Jake's first BYOB party

Yesterday Jake turned 14-years-old! He's been getting into surfing over the past couple years, and this year for his birthday he chose to have a surf party. So he invited some of his surfing pals, and Saturday we headed down to Refugio Beach for a barbecue/surfing/kayaking birthday party -- which Jake very delightedly referred to as his first BYOB party (BYOB = Bring Your Own Board).

The day started out somewhat cool and overcast with the coast covered in mist, but by mid afternoon the mist burned off and the rest of the day was nice, hot, and sunny. The surf wasn't too great at the beginning of the day either...

...but it did pick up a little bit...

...and every once in a while there was a ridable wave.

Although the surf might not have been ideal, Jake and his friends had a great time regardless.
(In picture, from left to right: Augusto, Jake, Ben, Josh, and Joe)

Our friends, the Dabos', brought their kayaks. The boys (including Eric and Gustavo, the dads in attendance) took turns in pairs kayaking out to the buoy and were able to check out the kelp forest out there. They all reported back that it was awesome - the waters were crystal clear out there and they could see schools of fish swimming around. It was definitely a nice treat for Jake because he had never been kayaking before, and he seemed to really enjoy it. I think its safe to say he had a great 14th birthday!

How's Leo?

Just a quick update on Leo...

He seems to be enjoying his new home with Jake. Jake recently added an underground tunnel to the habitat, and Leo likes to hang out in there a lot. He most often comes out and walks around in the hours of early morning and dusk. It took Jake a couple of days (or nights, rather) to used to the sounds of Leo scurrying around in his tank at night, but now Jake says he doesn't even notice. Jake has had him out of the tank, holding him, a couple of times...here's a picture of Leo just chilling out and sitting on Jake's hand.


Leo's spots are starting to really come out. Pretty cute, huh?

Portraits (6 months)

We decided to get Elise's 6 months portraits taken, and will probably follow up with Christmas portraits and other biannual occurrences. We were hoping things would be timed just right with this first time photo-session: that she'd be well rested, well fed, happy, not afraid of the stranger with the gadgetry and flashes, etc. Well, she didn't get her morning nap, but did fall asleep just before arriving at the studio. Being a little sleepy and in her leery-of-strangers mode, she just wasn't up for responding to the photographer with smiles. Mom, dad, and Jake were all there to make silly sounds and interact playfully, but little was working. The photographer used what seemed like must have been an old trick, fanning Elise's face with little blasts of air, which seemed to kind of startle her and just barely eek out little smiles. In the end the pictures that were selected and offered to us for sale were better than we could have expected, given that she just wasn't in a silly smiling mood (like she usually is). Here are a few that we have, from screenshots, off the photo-session web page. The fourth one down looked like the best portrait to us, when we were at the studio, so we asked them to print us up a few copies to send off to the grandparents. But now, looking at the various poses, its not so clear why we chose the one we did. Funny how things change like that. Must be that the variation in cuteness between these is so small that its affected by the weather or something.

A day of doctor visits...

Today both kids had doctor visits at their new pediatricians' office. Elise had her 6 month old checkup this morning and Jake had his 13/14 year old well-child visit this afternoon. And, its official...we have two big, healthy kids. Elise is 18 pounds 13 ounces and 26 inches long. Jake is 5 feet 9.5 inches tall and weighs 117 pounds.

Elise had another round of shots, and she did really well. She cried for just a minute, then that was that. She was definitely apprehensive, though - even before the shots. Neither the doctor nor nurse could elicit a smile from her, which is strange because she's usually all smiles for anyone who gives her attention. At one point, the doc even turned to me and in a very concerned tone of voice asked, "She does smile, right?"

Yes, she does smile...of course, her smiles range from the more sweet, playful smiles...

to more goofy smiles...




to her full out squinty-eyed, silly smiles...

and her excited, fun swinging smiles...

but, the answer is yes...she definitely does smile!

Anyway, back to the doctor visits...

Jake was also apprehensive when it was his turn - stating he dislikes going to the doctor - but was very pleased with his new pediatrician. After all was said and done, Jake remarked that "it wasn't so bad after all."

Elise, however, since her visit was this morning, was even more apprehensive when we walked back into the office this afternoon for Jake's appointment - casting shadowy, cautious looks at the nurse who greeted us. She kept a very watchful eye on Jake and the doctor. Once she realized Jake wasn't screaming out in pain and didn't seem to be too distressed, she lightened up a little bit and even gave Jake a small smile of encouragement. Her smile immediately turned back into a suspicious look of concern, though, when the doc made eye contact with her. But, can you blame her? After all, it was the same place where earlier that day she was stuck in her chubby little thigh with those horribly sharp needles! I think she was genuinely concerned about what was going to happen to Jake. Needless to say, she was all smiles and giggles when we left there.

Elise's Half-birthday today!

Elise is 6 months old today - and getting goofier by the day!

She woke up today on her half-birthday clapping her hands. This was the first time she's clapped with both hands open and she is very pleased with the clapping noise she's able to make now. We sang "If you're happy and you know it, clap your hands" and she very excitedly joined in and clapped along.

Some of her other "firsts" this month include...

sweet potatoes, which she liked

She also liked sharing sweet potato kisses with her bear...

Swinging in the park....

She's sitting up on her own now...

She's also recently started this goofy, squinty-eyed smile...

Last weekend we went to a barbecue at our friends' - the Niehaus' - where Elise had her first experience with a baby bungee jumper...

She wasn't too sure what to do in it at first, but eventually started getting the hang of it and seemed to really enjoy it...

Although she seemed to scare Kurt (Jeff and Jayne's son, who is exactly one month older than Elise) when we first got there...
The rest of the night went pretty smoothly with Kurt finally deciding Elise was okay after all...

And, it was a fun night, hanging out with good friends...

(Thanks to Danielle (above) for the pictures from the barbecue!)