arwen and bella have been busy in 2013, making new friends, having fun and getting into trouble…
here they are with their new friend ‘flat stanley.’ flat stanley came to visit from southern california. he stayed for a few days and i showed him around our neighborhood, then he went home with a photo-essay to teach 1st graders about the mission district in san francisco.
“WHAT IS THIS?!?!”
ice. 🙂
bella climbed her first TREE!! before she attempted anything, she stood beneath the tree for about 30 minutes studying and strategizing. it all went well, but could have been better if it weren’t a lemon tree. the cats aren’t crazy about lemons…
a lazy afternoon with bella and mathew.
(above left) bella also climbed onto the roof for the first time. she jumped onto the kitchen, climbed to the very top of our roof, looked around, skidded down and decided she’d had enough.
(above right) at the very center of that photo (it’s hard to see) mathew is attaching chicken wire to keep arwen from climbing into the neighbors’ yard. she’s been very active in defending her territory and chasing other cats out of our yard. she’s lucky she’s never gotten a scratch on that pretty face of hers, because she has no idea what she is doing, but her size and total lack of fear has been effective. it’s just annoying to have to go through the neighbors’ house and into their yard to retrieve her!
but now she’s trying to start something with ‘foxy lady’ who lives with the other neighbors and never comes into our yard. i think arwen is just bored and looking for drama.
bella LOVES her fort/cave!
(above left) arwen snuggling with me in the morning. (she tends to be a bit camera-shy.)
(above right) bella sitting among the orchids (they have NEW blossoms!!) watching the morning bird show.
in search of new thrills, arwen decided to climb onto our roof, and then the neighbors’ roof, and then the roof of the next house! she was gone for quite some time and mathew was worried we’d lose her forever. see that lump in the middle of the photo? that’s arwen finally reappearing and coming home.
bella and arwen also made some new human friends from sweden! mathew’s aunt, uncle and cousin, bridget, mats and marja-sara. we took them on a guided architectural tour of san francisco and showed them the ferry building and the embarcadero.
and a few days later mathew’s aunt and uncle, stella and chris flew in from england. we went for a nice walk, showed chris where we got married (he wasn’t able to attend) and had lunch at greens, the site of our wedding reception.
we went to santa cruz to meet up with everyone including bridget’s daughter irya who flew in later.
(above right) international siblings: daniel, stella and bridget.
we celebrated irya’s birthday twice because when you’re from sweden and visiting the states, with the time difference it’s hard to know exactly when to celebrate… or maybe we just wanted 2 cakes! (above left) this is cake #2 which appeared after breakfast.
and somehow, when we weren’t entertaining or hosting we had time for thomas and sarah’s FANCY art deco themed wedding! (above left) photo booth photo. (above right) mathew and his buddy bob dancing during dinner. technically, the first dance, but who’s counting. the band was AWESOME and upon request, they played mathew’s fave, ‘bourbon street parade.’
a spectacular view of the city with stella and chris.
and a quick visit to the beach.
and jumping! or flying? 🙂
a windmill, daffodils, poppies and tulips at the queen wilhelmina tulip garden in golden gate park.
and then, ANOTHER wedding!? with my parents at darren and jenny’s super hip and modern wedding.
my younger brother justin was a groomsman for his childhood buddy darren.
the bridesmaids at the end of the table, admiring the wedding cake. i honestly never looked at the cake because all the cookies, mini cupcakes and cake pops were much too distracting!! (and delicious!)
and we had fun with yet another wedding photo booth. with and without props!
i hope everyone is having as much fun this spring as we are.
maybe next month we’ll finally catch up on sleep and do some work on the house…