Ice Cream

I just had to document Austin's first bowl of ice cream. He had it at my mom's house. After all, that's what grandmas are for, right?

La Jolla

We took a quick little family vacation at the end of June and went to La Jolla for the weekend to escape the heat and enjoy the beach. We had a great time soaking up the sun, playing in the sand, and spending time with our friends Ryan, Sarah & Kate. Somehow we didn't get pictures with them, but they were a big part of our trip. Ryan and Sarah even took Austin for a night so Joseph and I could have a date and a night off. We weren't sure how Austin would feel about it but we decided to give it a try. Sarah said Austin slept through the night, woke up happy, ate great, and just played with Kate all morning. He didn't even act like he missed us. He did give us some sweet snuggles when we reunited in the morning though which at least made it clear that he was glad to see us again. Thanks Ryan and Sarah for giving us a night to ourselves and for playing with us while we were in town.

Daddy was Austin's water buddy. I think Austin was a little worried from the sound of the wave coming, but he had fun playing in the water.
Daddy wanted to make sure Austin got the full beach experience, so naturally he had to bury him in the sand. Austin seemed to like it. He made some funny faces while he was in there, but he didn't complain about it. This picture is the start of the tale of day 2. We played at a park for a bit with our friends before heading down to the beach. We decided to go to a beach a bit further away than the one closest to us since we were almost washed out of that beach during the afternoon the day before. A lifeguard had told Joseph that the beach in these pictures didn't wash out during the afternoon. Austin fell asleep in the stroller on our way down, so we carried the stroller when we could no longer push it (down stairs and across the sand) and found the perfect spot. We set things up and waited for Austin to wake so we could play in the sand and water for a while. Joseph went in the water for a bit just to check it out. The waves were huge and loud, but seemed far enough out to not be a threat. Joseph came back up and after a while, Austin woke up. Joseph took him out of the stroller but Austin didn't seem quite ready to wake up. He slept a bit more on Joseph's chest, and I think Joseph fell asleep too. I couldn't resist the opportunity to take such a sweet picture before I laid down myself. I had not yet fallen asleep when I felt something cold wash up my body. Joseph felt it too, it woke him up. Though it didn't cover us, the tide had come up and completely soaked our towels, clothes, bags and toys. The water carried away one of my flip flops, but fortunately not too far and I was able to find it. Another fortunate event was that we had parked the stroller just out of reach of this crazy tide. So, rather than playing in the water, we rang our stuff out as best we could and packed ourselves up and headed for another beach. Although we're not too fond of the changes that have taken at what used to be basically a Sea Lion sanctuary, the beach was not washed out and there were some Sea Lions sunbathing on the sand (along with people). So, Joseph took Austin down there to get his toes in the sand and get a look at those little sea animals. I don't think Austin really understood what he was looking at... but he had fun getting a little bit sandy.
Hopefully next year we will get the chance to go to the beach again... and hopefully we won't get washed out.

Family Fun

Summer has given us a lot of opportunity to have fun together as a family. These are pictures from one of the many pool parties we have had in our backyard:
Basketball with Daddy is one of Austin's favorite pool games. Check it out... he got a slam dunk! He's even still hanging on the rim.
Then Daddy does his version of a slam dunk... I don't think Austin is sure of what to think of it.
Going for another basket.
When Austin is all played out he likes to sit on the side of the pool with mom and warm up.

These pictures are from a hike we went on together early in the summer:

Austin always gets a comfortable shady place to be, right on daddy's back. He loves it up there, and even gets so relaxed he starts to fall asleep up there sometimes. Can you see it? This cactus has a flower. Ahhh, the beauty of the dessert. Of course, we stop for snacks to regain our energy and let the little passenger move his legs a bit...
...which leads to dirt everywhere. Perhaps even a little on the taste buds.
We're glad pool season lasts so long here in Phoenix, and we look forward to cooler weather when we can enjoy some hikes together again.

1 Year Portraits

These pictures were taken in our backyard a few weeks after Austin's birthday. They show so much of his personality, we just love him!Austin loves playing on the putting green in our backyard. I'm not sure how tasting the balls helps his game, but he thinks it does.


Austin holds on to his daddy like this a lot. I think it's one of his security spots.
This is Austin doing one of his super forced laughs that turned into a pouty cry. I guess he was all done with pictures, but I'm glad we got this shot before he quit. It's just a very Austin face.