We Moved!

For those of you that didn't know, we moved. The 500+ square foot house we were living in for the past year and a half was getting a little tight for the three of us. Maybe not the size but the layout was the big issue. It wasn't designed for three people. I think with a slightly different design we could live just fine in 500+ square feet. Regardless, it was a good opportunity to minimize our belongings to the essentials. I mean we didn't strip down to next to nothing but we did get rid of a lot of stuff and it felt great. Hard at the same time though.

Now we live in the bottom half of a "duplex" with a little more space which is nice. We will always remember that little house though as our first home in Santa Barbara and Laine's first home ever.

Tidepooling

Back in January there was a day when the tide was really low. We decided to cruise on over to the beach and see what we could find. There were sea anemones and star fish all over. Laine wasn't so sure about the animal life or the cold tide pools but she was pretty excited about her sunglasses.

Think

Its been some time since I have put anything up so I think I am going to make some posts in the next week updating on things since I guess January. I have had these two pictures sitting on my desktop ready to go up for months but it just hasn't happened. They are of Laine over Christmas at the candy factory in Denver.

Flying Baby

I love the looks you get when you bring a baby on the airplane. They are always the same, slight smile with the raised eyebrows...maybe a forced giggle. I think the corresponding comment from the parent is always, "he/she was great on the flight out so hopefully it will be the same." No one ever says, "well he/she was absolute hell the last flight so lets all cross our fingers," no matter what the last flight was like.

The lady and I were in different rows on our flight last night. We planned to easily convince a passenger to swap seats sparing them the chance of a cry fest to ring in the new year but this was not so. Its hard to convince someone to move from a seat next to a mother and baby to a seat next to someone three times in width.......with a baby.

Well, we all came out unscathed and here is 2011!

Santa Barbara Zoo

This weekend we went to the zoo. Laine slept through most of it but was awake for the "family" shot.

Halloween 2010

This weekend was so relaxing. Its been a while since I have had nothing really going on so I definitely got to catch up on rest. Laine has been wonderful for this too; she loves to sleep just much as her parents for the most part.

We went hiking on a trail by our house that I have run on quite a bit but haven't hiked. The slower pace makes for better scenery and the recent rain has helped out with that too. This is our fam at the top of the trail. Laine was a bat for Halloween. Bats are usually pretty ugly but this one is pretty cute. She wasn't really in to getting the suit on but once it was on I think she liked it. She also got her very own pumpkin that she just couldn't stop staring at. I coerced her eyes over my way for the shot below but the ten before...yup just staring at the pumpkin.
I think next year she will have a better idea of what's going on but she just had to dress up for her first one.

Century

I have a tenancy to push myself constantly to do more. In some cases it really isn't healthy but healthy or not I continue to do it. It's this characteristic that got me through the juggle of school, work and living. It's this characteristic that convinced me that building a high altitude retreat deep in the woods would be an achievable task. Huh, this characteristic really needs to chime in on my architecture tests but that's another story.

If you know me, planning to have a daughter without a "conventional" job was a big "push." It was definitely a well thought out decision, I mean people have unconventional jobs and families their whole lives. It's just something I am still getting used to. The job/s...well the daughter too.

I had a physical push this past weekend doing the Santa Barbara Century ride. A ride is not a race but with my personality and the ingrained attitude of my college friends - "Every Ride is a Death March" - I went for it. And it was painful. It's been a while since I have had that feeling. the dude, I really don't think I am going to make it feeling. At mile 60. 40 more miles to go? It felt good to finish it off though and it was so good to see my lady and our daughter after....I hadn't seen them for nearly a week prior. That's another post...trip to Colorado.