5 Months!

5 Months Old today! (look how well he is sitting)

A pro at this photo thing by now...

Morning Walk with Mom & Lodi

All tuckered out... morning naps rock!

Homebrewing: Dunkelweizen

One of our passions is homebrewing (Yes!  It's legal!).

On Sunday we had two buddies over to brew a dunkelweizen (dark wheat beer).  We made a large 10 gallon batch.  Blake is quite the skilled photographer and took some great photos of the home brew process.  Here they are, combined with my snapshots...

The boys ready to brew! Eric, Isaac, Blake & Joe

The wort (photo by Blake Montgomery)

Outside set-up (photo by Blake Montgomery)

Boiling the wort (photo by Blake Montgomery)

Stirring the wort (photo by Blake Montgomery)

Done boiling! transferring to the primary fermentor (photo by Blake Montgomery)

taking it all in! (photo by Blake Montgomery)

Mr. Serious says "this would be more interesting if it was MILK"

Ok, there's a smile!  Isaac & Blake

More Sounders

Sounders vs. Monterrey 8/25/10 -- a CONCACAF Champions League game. Sounders lost 0-2, but it was a beautiful night and we got to visit with friends Christy & Brian Smith before the game. And, Isaac was in a super-happy and chill mood the whole outing. We couldn't ask for much more (except for a win, maybe...).

A good family pic!

  "Fight and win"

Let's go Sounders!

Happy hour with the Smith's before the game!

It's all relative

I'm not gonna lie -- it's Sunday evening and I'm pretty tired.
But oh, what a weekend!

Isaac got to spend time with both sets of grandparents, and we enjoyed the visits and the fun trips around town.  Eric's Mom, Debi, and friend Mary were in town for the Lady Gaga concert (yes, you read it right!) and Eric's Dad, Don, made the trip over the mountains on his Harley to visit Eric's brother in Bellingham and spend a day in Seattle with us. Here's the run-down of our many adventures this weekend:

Saturday: Morning breakfast with Debi & Mary, followed by a trip to Carkeek park.  Then, we went to Qwest Field to watch my Uncle Chris participate in a Food Network 'tail-gate cook-off' (so cool!) and helped cheer him on with my parents and sister. But, Isaac is teething and was a bit grumpy, so we ditched the production and went to Pyramid for lunch and beers.  Then, we came home to meet up with Don and enjoyed a delicious salmon dinner with grilled eggplant and watched the Seahawks pre-season game.  Oh, and we also had a visit from friend Chad who came over to bottle beer (see what I mean... lots going on!).

Eric, Debi & Isaac at Carkeek beach

Grandma & 'OG' with Isaac at Carkeek

Uncle Chris

Talking with Guy Fieri, Food Network Host

Lisa, Christina, Eric, Isaac & Barbara cheering on Chris!

Dad & Isaac at Pyramid.

The Merhar Guys - Don, Isaac & Eric

Sunday:  We were up early again, and Isaac enjoyed more time with the grandparents (we enjoyed the help all weekend, too!).  Then we went to U-Village for lunch and shopping with Debi & Mary.  Isaac is currently sleeping (ahh...) and Eric is off at a 'meeting' (ie: having beers with friends to plan for their next  homebrew session).  And I'm enjoying the quiet... (while it lasts). 

Debi & Isaac at Piatti restaurant in U-Village

There were too many good pics to include in one post; there are lots more in the August Picassa Page.

Cheers!

Bumbo & Fremont Brewing Co.

We borrowed a 'bumbo' seat from our friends Nick & Heidi, a molded chair that helps infants learn to sit.  Isaac seems to dig it! And, it's great because he can hang while Mom or Dad works in the kitchen. I wish I would have heard about them sooner---  I highly recommend it!

"How do I get thing into first gear?"

Since I work from home in the morning on Fridays, and since Eric is off by 3, it's becoming a tradition to get 'out and about' on Friday afternoons.  This week we went to Fremont Brewing Co. They have a kid and dog friendly tap room!  We tried the cask IPA (dry hopped with centennial hops and thai basil), the summer solstice ale and their regular IPA and pale ale.  The summer solstice ale and cask IPA were our favorites!

The 'urban taproom'

An attempt at a family picture

 A "first"! Riding on Daddy's shoulders

Summer in Seattle & Happy Birthday, Lisa!

It's (finally) feeling like summer in Seattle! This weekend it has been in the high 80's.  To enjoy the sun, we went to Carkeek park this morning. It is only a stone's throw away from our house, and Lodi LOVES playing on the beach.

The fam

Eric and Lodi (can you find them?)

Christina & Isaac

"ready, Mom!"

And... Happy 27th Birthday, Lisa!

Sisters Christina & Lisa celebrating

Justin & Lisa

Isaac got to say happy Birthday, too!

The Boys

"Just chillin with my doggy"

"Hi Doggy"

A Weekend at Home

After much travel the last couple of weekends, it was wonderful to stay in town this weekend.

Friday: Farmers market and dinner with my parents:

We went to the Phinney Ridge Farmers Market to shop for dinner and made grilled porterhouse (local, grass fed beef), a roasted beet salad, sauteed beet greens and fresh olive bread with sheeps milk blue cheese.  And, we cracked open a good bottle of Zin---yum!

Saturday: we had a whole laundry list of chores to work on around the house.  Then we went for an early dinner at Wedgwood alehouse and did some shopping at U-Village.

As you can see from the photo of Eric and Isaac, Isaac is really starting to grab for anything in sight!

Sunday:  We finished up more chores around the house, went for a long walk with the dog, ran errands and enjoyed being all together!  I'm looking forward to making pumpkin ravioli tonight for dinner - another find at the market.  Here's Isaac just being cute, and working on sitting:

4 Months: Weighing In

Isaac had his 4-month check-up today.  Here are his 'official' stats:
17.0 lbs (85th percentile)
26.5" long (93rd percentile)
42cm head circumference (50th percentile)

He is a healthy, tall boy and doing GREAT developmentally!  He is reaching for and grabbing objects (and pulling them towards his mouth, mostly), holding his head up well, vocalizing & laughing (a lot!), eating like it's going out of style, flipping from his back to his belly like a pro... and even starting to inch along on his belly.  He is in size 6-9 months now (he fits the bigger sizes in length especially), and we are learning to look at the weight description on the clothes more than the age.  But this is probably all old news as we aren't shy in the bragging department....  He did OK with the shots... this picture was from yesterday--- he was snoozing after his shots this morning.

We are also happy to report that we have found a wonderful nanny, Mary, who has been taking care of Isaac for about 20 hours a week while we're at work.  We feel so relieved and lucky to have found such a great caretaker!

4 Months!

Happy 4 Months, Isaac!

I think this will be the month of 'movement'.  He is flipping quickly from his back to his belly, and starting to inch along.  He also loves standing and being in his jumper.  Here is Isaac rolling and moving:

We'll get the official stats at his check-up in a couple of days, but he's 17+ lbs.