Green BEEEAN!

We just had the most awesome weekend.

I finally met Baby Audrey! For those of you who’ve already forgotten, Baby Audrey is partly responsible for my quitting Facebook. She’s a mighty influential six-month-old.

She’s also the daughter of my college roommate, Ellen, and her husband, Chris. They’re probably the two most mellow, laid-back, awesomely chill people I know. I love hanging out with them because I constantly hope some of that will rub off on me. I don’t know if it did this weekend (I’m not really sure if it ever does, actually), but I definitely got to kiss a lot of baby cheeks.

Cheeks like THESE!!!

Audrey and Mom on Hippie Hill. LOOK AT THOSE CHEEKS!

I wish I got to see Ellen and Chris more often, so I could watch Baby Audrey grow up (and, okay — they’re pretty cool on their own, too). This is one of the real bummers about living so far away from so many of my family and friends… I’ve kept in touch with a long list of amazing people, collected from many different chapters of my life, and they’re now scattered all over the country. Ellen and Chris live in Steamboat Springs, Colorado. By the time I see Audrey again, she’s not gonna be my little Green Bean any more.

😦

This is kinda heartbreaking.

However, this is not AT ALL heartbreaking for Sam…

Baby, you better stop gettin' all up in my biznezz.

Sam was INSANELY jealous of Audrey and made no qualms about demonstrating as much to us, all weekend long. The best we could get out of him was a sniff of the baby butt, followed by a play-bow. But when she didn’t get up to chase him, he just sat back and made a garbled, confused whimper.

Heh. I raised a spoiled brat. Who knew?

It’s always hard to say goodbye to my visiting old friends when they inevitably have to leave. Trent knows this — it puts me into a bit of a depression. I feel like I have to watch their lives in these gigantic snapshots wherein their kids age years at a time, they change multiple jobs, they move multiple times, etc. I guess part of my attachment to Facebook was its inherent promise that it could lessen that feeling, but really — it doesn’t. When I actually SEE my friends like Ellen and Chris, it’s still just as sad to say goodbye to them. The real Ellen and Chris are still leaving, and still taking Baby Audrey with them.

And I will still really have to make just as much of an effort if I want to SEE them again.

So, looks like we will be going to Colorado soon, because this kid is too cute to miss out on. In the meantime, we enjoyed taking her for a hike through the Presidio, over the Golden Gate Bridge, to the top of Twin Peaks, to Golden Gate Park, on her first carousel ride, for some hacky sackin’ at Hippie Hill, and to watch some loony dancing roller skaters (ah, the things we’ll miss about San Francisco).

She is definitely an adventurous spirit, like her Mountain Hippie parents.

We will see you again soon, little Green Bean…

All of us hiking across Crissy Field.

Golden Gate Bridge on a beautiful day for walkin'!

SF from Twin Peaks.

Audrey goes for her first spin on a carousel, in Golden Gate Park.

(PS — see all our pics of Audrey’s visit here.)