Family!

I hate when I take too long to blog because then I feel like I have to catch up on things that have happened since I last blog. And, when I have to catch up my blogs end up being 10 pages long. But I can't just not share these cute things!

We got Kat this walking toy, and she is finally starting to use it. Maybe one of these days she might actually walk.

My sister got married this past Saturday, so we have been lucky to have family come visit. We have been especially lucky since none are staying with us. :) This is us having such fun at a fountain near our house. Doesn't Jen look like she is having SO MUCH FUN!?!?!?!

We went to the beach and though it seemed almost impossible I got everyone in the picture; wait where am I?

Why is it that a picture of a baby eating sand is just so cute?

Here are all (well a few are missing ie Jasmine, Benjamin and Trevor) Ali's cousins: This is her with Elias.

This was such a good picture of him I had to add it too!

This is Philippi. (Nick don't hate me if I spelled his name wrong!)

Kiki!

Madeline. Yummy applesauce.

Ty; Look at me Ty, no this way, no don't close your eyes...oh well at least he is in the picture.

Because this is my blog, and I love this picture, here is another of Kat!

Death of a pinata

We had a fun party at a nearby park. Nick's mom, sister and Aunt were able to come which was nice. My family came too, but for some reason we did not get a picture with them.


We helped Kat open presents. This toy in particular she did not want to put down. It was a phone that had lots of sounds and lights. Thanks Gibi!


We had Cake. This cake is inspired by my sister Jen, and decorated by Ali. Sorry for the bad picture. For some reason we never really got a good picture of the cake.


Kat liked the cake!

Then we had a pinata. First we hit it...


Then we punched it...


Then we stabbed it...

Then we kicked it...


Ahhh finally we got candy. I think that thing was made of iron.
And just because I could not let this post end without adding this,

Here is a picture of my mom punching the pinata. Sorry for the blurry picture, she was moving SO FAST!

Home

Since we moved Ali and Kat have been... what is the right word... emotional. At the sound of a "No" from either me or Nick and Ali would throw a tantrum. Kat would always want to be close to me, which is very unusual for her. But this last week the girls seemed to finally settle. I think that we can now call this place home. Since we moved into this building Ali has called this apartment, "our house with the blue gate," but now she calls it "home." For instance, when she says, "I want to go home," Manhattan Beach is the place to which she is referring. I know this because she doesn't start breaking down when we pull up to our new place anymore.

I think that a huge motivation in her feeling more at home here has been that we discovered the library. When we walked in she went straight for the books as if she had known the place her whole life. I think we can move anywhere with a library and Ali would eventually be okay.


Kat finally wanted to get in the pool with Ali and so we got out her swimsuit. She was so cute in it I had to take a picture.


Yummy water! Notice how Ali's head is dry while Kat is soaked from head to toe. Big thanks to all the big sisters out there who know how that could happen.


Kat started to do this blinking thing. I am not sure why she does it, but when she is happy she blinks her eyes, and I managed to get it on film.

OKAY OKAY, here is a bit of our trip

For the OVERWHELMING requests, here are a few pictures of our road trip.

No, this is not trick photography, there really is NOTHING in Minnesota.

Once we hit South Dakota things picked up pretty fast. We saw the world's largest bull head. I am not sure how tall it was, but it was pretty massive. Sorry about the blurry picture, going 80 mph is not great for taking pictures.

The one and only corn palace. I think that Nick wants to move to Mitchell, SD solely for the ability to go to the corn palace whenever he wants.

The real reason we took the northern route, despite the awesomeness of the corn palace, was to go and see Mount Rushmore. I could not believe how big it is. All pictures, including these ones minimalize its size, but it is huge.

Just one of the little one in front of the big ones.

This is the only picture that shows how truly large these things are.

Once we were done with ALL the cool things in South Dakota we headed south to the four corners area. As my undergrad degree was in Anthropology I could have stayed there forever. This is Mesa Verde. It is an entire city set in cliffs.

We took a guided tour through the ruins; some spaces were tight.

And some were below ground.

And just because, this is a picture of our new swimming pool! In case anyone was wondering why she is standing so funny, she is dog paddling/swimming. Maybe we ought to get her some lessons.

New project

I was telling one of my friends in Boston about the amazing avocados we had growing up in California, so when we were leaving she suggested that I plant an organic avocado tree. This is the beginning of that adventure. I bought the biggest one in the basket. Plus, it was delicious. I plan on documenting the growth of my "tree" on this blog, so every month I will post a picture of its progress.

One more olive

PLEASE DON"T SCROLL DOWN UNTIL YOU ARE DONE WITH THE STORY


WARNING: This is a "Nick-Post," so it might be a little bit inappropriate, proceed at your own risk.

I haven't started residency yet, so I have spent a great deal of time with my 2 girls. I don't think I ever realized how extreme these girls can be. They are either extremely hilarious or extremely, well, let's just use the word tired. Let me share a hilarious moment that happened last night.

Since Ali was about 1 year old, she has loved olives. We can often bribe her into doing things with the temptation of olives. She has even been known to turn down candy or ice cream for olives. She especially enjoys black, pitted olives. She carefully places them one by one on her fingers, until she runs out of fingers or olives. Last night, she was especially good and was rewarded by a bowl full of olives. Steph and I turned to our night chores while Ali proceeded to make her olive glove. A couple of minutes later, I heard "Daddy look I only have one olive left." I turned around and this is what I saw:










I'm thinking of making this our Christmas card. I'm gonna miss these moments.

-Nick

Short story and a bit of thought

The short story of these long 3 weeks is that we made it here safely. It was a long road trip and a long time setting up our apartment but we are done. Our new address is:
861 Manhattan Beach Blvd #1
Manhattan Beach, CA 90266

I also want to say a goodbye to Boston, which really has treated us well. Most people do a pros and cons sort of deal where they elaborate on the good and bad of their experience, but the one thing, and the big thing that I will miss in Boston is the good people. The world has lots of good people in it, but I think that Boston in particular has an unproportionally large quantity of such people. To all those good friends, we miss you all already.