New Nephews!

I must interrupt additional San Francisco posts to announce some big news! Courtney and Joel's twins were born on Friday! Charlie Marvin and Breck Thomas both weighed over 6 pounds and are doing great!

We stopped by the hospital to visit them today.

Kyle got a big kick out of the statue near the front entrance. He even came up with a catchy slogan based on this piece of art:

Children's Hospital ~ Where We Treat Children Who Are Treated Like This.

No offense to the hospital or the artist, of course. It was just too funny not to post!

Anyhoo, the main event: TWIN BOYS! Charlie Marvin is on the left, and Breck Thomas is on the right. They were soooooooo sweet and snuggly!

Kyle with little Breck Thomas.

Me with little Charlie Marvin (who weighed only a few ounces less than Rowan when he was born - CRAZY!)

Rowan couldn't see the babies this time, because they're still in the NICU for monitoring (routine for any babies born before 36 weeks). Rowan looks forward to meeting them when they come home!

Congrats Courtney and Joel! You have a beautiful family!

San Francisco ~ Part I

Kyle and I had a great time in California earlier this month! A newsletter that I write won a Gold Quill from the International Association of Business Communicators (IABC). I attended the IABC World Conference in San Francisco and accepted the award at the Gold Quill Gala.

Kyle and I extended the trip to have a little second honeymoon. It was the first time we've been away from Rowan for more than two nights!

Here are a few highlights:

After we settled into the hotel the first day, we ventured out to explore the city. Our hotel was just a couple of blocks from the cable car turnaround. The line to board a car was outrageously long, but we thought we needed the full San Francisco experience. (We soon learned to take the bus or walk.)

Nearly an hour later, we were off! (Do I look a bit dazed? Let's just say that a wee bit of Xanax works great for nervous flyers. Thank you, sweet family practice doc!) Anyway, up the hills we went....

...and then we stopped (often) to let riders take pictures of the city. We did not stop, however, to let any new riders board the car. If you don't board downtown or at the wharf, you're out of luck. This ride is for tourists only!

We eventually made it to Fisherman's Wharf. Kyle took this picture of me in front of Alcatraz. A sweet older lady who walked by felt that this was a bit sad...

...so she offered to take a picture of Kyle and I together. (Thank you, sweet older lady!)

We also saw the famous sea lions. They were quite adorable!


After dinner, we decided to skip the cable car and walk home. We happened upon Lombard Street, the "crookedest street" in the city.

And we got some nice pictures from the top of the hills. Kyle updated his Monster account to include San Francisco as soon as we got home. (Good luck, sweet hubby!)

More to come...