Property of Berkeley - A Sneaky Peaky

We just got back from a weekend at Berkeley for Michael's birthday, and I'm still trying to defrost from the super cold weekend we had! There are too many pictures to sort through so here are a few to whet your appetite...


I'm not quite sure what to think of this college town; it was awfully smelly and I couldn't tell if it was from the abundance of hippies or if it was just trash day :) I guess I'm getting old.



Uncle Michael greeting Olivia at his apartment. She's just a little squirt compared to him. He opened the door and she stood there and just stared at him, she was a little dumbfounded!



Olivia enjoyed the view at the restaurant. The girl moves so fast that I can't seem to get a picture of them both in focus.



Michael contemplating his last day as a 21 year old! I like this picture because he looks like a young Marlboro Man!!!


OK, more to come soon!

Sunday With The Aarons

Here's a cool picture of Olivia that I took while waiting for the Aarons to arrive. I'm sneaking it in here because, after all, it is Olivia's adventures and the texture is just too cool!



Jenn and her girls allowed me to take some pictures of them this weekend. They wanted to have some nice pictures as a possible birthday gift for daddy. I'm certain that dad isn't reading this blog so we're safe;)
I think this one is my favorite of the day.


Or maybe it's this one....


Jenn and I are bestest friends from high school, which honestly seems just like yesterday that we were walking the halls and sharing homework answers.


Shalimar wasn't too thrilled with picture time, but she managed to perk up while being propelled in the air.



Aneliese just loved being out in the wild.


I had to get a thumb sucking picture of the girls!


This shot makes me smile.


OK, meanwhile, Olivia is screaming her head off. She's just not used to playing second fiddle and NOT being the star of the pictures!







My little Travelocity gnome.


We went to the mall for lunch and to hang out. The mall is always our favorite hangout! Here's Aneliese showing me her ballerina moves.



My favorite Shalimar shot of the day. Thanks for letting me play with my camera! Hope daddy likes part of his birthday present!

The Park

We hit the Crown Valley Park this morning and Olivia was game for modeling for me. And she's a mighty fine looking model!


There was a little hill with a gorgeous tree and as soon as I plopped her down she looked at me like, YUCK, what is all this stuff underneath? What can I say, she's girly!


This cracks me up because, despite the disaster that she makes around the house, there are moments of OCD cleanliness. And here she is picking up the leaves...


and handing them to me!


She did a few rounds of this process.


"I've picked up, now where's my treat?"


She was very proud of herself!


Another awesome trail, she had such a good time picking up sticks, but would freak out when an ant got on her! I love the sly look on her face.


It was a fun day, and we took the time to see the pretty flowers.


Check out the awesome cracked clay!

Pandora's Box

When I asked Kamee for a recommendation on a good wide angle lens she warned me that I was opening up Pandora's Box. Well, now it's open and there's no going back. I rented a 28mm 1.8 lens for the weekend just to check it out since it's supposed to give awesome flare which I LOVE. This little hobby of mine is getting mighty expensive!


We went to the park with our neighbors and I got some nice flare with Taylor.


This is one of my fav's. Check out the flare with Luke...(or maybe it's Max?)


Don't blame me if I can't tell - Luke and Max are identical twins! I wish I was quicker so that I couldn't caught them with their eyes wide open.


If Olivia plays it right one of these good looking brothers will ask her to prom in2023!


Here's Taylor monkeying around.




I think this is Luke, he was game for lots of pictures!


What a ham.


Olivia always has a blast at the park.


After dinner we went to the town center for some ColdStone ice cream. Isn't this an awesome lens? I now know what I'm begging for for mother's day ;)

Rollercoaster of a Weekend

Olivia started out the weekend OK, daycare called and asked me to pick her up early as she was feeling a bit warm. But you can see that she was all smiles when she got home.


Here she is the next day not happy. Notice the change in clothing from a turtleneck and jacket to a summer shirt. The poor baby had 103 temperature.


Motrin works wonders!! Here she is in front of Powell's Candy Shop enjoying herself again.


After she saw what kind of store we were at, it was impossible to get her to look at the camera!


The objects of her affection.


Candy!


She's gaga over candy. Or maybe it was just the Motrin making her gaga. The stuff's great, but it really does give you a false sense of well-being. After her nap she was even more hot (104!!!) and with a runny nose this time! Hope she gets well quickly!

Laundry Mat and Baseball Tournament Part II

Before I go on, I just have to say that last night's Bachelor was, in fact, the MOST dramatic rose ceremony every. Chris Harrison will never be able to use that line again. OK, so last Sunday we went to the last Cal game against Long Beach, but we stopped off to get some pizza first since we were starving. These people actually made our pizza fresh so we had to wait a bit. We decided to take our break at the laundry mat next door!



This girl knows how to work those size 1T hips!


Vincent was shocked that it cost $2.50 for a load of laundry!




A little wink...




and thoughts of butterflies! She is such a flirt.



Just some fine dining at the classiest of locations.


Another snicker ice cream bar treat.





Awful shadow across her face, but I wanted to show how excited Olivia was to run the bases after the game.


She got a Long Beach Dirtbag baseball as her reward.



She was in perfect position to catch a fast groundball. All the scouts were watching ;)



Finally, here she is with her Uncle Michael.


She made sure to give him a big wet bisous before he had to leave. See you soon!