california dreamin'

Shawn was off the week of Memorial Day, so we took advantage of the short drive to Cali and headed to San Diego! The cool weather was a nice change, but it was overcast the whole time, so unfortunately S.D. was a bit gloomy. The drive along Interstate 8 was fairly uneventful (although I do think it's more interesting than the drive along I-10)... but we did come across these awesome sand dunes:


we figure this is where they shoot all those crazy desert scenes in the movies... they were huge!



we stayed right on the beach in Ocean Beach... if you don't know about O.B., let me tell you... the natives are very laid back, like hippie laid back... and there are hardly any corporate run businesses in town. it's a great little town, particularly if you appreciate surfers and hippies and a few homeless people.


the first night we were there, they were having their weekly farmers market on the main street... it was the busiest we saw it, but there were all kinds of yummy, fresh foods and beautiful flowers.


after perusing the market, we walked down to the sand (just across the street from the hotel)... since i had the stroller, i stayed on the sidewalk and shawn walked kai down to the water... she didn't know what to think of the sand at first... but loved the water (even though it was frigid! shawn still doesn't understand why people want to go to a beach where you can't swim because it's too cold!) kai played in the waves and her daddy let her get soaked in the chilly water... i didn't get any pics because i was so concerned about getting her back to the hotel and out of her freezing clothes! but here's a sweet one of kai and her daddy:


after we dried off, we headed downtown to find a place to eat and walk on the boardwalk...


i thought this was a pretty cool picture


after walking for a while, we headed back to the hotel and rested up for our trip to the san diego zoo the next day!

the first thing we did was ride the double-decker bus for the tour... this was the best family pic we could get...


this is kai's excited face


after seeing the animals from the bus, we headed to the children's zoo where kai tried to feed the goats and sheep


then we rode the sky tram (so scary for me!) across the park


to see the polar bears...


pandas...


and homeless people, oh my! (this wasn't actually at the zoo... it was at our hotel... but it was ironic because we had spent all day at the zoo)


our last stop at the world famous zoo was their new elephant exhibit... this was the closest kai got to any elephant - although the exhibit was the best thing about the zoo by far (we felt a little ripped off by the $35 per person entrance fee - it was big, and yes they have polar bears and pandas, but a bit overrated in our opinions)


we made one last stop at the sign before heading back to hippie holl--- i mean ocean beach


we enjoyed some time in the quaint courtyard of our hotel


and walked around a bit more


and turned in for a relaxing night before our long trip home the next day.

i'll leave you with our beautiful girl enjoying the cool ocean breeze (check out that mullet!)

i'm not sure if you all realize this, but taking a 2 day road trip with a moving truck, dog and 15 month old is quite exhausting... kai caught a cold just before we moved, so she was a bit fussy on the ride... but did way better than we could have imagined! unfortunately for the blog and our fuzzy memories down the road, we didn't get many pictures of the trip... and the strangest thing happened... i took a couple of pictures at 'the thing' in eastern arizona and when we got here and settled in, i couldn't find the memory card that was in my camera.... very eerie!

so about the move: we signed our house over on monday morning and ran a few errands and hit the road. we made it to midland by about 7 pm and thought, it's still daylight out, let's keep going... not sure if you know it, but there's hardly more than some desert brush, truck stops and cheap motels between midland and el paso... so we kept trucking all the way to texas' finest city - el paso - we arrived around 2:30 am and were pooped but didn't have as far to go on tuesday, so it worked out well. we got to our new apartment sometime tuesday afternoon and shawn didn't sit down until he unloaded the truck (mostly by himself!) we spent the first week here shopping for some odds and ends and driving lots of neighborhoods! more on our time in phoenix later...

before we made the semi-cross-country journey, we had the chance to say goodbye to many good friends... unfortunately, we don't have many pics... but here is kai with kari and rob a couple of days before we left i-town - we miss them so much!


uncle rob had fun pushing kai in her homemade diaper box car racer!

kai also made sure to share lots of love with kari

we also spent lots of time with our dear neighbor louise... kai loved going over to visit susie, louise's doggie



annie and noli came over just before we hit the road and why i didn't get any pictures of us all together i don't know... but annie was kind enough to take one last family photo in front of our first house for us


like i said, we didn't get many pictures on the road - mostly because gas stations and mcdonald's look pretty much the same in every town... we did stop at the first mile marker in arizona and snapped some first photos




and i caught this video of kai dancing in the car

and pretty soon we were here... our new temporary home - sorry we don't have pictures of the inside... it's your pretty standard apartment and quite frankly, our decorating is a bit embarrassing for now...



we are looking forward to hanging out with old friends and meeting lots of new ones!



next post - our second family trip to southern california!

easter and the arboretum

i promised these pictures a long time ago! i can't remember if it was before easter or after, but we went with cass and tobey and jen sperl (in town from snowy co) to the arboretum and snapped some lovely pics... the weather was good and it was my first time going... they had these 'playhouses' that were an art installation, but the kids could play in and on them... there was a pirate ship, alice in wonderland, dr. seuss, and more... they were all based on different storybooks.

we had a picnic lunch before exploring... here's kai's closeup


tobey and kai peeking into the gingerbread house



kai and tobey, hand in hand


my beautiful baby


wait for me!


playing on the slide at one of the houses


and finally, our little model (serious about the shoot!)


for easter, we headed down to pepaws house for the annual easter egg hunt... it was pretty cold, so it took place indoors and since i'm still learning how to use my camera, i didn't get many good pics of the hunt...

here's kai taking in her spoils (lots of gummy candy and quarters)


after the hunt, we spent lots of time outside with friends and family... self portrait of daddy and mama


slam dunk


aj, i'm open!


fun times on the trampoline... run



hug...

and take em down!



next up, the move, san diego and fun times in phoenix!

kai's first birthday

i realize i'm like 3 months late with this... but we've been busy. :-)

here's a few pics in case you couldn't make it... and if you did make it, thank you so much for coming and for all of the wonderful gifts! we felt so blessed to have so many people want to share in kai's special day!

this is my first attempt at making a cake for a child... kinda rough around the edges... but i did the best i could! the cupcakes above were lovely thanks to annie's cupcake decorating skillz!


kai didn't seem to mind that it wasn't aesthetically pleasing...


and ate mostly frosting...


but didn't take long to say in her own words - enough's enough!


kai had lots of friends and family come to the salem house for her shin-dig







kai opened some awesome gifts...with the help of bff, noli... (this picture is awesome)


and crashed pretty quickly in her swing outside!



pics of the move and such coming soon... maybe this week if you're lucky!

****ps... if you're picture is on here and you would like it removed, just email me and i'll gladly take it down... no questions asked, no hard feelings!****