Annual Smith visit to Mission Beach

Lucky for us, one of my Dad's closest friends, Andy Smith (aka Biggy) has a fabulous brother and sister-in-law (Don and Janet) who happen to have a beach house in Mission Beach that they visit often.  The plus for us is that we get to spend time with them when they are here visiting.  Since my parents moved away from Cincinnati, we don't get to see Biggy with any frequency, so his visits to the San Diego area are very much looked forward to.  Many of you know that Quinn's first name is Andrew...well Biggy is one of the two Andrews for whom Quinn is named (the other is my brother, who happens to be named for Biggy (the name was a result of little A's inability to say "big Andy").  

Well on this visit Don, Janet and Biggy had a free evening and were able to come over to our house for dinner.  After all of the many fabulous meals that we've had at the hands of these folks it's very nice to be able to repay the favor for once!

Don and Janet

Biggy

Today I took the day off to spend with the trio at the beach (rough life, I know).  Since we got up and moving early we also took a quick trip to the zoo where we searched for baboons named Babooby (a Richard Scarry character)

And then we found the beach!!!  Quinn had lunch in the sand with me, followed by a nice long nap.  

After naptime the rest of the crew grabbed chairs and we headed back out to enjoy the perfect weather.  

Q is currently fearful of the ocean, but had a blast climbing on another family's sand castle!  Up and down up and down.  He also very much enjoyed being buried by Daddy and shaking all of the sand off.  More photos to follow once Don emails the good ones he took...  After the beach we had a great fish dinner and were joined by the ever popular "EE-EE".  A very nice day indeed...

That's about all we have to report at the moment.  Thinking of all  of our friends in NC who are currently bracing for the arrival of hurricane Irene.  She's currently projected to make landfall tomorrow right in our little town, but hopefully she'll go easy on us.  Sending positive thoughts to all of you in Beaufort, MHC!

Our typical Sunday

Last Sunday began as it typically does, with a lovely breakfast at the Living Room Cafe.  We walked down with Merlin and sat outside.  We never go anywhere without trains these days.  Oh, and check out Q's new big kid haircut.  It's always tough to snip the wispy, shaggy do, but luckily it grows back fast!

On the way home we went for a wild hike in our neighborhood canyon.

Quinn likes to jump

 He likes to jump so much that we continued jumping once we got home

After nap it was time to get to work washing Dad's car.  We figure it's about time he start pulling his own weight around here!

Anything involving water is a hit for Quinn....in fact he washed Mom's car later in the week!

OK, so this photos isn't from last sunday, but it's cute.  This was Quinn's first ride on the bike with Dad.  It's now a nightly ritual.

Dog Days Car Jam

The post title says it all.  Quinn jammin' to his favorite song and making sure that cousin Kyan knows what song it is.  

EE

How did we manage before Emily (EE) joined us out here in San Diego?  

It's hard to imagine.  The hardest thing about leaving NC was leaving all of our friends behind.  While there it was nice to imagine Quinn growing up surrounded by other adults (and now kids too) who cared about him and with whom he would have a lifelong relationship.  I had that with my parents' friends and feel lucky to have many people out there in the world who feel like second parents to me.  I want that for my son too.  It takes a while to forge such relationships in a new city.  We have definitely found a few, but it was such a relief to have Emily back when she unpacked her belongings in May.  She bravely uprooted herself for a short-term job.  Now we're crossing our fingers that she can make it work long term.  

She and Quinn picked up right where they left off when we said goodbye in New Bern on New Years Eve 2009.  So did she and Merlin.  They both adore her.  I actually think she gets a warmer greeting from both the boy and the dog than Jeff or I do sometimes!  His eyes light up when he sees her, he flashes his dimples and joyfully yells, "Q.......BERRRRTTTTTTT!" expecting that she will join in his game.  Of course she always does.  

Yesterday she popped over for little while and the two of them had this sweetest moment on the couch together.  He was kissing her and then cracking up.  The other day I asked him who his best friend was and he gleefully exclaimed, "EE!"  We're glad we were able to lure her out here...now we just can't let her leave!

This Week in Photos

Whew, what an exhausting week!  How I managed to take photos is beyond me....only camera phones make it possible.  

Fitz and the Tantrums played Wednesday night at the Birch Aquarium.  The stage was set up over the touch tanks.  What a cool venue!  Jeff, Emily and I went together and the exhausting day that followed was well worth it.  

Fun times with Cousin Kyan.  Getting together at Grammy's pretty much always means getting stripped down to diapers and in the water.

More beach time!  After a failed attempt at going to a nearby kiddie pool (odd hours), Jeff, Jaime, Alexa and I headed to Pacific Beach for a mid-day romp with the youngsters.  Neither was interested in the water on this occasion, but they had fun running around and destroying sand castles.

After reading a friend's experiment with making wholesome ketchup I decided to follow suit and try it also.  Quinn LOVES ketchup and HATES most veggies.  So the idea is to puree a bunch of veggies into a sauce resembling ketchup.  It's actually really tasty, but so far no dice on getting Q to try it.  I think the bright pink color from the beets scares him off a bit...we'll give it a few more days!

Tattoo!  Well, one night at a bar and Quinn wakes up with a big whale tattoo on his belly.  Funny how these things happen.

Jammy time with the neighbors.  Ian (3.5ish), Andrew (1ish) and their parents walk by almost every night.  Q had been really shy with them until recently.  Now we frequently join them on their walks.  Here is Quinn with Ian on tonight's pre-bedtime stroll up the street.  Ian is trying to teach Quinn how to balance on the railing and to jump off the bench...yikes!

First BIG fall...as I was writing the above we heard a loud thump followed by piercing screams from Quinn's bedroom.  He attempted to climb out of his crib only to fall onto the sharp edge of a piece of plywood.  All is well.  He's got a big scratch on his leg, bit his lip, and will likely have a nice shiner in the morning, but all bones appear to be intact and no major bleeding....I just spent the past 20 minutes trying to get him to go to sleep in his toddler bed, but  not having any luck...thinking he probably won't try that again after taking such a spill, but it's still scary to think of putting him back in the crib...wish us luck!

Moonlight Beach

We were invited to enjoy a beach picnic by our friends up in Encinitas.  What a great idea!  By 5 pm the crowds are thinning, the sun is getting lower, and what better place to enjoy some fish tacos while listening to the ocean.  Quinn had a blast with many friends and LOVED the water.  He went in up to his chest and even being smacked in the face by a wave did not deter him.  Guess we have a water loving boy.  Luckily his dad loves the water too...

This was our first trip to the beach since last year.  We really need to get there more often!

Building a sand fort with Daisy, Grace, Holden and Kim

Sand Crabs!

What a nice evening...wish these folks didn't 45 minutes away...I'd love for this to be a weekly gathering.  

San Diego Pride

This weekend is the San Diego LGBT Pride Celebration.  We braved the crowds and went to check out the parade this morning.  Although Jeff was disappointed that there was not  more music (marching bands, etc), It was still a pretty entertaining event.  It took Quinn a while to warm up to the crowds, but once the police and the firetrucks rolled by he got a smile on his face.

LOVED all of the colorful costumes!!!

Q with his favorite friend, EE

Looks like somebody forgot his pants!

Donuts anyone? 

 Everybody having a good time....Kelly with his finger pointer

Love these Socks!

 Awesome HUGE rainbow flag!