Beach Babe

Karissa immensely enjoyed her day at Solimar Beach in Ventura.

There was actually sand and a lot of it. The weather was perfect as well.
Sand Angel
Playing with Travis and running from the water.
Karissa got her first ribbon at swimming for trying really hard. She is so proud of her ribbon, she tells everyone she sees.
This is Solimar Beach. One of my favorite places. We are so fortunate to live in such a beautiful place and have the opportunity to spend time at the beach. Nothing is more soothing than the cool ocean breeze and the soft sand tickling your toes. Thank you Beth and the Maulhardts for allowing us to enjoy the beach house for so many years.

Addison is 3 months old!

Happy 3 month birthday Addison.

We also call her Addi, Addi-Baladdi, Gorgeous Girl and G-bo. One can never predict all the nicknames that you give your child.

On Aug. 22, Addison took her first plane ride from Burbank to Sacramento. We went to visit my Great Aunt Jean, Addi's Great-Great Aunt. Sadly we got no pictures of them together because Aunt Jean is very crabby and refused to have any pictures taken of her. I guess when you are 83 you can make those kind of demands and get away with it.

Addi and Karissa's first bath together. As you can see they were both thrilled.

Addison waking up her sister for once. This was taken in our hotel room in Sacramento.

The haircut gang. Paige was at the Beach house for haircuts. Collin, Kayley, Ellie and Karissa all got their haircut while Addi just chilled out enjoying the ocean breeze.

Cousins by the Dozens, Part II

Kinnon Family Reunion.

August 16, 2008

El Retiro Park

Torrance, CA

Each of Matt's Grandpa's siblings are identified by shirt color. We are on the bottom right in red for John Kinnon. I believe Matt's grandpa was from a family of 7 that came to America as young children from Scotland.
This is Matt's Great Aunt Marie, she is the last living sibling of his Grandpa. Aunt Marie Kinnon Matthews is 84 years old.
The cherries girls. We tried to get all the John Kinnon great granddaughters to wear these dresses. (I inherited this obsession from my mother that when we go to family functions we have to dress alike.)

This is Paisley on the left, Matt bother Greg's daughter and Ali, Matt's cousin Anjali's daughter and of course Miss Priss, Karissa.
WOW, a family photo and we are all smiling. Miracles do happen.
Matt's brother Greg and our niece Paisley. It was Paisley's 4th birthday. We celebrated with cake and a special birthday song.

Cousins by the Dozens

This past week was pretty special. We finally got to meet my brother Trevor's baby, Brennan and we went to the Kinnon family reunion.

Brennan is my mom's 10th grandchild. (Addison is the 11th.) Brennan was born on the island of Maui on March 31, 2008. That makes him nearly 5 months old and he is already 20 pounds. (In case you were wondering he was over 10 lbs at birth.) He is such a happy baby, he loves to sing to himself and rollover to get wherever he needs to go.

Here is Brennan and Addison with Great-Grandpa McEuen. Grandpa McEuen is my mom's dad and is 87 years old.
Here is a closer shot of Addi and Brennan. The photo is not the best quality, Grandpa was playing with my camera. Addison about 1 week shy of her 3 month birthday and Brennan nearly 5 months old.
A quick family shot. Let's see there are 5 (including myself) of my siblings. Now let me identify everyone left to right. Bottom left, my sister Kayla and her son Milloy is on her lap. Standing above Kayla is my brother Matt and his wife Beth, their daughter Kayley is below Beth and Ellie their older daughter is wearing the light pink shirt holding Alaina, my sister Kayla's daughter. Next to Beth is my brother Chad and his daughter Kelsey and below him is his son, Collin. Chad's wife Kate is kneeling below Grandpa on the far right. (Yikes, this is getting long and I'm not done yet.) Ok, next to Chad is my sister Linnae, then me and Addison and Matt. Karissa is hugging Lisa, Trevor's fiance kneeling in front of Matt and Lisa is holding her son Brennan. And last but certainly not least is Grandpa standing on the far right.
Here is another picture of Addison and Brennan.
Here is my nephew Collin holding Addison. Collin is 6 years old and will be starting the 1st grade on Tuesday.

The Princess, The Queen, SuperGirl and the Phelps Fan!

Addison is the Princess. If I could use one word to describe her it would be serene. She is so peaceful and pleasant that sometimes I find myself just staring at her wondering how I got so lucky. I have challenged myself to remember this because when she is older and Karissa teaches her a thing or two, I will remember my sweet baby.

Triple Trouble!

Ellie caught driving the girls around in her vette with Kayley on the hood.

Supergirl and the Queen performing for me and Addison.

Supergirl and the Queen again.

Kayley and Karissa change costumes about every 5 minutes.

Phelps Fan! Matt and I have been watching every moment of the Olympics paying special attention to all swimming and have turned Karissa into quite the Michael Phelps fan. He is such an amazing athlete. Here is miss Phelps fan with her new goggles!

Future Olympian

Whether she is a swimmer or a gymnast, we'd be darn proud!
Here is Karissa at her Munchkin Olympics. She loves the rings.
Working on her handstand.
She was so proud to have received a gold medal. She shouted out her name to make sure everyone heard.
Karissa and her gymnastics teacher Natalie. Karissa absolutely loves her.

Endless Summer

What can I really say about this picture. Karissa is dressing up like Daddy. She is wearing one of his t-shirts that she put on all by herself and of course Matt's shoes too. The look on her face, well, that's just Karissa and the "Shaka"...I am speechless.
Here is Addison. She is happy as a lark on her baby gym.

"Do you recognize me Mom?"
3 girls hammin' it up at the Camarillo Community Theater. We were there for a youth performance of Iaolanthe.
The girls favorite character in the play, the Queen of the Fairies!

My 2 girls

Here they are all ready for church. Addison had her 2 month check-up this week. She weighs 11.7 lbs and is 22.5 inches long. No matter how hard I try to keep Addi little she just keeps getting bigger overnight.

My grown-up girl.
Karissa is helping daddy give Addison a bottle. I think this is only the second or third time that she has had a bottle. This is new to Karissa and she wanted to help Matt.

Long Beach Aquarium

The 3 Amigas! Ellie, Kayley and Karissa checking out the sharks at the Long Beach Aquarium. Or as Karissa calls it, the Quarium.
She is studying all the fish.
Addison just took it all in from the comfort of her stroller.
Me and Karissa touching the bat rays and little sharks. An up close and personal view of the mouth of a very large Mana Ray. A little disgusting and really cool at the same time.