Snopocalypse. But still, the fresh air, being able to say "hi" to the occasional neighbor, and getting to crunch through the snow has been a nice experience.

Braving the snowstorm.

As for Stella, she's probably relieved to be stuck in doors, since she's been attacked by the baby acne fairy. She's definitely improved, but there were a couple of days there where we couldn't help but feel sorry for our little blotchy baby. Also, it bears mentioning that tomorrow marks the end of her 4th week on the planet, and (aside from the acne and some diaper rash) it so far so good!

Sarah and Stella curl up to keep warm inside. Stella is shy because of her acne.

We are starting to get a little stressed about Christmas though. Not only will all this snow make it potentially difficult to get to relatives houses for the holidays. But, since Stella's arrival, we still haven't had a chance to do any major Christmas shopping. As it stands right now, I think we are hoping to have a chance rush around and pick up some stuff on Tuesday... but we are going to need the Seattle snow-gods to cut us some slack for that to happen. So, if you are on our shopping list, don't be surprised if you end up with an IOU.

But, as I mentioned, it's hard to fixate on the stressful things, when the snow makes every day seem new and interesting...

Various animal and bird prints keep appearing in our backyard, here Sarah managed to capture a picture of one visitor.

Snow on a tree in the backyard.

Ice crystal form on a branch outside our window. Last night brough freezing rain in addition snow.

OK... basement is getting cold, and the snow is still falling here on Beacon Hill, at 6pm on Sunday, so I'm going to go hide upstairs with my girls. Happy snow days, everyone!

Here's all our latest photos of life during the snow storm.