Leaving Beloved Berkeley

It's with a great sigh of sadness and nostalgia that we leave the Bay area. Although the time has flown by, we've been here quite awhile now -- 8 years for Nicole, 7 for Ben.

Here's a list of some of the things we've obtained during our time here:

* 1 master's degree
* 1 marriage
* 2 PhDs
* 2 beautiful daughters
* over 500,000 frequent flier miles ;)

We'll miss the mild weather, the variety of nearby nature, the lack of mosquitoes, the endless selection of good eats, and the wacky politics. Most of all, though, we will miss our many many wonderful friends who have been so supportive during our transitions from bumbling confused students, to bumbling confused parents, to our new adventure as bumbling confused ex-pats.

Father Ben

Here's Ben with his 2 babies

Here's Ben with his 3 babies ;)

More baby pictures

Baby Leena is Here!

Hooray! Baby Leena has arrived!

Here's her stats.

Name: Leena Audrey Bellows
Birth time/date: July 1, 2009 at 6:22pm
Location: Alta Bates Hospital, Berkeley, CA
Weight/length: 7 lbs 5 oz; 20 inches

All is well at the Bellweather household thus far....

Links to other photos:

http://www.our365.com/newbornportraits/babydetail.aspx?birthid=f4d37bee-ad34-4314-8802-7897b7e0e3a9&babyid=07afeae4-704a-4b3e-9470-23bcbbe11359

Belly shots

Tomorrow we hit the 38 week mark of this pregnancy and we decided we should get a couple of belly shots since the new baby can come any day now. We are dismantling the apartment in preparation -- trying to clear out Ben's office area to make room for baby stuff. Most likely we have 2-3 weeks more to get ready but you never know....

Storytime

Here's a video of Ani "reading" a story. She loves Ben's book of business cards and interprets them differently each time. In this story, she is reading something about "Ollie". Maybe a book read to her at daycare? Anyways, it cracks us up.

Graduation Day

Here's a clip of Ben graduating with his PhD from Berkeley!

Pink Polka Dots

It was a rainy day a few days ago and Ani got dressed in her rain gear before heading to day care. She is a sucker for pink and polka-dots. This demonstrates the power of recessive genes. While I'm not particularly opposed to either pink or polka-dots, I've never been much of a girly girl, but Ani is increasingly expressing her girly preference for PINK! On Wednesday she refused to wear anything that wasn't pink. We had to really search for pink socks to go with her pink shirt, pink pants, and pink shoes. The hat you see here was her choice too. I was trying to get her to try on a cool khaki cap, and she refused and pointed to the hot pink polka dots and said "I want the PINK DOT ONE!". At this rate, we're really hoping that this next kiddo is a girl because we're probably going to have a lot of pink polka-dots on our hands. :)

Easter Snapshots

Expressions

Ani loves to play "expressions" where she can demonstrate her dramatic range.

Testing of the Flip Videos

Many moons ago we uploaded a couple of videos to our blog and haven't done much since. Recently, however, we purchased one of those groovy Flip video recorders and so I'm testing out the application here.

If this works, you should be able to see Ani in performance-mode. She often does this -- sings about random topics and while her songs typically make no sense, you can get a good feel for her flair for the dramatic. To the best of my knowledge, this song is a tribute to hands and paper and she is giving them a Christmas greeting. Ani is fairly capable of communicating in English but her performances are a different matter. Enjoy.



Oh - one more thing. If you are wondering how you can get that hairdo, you need to wear your hair in a ponytail on top of your head all day and then take it out and tussle it just so to really get the look.

Holiday Recap

Again, we've been so busy with our holiday travels and visiting, that we have failed to record it here or elsewhere. The holiday season is an eventful one for us. Along with Christmas and New Years', we also celebrate our wedding anniversary and Ben's birthday. Of course, I didn't really take pictures. Here's one of Ani playing in the snow before my camera died.


We braved the cold of Michigan for 3 weeks over the holidays and had a great time catching up with family and friends. As many can probably relate, we spent countless hours eating, talking, eating, relaxing, and eating some more. It's amazing we can fit into any of our clothes.

Happy Belated Thanksgiving

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving filled with carbo-loading goodness. We had a nice feast at our friend's place and have been doing some decadent loafing this weekend. I got Ani reasonably dressed up -- she is refusing dresses these days -- and decided to take a picture. This has become her default picture pose. I have no idea where she got it but it cracks me up.

Swing Voter

Since I use this blog is an electronic album/scrapbook, I thought I'd post this photo of Ani on election night 2008 to commemorate the occasion. It's startling to me that when Obama declared his candidacy for this election, Ani couldn't even sit up yet -- let alone crawl, walk, talk..

As most of you know, Ben and I follow politics fairly closely and it is a regular conversation topic so it's probably not that surprising that Ani picked up on it. As we watched the debates over the last couple of months, she would point to the TV screen and yell out "Obana" and "John MonJain". She didn't have an allegiance to one candidate, sometimes asserting "I want Obana!" and other times "I want John MonJain!". We were highly amused by this and feel we'll wait until she's 3 or 4 before we try to brainwash her into our left-leaning belief system ;)

Ani had a hard time settling down last night and it was after the election was called that she finally fell asleep. I told her that Obama won the election. She answered "John MonJain?" I told her that he'll still be in the Senate and that seemed to assuage her concerns as she drifted off to sleep.

A Not-So-Happy Halloween

Ani was a skunk this year for Halloween. Here's some cute photos of her before the terror struck. Basically, Ani is going through a fearful phase. Earlier in the week she hinted that Halloween would not go well when she got scared of a little boy in a tiger costume. Then last night at a Halloween party last night she saw her friend Joaquin dressed as dracula and it was all over. It was a pretty sweet costume complete with white face, black rimmed eyes, blood dripping fangs, and even an electronic hand that glowed red pulsing veins. We had to leave the party pronto as she shook and screamed in terror. Poor thing. We're hoping next year we can reason with her a little more on the concept of a costume.

Tattoos

We're experimenting with temporary tattoos here at the Bellweather household. I (Nicole) am not sure if it is a lame attempt to recapture my youth or if 7+ years in Berkeley is taking it's toll, but I really want a tattoo. I just can't commit to anything long term. I've gotten Ani in on the fun and she loves animal tattoos. For awhile, I was putting them on her belly because it's a nice broad surface area and it's kind of funny. Unfortunately, Ani now greets every person she sees (friends and strangers, alike) by lifting up her shirt to show them her tattoo of the day. Hmmm...I might be instilling bad habits here ;) We've shifted to forearm tattoos for the time being, but here's an amusing picture of Ani. She's about as Berkeley as a kid can get with the crocheted skull cap and legwarmers on her arms.

How Berkeley Can You Be?

In search of an activity this morning, I asked Ben to see what was going on in town because this time of year is chock full of festivals. Sure enough, today was the "How Berkeley Can You Be?" Parade. Ani and I headed off to the festivities and this time I remembered my camera.

This parade is always a crack up and filled with art cars, political extremists, bizarre and amusing marching bands, and the general populace delighting in getting ridiculous. This year, my favorite was the mexican dancing horses, however, the coolness of them clomping along to the beat was not remotely captured on film.

Ani Turns Two!

On Friday, Ani turned 2 years old. It's cliche, of course, but it is amazing how time flies. We had a nice ice cream social today to mark the occasion. I confess, as usual, I didn't get a lot of good photos. Instead, we tried to replicate the classic birthday moment after dinner tonight.

Here's a couple of other recent photos of Ani to show how she's a big girl now ;)

Coast Guard City USA

Sunday marked the conclusion of the Coast Guard festival here in Grand Haven. Why in the world is this town deemed Coast Guard City USA, you might ask? Good question. I mean, aside from beer-crazed Wisconsonians and a few Canadian gypsies who have lost their way, there really isn't a pressing need to guard the coast of Western Michigan. Outside of one week in late July, I don't recall much of a Coast Guard presence either. The best I can figure is that there is a coast guard station in town and with all the local fruits and vegetables already taken for annual festivals, they thought they'd just elevate the coast guard station to festival status.

It doesn't have to be logical, though, to be a good time. We soaked up a lot of Americana during Coast Guard Week. Daily strolling through the carnival, nibbling on elephant ears and cotton candy, browsing the arts and crafts fair, watching all the local festival queens and marching bands pass at the parade, and concluding with a dramatic fireworks display.

The parade, in particular, cracked me up. All those poor high school students marching in 90 degree heat dressed from head to toe in polyester and heavy shoulder pads. Then there was the young hunters club decked out in camouflage, followed by people tossing squirt guns to the crowd. The sheer volume of flags was the most striking thing to me. Every time another one came into view-- the entire crowd would rise to their feet. I feel like I soaked up enough mid-western patriotism to get me through another 5 years in Berkeley ;)





http://www.coastguardfest.org/

Negligent Blogger

We've been having such a pleasant summer that I've forgotten to take pictures and write things down. Here's an update.

In late June we flew to Louisville, Kentucky for the fabulous wedding of Nate and Melissa Bellows (Ben's brother). It was a fantastic family occasion and I've attached some photos sent on by the newlyweds.

After the wedding we rode to Michigan and stayed on the farm for a few nights and enjoyed more family time and pleasant countryside. We criss-crossed the state making other visits and Ben left for his trip in Uganda July 8th. Ani and I returned to West Michigan, where we've been enjoying beautiful weather, daily trips to the ice cream parlor, and visits with old friends.

It's always nice to spend some time in West Michigan -- such a startling departure from our beloved Berkeley that I think it brings me some needed perspective. Today, for example, in the neighborhood we saw a man driving a motorcycle. He didn't have a helmet, but he did have a 6 month old strapped to him in a Baby Bjorn (of course, no helmet for baby either). When he saw us (myself, sister, and brother in law) staring in disbelief he said to us..."Gotta start em' young." Now in Berkeley, one is required to get outraged by such an action, but here, naw. It's summer. Have some fun, take some risks, enjoy!