Oh no, here we go!

I knew this day would come, but I still was not ready. A few days ago my beloved daughter Jill began doing some strange things. I would turn my back for a minute and when I turned back around she was shifted over about 8 feet. It kept happening, but I chalked it up to wiggling. And then it finally happened, with determination and intent she crawled across the room!

Now, it appears that with the onset of intentional crawling have come myriad other new skills, specifically the Lego eating skill, the cord chewing skill and the dumping out everything in sight skill. I did not witness their practice or perfection, it seems they just appeared at the same time she became mobile.

But seriously, it is super cute and she is so happy now that she can get stuff for herself. Here are a few pics of her new skills.


Jill crawling. You may be able to see her left leg in the background with knee up.



Jill raiding the Lego bin. That is actually not fair, observation of the process shows her to be quite discerning about what she pulls out. Guess what is going up on that shelf in a few minutes?

California Pictures

So, in my last post I mentioned that the kids and I were going to California to visit for a while. Well, we did and we survived! We did have an earthquake while we were there, actually centered a few miles from our town, but alas, we were none the wiser until we watched the news.

Grandeb flew with us and stayed with us at the hotel (well, she actually spent most nights at Michelle's and took turns taking the boys for a night out!) which was a huge help.

The boys had a blast on the beach and boogie-boarding. Then we had fun cheering for Auntie Michelle in her Manhattan Beach Open qualifier and later in her matches. Go Black!

The plane on the way to L.A. Actually most of the time Jill and I sat across the aisle, but it was nice to have a small break!

Our hotel.

The amazing view from our hotel. There is a 10 foot wide strip of pavement, "the Strand," between the hotel and the sand. While beautiful, the sand is ankle deep and really hard to walk through. Especially when you are making multiple trips with multiple kids all day long!

Josh, Michelle, Jake and Scott enjoying breakfast!

Michelle's apartment. More precisely her garage. Her apartment is around the side behind the stairs. It is very, well, cozy!




Jill snoozes at the beach after a rather sandy feeding.

Josh shows off his seaweed.

Jake relaxing.

Me and Josh relaxing.

More California

The boys ready to catch a wave. As soon as mom makes them stop posing!




Josh rides one, whooping all the way!





The gang buries Scott. Jake, Michelle, Scott, Ryne Tacker and Josh.

Jake's turn.

And Josh's turn.

Jill and Mom in front of the ocean.

Jill excited for her first wave.

A little nervous.

Ready for more!

Whoa, this is bigger than I thought!

Even More California

Our family on the beach. How sweet!



My babies on the beach. Even Sweeter!




So adorable. They walked this way all the way from the restaurant to the hotel. 13 blocks!



The gang, Jake, Scott, Michelle, Josh.

And bringing up the rear, Grandeb and Jill.

The kids on the statue of the surfer on the Hermosa Beach Pier.

Jake hammin' it up!

We walked all the way to the end and saw some fun stuff!

Seals!!!

The city of Hermosa Beach from the end of the pier.

Still More California Shots

Yummy So Cal food!



Jill is hooked!



Josh polishes off his second double double burger of the trip!




Jake doesn't "do" burgers, so he got nuggets from Wendy's. He better appreciate that we drove near the 'hood for those suckers!

So happy!

Last Set of California Pics

Our first night in California, we went to see Scott's team, The Long Beach Armada play baseball. Scott got to pitch and did a good job, so that was fun! After the game we hung around and met the players. Below are picture of the kids with Jose Lima. Any Houston Astros fan will remember Jose "LimaTime" Lima when he pitched in Houston and how much fun he was to watch!


Jill was so tired, it was way past her bedtime and she just didn't want to be held by anyone but mom!



Jake and Josh had a great time at the game and were all smiles!

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So there is a really cool restaurant/dinner show called Medieval Times that Michelle and Scott took us to. The boys had a blast. You basically sit at banquet tables around an arena and watch jousts and sword fights while you eat dinner. There is a storyline and all that, but that is way less important than cheering for your color knight (ours was blue) to beat the others!












And finally, what we came for, Michelle's volleyball....



Michelle Hitting.



And blocking.




And getting all covered in icky sand!

Going Back to Cali....

Well, we are really going for the first time, but, it reminded me of the 80's... And I bet it made you sing the song!

Jennifer and the kids are going tomorrow to LA to see Michelle and Scott and hang out in the sun and sand of Manhattan Beach. Grandeb is going, too. We will also be crossing paths with Kiki, Aaron and Owen.

This will be Josh's and Jill's first time in California and Jake was only there as a 3 month old, so it is his first real trip, too.

We plan to learn to surf (Jake), play on the beach, watch Michelle play volleyball and eat at In and Out Burger! Priorities people!

So, I will see if I can make time to post updates while on our trip, if not, check back next weekend for lots of pics!

Josh's Crazy Dance

This was too good not to put on the site!

Cuteness!

Jill and GranDeb have their first Tea Party. Not intentionally held in conjunction with the others nationwide, but it should have been!


















Jill just being an adorable naked baby! G - Rated, of course! She has a nice tan!