Miles Family

Keeping Busy

2011-12-23T08:09:00.001-08:00

July visit with the Caputos!

2011-08-14T17:23:00.000-07:00

Hooray our friends came to visit from Santa Barbara.
Repeatedly we talk about how much we miss our friends, so we were so excited to have them!
The Caputos flew here with one of Colin's favorite friends "buddy Ben" and his baby brother Zack.
Ironically the same names as my nephews :)

It was hot, hot, hot. With late night sunsets at 10:30, tons of sugar and play time :)
The kiddos held up great and whatever was going on Colin's good sleep habits got kicked back into gear thankfully!

Sara and I were able to ride bikes to get facials and massages while the boys went on an urban trek. Fishing, swimming and a lot of pool time. Fireworks for the 4th of July were crazy. We were surrounded with 360* of fireworks in our neighborhood.

Sara being the organization and productivity guru that she is even labels her children!

Just kidding, we had some letter stickers left over and what started off as a single silly letter on little Zack's forehead resulted in his name across his forehead throughout a 4th of July BBQ and of course he was the hit of the party!Ben was so excited to have a cupcake on his skewer!

Red White and Blue skewers on the 4th of July.

TIme's A Flyin'

2011-07-28T06:03:00.000-07:00

Well, Just a quick photo update to get us into around early June. Yes, time is flying and we are behind on the blog. But winter was getting long and we were thinking of things to do.Hmmm...
I know, we went to Florida to visit family and friends.
and take some great boat rides out on the water..
Colin decided he wanted to play T-ball. SO this spring was his first year. It was fun and short. Although mom and dad are wondering how the bigger kids handle three hour games and thought "Oh, boy, we're in for it."
But back to Florida and lots of wrestling.
and some long missed beach and surf time. Colin always has this "cheese" grin.
We have also been learning to ride bikes. Balance bikes, tow-behind bikes, bikes with training wheels, you name it he is learning. Pedaling has just come into play this early summer. Fitting he is waving. We will post more recent pics soon.

Uncle Chris and Auntie Jess

2011-02-24T18:31:00.000-08:00

Uncle Chris and Auntie Jess came to visit us in Idaho!
How lucky are we that they made that trek. Unfortunately, I got sick the day after they arrived and it rained the entire time they were here :( but, we still had some fun.

We also went bowling (which I cannot stand, but still had fun). About halfway through Colin says "You know mom, bowling is actually really fun." As you can see from this pic his first throw was a strike and the slowest possible moving ball. From there he started using a track to help him get some speed because it kept getting stuck in the middle.Behind our house by dry creek

Chris and Jess introduced us to the geocache.com site which we have never heard of but, evidently there are sites everywhere. It's basically a treasure hunt for kids. You look up your area, us a gps to track down the cache and they are usually hidden then open them to see what trinkets and notes people have left behind. You can trade a trinket for a trinket. We found 3 or 4 on this great path along dry creek just behind our house! Colin had a blast. This summer we'll map some along the river.

Trying to shave like Daddy

2011-02-24T18:25:00.000-08:00

I just ran across this photo and completely forgot about it. While in NY we were gathering things from the bathroom and Colin got a hold of a five blade razor and tried to shave his face like Daddy. Needless to say, it was a bad scene because I felt like a horrible parent and we were literally hours away from flying home and wouldn't survive a doc in the box or the ER. Fortunately butterfly bandages and medical tape saved the day.

Three faint lines on his cheek on the first attempt and a little deeper on his lip. I was amazed that the lip healed in about three days!

Idaho

2011-01-14T16:34:00.000-08:00

A part of downtown Boise
The historic train depot.
Some kid showed up in a box.
Steelhead. YUM!!!!!!!!!!!

2010-12-25T15:17:00.000-08:00

Every year I am reminded of how fortunate we are and how blessed we are to have the family and friends that we have. This year Nana and Pop traveled from NY and their visit has gone by entirely too fast. Christmas eve dinner at my parents for a traditional turkey dinner and little distraction for Colin. Colin slept for a long time napping even though he has pretty much given up naps. So we had a late evening and almost forgot to put out the cookies and milk for Santa. We forgot the carrot for Rudolph but Colin didn't seem to notice.

Christmas morning Santa's bells were ringing and Colin was wide awake just waiting patiently in his room. When he saw everyone waiting for him and all the presents he simply said 'Wowwww" The next few hours were very child centric since Colin is the only little one here. He took his time opening his presents and wanted to play with each of them. Some key things that caught his attention were his new work bench and his four wheeler. He played all day long and is looking forward to building his Lego airplane since Legos are his favorite.

Let the madness begin!

Colin Sporting his new Bronco Fever hat. So funny how he picked up on this team and is so excited about them.
Christmas eve dinner. No matter how hard we try, Colin will give a great cheesy grin but never looks at the camera.
Christmas morning traditional eggs Benedict Breakfast Brunch. We were quite hungry after two hours of Colin opening presents.
'The First Gift of Christmas' for Colin. He opened one present Christmas eve while the adults ate. Actually it was supposed to be one but turned into one 'and a movie' :)
Colin setting out cookies for Santa after a long Christmas eve and a great family dinner at my parents.

Preparing for Christmas

2010-12-23T08:22:00.000-08:00

So far December has been wonderful. Colin has his first school party and participated in the school show by holding a little candle while the older kids sang. I made dozens of gingerbread men for the school and had a blast helping in his classroom for the holiday craft.

Nana and Pop (aka Dave's parents) traveled from NY and we have already ventured into gingerbread house making, sledding, snowman building, going to the North Pole, dinner with great friends and family and shopping. Their trip is more than half over and it feels like they just got here. Now, if we could just convince them to move here (HA!).

We are blessed that both sets of our parents get along so well that they can spend a day trapped in a traveling sardine can to "the North Pole" to see Santa for their grandson. All joking aside, we had a great time. A train traveling leisurely along the river with hot cocoa, cookies, other snacks AND full bar made for a fun and tiring day.

We started December off with Christmas decorating. We had a fun time and were glad to see Colin so excited about the tree. We decorated the tree only to have the carpet we ordered arrive the next day. We managed to move and re-situate a fully decorated tree with a base full of water.

Snowman building and sledding with Pop.

Colin has been mastering his snowball technique. He packs them, chases us and tells us to stop running then tags us. Here is a mid-air snowball. The weather has been gorgeous even with the snow and Colin has been able to ride his bike!

Our first gingerbread house. Two structural attempts later and a sugar crazed three year old made for an interesting morning.

Colin finally warmed up to Santa after our train ride to the North Pole.

First Letter to Santa at Colin's request

2010-12-15T08:51:00.000-08:00

Colin drew a picture and said it was his present to Santa and he wanted to write a 'note' with it:

Dear Santa,
Thank you for all my great presents. I would like to ride to the North Pole. Please send a gingerbread boy to Nana and Pop and a Christmas tree for Grandma and Grandpa. Lots of presents for all my new friends and just one present for me, my mom and one for my dad. AND cousin Zach and cousin Ben. Dakota wants a dog present.
Love, Colin

It's snowing!

2010-11-26T21:14:00.000-08:00

Needless to say, with all the warnings of this huge Arctic Winter Storm, it panned out like most weatherman's stories. Severely overrated. We have a crusty one inch of snow and ice remaining of the two inches that stuck and of the 8+ inches promised. However, I will say it definitely hit -4 as predicted and the wind did not help that aspect at all. A rare storm for this area, but enough to open the slopes on Thanksgiving day!

Colin enjoying the snow by the pond.

Crab-apple tree outside our back gate. The picture doesn't do it justice.

From our master bedroom window.

From our back patio facing the North West corner.

A week ago we were warned of four days of bitter cold temps down to -4 and 8+ inches of snow and black ice (very dangerous for driving). The first snow was great and we went looking for frosty the snow man with Colin and just enjoyed the 2 hours of light fluffy snow.

The pics are partial shots of our backyard. You can kind of get an idea of the layout. We have 1/3 acre and just outside our gate a creek and a pond. When there are leaves on the trees you cannot see any neighbors behind us which is great!

Oh so thankful.

2010-11-26T20:44:00.000-08:00

This year we have more to be thankful for than last year. We are really missing our friends who were like family to us and some of our old Thanksgiving traditions but are starting a few of our own here in our new home. We started the day off with eggs benedict at my parents house. Then Colin and I went for a walk in the brisk 8*F temps to collect things for our centerpiece. This year football was watched on the internet and the kiddos had their own play area upstairs so the adults could hang out downstairs.

Dave showing off his ascot, missing his smoking jacket and house slippers, all required attire when living in Brooooooookwooood estates ;) Hamming it up.
Donna, Troy, their two kids and the Swedish foreign exchange student joined us for an huge feast! Colin didn't touch a thing because he was so excited that Ethan was at his house and the kids ate so fast the adults were able to have a small quiet dinner.
Colin was so bundled up when we went for a walk to pick crab-apples and leaves for the center piece. He really wanted to go and it was too and icy for me to be chasing him around so he agreed to go in his much too small stroller bundled up, including a very warm blanket. He was a trooper, he didn't ask to get out once, but he did direct which way we would go and which leaves were the keepers.

Here to the holiday season!

3rd Birthday

2010-11-10T13:52:00.000-08:00

For Colin's 3rd Birthday (a month ago already) he got a balance bike from his Nana and Pop, although he claims it's from the UPS guy. This video is from his first time on it and he loved it. Now he rides it and pulls both legs up to coast! We're looking forward to next Summer to put him on a tow bike rather than the bucket. He is really excited to get a Spiderman Big Kid bike. He's already planning for next year.

Colin had a fun birthday filled with family friends and entirely too many presents. We arranged to have a handful of friends Skype to sing happy birthday and a friend graciously delivered cupcakes to them to celebrate with us :) Skype didn't work out so hot for everyone but Colin was so happy to see everyone.

Idaho

2010-11-10T05:12:00.001-08:00

Yeah. It's been a while since I have used this program and the photo attachments aren't working. Will try again.

2010-11-10T04:42:00.001-08:00

With lots of requests for updates on Idaho I figured I would drop a line. My wife, Superwoman herself, has been very busy as usual. Making connections, working away and generally being the best, so I figured I would do my best to give a quick update. There will be more to follow but we have been busy on getting settled and house hunting because of 'historically low rates and decent pricing". We feel very fortunate that we have been able to make buying a home a reality in such a short time since moving here as we planned. We have closed and are in the throws of painting and general cleaning. We decided to buy a house in a great neighborhood with a great backyard, and opted out of the ranch land for now. Having talked to several people who are our age that own more than 1/2 acre of land we know we made the right choice for our lifestyle. Maintenance for an acre or more is at least an extra day or two a week and with a growing child with school and sports coming we decided no.

Colin is now in school, which was also one of our goals and he is doing great. He has his moments of "not wanting to go" but that is gone as soon as he gets into the classroom and for his second week is doing awesome. We love spending time and being close to at least one set of grandparents. Having grandma and grandpa around has helped us a lot with baby sitting and things of that sort but mostly being able to spend time with them, laughing and having fun has been wonderful. They put up with us and our dog. Poor Dakota, he hasn't taken to the move all that well. Yeah right! He has a 9 month old lab and a 12 yr old lab to play with on nearly 2 fenced acres and there is a river nearby that I take him swimming in. He and the puppy play nonstop all day long from sun up till well after dark. It is a little like Wild Kingdom here with all of the dogs.

We have met some great new people and dearly miss all of you in CA. We can't wait to see you all again. Hard as it was to leave we know it was the right choice for our family. We are so grateful for your friendships and the efforts that you have made to stay in contact.

Short of that we have been immersing ourselves in all things Idaho. I have been fishing, we have gone camping, visited Nana and Pop, spent time gardening, going to what I think is one of the largest pumpkin patches I have ever known. In fact you may as well call it a pumpkin farm because that's what it is, complete with corn canons (like a potato gun and lots of fun). We will update more later but now on with the pictures (unless they are at the top of the post because I can't remember which comes first).

Colin doing away with naps.

2010-10-31T13:04:00.000-07:00

I am disappointed to say that I think Colin is doing away with naps. It started with once or twice a month he would just destroy his room for two hours, but somehow always be in his crib when I came up. I heard a man's voice through the monitor and ran up there to find he had been throwing Buzz Lightyear in and out of his crib. This picture is of the destruction, the blur is Colin jumping up and down, running back and forth in his bed.Three days ago we got rid of the front of his crib for the toddler bed AND got rid of the paci. I have been holding off because of the moving and transitions. But, he kept telling us he was too big for it and he was ready to give it to the Paci Fairy for Auntie Ariel's baby. He hasn't napped since :(

First time fishing

2010-10-31T13:00:00.000-07:00

Colin caught his first fish within weeks of landing on Boise. He was so proud of himself! He reeled them in by himself, helped daddy bait the hook and couldn't wait to do it again.

Catching up after our move.

2010-08-15T13:00:00.000-07:00

I have a lot of catching up to do on this blog. We moved the third week of July and with all the activity around that I haven't even posted about Memorial Day Weekend, so I'll start there!

We had the Rockwoods and Caputos over for most of the late afternoon and evening for a traditional Memorial Day BBQ and as usual, had a great time. This was when the reality of our pending move sunk in...

Memorial Day; homemade ice cream and chocolate truffle brownies

Ben showing off his muscles.
Colin the seaweed monster enjoying a day at the beach.

We had a great time with the Caputos and Allens over. We missed our friends the Rockwoods who have made it over since Alyssa was old enough to walk. Being out in the Goodland there is much less choas to the festivities but still a lot of traffic.

We had a great BBQ, some pool time when the fog let up for about 45 minutes and Colin's first, up close fireworks show. He didn't like how loud they were and asked to walk home, but didn't really want to go since he loved all the colors.

Colin and Ben also had a sleep over at our house complete with the original Toy Story Movie, popcorn, a tent in Colin's room and flashlights with a pancake breakfast in the morning. They had a great time and we were all surprised at what a trooper Ben was, both kids were asleep by 8:00PM. That kiddo didn't make a peep except when Colin kept waking up since he wasn't in his bed. I would do it again in a heartbeat.

Everyday is a day for baseball in Colin's mind

2010-05-23T20:43:00.000-07:00

This boy loves baseball. If you ask him what he wants to be when he grows up he will first say a baseball player and second a pilot so he can fly us to the moon. When he was 18 months he discovered baseball at a friend's birthday party and played on the t-ball stand for a good 2 hours. We bought one for him that day and a year later he still loves it and has now gotten into running the bases.

Elephant Petting at the Zoo

2010-05-21T19:57:00.000-07:00

We were fortunate enough to have a chance for a tour of the elephant area and visit with them up close and personal. We were able to pet the elephants, feed them treats and later were able to see them weighed (over 9800 lbs). Colin seemed to be more intimidated while we were holding him than when he had his feet on the ground. He felt much more comfortable directing and praising our feeding of the gentle giants.

Very interesting creatures. Suzy and Mac (both females) looked so similar but had distinctly different personalities. Mac seemed to follow where ever Colin went and would press his trunk firmly against the gate for some petting time. Great experience.

Really? You want to roller skate?

2010-05-21T19:40:00.001-07:00

Hmmm, our neighbor had these cute roller skates and Colin decided he had to try them out. Very cute.

party at the zoo

2010-05-21T19:31:00.000-07:00

It's always a zoo at the zoo on family nights. We met friends there and really the most fun was watching all the kiddos dance. It took Colin a bit to warm up but once he did he got his groove on!

Weekend Fun

2010-05-04T13:57:00.000-07:00

Time flies of course so I'm about a week off on posting. We had a weekend of fun with friends!

We had a birthday celebration for adults only for one of our great friends Sara Caputo who also shared a birthday week with Sophie Spier. Randomly Sophie and I worked together years ago and she happened to be friends with Sara too. So, it was a night out with good food, great friends and a great view of the ocean.

Then we had a great Sunday morning taking Colin to see Thomas the Tank Engine with his buddy Ben and Ben's papa Steve. It was a very simply excursion with our first road side potty 'Chinese Fire Drill' Fortunately, Steve unbuckled, Dave grabbed Colin and I grabbed the potty seat all in less than about 30 seconds. So, the kids enjoyed a ride on Thomas's train and playing with all the cool train stuff and getting train tatoos.

Potty Training

2010-04-26T19:15:00.000-07:00

Well we bit the bullet and began potty training about six months earlier than we thought we would. He was telling us before he went and asking to go on the potty and saying he didn't like his 'wiggly diaper' for about three weeks. The last of which he didn't have a single #2 in his diaper for 9 days. I didn't want to miss this window of opportunity or the WOO as Dave and I call it.

We embarked on a 3 day venture of activities at home which turned out to be unnecessary and he was more excited to go potty in public bathrooms. He caught on fast and earned a Spiderman motorcycle on his first day for so much effort and wearing 'big boy undies'.

At the end of day three he had stayed dry for all naps, was running to the potty and excited to get his rocket ship that he has been pining over for months! He says he wants to be a pilot and fly us to the moon. You go kiddo!

We were nervous it could backfire, but took his lead. He is officially potty trained and we is doing a surprisingly great job!

Finally Posting on Easter

2010-04-26T19:03:00.000-07:00

A great time with friends, friends and more friends. We seemed to be packed with activities for the weekend including two rounds of Easter egg dying; Which is quite interesting with a 2 1/2 yr old. Our traditional Easter brunch of Eggs Benedict with the Rockwoods the day before and a hike on Easter morning out to see the seals and their babies in Carpenteria with the Caputos.

Disneyland

2010-03-21T21:18:00.000-07:00

So we decided to take Colin to Disneyland, thinking now he won't remember it, but he will still have good time. We went for a quick day and a half at the park which definitely was enough. It's an interesting place...I don't think I'd want to fight the crowds for it though. It worked out great with short waits (comparatively) of 10 minutes or so. We went with our friends the Caputos. Ben and Colin were so excited about something they'd never seen. We just asked Colin if he wanted to see where Mickey Mouse lives and he was all about meeting Goofy and Pluto. He acted very interested and excited then once he met them he was on to the next thing. "Enough of the kiddie rides mom. I want Buzz Light Year!" We tried luring Colin to other rides but he kept on about Buzz Light Year. His new "Best Favorite". If you go with kids under 5yrs. Don't believe the 'all ages' on rides. BLY, Nemo (surprisingly) and Peter Pan were a bit much for little guys. All in all, we had fun watching the kids' excitement and considering they stayed up until 10PM two nights in a row they were in great spirits and seemed to have fun checking everything out.

Beach Days

2010-03-21T20:34:00.000-07:00

We have had some amazing beach weather lately. Colin is enjoying playing on the beach and took to exploring caves with his buddy Ben on one beach excursion. He also likes to be 'buried' in the sand. For some reason on the first sand burying he decided he also needed a taste test :)

February hit us like a Mac truck and I had been really looking forward to March. So far, my optimism is paying off! More fun stuff going on in March!

Like I Said

2010-02-19T18:57:00.001-08:00

Super Mom reminded me that my parents have been married 40, not 30 years. Details.

Surfliner Sunshine

2010-02-19T13:44:00.001-08:00

Yup, I am sticking with the cheesy theme. Maybe it is that I am posting a bunch in a row but more it has been the quality of the sunny days we have had lately. Even though it is February during an El Nino winter I would say we have had a 50 50 split of sunny, summer like days mixed with grey, heavy rain days. It's like mother nature took a bunch of downers with her 7 cups of coffee and doesn't know what to do.

Following our action packed end to January and start of February with skiing and then traveling to the desert we decided that President's Day weekend we would just stay at home and give Colin a treat. He love's trains and we have been planning to utilize our local choo choo (also named Amtrack) for one of his first train rides. The weather was perfect so Colin, Shannon and I went with Colin's favorite redheads, Alyssa and Olivia and mom Christie, to head off to Carp for the day. The schedules works perfect and it is only about a 15 minute train ride which gives the kids enough time to love it but it is just short enough to leave them wanting more. One little tip...When the conductor announces "the next stop is..." get downstairs to the doors immediately. Yeah, we missed the 30 second stop in Carp...soooo we wound up spending the morning in Ventura, which actually turned out to be just fine.

Carp is such a small stop that they don't spend a whole lot of time. So when the ticket guy checks your tickets tell him you need extra time due to the kids and also be downstairs near the doors before the train comes to stop.

Needless to say, we can't wait to go on the train again because Colin loves it, wants to go with his buddy Ben and it was very easy and relaxing.

The rest of the weekend we spent biking to our local beach, surfing the great waves and enjoying the 80 degree sunny days which as I have said, seemed extra beautiful!

So there you have it. Lots of fun lately running up to now. This weekend is full of R&R for Shannon who had her surgery for her hand and is recovering great from it. Grandma has come to visit and help out a little since super mom is down to one hand. Hopefully we have some more nice sunny winter days and some more winter rainy days as it mixes things up.

Of course with all the driving and train rides I thought of the blog updates as "Planes, Trains and Automobiles". But there was no flying you say? Oh wait, Colin is obsessed with his airport airplane that I got him during our Christmas flights that Pop has just shipped back to us. Bada Bing!

Desert Sunshine

2010-02-19T13:00:00.000-08:00

During Christmas we had made stealth plans with family friends to surprise Nana and Pop with a party on their 30th anniversary weekend. They had made plans to go to Palm Springs with my Uncle to visit long time friends who travel every year to the CA desert for some R&R. Once they decided to go the kids covertly made plans with everyone to show up and surprise Nana. Needless to say after some inventive excuses as to why they were all still holed up in the house just before noon, we showed up and Colin busted through the door to say "There's Nana!" as he ran over to her. She didn't have a clue!

The house was straight out of the 50's and full of Rat pack memorabilia. It was very cool! During our stay Colin practiced his best "ol' Blue Eyes" poses, swam like a fish and entertained us with his music. These days he loves to sing and rock out, including playing his guitar and drums. It was great to find a small toy guitar at the rental house along with lots of hats. He sang and played us songs for a few hours one morning. Hilarity! Thanks Mr. and Mrs. C for the hospitality, great idea and awesome time. It was great to see everyone.

Sierra Sunshine

2010-02-19T12:42:00.000-08:00

With Shannon's computing skills hampered by a repaired wrist I promised her I would keep the blog up to date as best I can. Which may be an adventure to say the least. Anyway, knowing that surgery was coming I made a dash for the Sierra backcountry to ski with some friends and visit my brother and sister in law. The snow was fantastic, the weather was just about perfect and the company even better. Oh yeah, the crowds on the ski slopes were the best...none. Suffice to say there is not much better than tracking up un-skied mountains with close friends and family. Meanwhile Shannon was gearing up for a few busy weeks prior to the down time of her surgery and entertaining the boy while I was away. She is the best!

Catching up

2010-02-13T18:51:00.000-08:00

Things have of course been so busy. Jan 15th was my birthday and Dave managed to pull together a great surprise party with Sarah's coordinating efforts. What a team. Some of our great long time friends and wonderful new friends celebrated with us and I was completely surprised. My friends avoided me all week fearing they'd spill the secret. I actually thought it was a family party for a friend who's birthday is just a few days after mine, when we stumbled upon her husband out front and the hostess asked if we were there for a party. It was so fun and the Duck d'la Orange at Stella Mare's is fantastic!
Too many pictures to post, so here are just a couple.

January 2010

2010-01-13T19:10:00.000-08:00

Of course the weather is gorgeous, it's January in Santa Barbara!
Last night it rained and returned to beautiful sunny skies today. I can't believe we're two weeks into the New Year.

Fortunately we had some play time with Colin's best buddy Ben and our neighbor friends upon our return from New York as Colin was lacking kidlet time and sorely missing Ben.

A couple of fun blanket rides, kiddos singing with Colin's new CD player and a beach day and we're back to norml.

Christmas vacation (finally posting)

2010-01-09T20:37:00.000-08:00

Well our second week of vacation flew by, most of it spent just enjoying the company of family. A lot of Bananagrams played, flying, music, eating and gifts were had.
This great little snowman built by Nana and Pop weathered the snow storms while we were there and served as motivation to build something bigger! A sea turtle shaped snow cave :) We got as far as building the 6'5" shell and hollowed out, but weather did not permit completion. Below is a picture of Colin crawling out of the first version of the snow / sea turtle cave.

Colin jumped right in to hand out presents Chrismtas morning after waking us by hollering from his room "Mommy, Daddy, I hear reindeer" loud enough to wake the whole house.

Dave went flying one day with his uncle. The next flight will be in the new Pontoon Plane during summer.
Colin loves his family and is very attached to Great Uncle Tom! I think Uncle Tom is smart, he waits a few days for Colin to get settled with Nana, Pop, Uncle and Auntie and shows up to steal the show :)

NY Christmas trip week one

2009-12-24T12:51:00.000-08:00

An entire week has passed since our arrival in NY to visit Dave's side of the family. We are so blessed to have family that we have so much fun with and love to be around. We started off the visit with an excellent 12 hrs of travel, 3 planes, 4 airports and one great travelling toddler who remained entertained with movies and his own music with noise cancelling headphones which he is still walking around with. We arrived to 8*F and snow on the ground. Absolutely beautiful.

We arrived at Nana and Pop's to find they decorated a room just for Colin and he loves it! Posters of the Yankees, Giants and Cars (the movie) with a Mickey's Clubhouse comforter.

Quickly we got him sledding and loving the snow although this So. Cal baby is not used to bundling up and yelled "It's toooo TIIIIIGGGGHHHHTTTT!" every time we bundled him up. We tried three different coats until we found the right one :) his favorite thing is to eat the snow and to 'crash' in the snow. He learned quickly that there is dirty snow and clean snow.

Tree trimming with unbreakables at Nana and Pop's was fun as Colin pulled any instrumental ornament and played it; piano, violin... and tried to sit on the sleds.

Following that was a holiday party at Dave's Aunt's house where there was a dancing santa hat. It was hilarious and if I can upload that video will since Colin played with it for about and hour.

We even managed to get a Santa pic. This is a pic of the pic since we can't download it so it's a bit grainy. But, he asked to 'touch him' and he did very well. Today he asked again and when he got to him it was a different Santa and he said "That not Santa" and wouldn't go near him.

More to come!

Oh Christmas Tree, Oh Christmas Tree

2009-12-01T21:00:00.000-08:00

Most people that know me know that I LOVE Christmas. I love to decorate, I love the songs, I love the Bobble Characters, I love the family and friends, I love giving gifts, I love it! No one is surprised that I decorate the day after Thanksgiving and it comes down on New Year's day. This year we don't have many decorations up because we are not celebrating in our home. Reluctantly we got a very small tree ( in my world, the bigger the better). We had a great time decorating it and this year only used unbreakable decorations so Colin could explore.

So, here's to our Charlie Brown Christmas tree!

A fun way to bring in December

2009-11-29T21:19:00.000-08:00

Today was another gorgeous Santa Barbara day. We took a bike ride to on the Goleta cliffs overlooking the ocean to the butterfly preserve then headed over to the Farmer's Market and had some brunch with the Caputos. These two kiddos always have a blast together and we absolutely enjoy Steve and Sara's company. Steve ran while we rode bikes (turns out to be 5 miles round trip)and it was just a beautiful morning.

Thanksgiving

2009-11-29T21:03:00.000-08:00

For the second time in 15 yrs I left SB for Thanksgiving out of town. This time to go to Palm Dessert to be with family friends that we can truly call family. The McFadden Clan visited from NJ, CO and FL to their friends home who graciously hosted us all. Sunny 80*F poolside with Margaritas! A great holiday.

Colin had two little girls who 'babysat' for a small fee of $2.50 each per day :). They were so excited to be playing with them and he thrived on showing off for them.

Three things...

2009-11-02T10:09:00.000-08:00

Three things Colin is very excited about these days...

Scooter: he only wants to go downhill because he wants to go 'faster'.

Perusing toy magazines.

Drinking camomile tea before bed with mommy and daddy in a real tea cup.

Happy Halloween! Happy Birthday Ben!

2009-10-31T21:25:00.000-07:00

Colin has been talking about his baseball costume for over a month, so of course when it came time to put it on for Halloween festivities he was not having it. He was fine once he saw mommy and daddy in baseball outfits too and off we went for 'safe trick or treating' in the mall. He collected a couple of pieces of candy after a lot of cajoling; two big tootsie rolls (one mommy ate and he nibbled the other with daddy. He was not interested in approaching people who did not resemble people :) except he had to 'run really fast' to follow the Sesame Street gang and was very upset when they had to go home to Sesame Street without him. He quickly cheered up knowing he was on his way to Ben's birhtday party where he could play and eat 'lots of cupcakes'

Sushi night

2009-10-31T21:19:00.000-07:00

We have decided that dinners with the Caputos will have themes...we've way overdone the Italian theme ;) So, this time it was sushi with halloween decor! This little guys had fishsticks, made a fort with our couches and were tipping over chairs while we enjoyed the sushi rolls, sashimi tuna and edamame...the miso was not my favorite. Steve became the master roller and got creative with the chili sauce, nice move.

Fall in the air

2009-10-31T20:10:00.000-07:00

It wouldn't be Fall if a little kid couldn't run through a pile of leaves...
Yes the leaves do change in the Fall in Santa Barbara; they go from green to dead on the ground in about a week, no real turning colors. It has been about 80 for a couple of weeks with one nice rain storm. So I was glad to see a nice pile of leaves for Colin to run through to remind us of Fall. He had a blast!

Family Fun

2009-10-22T19:53:00.000-07:00

This past weekend is a blur! Dave's brother Chris and our new sister in law visited after being in the mountains all summer. We wish we could see them more! We went to the Lemon Festival to check out the cars (Those that know me, know that I am a big car buff) and Safety Street. It was too hot and crowded to venture into the main area that day.

Chris is an amazing musician and Colin loves to hear Uncle play!

We were fortunate enough to be walking through the park another time right when a helicopter was landing. Colin cheered and once they landed he clapped and said "Good job guys!" Hmmmm, we seem to be hearing him saying 'good job' a lot lately, I think he's catching the praise when he does something well. What kid wouldn't be excited to see a helicopter land? He was so anxious to climb into it. The pilot asked him if he wanted to fly jets or helicopters and he said 'jets, two of them'.

Charity Benefits

2009-10-18T13:33:00.001-07:00

Thursday night I attended an opening for new services for Casa Pacifica and Friday night an auction for Community Counseling Center. Both were a great time for a great cause and we won the auction for CCEC on the trip to a private condo in a beautiful area on the Yucatan Peninsula! Woohoo!

Birthday Party Fun

2009-10-11T20:18:00.000-07:00

This year it thankfully didn't rain! We borrowed our friends bouncy house and had pop up tents and tunnels. The kids had a great time and parents got to be a little more hands off and enjoy some appetizers and drinks.

I got to make my yummy carrot cake cupcakes, which are super tasty but the frosting isn't much for decorating with. Sesame Street characters did not look fury, but the kids didn't seem to notice :)

Colin selecting the optimal Elmo cupcake.
Somehow Colin did not get red frosting anywhere besides hands and face!

One of my closest friends for life; Christy
Cooper and his Mommy Tina enjoying the cupcake experience.
Jensen goin' for it all on his own.
Caputo's of course :)

Fall is here! Pumpkin patch visit

2009-10-10T21:32:00.000-07:00

I don't know what it is about the pumpkin patch, but I love going there! We went today with friends and we had a great time. We actually did very well in the maize maze and got 90% through without a hitch then turned in circles a bit :)

Last night kicked off the fall season at home with homemade chili, cornbread muffins and ale. Next, pumpkin carving and pumpkin soup!

Colin was really excited about the maize, the tractors and pulling the wagon. The turkeys really got his attention because they would sneak over to the side he was on and pop their heads up simultaneously startling him and cracking him up.

Happy 2nd Birthday Colin!

2009-10-07T21:11:00.000-07:00

10/07/07 Colin Thomas Miles was born at 3:13 AM after 24hrs of labor (on the dot). Happy, healthy and ready for the world.
We love all that you will be and all that you are!
Love always,
Mommy and Daddy.

Sadly he did not get Mommy's super yummy homemade carrot cake.

Colin first thing in the morning on his birthday.

Happy 2nd Birthday Gwendolyn!

2009-10-04T09:37:00.000-07:00

In honor of Gwendylyn's 2nd birthday please sign the petition to end SMA and donate
to their cause to find the cure! Victoria and Bill have built, through the labor of love, an amazing community to support, fight for a cure and educate people about Spinal Muscular Atrophy.

Camping with the Rockwoods...

2009-09-27T19:44:00.000-07:00

And five other families with 9 camp sites and 13 children! WOW!
The funniest thing was the herd of bikes with training wheels riding everywhere in a pack.

Oh yeah, and Dave getting creative with transporting Colin's big wheel!

Colin played travel Sorry and Connect Four quietly for an hour with no one else around! We somehow managed to get all the kids to eat at the same time and down at the same time by 8PM with a couple of hiccups. Fun time at the park and on the beach even for how gray it was. Dinner one night consisted of corn on the cobb and s'mores for the adults ;)

September has been a fun month

2009-09-27T19:28:00.000-07:00

A month filled with birthday parties, new activities and friends.

At the Zoo B Que with the Caputo's Colin fed the giraffe.

Colin takes up painting on an easel; he is freaked out by anything on his hands so finger painting is still out of the question.
Do you like the smock? It covers his whole body and then some. I guess small is really for 5 yr olds.

Colin and Olivia taking in the atmosphere during an afternoon at the zoo.

Colin and Ben chillin' with chocolate chip cookies.

Dante and Colin enjoying the beach.

First big owee!

2009-09-27T19:24:00.000-07:00

I can't believe it took this long but at the beginning of Sept Colin was running full speed on concrete, caught his shoe and landed on his face. So much for a fun dinner out. It was a bloody lipped, teary eyed 15 minute walk home.

Spontaneity

2009-09-07T19:24:00.000-07:00

We were supposed to go camping at Lake Casitas Aug 30th but fortunately we bailed with the 105 degree heat and Dave getting sick.The rest of our weekend was all about being spontaneous!

Instead we took advantage of how close the water park is and left Dave at home. Colin and Ben loved it although it was pretty overwhelming at first.

We also were fortunate to have our friends visit from Ojai. It's pretty close to us but with busy schedules we do not get to see each other enough and we have such a great time with them. Colin calls their daughter Madeleine "Maddy Cakes" and they had a great time in the pool and just dragging out all of the toys. We went to Farmer's Market but it was so hot we had to get out of there quickly!

Colin's new thing in the pool, the house and at the beach is to stand on anything to make it a surfboard!

Time goes by...

2009-09-07T19:06:00.000-07:00

Most of August we were traveling and just busy getting ready to travel and returning from traveling so writing hadn't been my priority...I missed a full month!
So I'm going to back track with some fun snipets.

We were in NY for a nice long vacation visiting Dave's family and it was gorgeous! Colin loved the lakes, all the family around, frozen yogurt every night, Nana and Pop's big back yard and the horse races! We did so many different things there are too many to list!

He got to spend a lot of time with his GGBea, his second cousin Jaime, Great Aunt Janet and Great Uncle Tom. Colin would get so upset if anyone else played the guitar besides UncTom.
He also 'caught his first fish'. He had the pole and as I reeled the line in a bit a little perch literally jumped onto the hook and he set the line hard enough to catch the fish even though he was really trying to get the pole away from me ;)

Surfin'!

2009-07-29T10:51:00.000-07:00

We had a virus that had to be eradicated so its been a while since I've posted...

The past two weekends the weather has been gorgeous!
Last weekend we went to the beach one morning with Sara and Ben.
Colin loves Daddy's surfboard and loves to be on it in the water.

Ben was hilarious with Dave digging holes and he was just amazed at the water coming in from the bottom. Had to be belly down to see it up close and acquired a fu-man-chu in the process :)

Great Week!

2009-07-11T21:13:00.000-07:00

We have been so busy that we haven't seemed to have a lot of time to relax. Since the 4th of July it has been so wonderful. Finally great weather and no wind!

Thursday we had a swim play date with the Alyssa, Olivia, Ben, Cooper and Ella. I can't believe we got them all to sit still for a photo in the pool. Miss Alyssa was too busy with her new underwater swimming skills.

Today was a long day of rest and relaxation starting with me getting to sleep in thanks to my great hubby taking care of things on Saturday mornings. He may very yummy fresh blueberry pancakes and we headed out on a bike ride to Campus Point. It seems like we had the beach to ourselves and got to see some dolphins. Colin loves to yell 'here comes a big one' as we jump him over a wave.

A good deal of rock throwing with Daddy and sandcastles too.

Colin played on the patio while I caught some time to read and then the Bruice family joined us for an afternoon swim and Dave's famous homemade pizza!

Happy 4th of July!

2009-07-05T12:13:00.001-07:00

Happy 4th of July!
After a two day plumbing job gone wrong (starting with having hired a plumber) we were so thankful to have such a fun and relaxing time with our friends the Rockwoods a Caputos.

It felt like we were the only people around. We had the pool to ourselves and great food for a tri-tip bbq. Sarah brought this great potato dish and Christy made her yummy salad. I made a homemade apple pie that would have been amazing with my homemade ice cream but remembered after it was baked that I didn't put any sugar in it! That's the kind of weekend Dave and I were having, if something could have gone wrong it did, except when our friends were here :)

Visting Family in Boise and nephews from Guam!

2009-07-05T12:12:00.000-07:00

We had a great visit in Boise just a week ago and unfortunately we left our camera there so this spot will soon be updated with photos and stories :)

Fun and Funny

2009-06-06T14:49:00.000-07:00

Our sitter took this Mohawk picture and the Mama song resurfaces with a new attitude:)

Colin always asks for a Mohawk then looks in the mirror and freaks out and says 'no' and tries to brush it down with his hands.

In this video Colin (who loves his sitter's phone and sunglasses) is enjoying his moment in the spotlight and of course wants to 'look' at the video. We laughed so hard when we watched this and I really think it's the sunglasses!

First Taste of Summer

2009-06-06T14:28:00.000-07:00

Colin is very excited about the pool these days and its a bit scary because he will just run and jump whether we're ready for him or not! He kicks pretty well and will sometimes try to use his arms and blow some bubbles too.

Sponsor a mile; Gwendolyn Strong Foundation

2009-06-02T20:19:00.000-07:00

Gwendolyn Strong Foundation Sponsor a Mile
Please contribute to this cause.

This is a family we met in our birthing class who's beautiful little girl Gwendolyn was diagnosed with SMA Type 1 just weeks after her birth. This is a terminal and degenerative disease and they are raising awareness and funds for research.

Butterflies, Butterflies, fly to me...

2009-05-25T14:12:00.000-07:00

The Mama song

2009-05-25T08:16:00.000-07:00

Colin made up this little song and sang it at the top of his lungs for an hour while shopping in Target and now he thinks it's the funniest thing. Enjoy!

Cold Springs Loop Hiking!

2009-05-24T21:25:00.000-07:00

Finally, a good hike! We haven't gone for a hike in so long, I was jonesin'! The Caputos invited us and we confirmed via text that we'd be at their house bright and early. It's great to see the expression on people's faces (particularly Sara's) when your text doesn't go through and you show up on a Sunday morning ready to hike...LOL!
We had a great time. Colin was quite fussy less than 20 minutes into it. But, it was gorgeous even with a little fog covering the beautiful view of SB.

Look at this crazy cluster of ladybugs!

They were bunched up all over the place around this one watering hole.

In the end Colin was not having the backpack at all.

Dinner with the Caputo's

2009-05-24T21:21:00.001-07:00

We were honored to host the Caputo's for their 5th Anniversary at our home. We broke out the china and the Vera Wang (ChI-Naa as Dave refers to it). A great time, the kidlets were exhausted and came back for round two of dinner with us instead of watching Big Bird Sings :)The little guys were wiped out and joined eachother post bed time on the same chair with paci's for some down time.

No Double Dip!

2009-05-17T19:56:00.000-07:00

Colin has discovered "dip it" as he calls it; ketchup, mustard, ranch, really anything he can suck off of his 'hi-hi's" (french fries). We learned this weekend to bite instead and was repeating us telling him no double dip each time he got a new fry :)

Colin loves to say 'cheese' for the camera

2009-05-17T19:42:00.000-07:00

How he got this much on his face and no where else is amazing!

As my cousin's son would say "I'm cheesing"

Little charmer

Two fun new developments

2009-04-26T19:46:00.001-07:00

Colin decided this week he will no longer sit in his highchair or booster. Which is interesting considering his nose barely peeks over the table. Most of the time he'll eat his whole meal there without getting down. If he gets down then he's all done.

The second thing is around 'potty training' if I can even call it that. For a while he would run away from us when he had to change his poopy diaper. Instead we traded that for clapping when he's going and offering him to flush the toilet after such a diaper change. He got hooked immediately.
This week he has three times now asked to sit on the toilet at various times and on two separate times we offered it to him at bath time and he went in the toilet! Let's hope we can keep this ball rolling until real potty training starts.

Veggie Guy

2009-04-26T19:42:00.000-07:00

I can't count my blessings enough around Colin loving veggies :)
Broccoli and Asparagus seem to be his favorite,
even passing on strawberries for a broccoli stalk at the farmer's market!

Hanging out with family

2009-04-26T19:27:00.001-07:00

Last weekend one of my cousins got married and I was fortunate enough to have my aunt and grandmother available and excited to take care of Colin for a few hours. She ran him ragged (or vice versa). They went to the park, had pizza, played hide and seek, bathtime and all the fun stuff that grandma's get to do :) He absolutely loved it and loves his GG and Great Aunt Linda!

My cousins wedding was beautiful and everyone had a great time! He has wanted this for a long time and really loves his now wife which is always so awesome to see!

Prior to visiting Fresno we stayed the night with Uncle Chris and Auntie Jess. Colin adores them both. Uncle and Auntie live in a beautiful small town with a flat over the river and Colin got to throw rocks for hours. Poor Jess was laid up after knee surgery so we stayed in and when Colin wasn't throwing rocks he was trying on hats and reading books and getting into everything.

Goodmorning Little Monkey

2009-04-15T12:25:00.000-07:00

Colin climbed out of his crib for the first time this morning at 5:30AM. We heard him crying out and Dave went to lay him down and say it was still time to sleep. I heard Dave say 'what?!' and came back laughing telling me Colin greeted him at the door. Fortunately, he went back on his own. When it was time to wake up I asked him to show me how he got out. Sure enough, he just lifted one leg up, pulled and twisted himself and gently lowered himself to the ground!

Now the debate, bed rail or tent. I thought he'd be in there for at least another year!

Hoppy Easter!

2009-04-12T12:45:00.000-07:00

What a beautiful day. Colin's first Easter where he hunted for eggs was a fun one. We woke up at the crack of dawn as usual and he climbed up into his rocking chair by himself where he saw his Easter Basket with a few little fun things. He was really excited about them all. With each marker he pulled he had to announce the color and say oooooohhhh....He kept looking at his Hot Wheels car and his car drawing as if he was creating a masterpiece.The Rockwoods came over for Easter Brunch. As is tradition in my family we have to have Eggs Benedict. We also had fresh strawberries and berry pancakes, yum. Just before the Easter egg hunt.

Easter Egg Coloring

2009-04-12T12:27:00.000-07:00

We spent the afternoon and dinner with the Rockwoods coloring Easter eggs and making homemade pizza. Colin was really interested in crushing the eggs and dropping them in the dye so they would splash. He had a great time with his two favorite red heads, Alyssa and Olivia.

Fun with the Caputos...random, but fun

2009-04-12T12:09:00.000-07:00

We just love our friends Steve, Sara and little Ben Caputo. We always have a great time with them. Today we had this plan to attend an Easter festival, go to a juggling festival and have lunch all before noon Saturday. We did all three just not quite how we fantasized it would go down :)

The Easter festival was a bust preceeded by a nice stroll for some Starbucks and a Borders visit.
We jammed over to the juggling festival, but it was pretty sparse. It was fun though because Sara had a private lesson, Steve juggled Ben and Dave showed off a little too.

This was the funniest.
We headed over to UCSB and had Wendy's while watching the
Strong Man competition on a big screen...what?!

We each had our own seat with a little swing tray.
Sara and I were cracking up at how random today was.
It's nice to be flexible and go with the flow, it was quite relaxing :)

Must be wishing for summer

2009-04-03T20:39:00.000-07:00

We signed Colin up for swim lessons and he needed a new swim diaper.

So he decided he needs to wear it all the time.
Including after nap while reading to his stuffed animals
during which he refused to let anyone read to him or sit with him.

Then Grandma set some new swim trunks,
he decided he needs to wear these all the top.
Only now they go over his clothes,
whereas with the swim diaper everything comes off.

He is a riot!

Here he is checking himself out in the mirror in his new 'swimmies'.

Golf Anyone?

2009-03-27T21:28:00.000-07:00

This past weekend Dave had a game of golf on t.v. for about 15 minutes. I came downstairs to find Colin jumping up and down and yelling 'hit the ball, hit the ball'. As a true golf fan, he was already learning the frustrations of golf. Hit the ball already!

So, while getting a birthday present today for a friend he spied this fortunately inexpensive golf club for $3. What costs $3 anymore anyway? So I had to get it an it's been hours of obsession.

He's goin' pro with this first swing!

If we're lucky he'll grow up to have a swing like his Grandpa or his great uncle Tom.

The First Real Haircut

2009-03-22T19:37:00.000-07:00

His six inch Mohawk and lovely mullet action in the back

were tale tale signs that it was time
He didn't make a peep the entire time.
The final cut...not much different, just cleaned up
and looking more and more like a little boy.

Dave's Birthday and St. Patty's Day

2009-03-17T08:50:00.000-07:00

What a beautiful weekend for Dave's birthday.
Colin helped his daddy fly a kite
and often seemed more interested in the bike helmets.

He had a great time at the playground on the merry-go-round too.

What a little boy! Cutie patootie!

2009-03-06T20:46:00.000-08:00

Colin Loves to Rock Out!

2009-02-17T19:24:00.000-08:00

Colin receives these very fun cards
from his Great Grandma that he loves.
He will dance to them for a week!
If he catches me with the video camera though, he stops :)

Say cheese!

2009-02-14T13:41:00.000-08:00

This is the face we get now when we say 'cheese'.

Here he's hugging Big Bird to show
Grandma and Grandpa how much he loves him.

Here's how he smiles when just catch him in the act.

It's raining, it's pouring, Colin and Dakota are snoring...

2009-02-14T13:37:00.001-08:00

Colin and Dakota relished a lazy moment in the brief bit of sunshine we had the other day after several days of rain and cloudy skies. They're both getting a little cabin fever.

Fun Times at 16months!

2009-02-14T13:28:00.000-08:00

Who loves his new chair?
THIS GUY!

We finally got his chair. He really needed his own seat and he loves it. He loves to jump onto it, on it, off of it, over it and have snacks while sitting in it.

This kiddo is 16 months and has 16 teeth too!

He had his first preschool interview. Here in SB there is a 2 yr wait list and thankfully not everyone interviews. It was going O.K. until he literally fell on his face into a puddle on fresh black top. He was covered in black rain water and had a few very small bits of black top embedded on his face. He was very sad. So, he literally fell flat on his face for his first interview. Let's hope that pattern doesn't repeat through out life :)

He's very into his play time and frequently will spend quite a bit of it taking stuffed animals out of a basket, climbing in, bringing them in then starting over.

Just for fun...

2009-01-27T20:53:00.000-08:00

Colin loves using the big spoon! Most of it ends up in his mouth contrary to this picture.

Puppets!
The monkey and the lion took the place of the hat obsession
for just one day.

"Please mommy,
just back away from the milk"

Oh my....

2009-01-12T08:28:00.001-08:00

While I'm showering this is what Colin does...yes there's a hat, goggles and a bra.

It must be January in Santa Barbara!

2009-01-11T18:53:00.000-08:00

The weather this weekend was just perfect! We spent some time at the beach exploring with a very low tide. Colin was most interested in the rocks and sticks.

Lately he has been trying to jump (literally) and so once he got to the puddles he was quite excited. He couldn't get enough air so he just stomped in them and wasn't happy with the results of water splashing him in the face :)

Any tips?

2009-01-11T14:39:00.000-08:00

So Colin can eat very well with his spoon and fork, but he only does it for half his meal and then throws them! Funny, but not really...so if anyone has any tips besides duct tape let me know!
He seems to prefer our regular silverware compared to the kidlet stuff, as evidenced in the second picture where he has three other options :)

Busy Bee

2009-01-09T08:46:00.000-08:00

Every time I get on the computer he imitates what I do with my hands and gets very serious. Sometimes we sit down to watch trains or planes on You Tube and he will take my hands into his and put them on his lap to keep me from typing.

In this video the second portion he is confused as to why the screen went black while he was typing and that's why he's giving the 'where' sign. "Where'd it go?"

Yes, we're in that stage where we have to watch everything we say and do because he imitates it all, sounds, tones and actions :)

First Snow Sled Ride

2009-01-08T20:29:00.000-08:00

A little out of date sequence but that's OK.
Colin's first snow sled experience in Boise ID at my parents during Christmas :)
Poor kid was sick and it was snowing and windy. He couldn't move it his puffy snow suit so we had to lay him down on his tummy. He didn't really enjoy himself.

Hats, Hats and More Hats....

2009-01-07T12:16:00.000-08:00

Colin thinks everything is a hat, that he must have a hat on at all times (including the bath) and that everyone should join him in the little venture :) including having us wear bowls and his bike helmet.

His shirt here says "Party at my crib, BYOB (bring your own bottle) and he's wearing a tank top of mine a winter beanie and a summer sun hat...

Little Ones Amaze Me

2009-01-02T16:54:00.001-08:00

Colin has been saying a lot of intelligible words lately, of course missing the hard consonants but we can still understand him if we're paying attention. He say things like Coo-er for Cooper, one of his little friends, airplane, helicopter, uncle, Chris, cup, milk, uvas (grapes in Spanish), meatball, he'll say an animal sound to tell us what he wants to eat (chicken, turkey, etc).

Today he asked to watch a movie (oowa) and pulled out Baby Einstein Vincent Van Goat and kept saying goat. I wasn't looking at the box, but I kept hearing it and he kept saying it until I finally acknowledged him....

Just crazy the things they pick up on.

Starting the New Year off Right

2009-01-02T16:46:00.000-08:00

New Year's Day was great! We had a couple of long time friends, the Rockwoods and the Bruices over with their kidlets and BBQ'd. The kids were most impressed by the blanket slide pulled by two of the daddies and pulling out every possible toy throughout the downstairs :) They had fun and we had a nice sit down dinner with great friends, food and wine.

Big Shoes to Fill

2009-01-02T16:38:00.000-08:00

Colin seems to enjoy running around in our shoes these days :)

Happy New Year!

2008-12-31T19:02:00.000-08:00

What a blessed year! I have met some wonderful people this year although we have kept to ourselves a bit more than usual. Colin's arrival was definitely an amazing life change. We've been in the groove for a while, but we noticed we have not been that social this year. So, my resolution is to make the effort :) It is a priority this year for me to stay connected to the people in our lives the way we used to.

Christmas was wonderful and once again we were blessed to spend it with both sets of our parents in the same house! We're lucky that our parents get along so well. Dave's brother was with us as well. We missed having his new fiance there, too. I thought of my brother, sister in law and nephews every day. They live in Guam so we don't get to see them as much as we want. This year my brother spent Christmas in Hawaii without his family. He's in the Navy has has made so many sacrifices for this career, this was one more...thank you Paul, I know I couldn't do it.We had a white Christmas and travel was smooth sailing both ways. A week full of beautiful snow.

There was of course, entirely too many presents. Colin figured it out quickly and was absorbed in the first two toys so much so, that he didn't utter a peep. For those that know him, he is not a quiet kid.

Most of the time that he wasn't playing he spent running around with different hats and making us try them all on too. Way too many pictures to post.

Merry Christmas!

2008-12-24T22:30:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas to all
and to all a good night!

Colin Walking 1108

2008-11-22T22:09:00.000-08:00

So the editing is non-existent, but the video is here :)
It's a little more challenging on the wobbly grass and he will do a preemptive strike and drop to his knees if he thinks he might fall.

PS, it's the middle of November and it was 85 degrees on the day we shot this.

Walking!

2008-11-21T22:42:00.000-08:00

It's official! After 3+ months of walking around things, walking with things and walking with just mommy and daddy using one finger to grasp for balance as of yesterday 11/20/08 Colin is an independent walker!

Of course this new constant is impossible to catch on video because he drops to his knees to scurry over to check out the camera. Dave and I will both be around this weekend to catch him in action.

I've got to say though, my back hurts...I think it's the past two weeks worth of walking around half way bent over since he was holding onto our finger for balance.

Cool Bike, Dude...

2008-11-19T21:14:00.000-08:00

Colin's first 'big wheel' came as a birthday present from Uncle Paul, Aunt Summer, and cousins Zach and Ben. This thing is so cool, with the pull of a pin in changes from a rocking trike to a pushable trike. Eventually the handle / slide comes off completely.

Colin has spent most of his free time riding, sitting, rocking, getting on and off, playing with his toys on it and generally just thinking it is very cool. He's been trying to accessorize it with swimming goggles on the handle bars :) LOL!

USS Midway San Diego

2008-11-09T19:15:00.001-08:00

We just returned from a short trip to San Diego where I assisted with a provider booth and Dave was 'stay at home daddy'. Looks like they had a good time. They went to the USS Midway Aircraft Carrier. Since Colin loves planes, trains and boats in that order seemingly it seemed like a time to be had. What a great daddy. Dave said he was all squeals and oohs when he first landed sight on everything and then was just speechless during his new adventure.

Happy Halloween '08

2008-11-01T08:19:00.001-07:00

I was acctually excited about Halloween this year! All these little ones were adorable. We met our friends Steve, Sara and Ben downtown and had dinner. Colin's costume came off within 20 minutes, too hot. In SB 75-80 is normal temp on Halloween which makes puffy costumes unbearable :)

Sara and I were reminiscing just a year ago that she was going into labor! Ben's 1yr birthday is today! November 1. Happy Birthday Ben! Wow, time goes so fast!

Colin started walking a couple of weeks ago. He still prefers to walk on his knees (ouch) or crawl, both of which he's really fast at.

The Great Pumpkin (season)

2008-10-25T14:27:00.000-07:00

Colin went on his first trip to the pumpkin patch today and seemed very content to be outside checking out all the new stuff! He met an adorable chocolate lab puppy named Moose (or maybe be Mousse) and they were fast friends.

We're having a fun Fall and just enjoying family time.

Quack Quack

2008-10-23T08:48:00.001-07:00

So, I mentioned earlier that Colin has been imitating some animal sounds, dog, chicken, duck and recently monkey. Always fun stuff :)
The other night he was starting to come down with a cold and woke up crying which he hasn't done in so long we decided to give it a minute to see if he'd just go back to sleep. His cry suddenly got really loud and the he yelled QUACK QUACK QUACK, waaah, QUACK QUACK, waah then fell asleep.

He is a character! We also went up to El Capitan State Beach and campgrounds with the Rockwood family just for a bit. Knowing full well he'd be covered in dirt, I brought extra clothes. Little did I realize he'd dump water on himself while he was already covered in dirt and continue to play in the dirt / mud. Mudpies for everyone :)