Dinner in New York

This past Saturday night we made a short getaway to New York City to have dinner with several friends from San Francisco. The dinner was planned by our friend Derrick, a passionate food and wine connoisseur (see his blog here: http://obsessionwithfood.com/). We ate at Blue Hill in a private back room where we enjoyed a multi-course meal with wonderful wines paired with each course. The evening began with appetizers and champagne (Sarah is drinking sparkling cider in the photo below).



The group included Ginger and Kurt (now in Boston), Eric (now in New York), Young, Jeff, Jenn, Chris, Winnie, Sean-Michael, Ling, Nancy, Derrick, and Melissa (all from San Francisco).



All told, it was a wonderful evening full of great food, wine, and conversation. We finished our desserts and coffee around midnight.



Click the link below to see more pictures from the evening.

http://calmarty.smugmug.com/gallery/907923

Baby Shower

Sarah just returned form Sacramento, California. She was there visiting friends and family for the last time before our baby arrives.

While at home Sarah had 2 baby showers! The first was thrown by her family. The baby received so many clothes that he may never have to wear the same thing twice!
Here are pictures from the shower.







These are pictures of the second shower Sarah had. This shower was thrown by her friends from high school. The shower had an ocean sailing theme. April made the cutest cake, Brandy hosted the games and Lynnette had everyone over to her new house.








Click the link below to see more pictures form the baby shower.

http://calmarty.smugmug.com/gallery/883908

Mother Daughter Weekend

Annual Mother and Daughter Weekend

Every year, Sarah and her mother take a special trip with Patty, Rema, Natalie, and Holly. This year the mothers and daughters went to Sutter’s Creek, Jackson, and Apple Hill. Holly brought along her 8 month old son Elliot. We had a great trip.






Sarah turned 28 while the mothers and daughters were together. We went out to dinner and had a delicious cake.




Click the link below to see more pictures of the trip.

http://calmarty.smugmug.com/gallery/886292

Scott and Lauren get engaged

Scott and Lauren are officially engaged! To celebrate Barbara threw them and engagement party. They plan to get married this summer.

The Dillards in DC

We took a weekend trip to Washington DC and visited Mike and Courtney who were just married this past April and are settling into their shared residence. They were magnificent tour guides and gave us a brief overview of the many sights and activities in their hometown.



Our two main activities were a walking tour of the monuments and a sampling of the many wonderful restaurants and bars in the area. Sarah had amazing stamina and was still going at the end of a lot of walking on Saturday while Martin needed a nap before the evening activities.



On Sunday we also took an afternoon tour of Alexandria, Virginia, a wonderful town for walking and refreshments.



Click the link below to see the rest of the pictures from our trip.

http://calmarty.smugmug.com/gallery/767050

Baby Shopping Trip

Sarah is now 24 weeks pregnant (almost 6 months along). As the due date gets closer we begin to prepare. This weekend Sarah bought the baby's “coming home from the hospital” outfit.



Here is a picture of Sarah and Dawn (Dawn’s due date is one day after Sarah’s) as they set off to Born Yesterday to buy the special baby wear.



Click the link below to see more pictures of the outing.

http://calmarty.smugmug.com/gallery/745444/1/32847013

Wharton Phillies Game

The Wharton MBA program organized a Friday outing to Citizens Bank Park for a Phillies game. The External Affairs Office hosted a great pre-game party with free food and drinks. The guests of honor during the banquet included the CFO of the Phillies (a Wharton alum) and the Phanatic (now a member of the mascot hall of fame which just opened in Philadelphia). Here is a picture of Marty with the hall of fame mascot.



Despite leading the NL Wild Card race going into the matchup, the Phillies lost to the Pirates. Fortunately, that didn't dampen the experience at this marvelously laid out ballpark. Here, Marty enjoys watching the game from one of the many open standing areas just behind home plate.



Click the link below to see the rest of the pictures from the game.

http://calmarty.smugmug.com/gallery/745448/1/32797355

America's First Zoo

Sarah took a wonderful trip to “America’s first zoo" at the Philadelphia Zoo with the Wharton Kid's Club. Even though our baby is not around to appreciate all of the outings, the Wharton Kid's Club is a great way for Sarah to meet other mothers. One of the mothers that Sarah went with lives just down the hall and is expecting her third child within a few days of Sarah’s due date.



You can see more pictures by clicking on the link below. There are also some pictures from the hot air balloon (at the zoo) overlooking downtown Philadelphia

http://calmarty.smugmug.com/gallery/713906

First Guests Over for Dinner

We invited several friends that Marty knew from Cal over for dinner last night. It was a good reason to finish setting up the apartment and get used to having guests over. Sarah made a wonderful linguine with a smoked salmon cream sauce and we had a relaxed evening. Even Tucker was on relatively good behavior.



You can see more pictures by clicking on the link below. There are also some pictures of the University of Pennsylvania football stadium where they were filming a Disney movie about the 1976 Philadelphia Eagles as well as some pictures around our apartment now that it is set up.

http://calmarty.smugmug.com/gallery/713906

Wharton Trolley Tour

To cap off the first week of Pre-Term, we joined a couple hundred other Wharton students and significant others on a trolley tour of the noteworthy sites around central Philadelphia. We primarily rode through Center City (where we live), the museum district, Fairmount Park, and Old City. One interesting thing we learned is that the city mandates that 1% of any publicly-funded building project must be allocated to public art.



Our bus driver, shown below, was great about pointing out all of the obvious as well as hidden treasures around the city including the first prison in the country, first hospital, location of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, church where many of the Founding Fathers worshipped, a famous prohibition bar (Dirty Frank's), the first bank in America, and the first church owned by African Americans.



Here we are on a stop at the Philadelphia Museum of Art.



You may recognize the steps leading up to the museum from the movie "Rocky".



You can see the rest of the photos from our tour in our photo album here:

http://calmarty.smugmug.com/gallery/711894

Settled in Philadelphia

On June 16 we set out on our cross-country journey to Philadelphia. We took 7 days to make the trip, giving us some time to stop off for a couple sights along the way. We started out south down I-5 from Sacramento to Bakersfield and then headed east, following I-40 until Nashville, Tennessee with a brief stretch on Route 66. From there we headed back north through Louisville, Kentucky and then across Ohio to Pennsylvania where we finished the journey on the Pennsylvania Turnpike (I-76). We traveled 3,385 miles through 12 states and reached Philadelphia around 3:30 PM on July 23.

Our first big stop along the way was a visit to the Grand Canyon. We came in the main gate and then drove along the side of the canyon east before leaving the eastern side of the park. Here is a picture of us at Grandview Point.



We also made a short but sweet stop at Graceland in Memphis, Tennessee. Coincidentally, two NASCAR racing cars were on site for a press conference about a new Elvis Presley trophy that was being unveiled. Here is a picture of Marty and Tucker in front of the scene.



Our belongings were delivered the day after we arrived and we have begun the long process of setting up the apartment. Tucker has made himself useless by lounging in the middle of the action where he will be tripped over. Here he is using the moving company's furniture blankets for a bed.



Since we have arrived, we have been working to settle into our apartment and meet some new friends. Other than an oppressive heat wave, we have been enjoying the change to a city lifestyle.

Here is a picture of the view from our apartment looking out at dusk.



The photo albums for our trip can be found by clicking on the links below:



http://calmarty.smugmug.com/gallery/665484
http://calmarty.smugmug.com/gallery/672788
http://calmarty.smugmug.com/gallery/675756
http://calmarty.smugmug.com/gallery/675214
http://calmarty.smugmug.com/gallery/677185
http://calmarty.smugmug.com/gallery/686670

It's a Boy!!!

We had our final doctor appointment for the pregnancy with Alta Bates in Oakland (now we have to find a doctor in Philadelphia). The highlight of the morning was the ultrasound exam. First and foremost, it was meant to determine that the baby is developing normally (it is) and retarget a due date based on the measurements (now December 7). They told us after Marty had snapped this that we aren't supposed to take photos.



A nice benefit to the exam is that they can determine the sex (from a close-up of the groin area). Our technician had no doubt that it is a boy. We would have been excited either way but since Marty comes from a family of all boys, he was a little nervous about the possibility of a girl for the first child.

Below is the "portrait" that we were given from the exam. You can see his head on the right side of the image (he is facing up) and his hand is in front of him (he was sucking his thumb). His spine is shown coming off to the left.

Sail Away

After Time in Portland with friends and family we headed north to the San Juan Islands. We sailed for 6 days and visited several beautiful Islands. Our favorite stop was at Roche Harbor on the San Juan Island.




We loved exploring all the different harbors and small towns.

Fourth of July in Portland

We had a great visit to Portland with Marty's Unlce Jim, Aunt Betsie, and cousins Chris and Pat. Marty's Dad, Julie, and Ben were also over with the sailboat, Sea Bear, as well their friends Kevin and Alana. Matt and April also came with us from Sunriver, Oregon.

After getting a relaxed start on the day, Ben and Marty had a squirt gun fight on the dock while waiting for Uncle Jim to come back from an earlier trip out with the new Stark family yacht (God Scent).



When they got back, we took a leisurely cruise up the Columbia to the Wilamette River and then over to a waterside picnic site where we had dinner.





After a quick post-dinner swim, we headed back to the marina to watch the fireworks.





The rest of the photos can be found here: All of the photos from our trip (taken with our great new camera) can be found here: http://calmarty.smugmug.com/gallery/653471

Sunriver, Oregon

We had two fun weeks in Sunriver, Oregon. The best part was many of our friends came and spent time with us. Our first visitors were Adam, Mindy, Maureen, and Kenny.



Later Matt, April and their dog Gimli joined us. The dogs loved visiting the log cabin, built by Marty’s Great Grandfather, on Elk Lake.

Father's Day

Marty’s family tradition is giving the grandparents an unusual name. We took Marty's dad (Mike) to a Father’s Day dinner in Bend, Oregon and told him the name our children will call him is “Po Po Potato.” Marty’s Grandfather was called Grumpy, and his Great Grandfather was Bamboo Bubblegum.




“The Moms”, Sue and Barbara, threw Marty a surprise Father’s Day party back in Sacramento.

3rd Wedding Anniversary

We made it three years! Well, with a baby on the way the harder times are probably coming. We celebrated a quiet evening in Sunriver. The day included some time at the Sunriver driving range, a nap, and a bike ride down to Sunriver village for dinner at the Italian restaurant.



We enjoyed a relaxed dinner in the back of the restaurant.



After dinner we made a stop off at Goody's for dessert.

Last California Camping Trip

Sarah and I took a farewell camping tour through a couple of great areas on Sunday through Tuesday (3 days and 2 nights). We stayed at the Grover Hot Springs campground on the first night and then got up early the next morning to enjoy the pools all by ourselves.



After a long drive down highway 4 over Ebbets Pass (Tioga pass was closed) we made it to Yosemite around 2 PM on Monday to find out that all of the campgrounds were full. We found a campsite just outside the park and then drove back in for some great evening views of the waterfalls and panoramas. The waterfalls are still really spectacular due to the runoff from the wet winter.



Before heading back to Oakland on Tuesday we drove up to the Hetch Hetchy entrance and hiked in 1.3 miles to Lookout Point. We were rewarded with an incredible display of wildflowers along the way and then spectacular views over Hetch Hetchy and the waterfalls that flow into it.





All of the photos from our trip (taken with our great new camera) can be found here: http://calmarty.smugmug.com/gallery/595089

First Baby Shower

Sarah was thrown her first (surprise) baby shower by the staff at Marshall Elementary School. Along with baby gift certificates, the baby's new gifts included a blanket, chew toys, stuffed animals, and a baby photo album.