We had a lovely Thanksgiving in Ventura with Terry's family. 
We trick-or-treated with her 7 cousins, 8 aunts and uncles, 3 grandparents, 1 great-grandfather and his date, and other friends of the family. It was a blast. The kids were 50's girls, a muskateer, Superman, Scooby-Doo, Dora, and a car mechanic.
Here we are with all but two of the cousins at a park getting ready for a foot race. Everybody was a winner and got 50 cents from Grandma!
One day we went to the beach with Abbi. It was a very exciting day at the beach. There were helicopters, pelicans, coquinas, and dolphins playing in the water!
Another day sister-in-law, Karen, sister Jessie and I took our kids out to a beautiful park on the bay with a nature trail and had lots of fun.
Here are, from left, Caroline, Hannah, Ian, Julia, Attie and Jackson.
On our last day, we went to Jackson's soccer game. He and his teammates did great and I'm so happy we got to see him play!!
You can view all the pictures from our trip in the online photo gallery.xoxoxo
First, Neil Young and his wife Peggy founded The Bridge School and started the concert off.
Next was Devendra Banhart...
Then, Death Cab for Cutie!!!!
Next, Trent Reznor from Nine Inch Nails...
Foo Fighters...
Brain Wilson (could've done w/o, but I guess he's a legend)
Pearl Jam...
Dave Matthews Band was the finally.
The concert started at 4pm and we left about midnight. 
We are losing the only babysitter we've ever had :(
meet 
My car got it's new registration sticker back in January. Ever since then, Attie has taken note of cars on the street and whether or not thay have their green sticker or red sticker. She waited patiently until August when she could finally put the new sticker on Daddy's car!
We had lots of exciting things going on around the house when we returned from Japan. First, we came home to a power outage that lasted 3 days and had to clean out two stinky refridgerators, yuck! Then we discovered a hornet's nest in our porch which had to be removed. Then our neighbor spotted this hive in the tree in our back yard! We had to call a beekeeper to come and get it down. The hive was abandoned but we got a nice little bee lesson and have the honeycomb as a souvenir.
Atticus learned how to hopscotch! We got her the official tournament hopscoth kit. The "real" game is too hard for adults much less first-time four year olds, but she has the basic technique down pretty well.
We've had a great summer. Attie goes back to school soon and we'll miss our lazy days together. Getting back on school schedule may be tough, but it will have been worth the long days, staying up late, skipping naps and just living for the day!
Thanks for visiting the blog. Check out pictures in the online photo gallery.
Terry and I had the most remarkable Anniversary getaway in Napa.
Then we decided to do some wine tasting. We started here at Peju, so far my favorite winery in Napa. It's small, family run and they make this amazing red/white blend served chilled that we love. It's called Provence, try it! www.peju.com
Next stop, Mumm. But since we'd only been away from Attie for a little under 4 hours, a call home first. She was very busy doing crafts with Grandma but gave clear directions that the gift we bring home should be wrapped :)
Mumm was so nice. The tasting was at a table overlooking their vineyards and the hills. It was late afternoon on a warm day with a slight breeze coming in. One sip and my head was full of bubbles, partly from the wine, partly from my excitement at being away from the grind together with Terry. They also had a great Ansel Adams exhibit in their gallery. Good recommendation Winfields!
As our anticipation for what was to come the following day heightened, we checked into our hotel in Yountville and decided to take a walk. We found The French Laundry and watched as the dinner guests were arriving. We were able to figure out that you enter into a lovely courtyard with a few areas to sit while you wait to be taken to your table inside.
Directly across the street from the restaurant is one of their gardens. So we pretended not to be stalkers and meandered through the beautiful herbs, veggies and sunflowers. We were pretty worried about how to eat the night before The French Laundry but we found a cute and casual place where we shared a small dinner which turned out to be really good.
Our reservation on Saturday was for 11am, we arrived at 10:40. (We were a little excited.) We hung around outside for a bit, but then decided we shouldn't waste any time and walked into the courtyard to sit down. We were nervous about being too early and whether the staff would think it was annoying, but someone came out and immediately made us feel comfortable. When we told her our name, she knew we were there for a special occasion and offered us champagne. Of course we accepted the offer. After relaxing with our drink and pouring over the 100 page wine list, she showed us to our table inside.
We had the best meal we've ever had. It was nine courses. But they also served two appetizers and after the two dessert courses, they brought more dessert and chocolates and candy and tea and coffee. But I'm getting ahead of myself. The picture above was one of the hightlights; duck breast with crispy polenta, roasted fennel bulb and huckleberry au jus.
The duck was the 5th course. Next was this "Wagyu" beef. It's hard to describe how it melted in your mouth, I don't think I'll ever be able to enjoy a steak again.
After three hours of eating and drinking, we weren't ready to leave. We asked the waiter if we could have one more glass of champagne in the courtyard. He said "of course" but disappeared for a while and we thought maybe he was trying to figure out how to get rid of us. He came back and showed us outside to a table that they had set with white linens. He took this picture of us and was just so eager to make sure that we enjoyed every last minute of our time there. If you can't tell that we were in heaven at The French Laundry, we are already planning our next visit there. I think our 15th wedding anniversary can't come soon enough!
We were so sad when it was over, but we had only an hour before our next appointment. Terry had scheduled one-hour facials for us! It was a bit hard to come down from the food and drink high and relax for a facial...for about 5 minutes! The facials were great.
Later that evening, we went into the real town of Napa and saw a movie with the locals. We saw "Little Miss Sunshine." I thought it was funny and touching. What a great day.
We didn't take any other pictures the rest of the weekend. On Sunday, we did some shopping in Calistoga, had another picnic lunch from Dean & Deluca and headed home.
Attie was so happy to see us that she jumped into the car before Terry had a chance to turn off the ignition! She had a good time with Lisa. It took us a couple of days to readjust to real food and everyday activities, but we are back into it and fondly remembering our getaway.
Here's to the next ten years!!!
(our wedding site and cool "getaway car")
(saying "i do")
(mr and mrs ahearn)
Hi everyone!
Terry's birthday, otherwise known as The 4th of July was a big one...35!!!
Atticus had her 4 year birthday party last weekend. It was a carnival theme and we had it in our back yard. I'm realizing now I took more video than pictures but here are some. 
You can see more pics from the party and other events in the online photo gallery.
