Little P’s room is now painted a lovely shade of blue. I am so excited to start getting her room put together. Grandpa Ippolite called today and said he would like to buy P’s crib as a present. Thank you Grandpa!! I have just the perfect one in mind.

Haley Monster loves to sit in the corner of Little P’s room and watch me wander about. I wonder sometimes if she knows what is coming and if she is holding on to make sure we are all ok. She has been touch and go lately. Some days are hard, but days like today she is the sweet little curious Monster I have known for almost 17 years. Today we had a nice slow walk down to the Willow Store to grab some snacks and she must have smelled every rose on the way there. It might take a long time to get there, but I cherish these moments we still have together.

I finally unpacked the last of my boxes and found my most favorite item, my beautiful Canon 5D. It has been gathering dust these past couple years, but I am psyched to start getting back into taking pictures. Here is a pic of our dining room, I love the colors – brings in some sunshine on a rainy day like today.

The Tour of California is coming next month, so to prepare, I am trying to ride all of Stage 3. I’ve done the Tunitas Creek climb in earlier adventures, so wanted to tick off the 84, Pescadero and Bonny Doon climbs.

I ticked off the first two. Then I got a flat.

Of course I didn’t bring a spare, a pump, nor a patch kit. I was able to limp the bike down to highway 1, where I still had no reception. Perhaps luckily, I was able to find a phone booth, but it was provided by AT&T as well.

The Gazos Grill helped me out with my communication and dietary needs. Still, Alex wouldn’t pick up the phone, so I was left wondering whether my support crew would be able to back me up.

90 minutes later I was thinking about hitch-hiking to Santa Cruz when I saw a Prius almost crash into the back of a Passat. My support crew made an entrance!

Support crews need to exercise as well. Late in the afternoon we drove up to Skyline to find some hiking trails at Windy Hill. I provided Cougar bait while Alex and I hiked a long circuit until dark.

Alex and I spent Friday night up in the city. Alex’s friend Meghan got us invites to watch “Alice in Wonderland” at the Dolby facility. While the story was a bit Disney, the visuals, and (obviously) the sound, were amazing.

On Saturday we headed south for the Sea Otter Classic. I have become a roadie, and needed to get some cred by not riding my girlfriend’s bike…

Halfway down we saw what we thought was a Farmer’s Market on the side of the road so decided to stop in for some Orange juice. We thought it was a bit funny that all the vendors had Volkswagens, and that no-one was selling Orange juice. We did however find out that we probably can’t fit a baby seat in the back of a Karmann Ghia.

We checked out the festival at Laguna Seca for a couple of hours. It was a bit full-on, so we headed to Carmel-by-the-sea to show Haley the ocean for the first time.

Alex gave our baby girl some sun.

And then on the way back we stopped at Carmel-by-the-sea town for some more baby shopping followed by seafood dinner at Moss Landing north of Monterey.

Yesterday was a beautiful, clear blue, 70 degree day so I thought I would go off and explore the Foothills Preserve a bit more after our lunch time teaser hike on Tuesday. I hiked up Steep Hallow trail and the air was filled with the fresh scent of lilac bushes blooming in all directions, just delightful.

I was enjoying myself so much I decided to keep going up over the ridge and back down into the next Valley. About an hour later I made it to a large creek and found a man playing with his two dogs and I asked him what to expect if I kept going further on the trail. He said I was half-way done so I thought, “Great, another hour and I’ll be back at the car”. I ascended the steep trail up and up and up. Finally I could see that I was getting to the top, I thought to myself, “I must be near the car”, after all it was 6:45 and the evening light was fading. To my surprise I came across a sign that said “3.4 miles back to the Steep Hallow trail”. Oh no, I was 3.4 miles away and I didn’t know if it was the start of the trail or the end of the trail. I had about a minute of panic. I didn’t want to head back out onto the trail, because it was getting dark and well, there were critters in there and big critters from all the mountain lion warning signs I had passed. I saw a car on a road in the distance so I thought, “Worse case scenario, I can hitchhike if it gets too dark”. So I walked down to the road, down and down and down. About 7:45 I made it to the park entrance, thank god! I had been walking for 4 hours and it was just about dark and I knew they closed the gate to the park so I didn’t want to be stuck inside. About 100 feet into the park I saw the park ranger pull up, and since I still had another mile to get to my car, I thought, “Yay! He will give me ride to my car”. No such luck! All he said was, “You can probably still make it to your car in time before we shut the gate.” I even tried to throw in a pitiful, “I’m cold” remark, but he wasn’t giving into my poor trip planning dilemma. So I started to run. And running while 6 months pregnant has got to be one of the most uncomfortable and awkward things I can remember doing. For all you men out there, imagine running frantically through the airport with your two allowed carry-on bags and the extra one you managed to sneak through… And amidst this frenzy to get to the car, I couldn’t pass up the chance to shoot this deer who was standing near me so I got out my phone and snapped a quick shot.

The last know image of this deer alive.

And then that is when I saw it, on the top of the ridge just behind the deer, a large animal – moving slowly and moving like a cat, a very, very big cat. “OMG, OMG, OMG, OMG.” They say not to run away from a lion, but I ran faster than any pregnant woman should and I wasn’t looking back. It was 5 minutes of feeling like I was in shark infested waters and wondering if I was going to make it to the car. And then there it was, My Savior, my beautiful black Passat. I kissed the bumper, jumped in and got the heck outta there.

Was my mind playing tricks on me? I don’t know, but I swear that wasn’t a house cat or a cow or a deer. Upon returning home, I googled “Mountain Lion + Palo Alto” and scared myself with all the stories. Brendan is convinced it was a squirrel.

Haley just came over, put her head on the keyboard, and looked at me.  I think she may be reminding me that it’s not just A, B, and wee.

She has had a rough time over the last week.  To be honest, I didn’t think I would see her after she was in the hospital a week ago.  She has got much better since then.  She’s still a little unsure of herself in the new house, but she has got her energy back and knows where the jerky/lamb’s blood comes from i.e. me

My first day in Palo Alto and I was in a bit of a fog from the previous days drive. Luckily our new couch and coffee table arrived early, I knew that would be my napping spot for when the afternoon fatigue set in. I strolled the main drag of University Ave. in Palo Alto, quickly honing in what will soon become my regular hot spots; Apple store, Red Mango, University Cafe… The street was alive with a mix of young hip Stanford University students, well dressed business men, Moms with strollers and many different languages to be heard. I found myself getting lots of smiles from people I would walk past, I had been covering up with layers of clothes in Park City and now that I can de-layer, my baby bump is showing – its amazing how nice people are when the bump is showing. I might just have to make a mold for a later date… Closer to home I visited the local grocery store, Willow Store, it was delightful, only a block away and it had everything I could ever need… especially the large supply of Nutella that was on sale. After a quick nap at home, I ventured off to The Arastradero Preserve, a beautiful oak and grassland preserve with various hiking/running/biking loops.

The recent rains have left the rolling hills very lush and green.

This sign stopped me in my tracks for a moment. Yikes!

After the hike, I made it back home in time to meet Brendan. After 3 months of living apart, it was so nice to have him there at the end of the day! We ventured off to University Ave. and hit a local hot spot for a yummy dinner of Paella. On the way back home we hit Shokolate and bought a box of little chocolates to take home and enjoy.