Birth Day

What, exactly, does a 1 year old do on her first birthday?



After some cozy time with her parents in bed, she eats her usual breakfast of magic tummy porridge, plays for a while, and then heads back to bed for her morning nap. Upon waking, she runs some errands with mommy and then has lunch at Vallarta's together with friends, Maxwell, Marilyn and Deanna...then back to bed for an afternoon nap (hopefully!) and well-rested ready to party! Grandma happened to popped by bringing gifts and birthday cheer-- just in time to join the festivities: present-opening, play and cake!



Audrey was very taken with all of her gifts, but was also very happy with the Elmo gift bag. Among other thing she got her first horse--a talking rocking horse we have named, 'Tonto'. Also, she got a Nintendog --a Golden Retriever puppy named Obi. Other really cool gifts included U2 & Cold Play lullabies (too cool to pass up.)



Audrey's first cake was quite a hit, although it took her a while to catch on to the idea. She enjoyed eating some, hitting it really hard with a fork and then burned out, as one often does with bakery cake.



It all starts out very dignified...



a taste...a lick of the fingers...



then comes the fork; all the better to shovel with!



Heck--who needs a fork?!



...and the grand finale is when she discovers how fun it is to use a cake as a drum! (as pictured below)



Audrey post-cake...perfectly happy with her daddy and new puppy, 'Obi.'



P.S. Once she seemed to be burned out on cake, we offered her a bowl of yogurt, which she happily scarfed, and chased with tomatoes and hummus on rye bread. A very proud moment for her parents.

Happy 1st Birthday Audrey!



Can it really be true? Is our sweet little, tiny baby already a whole year old? In some ways, it feels as if the last 365 days have flown by like a snap of the fingers. On the other hand--how much life has changed in one single year...how many milestones, joys, sleepless nights, tears, hugs, kisses, and countless hours of staring at this amazing person.

In just one year, Audrey is already becoming herself. Engaging, joyful, intelligent, reasonable, curious and determined are words that already describe this little person. How blessed we are to have the sacred trust of loving and nurturing this little treasure, on her journey to becoming herself.

A funny story: Lately, Audrey is fascinated with animals and recently learned the sign for 'dog', which she uses for any non-human creature. In particular, she is taken with giraffes.

Well, this morning, as we were laying in bed looking at a picture of the Eiffel Tour and could not understand why she was pointing to it and doing her 'animal' sign. We peered into the picture looking for any sign of a bird or other creature...until we realized that to her, the Tour looks like a giraffe!!!

P.S. The suspicious-looking black object to Audrey's right is my censorship efforts. For some reason, Mike didn't want his manly chest pasted all over our blog.

Happy Birthday Maxwell!



Audrey's good friend Maxwell turned 1 yesterday--on August 8th. Good going, buddy! He was born the day before Audrey--which is how their mommies became friends, after sharing a postpartum room at St. Mary's hospital.

Maxwell is quite the dude--already almost walking, he can walk a bike, climb into ovens, say 'hot', and drive his own Jeep. Intelligent and very athletic, Maxwell is easy-going and always smiling. We are so blessed to know him (and his family!) and pray that this second year will be even better than his first!

We love you Maxwell!

Seinfeld, Caesars & Brut in plastic flute



A few months back, I surprised M by planning an overnight trip to see Seinfeld in Vegas August 4th. He is a MAJOR fan--knows just about every episode from every season, by heart. The show was great. As ever, Jerry was hilarious. But the guy who opened for him had us crying-laughing (Tommy Papa?)!!! We were a little shocked by the fact that Caesars, an otherwise decent venue, sold popcorn-like paper buckets of Bud Light (of all the beers in the world!) and served champagne in plastic flutes. Come on guys--even Sloppy Joe sitting at the slots with his belly hanging out gets a real glass! Toto, I don't think we're in Seattle anymore.

An unexpectedly delightful surprise: while wandering the Venetian after the show, we discovered that Thomas Keller has opened a Bouchon in the hotel! The next morning we wiggled our toes in glee while savoring brunch and the Sunday paper on the Bouchon patio, overlooking Venetian fountains and pools. An unforgettable experience! (P.S. Thomas: if you happen to be reading this--I'd stop by the Vegas shop a bit more often, if I were you. The food it still 5-star, but you might consider importing your wait-staff from somewhere outside of sin-city. It seems that a few of your peeps have recently been released from working the Excalibur buffet--very nice individuals, to be sure... just not equally yoked with your concept. Need I say more?)





24 hours in Vegas is PLENTY for us; the glitter of the place quickly wears off.

Audrey stayed with her grandma and grandpa while daddy and mommy enjoyed their getaway together. As always, it's fun and relaxing to be a couple again and, as always, we miss our little daughter SOO much that we recklessly abandon the speed limit on the way to pick her up. She is so precious to us...words cannot express.

Other than that, the birthday countdown has begun. We are in mega party-preparation mode. The pinata has been purchased and filled.

Saint Hans



I am envious. What you see above are our dear friends, Anne Marie and Marian at their local beach, Bellevue on the evening of Saint Hans. Also known as Midsummer or Summer Solstice, it is absolutely one of my all-time favorite days in Denmark--if not the favorite. The longest day of the year, the sun barely goes down at this time, which is probably why it is so widely celebrated in Northern Europe. On this evening, the coast is packed and lined with people who light bonfires, sing folk-songs, grill hotdogs and snobroed (bread dough wrapped around a stick and baked in a campfire), and generally watch the sun not go down. It is so EXTREMELY hyggeligt that I am envious that we were unable to partake in this year's festivities.

(Scandinavians just have completely different ideas about fire safety. One year I had the pleasure of celebrating St. Hans while Norway for a good friends wedding. Her family has a farm on a little island called 'Haus' just outside Bergen. Holy cow, I have never seen a bonfire that huge. I'm not kidding--it was gunormous. Like a small feel for the heat of hell--only set in the verdant hills of Norway, with rosy-cheeked Scandinavians, hotdogs, dancing and other merriment. Anyway, as many of you know, they also decorate their Christmas trees with real live candles. You gotta give it to them--they don't let fear dictate over tradition!)

LOOVE these.



Not much for knick-knacks...ok-that's a major understatement. We HATE tchotckes.

No offense to those who love the aforementioned, but the site of 'Collectors Item' this and 'Special Edition' that are just not our thing. We are constantly trying to eliminate clutter and therefore normally limit our acquisition of decorative items to a meaningful memento from our travels, etc. (we already have too many! where will we put those from future trips?) But these were too neat to pass up. Even more stunning in person, their natural color and texture are mesmerizingly tranquil.

Elmo pj's & other recent happs



Well, it's been a while since our last posting. This is not for a lack of desire...just more of a priority thing, I guess; as parents of a young child, blogging and checking email are relegated to the category of magazine-reading and movie-watching--precious 'me time.'

So for those of you who rely on our posts to keep you abreast of family happenings, there's alot to catch up on.




First, notice, in above picture, what has entered our home: character pajamas. I knew this tacky clothing category was inevitable at some point in time but never did I think that 1.) it would come so soon and 2.) I would actually be the one purchasing said tacky clothing items. And who knew? We don't even have regular tv so Audrey's exposure to Elmo is limited to 2 videos given to her (thanks Kir, Erika) , which she has watched may be 5 times total. But she LOVES him. Holy cow.



Audrey has also had her first 'official' haircut (buzzing does not count).









No, Audrey, it never does turn out like the picture in the magazine--not even in an Aveda salon.

In the meantime, Mike (and his dad), has been building a rock wall in our backyard with stones that they painstakingly collected from the Mojave riverbed.












It looks great so far (progress report to follow)!

Audrey and I have been taking full advantage of our local park, swinging and having little picnics on the playground. On this particular day our neighbors, Andrea, Dara and Caelinn Sullivan joined us...



The Sullivans recently moved from San Diego, to our neighborhood...



Dara is an aspiring gymnast, with stunningly daring signature moves such as the 'Fray-Linn'



The girls LOOOVE swinging









Oh--and how about a bout of food poisoning and flu within the same week? While in Palm Springs (this year's venue for the annual Father/Son 'Let's golf where it's insanely hot and therefore dirt cheap tournament') Doing any sort of strenuous activity in 116 degrees? Are you kidding me--the pools were too hot to swim in enjoyably (no exaggeration) This is truly golf for die-hards.













Brandi got violently ill from a mushroom risotto. Only 2 days later while celebrating his parents 40th wedding anniversary (a very belated fest at the Sky Room), Mike was overcome with a flu. Audrey had a bit of it as well, but didn't get nearly as sick as Mike--poor guy. And congrats to Mom & Dad on 40 years of love & commitment!

Photo Shop: a word of caution

A good friend recently discovered the amazing aesthetic....shall we say 'boost' that Photo Shop can provide to pictures. A few good, prudent words of caution are in order for those who are unaware of its dangers:

First, make a very CLEAR mental note for yourself about the date and time that you begin applying Photo Shop (PS hereafter) effects to your pictures. If you don't, you will begin to have exaggerated ideas of how ugly, aged, blotchy...etc. you have 'suddenly' become. This is a function of three natural and classic PS user phenomena: 1.) As novelty of employing the program wears off and 2.) You become an increasingly less discriminating digital photographer (read: take more and more crappy pictures (because it doesn't cost anything) which you never delete (because, 'hey, you never know when you might need a photo of someone's elbow for whatever reason) and 3.) Your life affords you less and less time for non-essential computer tasks; Suma sum arum: eventually, you will stop using PS and all your pictures will once again look like crap. Or, in more zen-like language: you will look like your 'natural' self once again.

Finally, be very, very careful when employing 'thinning' techniques to enhance your appearance in pictures, lest you become the laughing stock of all who know you. A former colleague 'doctored' her photo for a company Web site just ever-so-slightly and it was embarrassingly obvious because her dog (which she was holding in the picture) looked like Farrah Facet on Phen-phen. What's worse, unbeknown to her, this picture had become a mass email 'forward'. I have provided an example of the applied 'thinning' technique onto a picture of Audrey's (then) 9-month old leg below.

The firecracker turns 30!

Tomorrow we will be celebrating a very significant day: the 30th birthday of my sister, Kelly. Kelly is a very busy woman-- a dedicated sister, friend and aunt. She is currently pursuing her Psy.D and considering moving out of state next year when she transfers. (Poor us--what would we do without her?) Seriously, we would miss her madly but applaud her courage and ambition.

Happy Birthday, Kell!!!!! We love you to the moon and back...and know exciting things are in store for you this coming year.



Pictured above: Kelly and Samuel (our nephew)