California Top 10

We returned home to Denver this afternoon, only to be greeted by the most monstrous storm we have seen in quite a while. T-storm and flash flood warnings with some tornado sirens mixed in, make for a trembling, pacing, drooling, bloody-nosed Wally. I missed him so much.

So, while we dry out here in Colorado, I'll quickly share some of the best California moments, accompanied by pictures from Doug Jones (of www.imagesbydougjones.com, of course).

In no particular order...

10. High five!
My dad taught Autumn to high five one night at dinner. Soon she'll be "that guy" high-fiving everyone in the seats near her at Broncos games. You know that guy, you've sat by him many times.

9. I swim like a sea horse!

This ramp was endless entertainment

I jump off the slide!

Autumn spent two whole weeks in swim lessons in Santa Cruz. She was in the sea horse group, which is as low as it gets in swim lessons. More than one person has asked me what the heck Autumn was doing in swim lessons. Well, unfortunately her report card is still being proudly displayed on the fridge in Shaver Lake, but most of her skills can be described in these pictures. On this day just my parents took her, and the other two sea horses in her group were absent, so my mom got a private lesson with Autumn and Valerie, her fearless instructor. Autumn was obsessed with swimming. I had a hard time paying attention to the instructor because she was constantly splashing the water, trying to eat it, sticking her face under, yelling, etc. I'm hoping that a little fear, or at least caution, will set in before next summer when she'll be fully mobile.
The next group up from sea horses are the barnacles. Autumn was so looking forward to being a barnacle next summer, but her dreams were shattered when the bottom of her report card said.
"We look forward to seeing you in the Sea Horse group next summer!" So, no go on the barnacles -- we'll just have to keep practicing...and turn two.

My teacher Valerie

I even like going under water!

8. I'm on a boat!

For those of you who aren't in the loop, my parents now spend their lives driving, and living, between their two homes -- the cabin in Shaver Lake that we've had since I was very young, and their new(ish) townhome in Santa Cruz. The cabin is much less cabin-y than it was growing up, and the townhome is quite a step up from the years spent sleeping on the sailboat in the Santa Cruz harbor. So, well done mom and dad, you guys have definitely made choosing our go-to summer destinations very simple. We are booking our rooms in both locations for the next 15 years, at least. Thanks. But anyway, we thought we'd save sailing for another year with Autumn. However, she did get to go out on the Lake a couple of times, on the pontoon boat. She thought it was pretty cool.


Out for the count.

7. Life's a Beach!
As I'm sure all babies do, Autumn loved her time at the beach. The sand, the birds, more sand, the waves, freakin' sand everywhere -- heaven! I think these pics say it all.

Hi guys! I'm at the beach!

Hats are for old men.


Everyone clap, we're at the beach!

...And then there's the ocean...

Time to get out already?

6. For mom and dad, life's a beach party!
A fond memory of our wedding, which was in Santa Cruz almost exactly three years ago, was going on a wine tour in the Santa Cruz mountains the Thursday before the wedding. We had the tour bus drop all 30 of us off at the Crows Nest restaurant, which is right on the harbor and beach. Every Thursday evening they set up a beach party, with a live band, beer/cocktails and delicious, cheap food. Sweet. Although the beach party we experienced this time was infinitely more tame (no future sisters-in-law dancing with weird Santa Cruz locals), we still had a great time. Autumn too, until Nana and Pop Pop took her home early so we could enjoy a baby-free beer.

Beach parties have good beer

Beach parties have sand

Beach parties make me thirsty!

5. I make funny faces.

Rspberries on a boat

Also like most babies I know, Autumn was so excited to learn how to blow raspberries. This happened when she was just a wee one, maybe three months old or so? Anyway, do most babies grow out of this phase? Because Autumn hasn't. Not even close. In fact, I think she does this more now than she ever has -- when she's tired, when she's bored, when she's in a good mood, when strangers stop paying attention to her in the airport, or the Avis rental car station -- you get the idea. While this is still pretty funny to us, it's even funnier when her raspberry face gets caught on camera. Sometimes she'll throw one in there unexpected, other times my dad is guilty of encouraging it. She also has some other weird faces lately, so we'll include a few of those too.

Raspberries after bath. How many chins do you see?


I'm very special


And very sweet. This one is included here because she never looks this innocent.

I make my focused face when I stand up

4. Family, old and new

Autumn got to see her great grandmother for the second time, her California grandparents (who don't spoil her at all, by the way), her "Big E" (or Uncle Eliot, who is really weird and wants to be called Big E for some reason), and her Almost Auntie Sara (who finally, has been upgraded from "lady friend Sara" to this -- congrats El and Sara on the recent engagement!). The lucky baby also got to meet her Big E's future in-laws, the McGlynn family, minus little brother Joe. Mary and Terry (Ma and Pa McGlynn) rented a cabin about 100 yards from ours over the 4th of July weekend. Sara's sister Katie drove down from SF with her boyfriend Terrance (I know I spelled that wrong, sorry Katie!), while sister (and babysitter/baby eater) Erin, flew in from Vegas with new hubby Adam. As only the McGlynn sisters would, Katie and Erin had some very random and awesome t-shirts made for Eliot and Sara to wear in honor of their engagement. Very fun weekend indeed.

She really loves Big E these days.

Brandy is my brother's pitbull. She eats babies, and when she moves here she'll have to be in hiding. Her new name will be Bran Frank.

Reading with Nana

Almost Auntie Sara

Erin and Katie with the happy couple

Yep.

3. Fun times in the cabin's backyard.
Summer's in Shaver Lake are somewhat indescribable. Few people believe that you can drive just an hour away from Fresno and be surrounded by 100 foot pine trees, in temperatures that are 25 degrees cooler than in the valley. Sure, we've got the Rocky Mountains in Colorado -- and don't get me wrong, they are amazing in their own way as well. But I'll never forget my first trip up to Breckenridge when I moved here seven years ago. One of the first things I asked was, "why are the trees so little?"

Horseshoe buddies, or something more?

If you're confused about this in any way, you need to make a trip to the Central Sierras. You don't have to visit my parents, but I would highly recommend it. Their backyard is a real and true forest, but with some more "urban" space for a deck to hang out on, a horseshoe pit, and a hot tub. We have had some great times in that backyard, and this year was no different. On Sunday we celebrated 4th of July with a Jones-McGlynn margarita competition, horseshoes, and family and friends. The Rolphs, Wrights and Dockerys even drove up for the day.

Let the margarita-thon begin. Cheers!

Kiss from Riley. She's going to be a fun big sis soon!

2. I look amazing in a swimsuit.

This top is supposed to cover her whole belly. Oops.

Autumn seems to have inherited her uncle Eliot's baby body. My parents could never find shirts that would fit over his Winnie-the-Pooh belly. Never fear, however -- Eliot ended up being a tall, skinny young lad. We have many classic family pictures to confirm this, but we'll spare everyone for now. Picture skinny sweat pants (before skinny jeans were cool), and awkwardly short shorts. So, we're very happy that Autumn is enjoying her baby rolls, and that she's definitely not afraid to show them off in a bathing suit. Now we'll just have to buy her some suits that fit...which is probably the size for two-year-olds.

This suit also has matching bottoms, but they fit worse than the top.


These legs were made for bathing suit season!

And so was this hair!

1. I'm a dirty one.

We gave up the battle to have a clean child in public when...well, probably the first time we took our child in public. We're happiest when she's happy, and she's happiest when she's into everything, so if we all want to be happy, she gets to be dirty. So I'll leave you with these, as they seemed to transcend all locations and activities during this awesome California summer.