Zachary's First Fever (BOO)

He isn't feeling so hot today. Actually to be truthful, he is feeling extremely hot, Zach has a slight fever. Here is what he is doing now, sleeping next to me on the couch.

He is still having periods of playfulness and is eating well, so the Doctor isn't too concerned (yes, we called on a Saturday and I don't feel bad at all about it). We are keeping a close eye on him. Keep him in your thoughts and we will keep you posted.

Zachary's grown up look

I thought this was a cute picture of Zachary dressed up for school (aka Daycare) this week. He has officially made it a week there and has had nothing but rave reviews from his teachers. He has kept his pleasant demeanor, still eats a ton (even the professionals are amazed) and smiles like crazy. And he is sleeping through the night! YIPPEE!! Daycare seems to wear him out.


I am back at work too, also getting rave reviews (ha!). I am now working as a Sr. Business Development Director for the American Heart Association. Basically I am running four Heart Walks in Camarillo, Santa Maria, Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo, CA, with a staff of 3 people. It should be fun. I only have to find $600,000 in Sponsorship/Partnerships by June 30. If you know anyone let me know!

Hiking in Malibu Canyon

We are very lucky to live in Southern California. We have an incredible climate with Oceans, Lakes, Mountains, deserts etc. and lots of things to do in those places, if we choose to take advantage of them. While Doug and I do stay pretty busy we kept talking about doing more. Do we go Ocean or Lake Kayaking? Sailing? Surfing? Hiking?

Can you guess which one we choose to attempt first?

HIKING! and we even took Zach. Hiking seems like a cool thing we can do to workout together and as a family. We really want to do active things with Zach as he gets older, showing him how important it is to be fit and healthy, hopefully we can keep it up!

We went to Malibu Canyon State Park and took a trail to the old MASH site (as in where the show MASH was filmed). It was a lot of fun, we loaded Zachary into his Baby Bjorn (world's greatest invention) and took off for the hills. I think we did a good job our first time out. It wasn't a super hard hike (with the exception of one monster hill), but we did a 3 hour jaunt. Unfortunately, we somehow missed the actual MASH site, (I think I made Doug turn around 5 minutes before we got there). But we did hike. And Zachary LOVED it! He was looking around at everything all wide eyed, it was fun to watch him.

And in case you are wondering Hiking is a lot like walking, just off the beaten path on rougher terrain, that actually does make a difference on your body the next day! We probably could have taken a better bag (not our typical diaper bag) but it worked just the same!

Our goal is to keep checking out different trails. Feel free to join us!

Here are some photos..............

We came back and watched South Carolina Football, despite Zachary's best efforts they weren't able to pull off the win against Arkansas. Hopefully it will be better against Florida next week.

Happy Halloween and Happy Birthday!

Happy Birthday Mom

and

Happy Halloween!

Happy Birthday Mom!

We love you and wish we could be there to celebrate with you.

And now on to Halloween................

In honor of Halloween, here are some of Zachary's pictures. He was generously given a few different Halloween themed outfits, so we used them in adapting his costume, what was supposed to be a pumpkin, actually kind of looked like a carrot, so be my guest in deciding what you want him to be! Today is also a special day for Zachary as it is the only day of the year he is allowed to wear orange. Not only is Orange sacrilege from the Aggie Standpoint, but it also happens to be an evil shade in the eyes of a South Caroline Gamecock Fan!

So this will be one of the only times you really see him in these colors!

Here are a few pictures of Zach's Halloween Costume(s)See, he hates orange too!

Here he is an upset Aggie Fan, "Fire Fran!"

He is practicing being Uncle Thomas in this one.

Who says my boy has big feet? Clown Costume anyone?



A Good Nephew (wink, wink)

and take your pick a pumpkin or a carrot!

With Dr. Evil (aka Dad)

This is a big week for Zachary, not only is it his first Halloween, it is also his first time to go to daycare (aka Playschool, Playtime, School, etc.), and it is his first week to start rolling over! He and I have been working on his tummy strength for a number of days now and while he rolled over once a few weeks ago, he has yet to do it repeatedly. All that changed last night! Zach rolled right, Zach rolled left and he even rolled once from his back to his belly.

Watch out world, and watch out Mom and Dad, this guy is now moving.

Here is a video of him and his new signature move.

We hope you all have a happy, safe and spooky Halloween!

Keeping South Carolina in our thoughts and prayers.

There is a close connection within most college communities and the University of South Carolina definitely falls into this category. Despite being out of school for 4.5 years now, I still feel a very close connection to the university, its alumni and current students. I wish I could get back there more but will always hold a place in my heart for Carolina and the Gamecocks.

My thoughts and prayers go out to the friends and families of the seven students who passed away this week in the Ocean Isle House Fire.

Blue skies are almost here.....

Zach and I have been hanging out indoors the last two days but it is certainly looking a little bit better out there. Just to give you an idea I took another picture from our balcony and you can see what the skies look like now (and what they normally look like). The winds appear to be shifting as we speak and the skies are getting more gray looking again, so we are clearly not out of the woods yet.

Today




Normal Skies


The winds are still pretty fierce, with gusts up to 39 mph, and oddly enough the air that is blowing is really warm, almost hot. It is bizarre. It also still smells really smokey out there. Good news though is that my eyes weren't burning today, as they were yesterday and it doesn't appear we are being snowed on by ashes anymore either. I don't think we are ready for car washes yet, but maybe a few more days we can assume the ashes have stopped falling.

Some people have been asking us lately, Where exactly is Oxnard (such a lovely name for a town)? So I have included a map of Southern California. We are on the coast 60 mile North West of Los Angeles and 30 miles southeast of Santa Barbara. We live in Ventura County essentially where the Pacific Coast Highway (PCH) and the 101 meet. It is a beautiful area that includes both great beaches and beautiful mountains.


So what are Zachary and I doing while trapped indoors?

Lots of tummy time, practicing sitting, singing and sleeping.


here is zach singing.....and sleeping (please note the firemen pajamas, in honor of the fire fighters)

As you can see we have been working on Zach's neck strength and rolling over. Here he is working very hard.

On a side note, Doug is feeling much better. We still aren't sure if he had food poisoning or a 24 hour flu, either way he was able to not only attend the Sysco Roadeo and Picnic on Saturday, but he also entered the Hot Wing Eating Contest. I was shocked that he allowed himself to be pressured to enter but happy to report he came in last place.

Santa Ana Winds and California Fires

Part of living in Southern California is dealing with a multitude of bizarre weather occurrences and natural disasters. Fortunately we have not had to directly deal with any of these things but we are still affected by association.

As you may have seen from CNN or other news medias, there are Hurricane Force Santa Ana Winds in Southern California today. Santa Anas are a type of föhn wind, the result of air pressure buildup in the high-altitude Great Basin between the Sierra Nevada and the Rocky Mountains. This air mass spills out of the Great Basin and is pulled by gravity into the surrounding lowlands. The air circulates clockwise around the high pressure area bringing winds from the east and northeast to Southern California (the reverse of the westerly winds characteristic of the latitude, thank you Wikipedia). You may hear Doug refer to these winds as Santana winds (after the great band and guitarist Santana, but you should be aware of the actual name).



These winds in addition to our California drought (3 inches of rain in 18 months) have created quite an eventful day. Power lines have been forced down and fires have taken over Malibu and the Santa Clarita Area of Los Angeles County. Both areas about 25-30 miles from our home. This is good for us in regard to not being fearful of the actual fires spreading, but bad as we are west of both areas and are being literally smoked out. Here are some photos we just took outside our home.


(Note these photos are taken at 2:00 pm. and unlike the east coast and Texas, these aren't clouds but only smoke. Our normally clear blue skies have been replaced with the following views. The air quality is also awful, we are staying indoors today. But even doing that Doug and I are both suffering from slight headaches and nausea. )




We will keep you posted.................

Update: There are now 12 fires in Southern California, while none of this is funny, the quote of the evening is from Perez Hilton who stated, "We hope Britney didn't start it".