I had a great solo trip to visit friends in Oakland. The weather was fantastic and it was wonderful spending time with Sheena, Doug & Ava. I pretty much ate my way through the weekend, with an exercise class thrown in the mix. Since moving away five years ago, tons of new, amazing restaurants have popped up!

• Thursday arrival: lunch at the Ferry Building at Mijita Cucina, ice-cream from Ciao Bella Gelato
• Friday: lunch at Summer Kitchen Bake Shop, dinner at César Latino with Kate & Coulter
• Saturday: breakfast at Camino, dinner at Marzano

I had 3 days to fill, just me and my lil' buddy, Wyatt.  I quickly realized that I was going to trash the house, shower infrequently, eat leftovers/delivered pizza, and just make sure that we had the most fun weekend ever.  Here are some highlights (and lowlights) -

• stomping in the water at Golden Gardens; very fun until Wyatt fell and was soaked in frigidly cold water - and then he pooped, forcing a sandy quick change on the beach - ouch, very gritty
• dinner at Thaiku was good, I sucked down a Mai Tai in record time; then Wyatt discovered how fun it was to fling rice across the room so we wrapped up dinner pretty quick
• next day:  ummm, why is he waking up at 6am? (he did this 2 days in a row; his normal wake up is around 7)

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I've been hoarding Martha Stewart magazines for the past six months with the idea that before I recycled them I would go through them and pull out recipes, crafting ideas, etc. I found this great visual on what fruits & veg have the most / least pesticide residue.

Dirty Dozen (fruit / veg to buy organic):

• Peaches, Apples, Bell peppers, Celery, Nectarines, Strawberries, Cherries, Kale, Lettuce, Imported grapes, Carrots, Pears

Clean 15 (fruit / veg OK to buy conventional):

• Onions, Avocados, Corn, Pineapples, Mangoes, Asparagus, Sweet peas, Kiwifruits, Cabbages, Eggplants, Papayas, Watermelons, Broccoli, Tomatoes, Sweet potatoes

We had a great time in Portland this past weekend. Here are a few P-town toddler tips:

• Do stay at the Embassy Suites. Two room suites, pool and free breakfast (think omelet bar), walking distance to the Pearl, Chinatown, waterfront, etc...
• Do visit the Lang Su Chinese Garden in Chinatown. Amazing, beautiful, and smells delicious. Also a plus if you are there over Chinese New Year like we were.
• Don't try to take your child out for dinner if it is past his bedtime. We attempted and failed, but had really good take out from The Original.
• Do eat at Ping, at 5pm!

Last night we had one overtired and crazy kid. Wyatt was all strung out on jello and juice; we NEVER give him any sugar and I think that put him over the edge, in addition to no nap. He did not want to go to bed and fought us to sleep. He is going on a no sugar diet stat.

Now that Wyatt is off of breast milk and formula he is a 100% whole milk drinker. I have discovered that whole milk in my coffee is soooo much better than ANY of the alternatives!

Wyatt is mad about fruit. We just introduced him to the clementine, aka, satusma. On a recent outing to Whole Foods, he ran up to a box, grabbed one and took a bite. I delicately placed it back in the box and quickly moved away from the scene of the crime.