Head over heels

I am so in love with my camera. The colors, the detail, the shutter speed. Seriously. I have alot to learn about all the myriad of settings and possibilities of composition and lighting and focus, but I have a feeling I'm going to enjoy the learning. I hope my favorite little subjects don't mind the constant paparazzi presence.

Happy Birthday to Me

Guess what Momma got for her birthday!

Many many many many more photos to come.

Adventure Book

This morning Athena announced that she now has an "Adventure Book" in which she plans to keep a pictorial diary of all her adventures.The first entry is this weekend's trip to the Bay Area visiting our besties, Alaine, Ian, Delphine and Sophie.
Chris had plans for a weekend furlough, visiting Corey and seeing a Giants game. We tagged along for the ride, opting to spend the weekend without Chris in Berkeley rather than alone in hot Bakersfield.
We always have an amazing time visiting our friends. Alaine has been my best friend since we were 14 (and that is too many years to count) and Sophie and Athena were born two weeks apart.
With Chris at play, we took the kids to the California Academy of Sciences, an awesome museum that takes you on a journey from the bottom of a rain forest, up to the tops of the trees where butterflies reign, and then down an elevator to an aquarium below.
Up another elevator and you are on the green roof, which basically represents the turf that was uprooted to build the museum, thus diminishing its "footprint." So kewl...we highly recommend the trip.
We did a bunch of other stuff too, but I hardly took any pictures at all, too busy chatting and enjoying...except I did manage this cute one of my Dude looking like a big kid.
I suppose its a good thing Athena will now be drawing out all our adventures since obviously I can't be counted to to chronicle them.

Now onto our next adventure...New York!!

Uncanny

Chris circa 1976

16 months

Alright, I'm kidding, that last one is John Patrick. But it took you a minute, didn't it?

It's weird, it's like the same baby. That's my chubby little blonde baby, with like, funky 70's clothes and furniture and a random bag of potatoes. Man, these genes run strong.

And with these genes, we know exactly where he's headed...I believe Uncle Craig is responsible for the last picture
(and, yes, this is a picture of Chris).

*******
Post Script
Athena June 2006
16 monthsSee what I mean???!! It's spooky.

Cabazon

Twenty miles or so outside of Palm Springs, there is a peculiar sight. Massive dinosaur sculptures peeking out over fast food restaurant buildings at a random truck stop. Made famous by a little 80's movie called Pee Wee's Big Adventure, this bizarre scene also now hosts a robotic dinosaur museum.

It's at an awkward distance for those of us traveling to Palm Springs. On the way there we don't want to stop 20 minutes away and and you've only just gotten started on the drive home. But this trip we had a perfect storm of opportunity, it seems the moment we got in the car, everyone had to go to the bathroom or eat something and were not settling in as we expected.

So, we stopped at Cazabon. It was around 100 in the shade and windy, but how cool.

Inside the Brontosaurus there was a gift shop and inside the T-rex you could peer out his mouth.

It was super cool, but nothing like the scene inside the T-Rex from Pee Wee's.

The robotic dinosaur museum had all sorts of creatures that came alive when you walked by.

And a pretty cool dinosaur bone dig.

Some of them were kind of terrifying...

and probably capable of eating small children. Eek.

We'll absolutely do this again, because we discovered something...

...Dudes like dinosaurs.

Casa LaQuinta

A happy July 4th was spent at Casa LaQuinta. A day of BBQ, pool, beer, margaritas, poker and celebrating not only the birth of our country but also that Baba and Nana (aka Dad and Trish) are now California natives. The house at LaQuinta was a sunny playground for the little ones, and besides some sunburn and sleeplessness, it made for a fun and relaxing weekend. Here's the photo overload.

The pool at Casa LaQuinta.

The girls with Baba LaQuinta.

The Athena fish logged about five hours in the pool.

Aquatic midget tossing.

Dousing the baby in the waterfall.

The Lady of La Casa.

A couple of cute dudes.

La Casa loco.

Following the pool activities we play a few hundred rounds of Texas Hold 'em. The girls took turns being Baba's "helpners" -stacking chips, throwing in the antes and say "check."

Until they got too tired and had to lounge under the mist on the settee.

It was around 103 in the heat of the day which was fine, when we got too hot we just jumped back in the pool.

In the evening there was Bocce ball in the shade of the side lawn.

Or, just as much fun - running around with a stick and dog toy.

After a lovely dinner, the worn out Dude crashed in his Nana's arms and she refused to pass him on even though I think she lost all feeling on her left side.

We had such a great weekend, thank you! We love having you guys on the left coast!

Buckets + Water + Rocks

Sometimes all you need is two buckets, some rocks and water. Plunk...and again...plunk. It's fascinating.

If I frame this picture, will it embarrass him so much when he's 11 that he'll have to go and hide it before his friends come over?

How about this one?