Baby Steps

So, after we got back from Newport Beach we went and spent a couple of days up in Park City with my family. It was a gorgeous condo! It was all one level with hardwood floors & lots of open space. For Zaida, this was the perfect time to work on perfecting her walking. She was a walking maniac. I swear if she could she would have been saying "I am running!" (like Forrest Gump). Here is one little clip of her walking.
She still walks on her tippy toes - I think she is going to be a ballerina!

Huntington Beach

We went to Huntington Beach with John on Thursday. For some reason I got zero pictures of John - sorry! I actually did try to get a couple of the boys boogey boarding, but by the time I got the camera I think you had drifted almost all the way to the pier by then! :)
While the guys were out in the water, I still had my hands full. Huntington has shells, which Newport did not. So, yes, Zaida was determined to eat them. I seriously had to fish a couple of them out of her mouth. She is a sneaky little girl. She would crawl & get one in her hand, then turn away from me & then try to sneakily cram it into her mouth.
After she gave up on the shells she found a new game. It's called grab-the-tennis-ball-&-racquet-ball-put-them-on-the-beach-chair-then-crawl-up-after-them-then-throw-the-balls-off-and-repeat! :) Hey, it was either that or let her play with Corey's expensive sunglasses!

I think she is ready to learn how to boogey-board Daddy!

The last day of our trip we went in to Huntington again. They were having the US Open (surfing, extreme biking/skating) the week while we were there. So, we went to check out the festivities. Here is just a portion of the beach. You can see a grandstand in the backgroung, above Zaida's stroller, and that is the biking bowl. It was pretty fun to watch. But, man it was hot out!
And, at the end of this afternoon we were all worn out - some of us more than others. :)

Cute little sunbather!

The following day we just spent the day at the hotel. We went out to the smaller, quieter pool. The "problem" with that is that my daughter has got some serious lungs! So, all of the people at the pool who were just trying to get some lounging time in were probably disturbed a bit. But, our daughter is gorgeous and so most people just smiled & then were entertained by her. Here Zaida is trying to figure out how to put my sunglasses on.

Later that afternoon we went to Balboa & walked along the pier & boardwalk. Although it is beautiful, I just don't think I would ever want to live there (or somewhere similar). I would hate having people walking right next to my house and looking in & spying on us (like I did with all of their houses). I am already paranoid. I just can't even imagine how nuts I would be about having the blinds drawn & doors locked. Sorry Corey ... the vast nothingness ... I just don't get it. :)

Newport Beach

So this picture pretty much says it all - Zaida LOVES the beach! I should have known. Her dad is such a fish. Corey lived in Huntington Beach for a year & loves the sun, sand & surf. And she apparently is a chip off the old block. She was so excited to go walk in the water (even though it was pretty cold). It was SO cute, when the waves would come in she would lift her leg to try to step over them.

Look at this pose ... which she did all on her own, by the way. She has such the personality!

Even when not in the water she had a good time just crawling around or playing in the sand.

Briana & Addison were able to come out and meet us for a day at the beach. Here Addi is giving ZZ a cute little kiss on the head. What a sweetheart!

Addi is an old pro at this beach thing and was showing Zaida the ropes.

I love this picture that Briana took of the girls sand caked toes. They are quite the beach babes!

Later that afternoon we went back to the hotel and got cleaned up. Briana was able to get Zaida's hair up in a cute little piggy (miracle!). Look how cute it is!

Bree & Addi ---Thanks for spending the afternoon with us! We had such a good time & hope we will get to have more outings together soon!

Aquarium of the Pacific

This past week we went to California. After we got into Cali, went on a nice tour of the Aquarium in Long Beach. I didn't know quite what to expect, but it was really fun. I was a little afraid Zaida would not be interested in the exhibits, but she did pretty good. Her favorites were the stingrays & sharks. Here Corey is at the petting part of the exhibit --- you can stick your hands in and pet the baby sharks, stingrays & other miscellaneous fish. Zaida was waving her hands like "come here".

This is the shark tank and it was feeding time. So, as you can see, it's pretty crowded. I guess Zaida was really into the sharks. Above all the noise I could her a happy little shriek every once in a while, so she really must have loved it. This picture is as they were walking out. I think she is asking where all the sharks went.

After they got some time to watch the sharks we swapped & I was able to go and take a peek at the sharks. They are some freaky lookin' animals. This one took either a liking to me or to my camera. He came RIGHT up to the glass right where I was standing. I imagine he might not be as friendly if I were to meet him in the open water!

Professional photos

Before Zaida's birthday I took her over to Jolley Photography to get some real professional shots taken. They turned out amazing! I've attached a couple of them (from Jolley's blog - jolleyphotography.com) ... in the one above we got a few from this series. They are pretty funny. One of Zaida covering her face with her little chubby hand, one of her giving Mom a crusty look, another putting her finger in her dimples, and the final one is a cute pose with a cute face. I think it will be cute to put these together in a frame - or just next to each other in the same frames. The 2 close-ups below are cute, but we didn't end up getting them. I got one similar to the bottom one. I got it in a black & white canvas (8x10). It's a cute smiling shot of Zaida, just with no hands.

I did get this one (below) ... it honestly almost makes me cry everytime I see it. She is sitting there so cute! I love the toes pointing in ... and her cute little delicate, graceful looking fingers. It's just perfect! I got this in a 16x20 - and I seriously can't wait to get it!

We are so blessed to have a such an amazing, gorgeous daughter. I'm so glad we will now have these photos to remember how little and precious she is/was.

Swimming with the Unk & Dad

Before we left on our trip (more blogs to come), I thought it might be a good idea to see how Zaida reacts to being in a big pool of water. So we went over to Quinn's place & went swimming. It's funny to see what a couple of grown men will resort to in order to get a baby to laugh! There was lots of spashing, blowing bubbles & playing catch WITH the baby! (Those pics are on Q's camera. Will try to add them later!)
If you ask me, it was quite a success. Zaida loves her Uncle Quinn. Thanks for having us over!