Back to the U. S. ....A

It was time to head back to the US to show Nevlin off to all the relatives. Besides, it was the last chance we had to grab a free ticket for him. We risked having no (paid) seat for him over 6 flights, which generally worked out. Nev was very good, considering the massive distances and time changes. A few tears, yes, but he adjusted to the time change way faster than we did.

Anyway, off to some pictures. First stop, LA, and Liz's family the Froneks.

Visiting Tammi's hairdressing salon. Don't you just love puppy's cut? That's Nat on the left, she turned 16 just this past September.

 

We went to the Saturday markets and found someone selling fountains. Considering how hot it was, Nev loved putting his hand in the stream and getting all wet.

A bunch of us went to Crystal Cove, Laguna Beach. Can you see the tip of the peninsula in the far distance? That is where we walked to and back. PHEW, we were tired!

 There were lots of little inlets like this.

The tip has gotten closer...but still not yet there. A pause to capture all the muscles.

Sorry for the delay

Its been a heck of a few months, but I'm back to posting & have a few to catch up. Before I post retroactively about our trip to the US, here are some recent shots from around the house & at the park near our place.

We woke up one morning and absolutely loved the blooming bottlebrush and snapped this picture. Thanks to the Basha's for Nevlin's cozy PJs. 

We went up to the botanical gardens in the hills to check it out. Nevlin found it difficult terrain, and tried to run with Cam's glasses.

He didn't get far before falling into momma. 

A few of us got together at another park (can you tell there is a theme to our lives - outdoors and parks) and Nevlin had a blast. A swing that could fit more than one, a dream come true!

Nevlin also partook in his very first beater covered in batter for a cake. He really enjoyed it & got it all over his bucket.

Next post will be a flashback. Stay tuned...

MaryEd's B-day in Sydney

We were in Sydney to celebrate MaryEd's birthday. It was a fantastic weekend, full of cake and smiles.

We enjoyed a very leisurely lunch right on the harbor. Nevlin even had a bit of space to play behind us.

The restaurant was right near the foot of the bridge and this shot includes the opera house and bridge & the lunch group. Nevlin was done with taking photos!

Cam, Nick, I and Hannah & Harry went to Olympic Park and saw Nick's name from the Sydney olympics. Funny, but Cam was the person who participated, but Nick was still in the books and thus in silver. 

The hockey game was USA v Canada. It was a bit comical during the first period, but got better as everyone warmed up. this was the 5th game in the tied series and a close match. US won, 5-4 in overtime! U-S-A, U-S-A, U-S-A...

Random bits 2 of 2

We had a few plays in the city over a few different weekends. One was seeing circus performers in the newly redeveloped town square (that is more of a diamond shape).

This woman fit her entire body in this box. It was madness to watch, but Nevlin had already gotten bored & walked away. Very impressive & flexible. 

Cam crawled inside a plastic ball & rolled around in the grass. It made him nauseous for the rest of his day. 

We have a membership to the zoo, so we headed there another day. Its beautiful at the zoo when no one is around, the weather is cool. The animals don't mind either, especially frogs like this one who felt pretty special with all the attention.

Its been cool, so in June I got a new scarf from Cam's parents & he got his green scarf from Open Adelaide weekend. My Mam made Nev's scarf to match his sweater. We are staying nice and toasty!

Nevlin and his spoon

I shot this series of images one morning back in late June with a spoon we use for rice.

He loved the size of it and especially focused on trying to get it into his small bowl for food.

Like many instances, two utensils are always better than one. And Nevlin really loves using something in each of his hands.

I've got two spoons!!! YEAH!

Random bits part 1/2

Its been a rough last two months here for us. Nevlin has been constantly sick with various colds, viruses, and ailments of the nasty sort. He finally got grommets in his ears to help settle things down & allow us to fly safely to Sydney & the US (coming home mid August to early September). I haven't been able to post anything lately, so here are a few things to catch you up. Here he is just after the surgery.

Once he could eat something, he turned into a happy chappy. The challenge was getting him to slow down. You can see his hospital band. Also his current method to help push food into his mouth.

Nev likes corn, much like his mom. Here's a great shot back in our old place.

 We have been on a few hikes with the little guy. He loves being outside, but I can't say we do much walking. Its more like step a few steps, then get distracted by dirt, rocks, sticks, or bugs. During this particular hike, Nevlin was obsessed with piling dirt on top of our shoes.

But I NEED two! His dalmatian pants are a complete hit, regardless of where he is sporting them. 

 We have been to the zoo several times. During this one we visited with the meerkats.

From brown to green

When we moved to our new place in February, we were excited to have a yard. The largest challenge was how absolutely bare it was. Here is a view of the brown dirt with a bit of grass taken from our water tank looking towards the grapes out the back.

Cam and I would work hard to dig up this part of the lawn in 3 sections. Here I'm raking the first one. In the bottom you can see Cam started watering it and the soil wasn't bad once it got turned over. We spread about 4 boxes of seeds and had many evenings of digging, raking, sowing, and watering.

Now check it out! This was such a great shot and took us a few tries before getting Nevlin to actually walk on Sunday afternoon. We are very proud of the new lawn and have really used it a bunch. FYI sewing grass from seed isn't the easiest thing to do, but the end result of watching the little guy run across the lawn as you hang up laundry is priceless.