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Previous journal entries:

1/30/2002: Runaway Day
1/19/2002: Ready to walk
12/16/2001: Ornaments
12/6/2001: Galpals
9/25/2001: Flags
9/7/2001: BabyBabyBaby
8/9/2001: Moving
6/25/2001: Sleeping through the night
6/21/2001: Why Website?

If I ever complain about feeling alone or isolated again you all have permission to whack me upside the head. Or if I ever complain again period. Because we have wonderful amazing friends who have gone way out of their way to let us know they care about us.

We got a call from Diane and Alisa a few weeks back when Paul was still unemployed. Totally unknown to us, they had spent the previous weeks arranging a whole luxurious weekend away for us at the Ritz Carlton in Half Moon Bay. It was Diane's idea, since I'd made some crack about how I'd never end up staying in such a Ritzy place-- talk about instant karma! Diane and Dean arranged to take care of the boys at our place for us while we were gone.

Both Alisa and Diane had managed to contact a lot of our various friends asking for help in making it all possible, and the number of people who participated was astounding to us- we still can't believe that anyone would contribute for such a wildly frivolous thing, let alone for _us_, who are rather quiet introverted folks! I confess that I started to cry during the phone call and couldn't talk for a few minutes. Alisa would tell me I'm such a waterhose... We ended up calling them both back later to say a more coherent thank you!

That very same afternoon after they called us Paul got news that he'd been offered a job at Shaba Games up in Sausalito (which he did end up accepting, so he's now thankfully employed again). It really was a stellar day.

We haven't had a weekend alone together since the boys were born, so we were excited and a bit apprehensive about how the boys would cope. As it turned out the boys were fine, though Riley did give both Diane and Dean his cold!

The weekend began with Diane and Dean showing up at our place with lots of goodies; Diane had put together a basket with various gifts from friends, including a cross stitch from Allison, a bottle of real Dandelion Wine from Tom and Dave, a lot of Easter candy, and a book filled with notes sent in by friends. The book is very cool; with drawings and poems and reminiscences and well-wishes from everybody. We love the book, and all the thoughtfulness that went into it. We had no idea that so many friends cared about us. This is the sort of thing that I would think might happen to "popular people", but never to us! Amazing...

Off to Half Moon Bay we drove, after giving Diane and Dean a rundown on all the baby stuff they needed to know, and letting the boys get reaquainted with them. When we left the boys didn't seem bothered at all, and from what Diane said later they were pretty good over the weekend despite Riley having a bad cold. It was tough to leave them, but the lure of a whole relaxed weekend was irresistible!

We stopped on the way there and indulged in a rare movie (Ice Age, which I just had to see for the computer-generated animation; the squirrel alone will be a classic in animation circles) and then drove the rest of the way out. The Ritz Carlton in HMB is out on the cliffs just a bit out of town, rather isolated from everything else. Beautiful area, and the Ritz looks like a huge luxury health spa from the turn of the century, or a Scottish golf haven from the same period. All the service people wear turn of the century style golf caddy uniforms (rather unfortunately for some, since it makes them all look about 14 years old). All of the staff we encountered were very deferential and helpful. By the end of the weekend Paul was joking that the place was a "haven for the ego impaired", since the staff was trained to be so servile. We enjoyed talking to the staff members about how they were doing and cutting through the service schtick to reach the real person underneath. It seemed to be a relief to most of them. :)

Once we got to our room we unpacked a bit, drank in the wonderful view of the cliffs and ocean out the window, snooped through all the goodies the room had to offer. Then we dove into the gift basket and devoured goodies while we read through the book of mementos from friends. Later in the afternoon the hotel delivered stawberries dipped in white and dark chocolate as well as a bottle of champagne! Well, I had to indulge to the fullest so I had a long hot luxurious bath in the super deep long tub while sipping champagne and nibbling strawberries! Man, how long has it been since I got to have an uninterrupted soak? Much less with champagne and strawberries? Umm...

After lounging about in sybaritic splendor, we eventually got ourselves ready for dinner downstairs in the fancy restaurant (Nunio's). We even dressed up. We were given a table where you could see the waves outside all lit up at night with floodlights, as well as peoplewatch all our fellow diners. The food was rich and superb (as you'd expect) and was very artfully presented. Stuffed, we meandered back to our room, and discovered that our bed was turned down with rose petals scattered all over it and robes laid out together! Very pretty, very girlie romantic. :) Fade to the view out the window...

Next morning we slept in. Ah, bliss. Paul eventually got up and ordered room service, and once it arrived we ate breakfast with the view out the window. It was rainy and misty, very much like Scotland. Paul took a hot bath and shower while I lounged about and read the paper and spied on people outside. A wedding party was having pictures taken; they took the bride and groom out over near the cliff's edge for photos, and the bride's dress and veil were blowing about quite dramatically. Hope that marriage is less stormy than the photos!

We originally had been scheduled to have lunch at Nunio's but by the time we finished breakfast after sleeping in, it was almost time for lunch! We were still stuffed, so we cancelled that meal and went for a walk instead. We walked along the cliffs down to where there's public beach access; most of the clifftops around the Ritz Carlton are two golf courses. They're probably amazing and challenging courses, but knowing next to nothing about golf, I'm guessing. The greens go right out to the edge of the cliffs along most of it; makes you wonder if anyone ever goes over the edge!

Carefully avoiding cliff edges, we went back to the hotel to try out the couple's massage we'd been given. After being shown to separate locker/waiting areas, we were shown into a room together and proceeded to have excellent massages. My massuese zeroed right in on my various trouble areas as well as other tense areas I didn't even know I had! Afterwards we went back to the locker rooms, showered and met back in the lobby of the spa. Ahhh...

Back to our room to collapse for a while before heading out to dinner in Half Moon Bay at a popular new dinner place, Cetrella's. Paul dressed up in a tie with a nice shirt and a sportcoat! We retrieved our car from the deferential valets (and tipped them; we did a lot of tipping from the generous "tip money envelope" that Diane and Alisa provided) and drove on into town, found the place all lit up and sparkling new and full of people. Big place with massive wood beams, wood floors, fireplaces and enclosed patio areas as well as a central area where you could watch the food preparation. We were given a great spot next to a fireplace on one of the enclosed patios, but we could see most of the restaurant and peoplewatch easily (always an important element to me, at least!) and yet it was quiet enough for easy talking. Talking is one of the things we never get enough time for anymore, so the weekend was great for that. Gee, we get to discover who the other person is again!

So I decided to be adventurous and try the rabbit dish on the menu. Paul played it safe and had beef (which was good). My dish came artfully presented, with rather recognizable little bunny parts sticking up here and there out of the polenta and greens. It turned out to be very good, very rich, but when the dish was put down in front of me I blurted out "Oh my god, I killed a bunny!" quite loudly in horror. I never quite got past that during the meal... Well, the polenta and greens were good. I'm sure the rabbit was too, but what was I thinking??

After dinner we headed back to the Ritz, wandered around the inviting sitting areas there for a bit, then headed back to our room, got comfy and watched a movie on the cable there (Kevin Spacey in K-Pax). During the movie 2 scotches and a cigar got delivered! I actually ended up drinking both scotches (Alisa told me later the scotches were really for me anyway, since I like single malt scotches!) and I saved the cigar to give to Luis, knowing he likes them. We think it's a nice cigar; it's from the Dominican Republic.

Next morning was our last day there; I got up first and took another long hot luxurious bath. We reluctantly packed up, called a valet to hold our bags and then headed down for the legendary Sunday Brunch at Nunio's. Well, it was pretty legendary, all right. There was more gourmet food than you could have sampled in at least three binge brunches; and the variety and beauty of the dishes was pretty amazing. There were sections for lox with bagels and many trimmings, sushi and sashimi and various other oriental foods we couldn't identify, a section of various caviars with appropriate trimmings ( I assume; I don't do caviar, so I wouldn't really know, but it was impressive looking!). A large variety of meats like prime rib, rack of lamb, a section for a wide variety of cheeses and fruits, a salad area with many types of fancy little salads, breakfast foods (more traditional, but the lemon crepes were sooo good!) were packed in with a huge pastry area and then a large dessert area was tucked away with some really amazing looking treats. We sampled a very tiny fraction of the available spread and were totally stuffed. It was nice to see a wider varity of people there having the Sunday brunch than we'd seen at the hotel previously.

We waddled out eventually, retrieved our car and made our way back towards real life. We stopped in at Chuck and Samn's baby shower on the way home, and it was a nice transition back into dealing with babies. Samn's due any day now, but she seems remarkably calm about the whole thing. They'll be great parents. They've been practicing a bit with our twins, and we all figure that a single baby after that will seem easy!

Well, everyone at home survived, though Diane and Dean caught Riley's cold, and it was a nasty one. We owe them so big!!! The boys were perhaps a bit miffed at us for having gone away, but they eventually forgave us. Kind of like cats, that way. It was good to get back to the boys. We so thoroughly enjoyed our getaway, though of course it was too short! Many many thanks and hugs to everyone who participated and made the whole thing possible! Thanks to Diane and Dean for taking on the formidable task of twin baby care, and to Alisa and Diane for organizing the whole thing. Allison, we love the cross stitch, and Tom and Dave, thanks again for the wonderful bottle of Dandelion Wine! And we'll be putting the book with all of your lovely thoughts in a safe place. Thanks for caring about us; we're more touched than we can really express.