Speed Bump

My sister-in-law took these pictures of Charlie swimming last weekend while we were at the Lake. They are so good, aren't they? She is a whiz with the camera -  I need her to give me some pointers! I took some grainy iphone pics from our weekend, but these are so much better and they sum up Charlie's weekend perfectly. He was all in every minute, just trying to keep up with his cousins.

We drove about 10 minutes up the coast one afternoon and had lunch at Glider Point in La Jolla - a prime hang gliding spot. For an hour or so we were witness to a whole different way of spending a beautiful afternoon. High up in the clouds, these guys get as close to flying as I imagine you can get.

Our California trip overlapped with the Geiger cousins by a couple of days. Charlie had fun trying to keep up with the "M"s.

This was the second year we spent the good part of a week in sunny Southern California in February (the posts from last year can be seen here , here , here , and here ). I grew up visiting this area of California to see my Grandparents in the summers and it invokes happy memories of family and fun. Now I have new memories and routines to share with Ryan, Charlie and Izzy.

Lunch in Southern California, there is nothing like it. We walked to this lovely gem from our beach house and lingered after lunch to take in the view from the grassy spot just below the restaurant. This was on the Scripps campus, maybe they are hiring....?

We set out for San Diego today. Charlie was beyond great on the plane and in his excitement, finally crashed during our descent. Iz was a bit restless during the flight and her ears must have been popping. She kept tugging on them and drank 4 bottles! She never slept but she didn't fuss either. Success! Let the good times roll...

We made our annual trek to the Lake of the Ozarks with my family a couple weeks ago. I didn't take many pictures this year but you can tell from the few I took that Charlie really had a great time. He liked the boat, even tried out the innertube. He is fearless in the swimming pool and kept up with his cousins a little more this year. It was incredibly hot, as it has been most of this summer, so Izzy stayed inside and kept cool much of the weekend. Next year she will be trying to keep up, too.

Our vacation home in Colorado had it all - lots of space, beautiful outdoors, baby supplies like a crib and high chair, tons of toys perfect for a two-year old (cars, action figures, tinker toys, viking hats!) and a giant bathtub for swimming. We had such a great time over the 5 days. There were so many pictures, it took awhile to sort through. Gram, Izzy and I went to Denver for a conference and stayed with relatives, Ruth and Em. Ruth and Izzy became instant friends. Ruth is my grandmother Helen's niece and they were very dear friends. It was great for Izzy to meet relatives who loved her namesake, my grandmother, so very much. Em, Ruth, Izzy, Gram and Kennedy, the dog. The rest of the family joined us for a long weekend high up in the mountains just outside Boulder. Grandaddy, Gram and Izzy ready for some hiking. There was a trailhead about a quarter mile walk from our vacation house in Nederland, CO. If you don't know the story of the frozen dead guy, I can f...