family, friends and watermelon

Living in a major city like San Francisco has its perks, one of which is people often visit either for pleasure or for work. We are the lucky beneficiaries of those visits. Several weeks back we got to catch up with the newest addition to the Hansen household – Alisa – over dinner at the Cheesecake Factory. Yummy. We had a blast, and Ryder was such a good sport to play with his play dough and cars out on the freezing balcony. Come back anytime, Alisa!!

And then a few weeks later I was lucky enough to host several girlfriends from high school for a sort of reunion. They each had come to NorCal for various reasons (with one actually living in Sacramento), so we all got together to play for a bit. The intention was to have them all stay at our place for the weekend, but unfortunately Ryder and Todd were struck with the stomach flu just a few days previous, and the worst of it came right in the middle of their visit. So, our reunion was cut short… but we had a blast, nonetheless! They were all good sports, as we faced one battle after another – ryder somehow getting locked in his bedroom, a flat tire and Ryder having a diarrhea blowout all over his clothes while we were shopping. Thanks Camille, Randi, Cami and Callie for being such good sports!

From left to right, Randi, Cami, Camille, me and Ryder (who stuck his head in at the last second). Randi is due in Sept with their first... a girl. Yahoo!

To drag the flu topic on just a bit further, this was Ryder’s first experience with throwing up. The dreadful day started out just like any other Tuesday – a trip to gymnastics followed by lunch with Todd on campus. Ryder ended up falling asleep on our way home, and as we got off the shuttle bus and were about to cross the street to our building, throw up came pouring out of his mouth all over my chest and stomach. The poor boy was still somewhat asleep, so I rejected the impulse to sit him in the nearby bushes to finish his work. He continued to throw up on me - over and over again. Luckily our good friend Jen just so happened to be walking down her stairs, and she rushed to my aid with clean towels. She even washed off the sidewalk for me so I could take Ryder home. Kudos to Jen!

Here's Ryder trying to recoup while watching Charlotte’s Web... with all of his animals set up just how he wanted them. Funny kid. (p.s. I'm really getting tired of that movie... anyone want to take it off my hands?)

Well, after nine throw up episodes from Ryder and a couple of days/nights of similar symptoms from Todd and myself, we finally got over it. I hate when Ryder gets sick. He has no idea what’s going on. I’m sure his little mind was quite confused at this continuous urge to throw up and mom and dad refusing to feed him anything. Poor kid. But, we did make it through.

In between all of this, we’ve managed to make it through the last of the little league baseball games, a trip to the zoo, a baby shower and a visit to a somewhat nearby water park. Life is moving along nicely.... with growing belly and all!

A proud little boy in the dugout.

The coaches.... Ryder, Todd, Dave and Mike. Way to go, guys!

The fam enjoying the bridge after the game.

Brushing the goats.... again.... at the San Francisco zoo.

I asked Ryder to smile and say cheese, and this is the face I got. Unfortunately, such a response has become a regular occurrence.

Wonderful hostesses and friends at the double baby shower.... Jen (in black to the left of me) is due two weeks before me with a boy. Yeah!

Just can't get enough of that watermelon... and the juicy tummy proves it!

Fillin' up his bucket of water.... over and over again. I love summer weather! It's too bad we don't see too much of it here, but rest assured, we try to take advantage of the nice days whenever we can!