Parenthood Episode 1.07 What's Goin' On Down There?

Crosby and Jabbar are the lone father/son duo at Mommy and Me yoga class. Jabbar tries to show his dad the ropes, but Crosby's distracted by all the spandex-clad hotties. Hot mom Valerie takes notice, and invites Crosby and Jabbar over for a play date with her son Milo. Meanwhile, Adam fixes up the family's bikes, intending to get them all together for quality family time. Kristina digs through the Goodwill bags in the garage to find a pair of her old high heels, but Haddie refuses to wear them for her Career Day with Julia. Adam tells Haddie to grab Max for the family bike ride, but he still has 40 minutes left with Gaby.

Adam asks Gaby to release Max for the family bike ride, but she reminds him that maintaining a consistent schedule is crucial for Max. Max is totally invested in earning Spiderman stickers, and wants to get on with his homework, ignoring his father. Realizing when he's beat, Adam gives in.

Sarah strolls through the park, on a date with Mark Cyr, Amber's English teacher. She's awkwardly making excuses for living with her parents at the age of 38, but Mark is focused on trying to figure out a way to hold her hand. When he pulls Sarah in for a kiss, she stops him, admitting she's distracted because she lied to Amber about their date. Mark suggests that they make out, a little test run. If they repulse each other, they won't have to tell Amber anything. As it turns out, the kissing is great.

Dressed in her early morning mom sweats, Kristina runs after Haddie, waving her lunch bag. Climbing into Julia's car, Haddie is bursting with excitement over Career Day. Julia will be taking her out to lunch on the company's dime, so Haddie doesn't need to brown bag it, and she doesn't need her mother's advice on how to behave either. Amber spends her lunch hour going over SAT vocabulary words with Mr. Cyr. When he asks Amber about her iPod, she pretends not to have one, but he knows she's packing. Amber blushes when Mr. Cyr downloads a playlist labeled "For Amber," until she realizes it's all SAT words. With the big test coming up on Saturday, it's time to cram.

Valerie shows Crosby and Jabbar around her palatial estate, the spoils of her recent angry divorce. When she asks Crosby about Jabbar's mom, he claims it's a funny story, then gratefully joins in the boys' game of tag. Over lunch, Haddie questions Julia and takes notes. How did she realize she wanted to be a lawyer? A civil rights class at Stanford inspired Julia to work to protect fundamental rights. Of course, now she works in corporate mergers and acquisitions, which she has a hard time explaining to Haddie. At the end of the day, they provide companies with buy-out packages. Quoting "Pretty Woman," Haddie realizes this has something to do with "screwing poor slobs out of their retirement."

Adam calls Crosby to cancel their weekly basketball game, and ask for a recommendation on a hip restaurant. He's got to entertain some retail clients tonight. Crosby recommends Casa Villa, fun for the clients, tolerable for Adam. Adam's evening is just getting underway when Kristina calls him, asking him to hurry up. Haddie has taken Max to a movie so they'll have the house to themselves. Adam resolves to try, but his clients have no intention of making it an early night. Fearing a hangover, Adam is just switching to virgin margaritas when he notices Gaby, throwing back shots and partying like a rock star.

The next morning, Adam stumbles into the kitchen in his boxer shorts, painfully hung over. Kristina urges him to put his pants on, as Gaby's due any minute. Adam figures she'll be late, considering that she was all Girls Gone Wild last night. Adam ducks behind the refrigerator door when the doorbell rings, and Gaby appears, bright-eyed and bushy-tailed. Still pumped up from Career Day with Julia, Haddie bounds into the kitchen with tales of Julia's professional prowess -- Julia even has a slave that brings coffee on her command! It's really amazing to have a female professional she can look up to.

While getting Sydney ready for school, Julia tells Joel about her day with Haddie, which has gotten her thinking about why she went to law school in the first place. Joel recalls that when Julia was in law school, her goal was to make partner by age 30, but Julia remembers it differently. Once she paid off her school loans, her intention was to work legal aid. Now all she's doing is helping big companies crush little companies. She may love doing it, but what kind of person loves doing a thing like that?

Sarah is completely charmed when Mark has flowers delivered to her at work. Later, over wine with the girls before a family dinner, she asks if 29 -- hell, Mark is 26 -- is too young. Since he's cute, Kristina advises Sarah to "hit that," shocking the others. Julia thinks Sarah needs a bikini wax, just as Adam stumbles upon the conversation. Sarah asks if someone can pick up the girls from school tomorrow night, as it's the only time she can get together with Mark. Kristina can't, so she passes the chore to Adam.

Jabbar is sleeping after his long play date when Jasmine arrives at Crosby's houseboat to pick him up. Thinking of Valerie, Crosby asks if he can have Jabbar for another play date tomorrow. Jasmine is touched. Crosby tries to pass her the sleeping boy without waking him, causing gyrations, which bring the couple very close together. It's a loaded moment that looks like it could end in a kiss, but it doesn't.

Over breakfast, Kristina laughs to herself, going through an old box of files, nostalgic for the days when she worked as a legislative deputy. She explains all her hard work trying to pass an ordinance to reduce the number of roadside billboards, but Haddie's not interested, and runs off to school. Switching gears, Kristina turns her attention to Max's breakfast. Adam takes it all in, his heart breaking for Kristina, who may never get back to the job she used to love so much.

Crosby and Jabbar are back at Valerie's for another play date. Valerie wants Crosby to help her fix a snack, but he's reluctant to leave the boys alone in the pool. Luckily, Valerie has hired a lifeguard. Inside, Valerie quickly drags Crosby into the bedroom, but Crosby's too distracted to concentrate. He just doesn't feel right about leaving the kids in the pool, and puts an end to their erotic encounter. Miffed, Valerie leaves Crosby alone to get his act together.

Haddie goes to Steve's house after school, leaving Amber to listen to her iPod while waiting for Adam to pick her up. Adam insists on plugging the iPod into his car's sound system, and is surprised to find that Amber's listening to Mr. Cyr's SAT vocabulary lesson. Amber blushes, explaining that the test is on Saturday and Mr. Cyr made the playlist to help her study. That night, Sarah has a date with Mark at his apartment, where they take their relationship to the next level.

Glowing after her date, Sarah meets Adam for coffee. Adam's been thinking about Sarah's crush on Mark, and he doesn't think it's a good idea to pursue it, since it's pretty clear that Amber has a major crush on him too. Sarah can't believe it, so Adam reminds her of when she had a crush on her high school teacher. How would Sarah have felt if Camille slept with Mr. Levitsky? Sarah doesn't think it's the same thing, but Adam assures her that it is. Sarah doesn't want Amber to backslide, does she? Sarah is peeved, but she realizes that Adam may be right, and this conversation might have come a little late in the game.

Back at home, Sarah knocks on Amber's door with news that she met somebody great, and it's Mr. Cyr. Amber pretends that everything's fine, but when Sarah leaves, the tears flow. Adam rushes home from work hoping to fit in a walk with Kristina, but he's got Gaby's schedule all wrong. She has to leave early today for another appointment, and needs the time in between for herself. When Gaby leaves, Kristina admits she's worried about Adam. If he doesn't take some time for himself, he's going to snap. Adam complains that he has more of a schedule than a life; everyone in his family needs him all the time, and he can't take a break. Kristin corrects Adam -- he should take a break.

Sarah stops by Mark's apartment with bad news. In two years, Amber will have graduated, and Mark will almost be 30. That's when Sarah would like to start dating Mark again. Confused, Mark wants to know if Sarah just broke up with him. Sarah explains. She moved to Berkeley to take better care of her family, and she's doing a terrible job. Despite their chemistry and how much they like each other, it's the best thing Sarah can do for now. And no, she doesn't expect Mark to wait for her. The whole situation just sucks.

On Saturday, Sarah waits in the kitchen for Amber with a travel mug filled with hot coffee and a stack of freshly sharpened number two pencils. Groggy, Amber leaves for the SAT without any of Sarah's offerings. Jasmine waits for Crosby at the marina. Jabbar told her all about the incident at Valerie's, and Jasmine wants to make sure Crosby knows that their son is not chick bait. Crosby explains that nothing happened; he's trying to be the guy Jasmine wants him to be. Disgusted, Jasmine takes off, refusing to leave Jabbar with Crosby as planned.

Adam and Haddie ride their bikes, stopping off at a nice public park next to a giant office complex. Adam explains that Kristina fought the corporate giants to make the park a reality. Now Haddie knows what her mother used to do before she left work to raise kids. Adam smiles as Haddie takes it in. He thanks her for spending time with him; surely there are other things she'd rather be doing. On cue, Steve calls. Adam tells his daughter to go enjoy her day, leaving him to contemplate his own life. Can he really take a break?

Amber is smoking outside school when her old boyfriend Damien drives up. Relieved, Amber climbs in Damien's van, admitting she didn't take the SAT. Damien is shocked, but Amber tells him to drive -- to where, she doesn't care.

Kristina is folding laundry when her favorite coffee drink materializes in front of her eyes. Haddie has made a formal gesture of appreciation. Haddie leaves to hang out with Steve in her room. Kristina yells after her to keep her door open, and where's Adam? Haddie doesn't know, admitting they split up hours ago. Curious, Kristina tries Adam's cell, but he doesn't hear it, since he's perched on a surfboard, loving life, and finally taking a break.