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.

Drafts / Finally Caught Someone

Man, if I actually posted everything I write on this thang, there would be a lot more content. There are so many posts marked as draft that never see the interwebbings of the world. No lie, a lot of them are pretty stupid. Others I start writing and my complete inability to formulate sentences takes over and the post dies, labeled draft for eternity. It is Friday though, and I finished work early so here is a draft from last week.


I always get caught.

Whenever I am doing anything moderately embarrassing, someone is almost always there to acknowledge the fact that yes, you really are doing that right now.

Singing in the car with the window down when all cars stop and the entire world goes silent.

Tripping over invisible objects anytime a moderately attractive person is walking by.

Speaking of, if anyone knew what song just started playing on my itunes, I would be in one of those moments........ugh

But this time the glory was MINE! I was on the home stretch of a bike ride this afternoon and noticed a young lady walking a couple dogs in the distance. As I approached closer she suddenly stopped. Upon stopping she pulled her arms in, turned to the side, cocked her head back with closed eyes and tight lips...rolled the body and revved the wrists...then flipped it to the other side!
Repeat!

I am pretty sure after she completed her little shuffle, she got that hot feeling, you know that feeling like uhhhh someone totally just saw me do that.

Two feet away by this time she looks dead at me in horror. She busts out laughing...I do the same and keep on riding.

OH, the glory!

Avocado Festival

Sounds really cool doesn't it? Not so much. I guess there is the novelty of drinking beer and listening to bands in the street but we were truly hard pressed to see anything avocado. We envisioned endless avocado vendors with cool recipes and...well, just avocados everywhere. This was not so. I guess now we know.
We did take a nice long walk on the beach after. It has been pretty hot here so we try to stay outside as much as possible. Laine likes the beach...I think. She has a really hard time staying awake with the crashing waves and movement. But isn't a sleeping baby a happy baby? One form I guess.Laine is getting bigger by the day. She still is super small when I see her in pictures though.

Yeah, about that studying....

I started taking the architecture registration exams a couple months ago. I was doing so well, studying after work and some on the weekends and taking an exam a month.

Laine came after two tests and I haven't been so diligent. She is a great baby but come on, which would you rather stare at after work.
I will get back on it shortly but for now I am trying to spend as much time with her and her mother as possible.