Wheel of year stops at...Litha

Seems like there've been many more months than three since Daphne was born. Looking back at the posts just now and at my trusty calendar, it surprised me just how short it's been.

When Daphne was born, we were facing directly the sun at noon, flying and spinning in space and enjoying the spring equinox. Now, we look up at the sun as it brightens our days and are happy for all the light. From all of the NorCalAllens, we wish you a good and healthy Midsummer.

You've had a couple bonus posts since the last 21st posting, so I'll keep it short.

Life's been good since May 21st. Daphne's met some more friends of the NorCalAllens, which has been really fun. Below is a shot of Daphne with Amy, who came over for dinner one night in Berkeley.

The next shot reminds me of the good old days in New York when Naveen (center), Emily (right), Cortney and I used to hang out and generally have a good time. This is at the tail end of the Union Street festivus that we took Daphne to and which she seemed to enjoy very much. We grabbed some food and borrowed someone's stoop like a bunch of East Coast people (Californians, a stoop is the staircase leading to the door of a townhouse. It's a Dutch thing.).

About a year before Daphne was born, Cortney and I had a great time celebrating the wedding of Joshua and Nicole. The sad part of that day was that our good friends were going to Israel for a year, after the wedding. Recently home, Joshua and Nicole came to see the NorCalAllens in Berkeley. This is Josh (sporting a sweet Middle East beard) lending his femurs to Daphne. We're fired up that the Samuels are home in the modern land of milk and honey.

This is what Saturday looks like when you have a kid. I read about 4 articles in that Times on the futon before I realized that I should try to catch a couple zzz's. Daphne just got home from a walk and she was still napping in her carrier. She let me borrow her blanket so I'd have something soft to lie on.

For Father's Day, we drove to Sacramento. Daphne was very agreeable during the drive. The below picture is of Chris, whom we caught just before he left for beautiful...Philly.

We also saw Aaron, who was celebrating Father's Day as well. His baby girl, Sevilla, is about a year old and lives in SoCal.

The culmination of Father's Day was enjoying a meal with Daphne's grandfather, Dan, and great-grandfather, Papa (aka James). Here's Dan and Daphne. You can see Daphne in mid-sentence. She was talking about how sweet it is that the Sox are getting hot (2 games up in the AL East) in spite of their decimated starting rotation and bullpen. She also seems to really like Kevin Youkilis. She'll randomly yell "yook" just like the fans at Fenway (OK, it's really more like "goo", but it kind of sounds like "youk"). (Aside: her expression reminds me of pictures of Fiorello LaGuardia in this shot.)

Here's what "just being a couple for 30 minutes again" looks like when you have a kid (it's so rare these days, that we took a picture of it...). Daphne's taking a nap, and Ben and Cortney slowly enjoy a meal together. (Usually, we take turns...or just eat really fast!)

Mmmm...eclectic...