California - September 18-25

We've been a bit delinquent on the blog postings for a couple of weeks, but we have an excuse...vacation! We were in Santa Barbara for Stacy and Grant's wedding, followed by some much needed down time at the beach house in Ventura. Too much fun = too much to write, so that's all we have to say. Enjoy the pictures, they speak for themselves!

Rehearsal Dinner Day

Sorry, this is SUPER dark, but just imagine Addison putting on and taking off her lei

Wedding Day

Celebration

Breakfast at the wharf - morning after the wedding

Beach time

Last day

The last weekend of Summer!

What a beautiful weekend! We've been looking forward to this 3-day weekend for weeks now, especially since we got to stay with Addison since Thursday due to Brenda being on vacation. What a treat! Since it was 75-80 degrees and sunny every day, we spent time outside in the backyard and we hit the beach as well. Back to work tomorrow, but looking forward to Grant and Stacy's wedding and more beach time in just 2 weeks!

Addison talking to her buddy the duck

We found her sleeping like this during a morning nap - how cute is that?!

Taking a break to read a book

Addison writes her first blog posting - A day at the park with my Dad.

Some of you might find this odd but I thought I'd write a posting for once and give my mom a break. I figure it's the least I can do for the best Mom in the whole wide world. She always takes the time to write such wonderful things about how much she loves watching me grow, laugh, play and "All kinda thing like that there."

I'm sure you're wondering where I got that saying from. My Grandpa Allan got that saying stuck in my head the first time I visited California when I was 3 months old and I haven't been able to get it out of my head since. Anyway, I'm writing to let everyone know that I had the most amazing day with my Daddy.

We started out by having a wonderful breakfast together and then he took me for a jog through our neighborhood. After my morning nap we went to the park where I played in the sand, got my tan on and swung on the swing set. The best was when I climbed up the steep stairs leading to the slide. It was my very first time accomplishing a feat of this magnitude. I made it up the entire way without my Daddy's help. He was so proud of me! He clapped and cheered me on the entire way. However, I must say he was a bit nervous when I went down the steep stairs. It was a little touch and go going down the first four steps. Then, on the fifth one I ended up falling off and landing on the sand covered playground floor. It was no big thing though. I got up and dusted myself off and moved on to the next playground adventure. Thanks Dad for such a wonderful day! Love, Addison.

Ok, maybe DJ wrote this but Addison played a big role in the editing room.

Playtime at the Calhoun Park

Another gorgeous weekend in the Mini-apple! We spent a ton of time outside this weekend, with Addison roaming around the kiddie park by lake Calhoun for much of Saturday afternoon. She was quite adventurous, climing up the slide and slithering down the playground equipment. It's hard to keep this girl clean these days!

On Sunday we all came into my office to drop off some plants and pictures (I've been doing a bit of office redecorating to make myself feel more at home!) and Addison had a GREAT time sitting in my chair and banging on my keyboard. She also made friends with a little stuffed Target dog that was sitting near my desk, and insisted on repeatedly kissing and squeezing him. She even propped him up right on the keyboard in front of her all by herself!

Addison had pizza for the first time this week and scarfed it down with gusto. We made it ourselves on a piece of whole wheat flatbread with veggies and cheese, so although this version was healthy, I'm pretty sure she'll love the real deal when she gets a hold of that someday.

Bottle before bed with dad

Target!

Park time!

Pizza!

Cedar Lake Beach

What a weekend! Possibly the nicest weather we have had all Summer long. Following a week of torrential downpours, tornado warnings and flash floods, this weekend was filled with sunshine, blue skies, warm air and a mild breeze. It's even been cool enough at night to sleep with the windows open.

Addison and I went to the zoo with our good friend Natalie, and Mara and her kids - I think Addison has seen enough of the zoo this year. She has a hard time sitting still in the stoller, and constantly wants to get out and crawl around. If she sees a field of grass or a body of water, she squirms and wriggles and says "down!" Well, it sounds like down. The zoo isn't exactly the best place for crawling around, but we enjoyed the day anyhow.

Sunday, DJ and Addison and I hit Cedart Lake Beach, not far from our house. Addison ate about 10 handfuls of sand, crawled all over a kayak, splashed in the water and scarfed down her first PB&J sandwich with watermelon. She had a great time, and so did we!

Morning sleepy head

New fave pastime - open drawer, take clothes out,

put clothes back in, shut drawer, repeat...

Cedar Lake Beach -

on our way down the trail

Watermelon obession

Splish splash - sorry for the sideways view here!

Wheeeee! One final rinse before heading out