It's the end of the month, and you've got an extra $10 kicking around. What to do with it... Buy two gallons of gas? Two foo-foo coffee drinks at Starbucks?

Nah. Go to Pedigree.com and help a dog. Pedigree has a great program where for every 22 lb donation bag of dog food you buy, they'll match it with another 22 lb bag of dog food and deliver it to an animal shelter. You can even choose your shelter! For $9.99, the shelter gets 44 lbs of dog food. As a dog owner and dog food buyer, that's a heck of a deal! There's no shipping fee, no tax and the food is delivered right to the shelter.

Got $10? Go do something great with it.

Moving from one geographic region to another is a trip. I spent most of my youth in the Seattle area, surrounded by Douglas Fir, mountains and lakes. Getting around was a snap - I just needed to figure out where Lake Washington or Puget Sound was, and I could find my way.

When we moved to San Diego in 2003, it was a big change. We went from lots and lots of green and mountains to flat and brown and palm trees. It was fun to be so close to the beach - real beach, with sand, unlike the rock/pebble beaches of most of Washington. I loved that you could count on the weather to be fabulous - back in Seattle, you may make plans for the day, but you usually needed a backup plan (or a lot of persistence) because the weather may or may not cooperate. My blood thinned, and instead of complaining when it hit 78 degrees, now I don't even bother putting on shorts until it's at least 85.

Now we're in the Bay Area, although it's probably more accurate to say we're in Wine Country, since that's only 20 minutes away and San Francisco is an hour. There are lovely rolling hills, a combination of deciduous and evergreen trees and...vineyards. Everywhere. It's a kick to drive up the 101 or out the 12 and see grapevines, and wineries I recognize from seeing the labels in stores. I guess we'll have to learn something about wine since it seems like a crime not to now that we live here.

Life as a military family isn't always easy, and I certainly don't enjoy frequent moves, but I have to say that I feel lucky to have the opportunity to move to completely different places. I was really, really bummed to leave San Diego, but I definitely realize how easy it is to get comfortable in your life and resist making changes. Some changes are more difficult than others, but part of me is glad that I've been able to live in a variety of diverse places and have a catalyst and some security (i.e., Bryan's job) with each of the moves. I wonder what it's like for people who live their entire lives within a 50 or even 20 mile radius? Life works out wherever you choose to be, I'm just thankful that my life gives me a kick in the butt now and then and forces me to change things up a little. I don't think I would, otherwise.

(I was going to include a photo of the nearby vineyards, but it's been so smoky and hazy from the wildfires, I haven't been able to get a good one.)

Zach is on a bedtime strike. I'm not sure if it's because of the move and the stress and changes that have come along with it, or if it's separation anxiety kicking in or something else entirely, but he's become a bear to get to bed.

It used to be that we'd do our little bedtime routine, I'd rock with him in the chair for 5-10 minutes or Bryan would hold him and sway, and then we'd tuck him into the crib, drowsy. He'd go off to sleep, generally with a minimum of fuss unless a pacifier was dropped or misplaced, and we'd be done sometime between 7 and 7:30.

No more.

Now it doesn't matter if we start the bedtime routine at 7 or 9, he's not going to sleep for the night until 10. He gets super fussy and I can even get him to drift off around 7:30, but he wakes up again around 9, refreshed and ready and rarin' to go! We've tried the "cry it out" approach - all it does is make him mad. Like, really mad, and then it takes a long time to settle him back down. Bedtime is late regardless of whether he takes two good naps, one good nap or no naps at all. He's suddenly a night owl, but still gets up at 7 am!

I'm sure this too will pass, but it's hard when you want to go to bed before your baby does!

Zach is creeping around. We don't just let him loose to roam the house, so unless he's in his play yard (and thus confined), he's closely supervised. He still favors the army crawl, creeping forward mostly with his arms. We're wondering if he may end up skipping conventional crawling altogether, because he's developed a sudden intense interest in standing up. He can pull himself up to his knees; he needs a little more help to get to his feet. He loves being on his feet, though. For him, it's a whole new way of looking at the world! He's very happy when we let him stand up in our lap on the couch so he can look out the front window at the cars that go by.

I think another tooth is due any day now - he's been making Prune Face constantly for the past few days. I hate the Prune Face, because it's just hideous. Too hideous to actually post here, you'll have to go to our Flickr site to view it. All I will say is that the photo on there does not actually do the Prune Face its true justice because the darned shutter takes more time than I'd like to capture the image. But it'll give you an idea of what it looks like.

Today we made our first trip (hopefully of many) into San Francisco. Next week, Bryan starts his regular duty schedule and will be working every other weekend. We took advantage of his weekend off and the gorgeous weather to do a little sightseeing.

The drive down takes just about an hour. Traffic was minimal - I guess that's the advantage of leaving at about 9:30 on a Saturday! We started at Lush, and had perfect timing, because we managed to grab a parking spot right in front of the shop. Minutes later, the rest of the spots on the street were filled.

Since we're both relatively inexperienced in terms of getting around San Francisco, we took advantage of the Garmin and made quick detour to Lombard street, the curviest street in the world. Tourists thronged in the intersections at the top and bottom - which I kind of understand, but boy did they make it a pain to drive through!

After that, we headed to Fisherman's Wharf. We parked near Pier 45 and took a stroll down to Pier 39. We didn't do anything too extreme, just checked out a few shops, enjoyed the sunshine and watched the sea lions. We had lunch at one of the cafes along Pier 45, a crab salad sandwich and chowder for me, a fried chicken sandwich for my not-so-into-seafood husband. Zach had pureed squash and Zwieback toast, topped off with a bottle of fine vintage formula.

Zach was starting to crash after that, so we made one more quick stop at the Boudin Bakery and picked up a loaf of sourdough to have with dinner. Their sourdough is great, and you can't beat the fresh baked bread. They had some adorable turtle shaped loaves, but I told Bryan I would feel bad eating them! They also had crabs and alligators, but we went with the normal french-style loaf.

On the way back, we stopped off at the vista point at the north end of the Golden Gate Bridge. Zach was in full on nap mode and didn't even wake up when we took him out of the car. (We kept him in his car seat because we may have been willing to take him out of the car, but neither of us was crazy enough to wake a sleeping baby just for a photo op. It would have been Zach screaming with the bridge in the background.) It was an absolutely gorgeous day, in the 70s and sunny. We brought sweatshirts, but never needed them. Of course, it was a good bit warmer when we got home (it's usually about 15 degrees warmer up here), so we have the ceiling fans going.

Tomorrow's the day for chores - laundry, cleaning, ironing and yet another trip to Home Depot. We've gotten most things under control, but we want to get a (carpet) runner for the hallway, since Bailey is very clickety-clackety. They sell carpet runners by the foot, but they've been out of the one I want, and the other options are kind of ugly. They keep telling us to check back, but they still don't have it out. It's getting frustrating, but hopefully one of these days, we'll be able to get our hallway-silencer!

Zach is on a bedtime strike. I'm not sure if he has yet another tooth coming in or what, but last night, we were ready to call it a night before he was! Around 8pm, in desperation, we ran him a bath in his little tub and added some Johnson & Johnson's Bedtime Bath. We also slathered him in Bedtime Bath lotion afterward. The stuff certainly seems to work - even on grownups. After breathing the relaxing fumes, Bryan and I were wiped out. Zach finally fell asleep around 9, and Bryan and I followed not long after.

Tonight I figured we'd head any trouble off at the pass and we did a Bedtime Bath at 6:30. He went down fairly easily; we'll see how many times we have to go in there, though. He tends to lose his pacifier and wig out when he wakes up and can't find it. The pacifiers escape even more quickly now that we've taken his crib bumper out. We had to - he figure out how to untie the ties and would chew on them - not the safest situation.

So the Red Wings won the Cup. Poo. I was rooting for the Penguins. Bryan claimed that if the Pens won, the whole thing was rigged because of Sidney Crosby being the "new face of the NHL" and all. I have no problem with Crosby, and thought it might be nice if some underdogs got it for a change. (And Jasmine, don't even try gloating, because you know exactly what my response will be, ha, ha.)

Well, Bedtime Bath fumes or not, I'm wiped and am headed to bed. Tomorrow the unemployment people are supposed to call to interview me between 8 and 10 to determine if I'm eligible to collect unemployment benefits. I need to dig out the really long phone cord for the fax machine because I have a feeling I'm going to need to send them copies of Bryan's orders.

One benefit of living further north is that it's quarter to 9 at night and it's just now dusk. In San Diego, it's already dark. The weather's been great, in the 70s. Bryan has much cooler weather at the base, so he gets a temperature differential of about 15 degrees between here and there.

Okay, off to bed!

So we've been here almost two weeks already. The boxes aren't quite gone (especially in the office), but most of the important stuff has been unpacked and put away. We've made more trips to Home Depot and Target than I can count, which seems to be par for the course when I move. I'm slooowly learning my way around. Bryan bought me a Thomas Brothers guide for Sonoma and Marin counties, so at least I can't get too lost. Right now I'm navigating the maze of California's unemployment system and now that we're here, I think it'll be easier to get the job search done.

Bailey is slowly adjusting, too. She doesn't seem too fond of the hardwood floors, preferring to nap on the area rug we got for the living room. She loves that the couch is right in front of the front windows - she can be a nosy dog and still lounge in comfort. We need to get a runner for the hallway, though, because her clickety-clackety nails are enough to drive you out of your mind in the middle of the night. She's more hesitant about jumping up on the bed from the slippery floors, so each morning, sometime between 5 and 6, we get to enjoy about 20 minutes of clickety-clackety as she goes back and forth from my side of the bed to Bryan's and back as she tries to figure out the best way to get up on the bed.

Zachary is adjusting well, too. In addition to creeping around and getting up on all fours and rocking, he's figured out how to get from a laying down position to a sitting position by himself. We got a SuperYard XT, and now he likes to play with his toys. The yard keeps him safe and confined, but gives him about 6 feet of freedom in each direction to creep around, roll or whatever.

Today was Bryan's first day at the Station. It'll certainly be a big change, that's for sure!

Well, I still have address changes to make and laundry to fold. What a glamorous life!