March 31 , 2003

Valentine's Day was fun this year, as it will continue to be since it's Val's birthday in addition to be a day to celebrate love. Mom was out of town on a lengthy trip, so Maureen from next door stayed with the kids so Val and I could have an evening out at the movies. We went to see Daredevil. Val's quite a comic fan so was looking forward to it. Unfortunately it wasn't a great movie. But we had a good time out at the new Century Theater in Daly City (great seats) anyway.

Val and I took off the following weekend for San Luis Obispo, to check out the condo Christopher is living in since we're putting it on the market in April. We had a nice, relaxing weekend. It was also an opportunity to check out the ride in Val's new car! She bought a slightly used Explorer Sport Trak, in black.

Katelyn went through a series of tests for allergies, since we've always suspected she had them. The good news is that she isn't allergic to foods. She has some environmental allergies, like Oak and some molds.

Katelyn and Haley and I went to Katelyn's friend Jessica's birthday party on March 1 at Lemos Family Farms in Half Moon Bay. It was great fun, complete with a jumpy house, a tram ride, and pony rides. Plus Katelyn got to see her friend Jessica and her other friend Gaby, from preschool.

The first week in March was busy: dinner with Glynis and Susan, Val & I had dinner with Freda at the Fog City Diner in San Francisco, and then a bunch of us went out to Benihana's for Mom's birthday on Friday the 7th. The most interesting coincidence was that Kathie was taking Amy and friends to the same restaurant on the same day, celebrating Amy's birthday which was the day before.

On Saturday the 8th, after swim class, the kids and I spent the day with Terry and her daughter Carmen. After a wonderful start to the day, all of the kids had melt-downs. Yikes! Some days are just like that. We were able to take some time to de-compress at a park before joining Stacy for her 39th birthday party and then heading home, very tired from a long day. Then the next day we went to Pam's surprise 40th birthday party. What a weekend!

The following week was also busy. Mom and I spent some time scoping out neighborhoods in Millbrae. I visited my friends Michelle and Giovanni and their adorable twins Ariella and Miriam. Mom took the kids to see Dragon Tales Live in Sacramento on March 15. They stayed at Aunt Susan and Uncle Joel's, and had a great time, including a short trip to the Purim Carnival at the local temple.

At the same time, Val and I presented a computer animation workshop at the Expanding Your Horizons conference at San Jose State on the 15th, and the next day I judged the St. Patrick's Day Parade in San Francisco. Another busy weekend!

I went bowling on the 21st with my work group (celebrating a product release) for the first time in about 10 years. I didn't do too badly.. actually broke 100 a couple of times. Boy, was this 40-year-old body sore for a few days afterwards!!

On Friday, March 28, Kathie officially adopted Haley. This has taken over 2 1/2 years to complete. First, given the circumstances of mine and Kathie's breakup, I had to be sure it was what I wanted. I decided a year afterwards to go ahead with it. My main motivations were first that, as was intended from the beginning, Kathie has been in all respects a full parent to Haley. Second, I wanted Haley's and Katelyn's status to be identical in terms of parentage, since Kathie adopted Katelyn back in August of 1997. Then there has been a lawsuit in San Diego where a judge invalidated a second parent adoption, putting the lesbian community into an uproar. So for a while nobody was doing them, but it's currently on appeal and the invalidation isn't expected to hold up. There is still a risk to this adoption, but chances are it will all be fine. Scary stuff, though.

On Saturday the 29th, Katelyn and Haley and I visited Michelle and Giovanni and the girls. Michelle's sister and niece were visiting. It was such a gorgeous day, so we all took a hike up near Crystal Springs Reservoir.

Today Glynis and Susan spent the afternoon with us, and played our new Hunters and Gatherers game with Val and I. We're still hooked on this game!

I'm off on Friday to Fort Lauderdale, FL for the CHI (Computer-Human Interaction) conference. Almost a whole week about computer user interfaces. I love going to this conference because it's so well organized and the information is always so relevant to my work. I also get a week off by myself! Then Kathie's on vacation for a week so I have the girls, and then it's Passover on the 19th! Whew!