Meeting Baby Faith

Quinn ate while Faith and Danielle sat at the table. Quinn laughed and squealed each time she looked at Faith.


Emerson really liked Baby Faith and wanted to kiss her head .


It was so nice seeing my cousin Danielle and meeting her new baby Faith Amelia.

More CA picts.

Here is Quinn Katherine with her namesake, my dad's sister, Aunt Kathy. Kathy is one of the kindest, caring and most generous people I know. I'm so glad I was born on her birthday and now I think Quinny is so fortunate to share her name.

Yes, Quinn is getting to be quite a load.


We invaded Uncle Ed and Aunt Nancy's home in Huntington Beach for a couple of days. Emerson and Quinn loved the pool. I think they spent more time in the water than out. Emerson loved playing with Nicholas, Jacob and Brittany in the playroom.


The kids thought Quinn looked just like a Who so she became Cindy Lou Who - dead ringer right?

More CA picts.

Em playing with Gaga near the Santa Monica Pier.

I got 9" cut off while I was in CA. It feels great.




Here we are in Santa Monica on the tail end of our stay. The weather was perfect and our hotel was right across from the Santa Monica Pier. The perfect way to end our stay.

CA vacation

Quinn and her Grandpa. She was all smiles at Nick.

Quinn loved Grandpa's beard and Emerson thought it was silly. See his little superimposed head in the bottom right corner?

After a pretty smooth 6-hour flight from Boston to LA my mom picked the kids and I up at the airport. From the moment I saw her little smiling face at the airport, I felt so happy to be spending 2 weeks together. I miss my momma something fierce and having the whole country between us has been a little hard.

So, we stayed near LAX for the night which allowed me to see my friend Monique. My mom watched the kids while Monique and I went out to sushi and walked around Santa Monica. It was so nice to be out with my best girlfriend just talking and relaxing without being concerned with bedtimes and dirty diapers. Thank goodness for nannies, I mean moms.

The next morning we headed for Atascadero, and were able to see my friend Louis and his adorable family on the way. His wife made us an unbelievable breakfast while Louis took pictures and Emerson played with Ethan and Jonas. Here's the link to the amazing pictures Louis took. I'm sure you'll see some of these on our walls someday.

http://mixandfade.smugmug.com/gallery/9055070_dMZCq/1/602713254_S845y

Grandpa Joe's Super Duper Camera

"You don't think I know what he's about to do? Oh I know and I'm a little disappointed that you're just going to sit there and not just watch, but take a picture. Oh the nerve!"



Grandpa Joe took these pictures and I just love them. I think Quinn's expression says so much. Sometimes her expressions seem much older than she is. I think she's already a pretty wise little lady, but then again I am her mother.

Granpa Joe and Nana Fleur in CT

Emerson was so excited Grandpa Joe and Nana Fleur came to visit. He had so much to tell them.



Overdue to be sure, these should have been posted last month. We were so happy when we heard that Joe and Fleur were coming up to visit after Fleur's family reunion here in CT. They roughed it on our ever so comfortable air mattress in the middle of our plushly appointed living room. Despite the meager accomodations, they were able to stay a couple of days. We drove down to Mystic, CT on a Saturday afternoon and then spent the day at Pulaski State Park in Rhode Island on another day. As always, it was great being together.

Hartford Train Show

The train show turned out to be a pretty big deal - a national train show. Who knew trains had a bigger fan base than just toddler boys. Turns out a lot of old men also like 'em. Emerson was in heaven from the moment he walked through the Hartford Convention Center doors. The highlight for us all though was the spectacularly intricately designed Lego exhibit. Quinny got to experience the show while riding high in the backpack. Gruff old men looked at her and said, "She's cute," in voices that didn't match their words. I love the unexpected.

Our New Place in CT

Here it is in all its glory. Our place is upstairs.

I'm taking this from the balcony.

In Connecticut, it seems that wherever there isn't a home or a road, there is a forest. Here's one behind the shed in our backyard.

Once again, we were in a bit of shock when we arrived at our new "home." This time it was an upstairs apartment in an...um...up and coming neighborhood. "Three months, just three months," we chant to ourselves and then each other. And now 6 weeks later, our little ghetto apartment is home...for 3 months.


We went to a local street fair and Emerson got his face painted for the first time. The choice; a T-Rex of course.

Quinn is starting to sit up after being in crawling position. Motoring begins...


Emerson, Eli and Quinn getting acquainted with the new apartment.

6 week recap.

Wow! Where did the time go? I can't believe Sean's job is already half over and this is the first east coast entry. I'm blushing.

I not sure how I kept up with the blogging in Oregon. Wait, yes I do! The dreary weather, a cozy home, the constant drizzle, the gray clouds and mainly an immobile baby who slept nearly 6 hours a day permitted me to type away at my leisure.

Well, today is a different day. The sun is shining, the air is thick (ooh, the humidity) in an upstairs apartment, Quinn now sleeps maybe two hours a day and when she's not sleeping she's moving - constantly. Yes, these east coast days are much different and the lack of blog entries illustrates that point. I'd like to say I'll be better from now on, but I can't make any promises.

These first pictures are from our first weekend here. We drove less than an hour east to Newport, Rhode Island and spent the day. It was beautiful! We started the day by taking the Narragansett Bay Cliff Walk, which was a nice way to see the backside of the historical mansions and the bay.
Here's Emerson looking for T-Rex tracks.

Quinny and I looking for tracks.

Emerson playing in our new yard.

We found a park where everyone could run around and I could feed Quinn.

We had lunch here at one of the oldest continuously operating pubs in the U.S. Our food was memorable and so was the company. We met a really sweet couple who invited us to go for a sail on their boat.

After lunch we headed to Watson Farm in Jamestown, Rhode Island. Even though the "farm" was in a beautiful location, we felt a little silly paying money to walk through fields and look at cows. It turns our farms in Rhode Island are pretty much the same as farms in California. Good to know.

Here's Sean packing the kids through the "farm."