Frank started the second part of his paternity leave this week. So we went to Din Tai Fung for lunch!  

 ...Thanks Lola for knitting Meryl this cute hat and blanket! Ruffles:)  In other news, Frank had his first independent outing today with Meryl to meet with a friend for coffee. A success!

Lorraine stopped by last night for dinner to catch us up on her trips to Spain and San Francisco. (We have to draw our social life to the house these days to keep up on everyone's goings-on!)  The wiggle worm wiggled and Lummi got a few pets in between.

Apparently, at her mature age these days, Meryl's supposed to be interested in feeling different textures and hearing sounds like rattles in toys. Tadah! She took a nap promptly after play time.

Last night we went on our first date night out since Meryl was born! We bought tickets to see Walt Wagner's last performance at Canlis restaurant back in July, 'hoping' we'd get our acts together to go; and we did! Walt has been playing piano at Canlis for 20 years, and Frank and I loved going to the bar to listen to him play. His specialty is taking pop songs from the radio and playing them on the piano with his own flair; from Coolio, to Lady Gaga, to Metallica, he plays it all. And of course we saw Susan and Eric at the concert as well; they're friends with Walt and his wife, and Susan is a college friend of my Mom's from their UC Santa Barbara days (small world!). All in all, thanks to Lola and Tito Edward for watching Meryl! They made it much easier to leave the house with confidence, knowing that Meryl was in good hands...literally, she was in Lola's arms all night:)

We watched the UW vs. Oregon game at Dylan and Katharine's (+Madeline, Siri, Leighton, Kangee the dog, and Reginald the cat) house tonight in Portland. Frank and Dylan are each supremely proud of their teams, and to say the least, the rivalry talk was at an all time high.  It was great fun to be amidst the commotion of tutus, sister haircuts, feeding Frank Ranch dressing, and chasing after the cat outside...all while catching-up on life since we saw each other last! Meryl and I contributed to the excitement with a dual wardrobe change fashion show; I'm not naming any names:)

Since Frank and I met while both working at Niketown in Seattle, we're brainwashed Nike. Every year, when UW football plays in Oregon, the Nike employee store in Portland hosts the UW Alumni Association for one night (Frank went to UW); we've never been, so we figured this was a safe trip to test with Meryl...plus, she's got to start her Nike love early! Look, she is practicing her discerning eye for shoes:)

Coincidentally, we were headed to Portland this weekend and Allison (+Noelle and Caleb) was headed to visit Danielle (+Grant and Audrey) in Vancouver, so we 'had' to all meet-up! Two generations of cousins selfie! This was the first big road trip for Meryl, and she slept the whole way! (Good luck to us on the way back to Seattle.)

Noelle + Meryl + Audrey + Caleb

Heather and Hailey had a girls morning today and came over to visit with Meryl.  It was so nice to catch-up with Heather! Hailey, on the other hand, built a few forts to hide in...but it didn't take long before she wanted to be found:) To this day, we still thank Heather for her list of baby must-haves, which prepped us perfectly for when Meryl was born (i.e., diaper rash cream, bathtub thermometer, etc.)!

Brooke, JR, and Ava came over tonight with chili, corn bread, and brownies. It was so much fun to see Ava, who is one, walking around and feeding Lummi...a vision in our future!

Lola came to visit this afternoon, but Meryl decided to sleep the day away! She did eventually wake up. But Meryl must be growing:)

Zac came over tonight for dinner, unfortunately without Emily, who was consumed by a cold and a late work meeting. That said, they made tortilla soup for Taco Tuesday tonight, as well as fresh pico de gallo with tomatoes from their garden. We're missing Emily, though, because Meryl wore her special, "I'll take a bottle of the house white," onesie (thank you, aunt Sasha!)...Emily loooves wine:)

 Chelsea and Allecia came over tonight for girls night, and I couldn't resist not having this picture of Chelsea holding Meryl cuddled up in her arms.  

Lola and Tito Edward came by for lunch today, and brought homemade teriyaki chicken. We 'thought' they were going to pick-up take-out on their way here, but Lola knew she could make it better. And she was right:) 

Kel stopped by tonight with a quintessential fall meal...meatloaf! He made his Grandmother's meatloaf recipe (jazzed up with a little of Kel's special sauce), roasted potatoes, and perfectly blanched crunchy green beans. Meryl, on the other hand, decided to draw some attention to herself by giving Kel a vocal performance of her own. 

This morning's match-up began with an Erin and Meryl stare-off:) She and Kristi came over to watch the Seahawks game and hang out. Frank made Orange Julius smoothies, arroz caldo (congee) with chicken and topped with an egg, and plum torte muffins (the regular plum torte is better, but we had to try it). Us ladies probably asked Frank more non-football related questions about football players than Frank could have imagined, but I'd like to think we enhanced his football watching experience.

Kristi captured this gem of a gem:)