geraciblog 

Our second day on the island we began by exploring the Hilton resort in Waikaloa. It was pretty cool, complete with dolphins, a lagoon with sea turtles, and a huge pool system that had a sand kiddie pool, a waterfall cave, and slides connecting one pool to another.

After Marion woke up at 5am, we headed out for breakfast as soon as we could–three hours later. We ended up at a restaurant that had a lagoon stocked full of huge koi fish and ducks (geese?). We all got a kick out of the scenery, and Marion was predictably too distracted by the fish and birds to eat a decent breakfast. Next we headed over to the lagoon and then the pools for some sun and swimming.

Finally, we collected our fish and beer and hopped back in our Jeep to head out to the Kapoho bungalow. After one gorgeous three-and-a-half hour drive across the island, we arrived at the gates where our key is supposed to be stashed. That's right, I said “supposed to”–it wasn't there. We got in and hung out with the colorful neighbor for a while until the landlord's handyman showed up with a key. By this time, it was starting to get late, so after a quick a trip back into town for a grocery run, we made dinner and caught some Z's.

Jesse and Marion check out the wildlife at breakfast

the Hilton's breakfast restaurant koi pond

Jackie and Marion relax at the lagoon

Jesse and Marion take in the scenery at Waikaloa Bay

Marion made her way back to the jumping fountains

First off, apologies to all of the grandparents who were expecting a little video chat from our vacation. We fully intended to bring the webcam and we're just as bummed that we forgot it. To make matters worse, it appears that we are staying in a Verizon dead zone, and apparently our “people” are working too hard elsewhere to make it out to Kapoho. Luckily, we have wi-fi, though, so here are a few pictures from our first day.

We arrived into Kona after a 7 hours of flying.  Only after we picked up 2lbs of salmon, a huge block of cheese, and a case of beer at Costco did we figure out that Kapoho, home of our bungalow, was a three hour drive.  Marion made it painfully clear that she was stretched to her limits.  The Geracis being a flexible bunch regrouped and rolled into the Hilton Resort ready to hang with that howlis (that is what the locals call us).  We pulled up in our Jeep Wrangler with a baby in only a diaper, two strung out parents, and a ridiculous amount of groceries.  Feeling a little bit like the Beverly Hillbillies we checked in.  They graciously stored our fish, cheese, and beer with an aloha and we spent the evening enjoying the fountains and a $50 pizza dinner! 

Nice Jammies!

We arrived in Kona to warm breezes.  Time to take off the long sleeve jammies and shirt and get into some swim wear!

Jumping water fountains at sunset.

The Russian River extravaganza was a vacation to remember for the Geraci Clan.  We did some wine tasting, food grilling, river canoing, and tons of Marion chasing.  We watched the Olympics in the evenings with our friends Cole and Max – and we even let their parents hang around.  The house was big enough for twice as many families but we used almost ever square inch of it.  The week went by fast.

August has been a month full of grandparents.  Marion had a wonderful time visiting with Grandma Hagen and Fred.  We even went to the Aquarium and marveled as  Marion spoke to every fish, sea horse, and penguin.  We hope you love the pics we got!

We recently flew out to Sedona to offer some helping hands for Grandpa Geraci's surgery.  The day after Jesse took the Bar Exam we hopped a plane with Marion to see his parents.  The trip was filled with beautiful vistas and wonderful food.  We are looking forward to our next trip to Sedona!  But for now we are enjoying the pictures.

Today was Marion's first birthday! It is hard to believe that she is one year old already–time has passed so quickly. Even harder to believe is that she is now a toddler! That's right, Marion has been teeter-toddling about the house for a couple of weeks now. In the past few days she's really taken off, and now she's pretty much running roughshod over the house. It is so strange to catch her out of the corner of your eye walking into the hallway. If you don't look at her directly, you would swear that it was a little magical gnome who snuck into our house. Anyway, we have a few cute videos of her walking that we will be posting shortly. This post is dedicated to her birthday, though.

First a quick anecdote about her actual birth night. Marion was born at 10:43pm on July 21. After she was born we were all exhausted from the long labor, but Jackie was especially exhausted. So, I capitalized on this opportunity to snuggle in bed with my little baby on the cot in the hospital room for her first night in this world. Almost exactly one year later, last night at around 11:00, Marion woke up and started fussing. I picked her up and brought her into bed with us. She laid on the pillow next to me while I pet her hair and belly, and her eyes started to grow heavy. All of a sudden she rolled over towards me and lodged herself firmly in my armpit. I continued to pet her belly and she looked up and me and gave me a big grin. I gave her a kiss on the forehead. Then almost immediately she closed her eyes and went to bed, snuggled up next to me just like her first night. It was best moment!

Now on to the birthday pahty. We celebrated her birthday over the weekend with a little party at the Tilden Park Nature Area. We held a joint party with her friend from our childbirth class, Zoe, who was born a few days after Marion. Marion had fun feeding all of the animals at the little farm, had less fun eating her ice cream cake, had a blast running around the grass chasing bubbles and playing with little friends, and then went home exhausted and slept like a champ. What more could a girl ask for on her birthday? As usual, we have pics (plus more pics and video at Zoe's blog) . . .

We finally did it! Three years can sometimes seem short. Wow, has it really been three years since we moved to California? Did I really take all those courses over the last three years? Then, at other times it can seem unbearably long. I still have what to do… but… that could take all night. Well, if I have learned one thing over the last three years (and that is certainly open for debate) it is to roll with the punches, enjoy life to its fullest when it is good, and close your eyes and bear down to make it though the bad. I am happy to say that this past weekend has been very very good. It began when my sister flew in from Houston, and we went to the beach. Unusually hot weather in the Bay Area made the San Francisco beaches quite packed, but we went to our little “secret” cove in Marin, which was beautiful and relatively unoccupied. Then my parents flew in from Arizona. We went out for a fun sushi dinner at Yoshi's in Oakland and followed it up with a show from the Poncho Sanchez Latin Jazz Band. Early the next morning everyone headed over to he Greek Theater at UC Berkeley for the graduation ceremony. Our keynote address speaker was the Honorable Mary Schroeder of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. Of course the whole ceremony was punctuated by John Yoo protesters, who even went so far as to fly a sign plane over the theater. High drama, I tells ya. After the ceremony, Jackie and I hosted a party at our place with a ton of BBQ ribs, brisket and chicken from T-Rex, and more Veuve Clicquot than we could actually handle. Fun was had by all, especially by the throngs of babies and children in attendance. Who knew my fans were all so young? There were literally babies everywhere you turned. The celebration went on late into the night (8pm). Then, the next morning, we continued a more subdued celebration with a mimosa brunch with the family. Very, very nice weekend. It was oddly reminiscent of our wedding weekend–but luckily with a much reduced price tag, and no cheesy DJ. Enjoy some of the highlights.

It is only a mild exaggeration—although certainly an overused platitude—to say that Maebel was the best dog in the world. Unlike other people who use this phrase, however, I could call up at least a dozen people who could corroborate this claim without hesitation. In fact, her mild mannered, lovable personality was often contagious. We dubbed this the “Maebel effect” because after people got to know Maebel they would inevitably decide that they needed to get a dog themselves. Maybe it was the endearing way that she would back herself up between the legs of any newcomer until she got them to pet her. Or maybe it was her obedience and cache of tricks.

Maebel had this special ability to lay around the house calm and serene in an almost coma-like state, and in the next moment, when we left the house, she would zoom around the park with the fastest dogs and ruff-house with the biggest.  She pretty much behaved exactly the way you would want a dog to behave in most situations. Sure, she had her quirks. She was scared of children, balloons, balls, plastic bags, bicycles, yoga balls, sudden movements, and countless other things. Sure, she may have begged for some table scraps on occasion, but she was always extremely cute about it.

When we found out last summer that Maebel had kidney failure we were pretty devastated. We were told that she might only have a few months left to live. She defied expectations and we've been so lucky to have her on borrowed time since then. This past week nature caught up with her, and today we had to let her go.

We have shared a lot of special memories with Maebel these past six years. She will forever be a part of our lives. She has made us laugh and smile a lot, but today she makes us cry. We miss you a lot, Maebel!