Troy and Melanie (dot com)

Hello all!  Okay, I’m actually a little more awake now than I was last night when Troy did the first post…a little…I’m still beat.  Well, it was a good day.  We left Jay & Peggy’s house (thanks again, guys!) and headed to a nearby Target to grab some road trip snacks and such.  Then, we went to the nearby Apple campus…the home campus, or so I’m told, so Troy could get a few photos and generally try to kiss the feet of anyone there who had anything to do with the iPhone, etc.  LOL.

Next, we headed SW toward Santa Cruz.  Well, Hwy 85 was fine but once we got to Hwy 17, things slowed down.  It was pretty for a while there with tons of redwood trees around us and winding roads, etc.  But, then, it was just bumper to bumper and no pretty for some time.  Apparently, everyone wanted to go to the beach today…yes, we know it’s Saturday, but wow, that traffic was ridiculous.  When we finally got to the beach, we were more than pleased to be there.  The Santa Cruz boardwalk was a fun place…entirely crowded of course but still fun…colorful.  We had boardwalk fries and other such food.  It was in the 80s and very sunny.

We stayed on the boardwalk for a couple hours and then headed out toward Monterey.  That drive was much more pleasant, as we were moving a lot more!  We checked into our inn and rested for a short time before heading back out to check out Fisherman’s Wharf.  We walked around and then sat down to dinner at Domenico’s, a seafood and steak place with a great view of the water, boats, and sea lions.  It was yummy and a great atmosphere.

After dinner and some more time on the wharf, we headed toward Cannery Row, immortalized in John Steinbeck’s novel of the same name.  We just walked around for a little, going to a few stops, looking out at the dark water and taking it all in.  Random note: Saw a spa down there that offers an hour foot massage…I’m “sorely” tempted to check that out tomorrow.    Anyway, we headed back to our inn and now we’re just relaxing a bit.  All in all, a pretty eventful and good day…though the traffic did stink.

I managed to get my software updated this morning so here’s a selection of photos from our day in San Francisco.

This is the intersection of Lombard and the Hyde/Powell trolley line… I’ve never seen 3 trolleys stopped here before.

Melanie walking down Lombard (the crookedest street in country)

Lombard Street from the bottom

Jay grabbed this shot of me in Chinatown when I had picked up some fortune cookies… I didn’t know it was him initially so I tried to get out of the photographer’s shot and laughed when I saw it was him

(continue reading for 8 more photos)

This is not going to be the longest blog post because we are both very tired (been going since 4am CST), but we wanted to share what we did today (sorry, no photos since my laptop needs to get a few software updates so I can edit files on here… hoping tomorrow).

• Woke at 4am CST, got ready, finished last minute packing
• 5:15am CST left for the airport
• 7:30am CST flight departs Austin for Los Angeles
• 10:00am PST flight departs LA for San Francisco
• 11:30am PST Jay picks us up from the SFO airport
• 12:00pm PST we grab lunch at Ti Couz (a creperie in the Mission district)… awesome lunch!
• 1:30pm PST head over to Lombard Street and take some photos
• 2:00pm PST went to Chinatown to get some fresh fortune cookies
• 2:20pm PST went by Crissy Field
• 2:30pm PST stopped at Fort Point for some unique photos of the Golden Gate Bridge
• 3:00pm PST drove over the Golden Gate Bridge
• 3:10pm PST drove up to the Marin Headlands to get some additional shots of the Golden Gate Bridge
• 3:30pm PST drove to Sausalito and stopped for a drink at the Spinnaker Restaurant
• 4:30pm PST headed back to SFO to pick up the rental car (a black Nissan Altima)
• 6:00pm PST get to Jay and Peggy’s place… meet their daughter Ashley
• 7:30pm PST dinner at BJ’s on the Apple campus

That pretty much brings us up-to-date.  It was an event filled day and we’re barely keeping our eyes open.  Check back tomorrow for photos from today (hopefully) and a recap of our trip to Santa Cruz and Monterrey.  G’night!

Many of our friends who have young children have given us some sage advice: spend time with each other now before the little one arrives. Amen to that advice!  We have some wise friends… and who are we to ignore all of that wisdom?  So we decided that we’re going to take a babymoon and fly out to San Francisco and drive the Pacific Coast Highway down to San Diego.  We’re planning on blogging during the trip so hopefully we’ll have internet along the way so we can share stories and photos.

We leave very early Friday morning and we’ll be back in Austin on Saturday the 25th.

Here’s a map, compliments of Google maps, that shows the route.  Check back often to see how the trip is progressing.  We are soooo ready for this vacation!

What a day!?! We watched with breathless anticipation as the ultrasound tech worked her magic and brought our baby into focus. She took us on a tour of his little body… by all accounts he’s 100% healthy… head to tiny little toes. When she pointed out his, um, boy parts a flood of emotions and thoughts began flowing. We’re still wrapping our minds around the fact that we’ll have a son.

Wow… technology is awesome! Enjoy the movie (it’s about 3 minutes long)… you’ll see his face, head, hands, feet, legs, and boy bits (he ain’t shy).

Ultrasound of our baby boy from Troy Schneider on Vimeo.

It’s hard to believe that in approximately 9 hours we will know if we’re having a boy or a girl (provided that Peanut decides not to be modest).  We’ve received all kinds of feedback from friends and family and the poll results are nearly split right down the middle… 15-14 in favor of boy.  Look for a post tomorrow announcing the result.  I may even be able to pull a still from the ultrasound movie and put it up with the post as well

This is somewhat of a preview of the nursery theme… Eeyore will play a prominent role regardless of whether Peanut is a boy or a girl.

As my Facebook friends can tell you I’ve been pretty much addicted to going to the gym for the past 5 months.  I wonder if I’ll find as much satisfaction in taking the Peanut to Gymboree in the future…

I know it’s not nearly as exciting as last November’s vote, but we think it’s pretty darn exciting ourselves.  There is a poll on the right side of the page regarding the sex of our baby and we’d love to hear what you think we’re having (bonus points for you if you leave a comment and let us know your reasoning).  The good news is you will only have to wait a week to find out… we have our next ultrasound on Tuesday 4/14.

If you need some additional questions answered to help you make an educated guess leave a comment and we’ll help you out.  For the record we have no premonitions or thoughts about what we’re having.  We’re just hoping for a healthy baby!

(this post will be sticky until next week when we reveal the results of the ultrasound)