Santa Barbara Zoo trip!

Avi and all her friends (i.e. my friend's babies) went to the zoo on a mini field trip.  The babies loved it, and so did the mamas!  The kids favorite thing was the park we sat at during lunch with the sliding turf grass hill.  All the mommies were lucky enough to see the gorilla walk by in front of us carrying his "blanket"- so amazing it's size and human similarities!  

 Mommies Sarah, Amanda and Sarah with babies Avi, Kendall, Tessa and Olivia.

 Macy, Olivia & Avi trying to get a better view of the napping lions on the other side of the glass.

 The slidy-turf-hill that entertained the babies to no end!  Here Macy hugs Avi.  Avi wasn't too into the sliding, she more liked to watch everyone else do it.  In fact, I got a video of this slide and Macy's face is all smiles, while Avi's face remains stoic and uninterested the whole time.   Funny.

Negative Tide at the Beach

Once in a while the negative tide will go way low and reveal some sea caves.  This time, with the warm weather, it left warmed pools of shallow water for the babies to play in.  Play date!

 Thinking about all the fun she is about to have in the natural pool behind her.

Our friend Julie came to visit. 

 Sandy and loving it!

 Olivia sporting her sunglasses and designer suit.

Macy, Avi, Olivia (editing compliments of Amanda, Olivia's mom)!

The Great Communicator

It can be said by Avi's constituency that her eloquence is unsurpassed in the baby world. And though there may be a bit of bias in that belief, it is hard to deny that when Avi talks, it is awfully cute. It doesn't matter that most of what's uttered are lyrical strings of garbley sounds and repetitions; her voice is the sound of music. In fact, we're so enamored when she speaks that we often whip out our iphones and try to record her whenever she delves into one of her engaging monologues, but 99.9% of the time, she evades us and begins shrieking to hold the phone. These kinds of shrieks are not musical and they're not cute. They're often piercing, painful, frustrating, and nearly enough to drive you to criminal behavior.

Fortunately, her good communication far outweighs the bad. Like when one of us has been away from her for a while and when we're reunited, she immediately has something extremely important to say or point out. You can see the intensity in her eyes as she struggles to articulate and finally resigns to pointing to some object in the room and exclaiming, "Daa!" But that's okay with us; Avi's making progress and she's got our vote anytime.

At the Park with Avi.

There's a really cool park near our house, Chumash Park. Avi loves it there!

Content with her conquering of the slide.

Watching other kids and thinking...

Avi must be practicing posing for magazines, because lately she's been crossing her legs at the ankles whenever she stands against a wall. It's adorable and very photogenic!

This is a cool slide, it has bars that roll. Very fun!

But the swing is best - especially when Daddy does "underdog"!

Oso Flaco on a very cold day

We live less than 10 miles from the awesome boardwalk trial over Oso Flaco Lake to the dunes in Guadalupe. Unfortunately, we don't go there often enough, and when we do - it always seems to be C-O-L-D!

The coolest boardwalk - right over a lake!

I LOVE this picture of Avi chasing the birds! This is one of her new favorite hobbies, one that she picked up while in Hawaii.

This picture breaks my heart! Look at how small she is, but keeping right up with mama!

Four Generations (or, Avi, her mother, her mother's mother, and her mother's mother's mother))

My Grammy (know to Avi as "Gigi" - short for GreatGrandma) is turning 90 in March. She is truly an amazing woman. I hope to be more like her everyday - she is tolerant, kind, patient, generous, full of laughter, and gives great hugs and kisses! So, since Avi was born, I wanted to have a portrait of us women - I'm so proud of our female four generations!

Thanks to my Dad Paul for taking these treasured photographs.

Avi wasn't too happy at the end of the 3 minute shoot - she was very cold and shivering. She did great, though!

A Sitti Traditon: Sink Fun!

When I first met Michael, and then his mother, I'd see Julia washing Matthew Anthony in this sink (he was then 1 or 2 years old). Now, it is Avi's turn in the sink tub. I just don't know who loved it more: Julia or Avi!

We call this "poursie poursie".

One happy grandmother.

One happy toddler.

Avi loves baths so much, but she HATES it when they end... She just wants to keep playing in the water all day long! Poor baby.