Around Town in July

July 27th was my 6 month birthday -- I'm now weighing in at just under 20lbs, I'm a solid 2'-3" long, I'm starting to say "da da", I'm learning to ride the swings at the park, I'm eating fruits and vegetables, I'm rolling over and turning around at will and, much to the fear and delight of mom and dad, I'm very close to army crawling.

I love making mom and dad laugh and they love returning the favor -- we spend most evenings cracking each other up.

Here are a couple of my favorite photos from the second half of July:

Just lounging:



Here's me getting ready for the maiden voyage in my new backpack, courtesy of Kyle, J, and Cobalt:




Here I was doing my rendition of "Song of Music" in the park:



Working on my crawling -- you can see my range from the drool trail:



This is dad and me dressed up to go to the Vinton's house for GreatGrandma Jeff's birthday party. I was looking pretty cute this day -- the ladies at the party loved me -- I came home covered in lipstick and smelling of perfume.




Here's mom and me at the Oakland Zoo -- I'm doing my Puma impression:



Mom and I also went to the Berkeley Kite Festival -- these guys were my favorite:





I don't have any teeth yet, but I love to chew on things, especially this toy Nana gave me:



This is at Titi's birthday party, before they left for Cuba. As you can see, Prima Myella still has the upper hand on me, literally.





Here's Hollywood at Aunt Titi's birthday -- he was breakin' it down for a MJ tribute





Here's Nana feeding me rice cereal -- you can tell by my hands that I try to help her out -- I'm good that way...




What? Is there something on my face?




I've found that sweet potatoes make the best mess!



August is just around the corner and we have some fun stuff planned, including a trip to Southern California and another trip to Tahoe, so stay tuned for more updates!

Jordan

Rolling Over - The Movie

After a lot of 3/4 rolls, I've finally mastered the back-to-front roll.

For a while I was only rolling when mom and dad weren't looking (they'd come back into the room and I'd be on my stomach), but tonight they pulled out the camera, so I figured I'd put on a show - enjoy!

Lake Tahoe for the 4th of July

After a great weekend in Washington last week, we headed for Lake Tahoe this weekend to enjoy the 4th of July festivities and spend some time with mom's side of the family.



In this photo you can start to see the differences developing between my prima Myella and me -- she has a wonderful dark complexion, beautiful hair, a very cute little bathing suit, and she's throwing some serious blue steel at the camera. I, on the other hand, am completely dishelved, butt white, none of my clothes match, my hair is a friggen mess, and I'm chattering like a drunken sailor. As you can see, Myella is about to slam my head into her fist and put me out of my misery.



But whatareyagonnado -- sometimes you just have to go with what you've got and make the most of it -- here I am entertaining the crowd (or at least myself) with a little number I call 'Lounging'



Now here's a kid that knows how to party -- this is my cousin Mason. He came out of photo-retirement to snag this shot with me. I'm pretty much just learning from the master here -- no need to pull out my own material when Mase is around.



Here I am later in the day hanging out with Nana -- I just told her my 'two ducks walk into a bar' joke -- she thought it was pretty funny.



For some strange reason, Papa and Daddy find it 'fun' to wake everyone up at the crack of dawn and drag them down to the lake to whiz around in a motorized bathtub dragging each other through the water. They won't let me go yet, but Mase checked it out and said it wasn't anything special.

Here's a shot of Papa getting ready to jump into the cold water at sunrise:30...



and a shot of dad soon thereafter...



I stayed on dry land and gave my stoller a try in big-kid-mode. I look like 5 lbs of potatoes in a 15 lb sack, but I'll grow into it.



So since I keep putting everything in my mouth...



...mom and dad decided to try giving me rice cereal...



Turns out the stuff is pretty good, so I'm adding it to my diet.

We came back from Tahoe on Sunday after a very relaxing 4 days of family, fun, and sun. It was a great trip -- we're already planning our return trip in August.

Later in the week, Mom, Dad and I met up with Casey and Kirsten Acker for a Giants game with Papa. We got to see Tim Linsecum pitch, which was really cool, as well as a few homeruns from the Giants. Here Papa is giving me a snack while dad downs a dog.



and here I am with the Acker sisters - I'm a pretty lucky guy...

Keep an eye out for my upcoming movie -- Rolling Over -- due out later this week!

Dan & Adrienne's Wedding - Olympia, Washington

Mom, Dad, and I went to Dan & Adrienne's wedding at a farm in Tumwater, Washington. It was a wonderful trip -- the weather was beautiful, the wedding was a blast, there were lots of fun people, and best of all -- I got to hang out with Grandma and Grandpa again!

Here are Dan & Adrienne getting married. I missed this part because I was sleeping under a bush. That's Brother Barry doing the honors.



Here's Dad, Barry, and me after the ceremony -- Barry did a great job and he was pretty psyched about it. Dad's favorite part was when he interpreted Corintheans to espouse "...love is an action... so when you're having trouble with love, get some action..." You should've seen the look on Adrienne's face -- it was priceless!



I hung out with all sorts of cool people -- here's me with Dad and Ty Bookman -- this is the smartest guy you'll ever meet. He was also just inducted into the NYU Athletic Hall of Fame, which was pretty huge. He gave a great speech at the reception. He's an all-around talented guy.




After things calmed down, I got to hang out with the bride. Here we are making funny faces for the camera. She's really nice -- I like her -- I hope her and Dan move back to SF soon so we can hang out more.



Here's me with Ty's mom, Betsy -- she's an awesome lady. You will perhaps notice that I've found my feet -- I checked that off my list a week or so ago.



Here's a beautiful shot of the farm -- the land used to belong to Dan's uncle, who lived on the farm and raised cows for milk. Dan's uncle has since passed and left the small stone house to Dan and the farming land to the neighbors, Mel and Deb (who are really nice). This is hay, which they grow to feed the cattle (22 head). The Deschutes River runs through the front of the property and down into Olympia, where it cascades in a waterfall made famous by the Olympia Beer label. You can kayak/canoe from the house all the way down to the waterfall (I'll have to save that for a subsequent trip). I have a feeling we'll be going back to the farm when I get a little older.



Here I'm saying to Dad "put me in the hay, put me in the hay"



Dad does everything I tell him, so voila, here's me in the hay!



Grandma and Grandpa, who you may recall where at our house in SF last weekend, were on a trip through the Pacific Northwest and just happened be in Olympia at the same time as us -- great timing! They came to the farm with us on Sunday for brunch.

On Sunday we toured more of the farm -- here's Grandpa and me checking out some equipment -- this thing spins around and aerates the cut hay so that it dries in the field before bailing .



Here we are at a cool little (or should I say tiny) sitting shack in the hills overlooking the river. That's me in the front-pack, in case you couldn't see me.



It also just so happened to be Grandma & Grandpa's 40th wedding anniversary, so to celebrate we took them to an early dinner in Olympia. On our way we passed this cool little plaza that spits water up in the air. Despite my best efforts, neither mom nor dad would take me through, but they promised to bring me back when I'm a little older.



After a very nice dinner, we packed up and headed for the airport. We unfortunately didn't account for traffic and had to hussle to make our flight. Here's a photo of Mt. Rainier from the freeway as we sat in traffic. Fortunately, we just made the flight.

It was a great weekend -- I'm definitely looking forward to another trip to the PNW.

By the way, I turned 5 months old on this trip! For those who are interested, I'm starting to grow a lot of new hair (to replace the mullet that Dad cut off), I may be getting a tooth soon, and I'm starting to make some sounds that resemble actual words. I still have a lot of work to do, but I'm transitioning from a baby to a little boy and it feels great. I've got my sights set on crawling, but I'm taking it one step at a time...

Love to everyone!