Kaya's holiday photo shoot.

So Sunday I finally got around to helping Erin get a photo of Kaya for our holiday card. We had a nice overcast sky so the pictures turned out great. I had the bright idea of blowing a huge pile of leaves together and then putting Kaya in the center. At first she was not happy to say the least. But after a while (With a little help from Erin tapping me on the head with a lemon) we were able to get some good smiles from her.







These are a few pictures from last Thursday. Kaya and I were driving around on a really cool foggy morning. Made for some neat photos.







Last but not least a few photos of the last full moon.

Fence project finished!

I have been busy helping my parents over the last few weeks. Their old fence needed to be replaced after 30 years. It was completely rotted and falling down. So I built them a new one!

I am not giving up on this blog!

I think since the advent of Facebook more and more people have stopped using blogs. It is just so much easier to post a status update than it is to sit down and do a blog post. Well I will not give up on this blog! Sure I have a Facebook page but I could care less about letting people know what I had for breakfast and I do not need to be enabled by my Facebook friends.
Again though I have let almost two months slip between posts. Kaya has since turned one. We had our first Halloween together. She got sick for the first time (still getting over it). She is oh so close to walking. Of course we love her more and more as the days and months go by. Being a parent truly is the most rewarding thing I have ever encountered.

Here are some pics from the last few months.



Kaya the Dragon.



I love Pumpkin!



Silly Face.



Sunshine.



Corn = Yum!



Ooh a Pumpkin.



Kaya and the Stolen Pumpkin.



Kaya in the pumpkin trailer.



Stanley Lane.



The Patch.



Sunflower.



Pumpkin Bucket.

This is what happens in almost two months!

Kaya is getting big, she can crawl, she can sit up, she can make us a little crazy (But we still love her!), she loves playing with her toys now (which makes it a bunch more exciting when we are at the store and she sees something she likes!), she travels well (Planes, trains, boats, cars, you name it), she still never took a bottle or binky but she drinks from a sippy cup and from a straw, and she is almost a year old!

Things have been hectic to say the least. Luckily things will start slowing down again now that I am finished with Interbike.

Pictures here we go:



Kaya and Mama at the second annual Devita neighborhood block party. (Our street rules!)



Downtown car show, sweet grill.



Sunset at Napa airport.



Jeff was nice enough to invite me out to Travis for a tour of a KC-10 and the surrounding area. View from the Tower.



Air frames all lined up.



Riverfront at Night (Friends of the River fireworks display.)




Riverfront at dusk.



Chris and Jeff hanging out.



Kaya and Night-vision McQueen (Minus his night-vision goggles).



Kaya's O Face.



Kaya preparing to make a run up the Sandia Tramway in New Mexico.



View from the parking lot at the tram.



Cool old lift chairs at the top of Sandia Peak.



We were in Sante Fe around noon so the sun was very bright. Tried bringing it down a notch here. Kaya and Mama in front of the old Laredo Church.




Kaya pointing to Dada.




My beautiful little girl.




Downtown Sante Fe during a festival, picked one of these for my Mom's b-day.



Beatiful New Mexico.



Old Town Albuquerque.

More Camping!

Headed back to Bear River for another quick camping trip. This time Grifter came along. We left him home last time because we were not quite sure how Kaya was going to react to camping. If she was going to be freaked out then having Grifter and Kaya freaking out could potentially be a little stressful. But she was a champ last time so now Grifter gets to go whenever we go!

We had absolutely perfect weather this time. Not hot and not cold. River was a little low and not flowing as fast as it normally does (we typically come a little earlier than August) but it was still deep enough to tube down. Apart from one bad night (Kaya did not want to sleep) it was a great trip. Lots of good food and Erin even beat me at Horse Balls.



View from the campsite.



Quite possibly the cutest baby in the history of babies.



I have TEETH!



Cool snake I caught at the rivers edge. Not sure if it was a Garter. I have never seen a Garter snake with this red of a belly.



Give me that snake Mama.



Grifter cutting loose.



Cardinal Monkey Flower.



Moth Mullein. This was a crazy little flower that would not open in the sun. Only in the early morning or evening.

More pictures to come!

Completely Forgot About the 4th.

I spaced it on the last posting. I meant to post my pics from the 4th and completely forgot.

On the 3rd we headed over to the Kuhn's for the Silverado Country Club fireworks (which sucked) and some grubbin BBQ. Then on the 4th we rolled to the parade in Calistoga with Desiree, Chaz, Chris, and Jeff. After the parade off for some golf at Eagle vines. Then rounded out the night downtown Napa for the fireworks (which rocked!).

Kaya's first 4th and she seemed to really enjoy all the festivities.



Smile Bug during the parade.



Mama and the Bug.



Serious Bug.



The Mad Hatter.



Old Timey rear ends.



Fast Midget.



Hogs, year two.



Trigger the face eating horse.



Third street bridge shenanigans.

For anyone interested in my technique on the following firework shots. All bulb exposures with a remote release. During the exposure I would cover the lens and uncover it to capture more than one firework. I really liked the way these came out.

Thutdwathudwa...

Tried my best to spell the sound Kaya is making all the time with her tongue. I think it is close.

Another fun weekend behind us and one ahead. So far great summer.



This is Kaya's new ride. Well not so new, she has had it for about a month or so now. She LOVES riding in it. Sunday we went on the longest ride to date. We headed to Yountville with Kenny and Jake to check out the car show. We met up with the Kuhns and Chaz rode with us as well. Kaya did wonderful. We stopped one time and she started to fuss a bit but then stopped as we started riding again. She did almost 11 miles! She went home with Erin in the truck because it was getting a bit hot.

The car show was great. Lots of sweet cars. Desiree's brother Brandon even ended up winning best of show and people's choice awards.



Show Winner! Brandon in back.



Cool exhaust.



Sweet Willys. Although getting closer to the paint revealed a less than stellar paint job.



Old timey fast.

Before we left on our adventure Sunday we had an impromptu baby shoot by the lemon cucumber. Kaya and Grif were playing so well.



Kaya and her Dog Dog.



Dog Dog kisses.



Erin's soon to be winning prize lemon cucumbers.

And last but not least a little video I shot of Kaya today. I swear I think she is going to skip crawling and go straight to walking.

Fun, Fun, and more Fun!

Thank you to our family and friends for keeping us busy over the last couple of weekends. Baseball game, golf outings, camping, bike riding, the list goes on and on!

Kaya's first Giant's game. Thank you Desiree and Chaz for taking us!







Camping at Sugar Pine.

Mea Culpa! Mea Culpa!

Only two months between posts, not bad but definitely furthering my deadbeat status.

I am not going to say I have been busy. Everyone gets busy. One of my biggest pet peeves is someone telling me they are busy. EVERYONE is busy unless you are leaching off the government and sit around the house all day long eating bon bons Peggy Bundy style.

I have just been LAZY!

Kaya is growing like crazy, in height, weight, and awareness. Both Erin and I have decided to go ahead and keep her. I can't say it enough she loves being outside. Whether on a hike or now in her new trailer, being towed behind dad.
She is babbling now, even says Da Da and Ma Ma. It is really cute to hear her singing and cooing. My new favorite sound!

So here are some photos from the last two months. Some have seen these on Flickr already but some don't know how to get to Flickr (Chris you know who you are!). Enjoy!































And some of my Artsy photos:

Walking with the Boss

Went walking with Kaya and Grifter today. Over to Connolly Ranch and then we planned on heading down Thompson Avenue to Old Sonoma and then home. But a little ways down Thompson I noticed an entrance to Westwood Hills. I was under the impression that dogs were not allowed in Westwood Hills but the sign posted said as long as the dog was on a leash under 8' long it was allowed. So we headed through the park. Kaya loves being outdoors. Her head was swinging back and forth, it is like she cannot take it all in fast enough. I started the GPS function on my phone too late but at least I got some of the walk. Total was over four miles.