A Saturday at the Beach and a Sunday Morning Bicycle Ride

This weekend was full of lots of fun family time. Saturday we headed to the beach to debut Susannah's yellow polka dot bikini. (Thanks Casey!) Lucky for Mommy and Daddy, she napped the first hour we were there and then she was ready for fun in the sun!
She likes playing with her sunglasses much more than actually wearing them.


Here she is in her, "I'm almost ready to crawl anyday now" position. She can turn, slither, roll, and pull herself, but is yet to actual do the full scale crawl. We did, however, have to lower her crib to the lowest position when I came into the nursery to find her standing a couple of days ago. We are trying to explain she needs to crawl before she walks. :)


Here she is contemplating her next move.....


Then it was time for some actual contact with that freezing pacific ocean. I'm not sure she liked the first few minutes in the wet sand.


But she sure did look cute.

"Hey, why is this ruffle here?"


Mommy wanted in on the fun in the sun photo shoot too.......
Mommy's sunglasses are the best toy ever!


And Daddy needed in on all the fun too. After all, he's Susannah's favorite ride.


Sunday morning Peter participated in a 30 mile "Bike the Bay" ride that took him over the Coronado bridge. Since the ride came right by our house, we were outside waiting to cheer him on as he rode by. While we waited, we saw this guy, representing the team that will hopefully be beating Boise St. next Saturday. :)

Here is meadow, patiently waiting like the good dog she is.

And then he arrived!! Yae Dada!! We were so proud. That bridge is pretty darn high.....


All in all, a pretty good weekend, I'd say!

More of our new city and a two very special visitors

We are still loving our new home here in San Diego. The beach, the food, the pedestrian lifestyle....we love it all. But if we had to choose our favorite thing it would have to be the weather. The sky is this blue every single day. And it is between 65-75 degrees. And in this kind of weather, Susannah has chosen a new preferred means of transportation.


One of the great things about living on Coronado is the ferry that drops you off right in the middle of downtown. We took it last week and had a great aftenoon.


The USS Midway is a popular tourist spot. In front was this giant replica of the famous homecoming photo.


We also went to the top of the Hyatt downtown for a drink and this amazing view.

But Susannah's favorite spot is still the swings in the park next to our house.


We have also made our way out to Point Loma to check out the views there. It is pretty amazing.


As you can see, Susannah really enjoyed herself.


The best part of the past week was definitely the arrival of the long lost member of our family....Meadow!!! Peter's dad was nice enough to drive her out cross-country and we were so happy to see both of them.


Here is Susannah practicing her walking with her Papa.


Susannah looooves Meadow and Meadow has been so sweet and patient. Meadow is even sleeping in front of Susannah's crib at night. Here are some shots from our evening picnic at dog beach.




Thanks to Papa for a great visit! More pics of Susannah coming soon.

Finally, the Knoxville post!!

Well, now that we are finally settled and Daddy has gone back to work, Susannah and I are settling in nicely to our new California lifestyle. I'm going to do a day-in-the-life post soon, so we can share what a typical day is like, but until then, here is one of our newest and most loved activities......swinging at the park:


We spent the first half of July visiting my mom and her side of the family in Knoxville Tennessee. This visit was something I had been looking forward to for months and we had the most perfect time. My mom, now referred to by Grammy, was such a great hostess. It was just the relaxing atmosphere I needed after Susannah's crazy month long growth spurt and all the traveling we had been doing. Susannah had so much fun with her family. Here she is playing with her Grammy and Aunt Susan.

And here she is with her Grandmama(who is actually her great-grandmama by the way.) and her three great-great aunts. The one holding her, Aunt Charlotte hosted a 4th of July bbq in Susannah's honor. It was so fun seeing all of our extended family and letting them meet Susannah.

And Susannah loved rocking with her Grandmama.


One of my top priorities for the visit, was to have a little photo shoot with all 4 generations. It was hard to get Susannah to look at the camera, but we still ended up with a lot of great photos.

Here is one of my favorites.

I also looove these pictures of Susannah with her Grammy:




Susannah also enjoyed getting back to her East Tennessee roots with some time on the front porch swing.
Can't think of a better place for a nap.



Another highlight of our time in Knoxville was the opportunity to spend time with my two childhood best friends and their new baby daughters. You may remember the photos of all three of us pregnant last summer. My friend Lyndsey's daughter Ellie was born in October and then Amy's daughter Scarlet and Susannah were born less than 24 hours apart. The three of us had been looking forward to all the photo ops their first meeting would provide, so when the day came, we were armed and ready with our cameras. The girls, not so excited though.

The girls eventually came around though (and Susannah went down for a nap), so we mommys decided it was the perfect time to make a toast to the next generation of girls. (I love how Ellie and Scarlett are looking up at the glasses like they want some.)

Then it was swim time!! And time for another fun photo op that didn't turn out as perfectly as we would have hoped. Out of around 20 shots of the 6 of us in the pool, this was the best we have. Sorry we can't see sweet Scarlett's little face.

And here are Ellie and Susannah on the big girl float. Hard to believe that 23 years or so ago, their moms were right there in the same place, splashing around on a practically identical float.
Later in the week, Lyndsey's parents were so thoughtful in organizing a dinner at their house for all three generations. We dressed the girls up in their finest for another go with the photos. This one turned out okay, even though Susannah looks a little tired.

In all the others, at least one of the three were in meltdown mode. In all honesty though, I find the imperfect pictures to be the most fun. In this one, Susannah and Scarlett aren't loving the camera, while Ellie is happy.

30 seconds later, and Susannah and Scarlett have come around, but Ellie has decided she has had enough.

I don't know if you have noticed, but Susannah and Scarlett showed up in the same dress! What are the odds? Born within 5 hours of each other, and already the same taste in fashion......they must be soul mates! After dinner we headed down to the lake to try our luck outside. The girls looked beautiful in the evening light, didn't they?

This time next year, they will all be walking and we will be wishing for the days that our biggest concern was getting them to smile. We probably won't be able to keep them on the same blanket next year. Here is the best photo I have of all three generations. Even though some of us aren't looking, I still really love this one. I'm sure our moms were feeling overwhelmed to be there with us and our daughters.

And here is a shot with the husbands.

And, finally, here is the group shot from the night. I have to say a big thank you to Betty and Bob for hosting this dinner. It was so perfect to be able to spend an evening catching up and remembering old times. What a blessing old friends are. I am already looking forward to next year's reunion. You guys are up for hosting, right?? :)