more portraits

I am working on more portrait photography just for fun. Rob let me use him as a test subject recently. He is such a cutie, so it was hard to take a bad photo of him. I am one lucky girl. It was a fun day at the Huntington Gardens wandering through the Chinese & Japanese gardens snapping photos, working with my camera, & hanging out with my family.

September 28, 2009

L.A. Live Steamers

if there's one thing that Sydney loves, it is trains! Casey Jr. is her imaginary best friend. I hear stories about Casey Jr. almost every day. Rob and I discovered this place in Griffith Park called L.A. Live Steamers one day when it was featured on Huell Howser. We knew Sydney would love it and she certainly DID! These little steamers are part of the non-profit museum and they only accept donations for rides. Everyone there was incredibly nice and we will definitely be back to ride the trains again.

Sydney anticipating the arrival of our train. She kept saying, "We're neXT!" and "The train's coming! We have to WAit for it".

September 5, 2009

Half Moon Bay Girl's Getaway Weekend!

The title pretty much sums it up. A couple of Mom friends and I decided we needed a getaway weekend. I mean, what Mom doesn't need a break from the every day madness every now and then? Once you have a baby or two or three or four, those days of sipping coffee and catching up on the latest gossip with your girlfriends are pretty much few and far between. I fully believe that after you become a Mom, you still need to nurture that independent side when you can. You just can't forget who you are as a person once you have a child.
We spent the weekend in Half Moon Bay, California, which is one of the most peaceful places we could have chosen. We rented a beach house there that was just across the street from the ocean. Being the ocean lover that I am, I was immediately refreshed and relaxed at my first glimpse of the beach. The place was totally quaint and beautiful. We spent our kid-free time wisely. Having that option of just picking up and walking out the door on a whim was an impulse that I had almost forgotten I had. We made blueberry pancakes, sipped coffee, and talked about the latest celeb news one morning. We popped into town for massages, manicures, and pedicures. We went for a hike along the cliffs over Mavericks. We went to the HMB brewery one night and another night we just stayed up eating popcorn and brownies, drinking red wine, watching movies, and gossiping. It was a weekend we all needed and, although we desperately missed our families for the 4 days we were away from them, it made me remember that there is a part of the soul that can only be nurtured by great girlfriends and I am so grateful for the ones in my life.

August 12, 2009

Palm Springs - Part deux

The warm nights, the dry heat, the swimming, swimming, swimming.....Who doesn't love Palm Springs?? I would love to have a vacation home there. It may not be possible for me to do that, but at least for a weekend I was able to pretend like that was my life. A friend of ours has a friend who owns this amazing vacation home in P.S. and she was gracious enough to let us live vicariously through her for a weekend. Rob, Syd, & I + his brothers and a few other friends spent the weekend lounging by the pool & seeing how the other half lives. It was amazing and I didn't want to leave this little oasis.

mud bath anyone??

August 5, 2009

How the othe half lives

Anyone who knows me knows that I absolutely love the summer sun & they also know that I love to swim. When I was a kid I used to spend entire summers in the swimming pool. My average summer day was 8am tennis lesson, swim, swim, swim, swim team practice, swim some more, crash out around 9pm. So, I was happy to see that Sydney loves the water so much. Any time we are near a pool, she immediately says, "I want to go in the pooooooooool". We decided to take a weekend trip to La Quinta, because you can get great deals on house rentals out there during the summer. The reason there are great deals is because it is usually in the 110 degree range this time of year. However, if you rent a house that has a pool you can just swim all day and not feel hot. It is the perfect combination: Sun, Swim, & discount rentals. I could not believe my luck when I found this incredible house for an affordable price! We spent 4 amazing days reliving my childhood - minus the tennis lessons and the swim team practice.

The master bedroom was amazing and had the best view out over the pool & the mountains beyond.

Amanda & Ryan came with us. Amanda is my best friend whom I met when we both worked at the local swim club as swim instructors/lifeguards. She just adores Sydney, which makes me so happy. Sydney feels the same way about her! Here's "Auntie Manda" teaching Sydney how to swim & a few other shots of them hanging out in the water together. They are so cute together!

www.desertluxuryrentals.com

July 20, 2009

Loves her some bubbles!

Sydney loves her some bubbles! She would have me blowing bubbles for her all day long if she had her way. Why is it that kids are so fascinated with them? I guess I can remember being fascinated, too, when I was a kid. They are shiny and floaty. :)

Sydney now knows about the camera. When she sees me pull it out and try to take a picture of her she looks at me and says, "Say cheeeeeese!". This is the wacky smile I get every time. Plus, the teeth coming in make her look like a vampire.

an attempted portrait of the 2 of us. Didn't work so well, but I was tired to taking pictures, so I'll have to try this again another day.

June 12, 2009

a toddler's entourage

Syd has always loved carrying tons of toys in her arms at once. Over the past 2 years she has developed a few favorites. More like 10 favorites. When I tell her, "We're going to the car," she runs around the house and grabs all her buddies. It takes 5 minutes to walk from the back door to the car, because she is trying to carry them all at once. She doesn't want any help. This she knows for sure. And it is the 'no stuffed animal left behind' rule that gets them all into the car seat with her.
In alphabetic order, they are Elmo, Kitty Cat, Michael Bear, Monkey, Nemo, Percy, Pig, Pooh, Sausage, & Simba. If she drops one, it is, "Oh no, I dropped Nemo. You o.k. Nemo? I love you Pooh. I be right back Monkey. Sausage fall down." You get the idea. Then when she's in the car with them all, she takes inventory. "one, two, three, four, six, seven, eight". I don't know why she skips over 5 every time, but we're working on it. :) There are countless other stuffed animals in her room and she loves them all!

This is not a real cat! No animals were harmed in the taking of this picture. Sometimes when I go into the bathroom there are random stuffed animals sitting on the toilet. I caught her in action this time! Busted.

June 1, 2009