Greetings from Ventura Harbor

This is Fall

Micah had his last swim lesson this weekend. By "swim lesson" we mean "parent and child water adjustment class." He is still adjusting. As am I to the idea of outdoor swim lessons in November, but hey, this is how we roll now. Of course the wind chill factor brings it down to a chilly 70 degrees at least:



On a separate note, the "I" above actually refers to me, Micah's mom. Zack was threatening to change the name of the blog for a while there while I was shirking on my blogging duties and asleep by 7:30pm every night. I've had a lot going on inside of me. Here is me at the park on a typical day trying to keep it together:



The good news: I'm almost out of the first trimester and we heard ony one heartbeat last Friday.

roar

In his dinosaur pajamas, Micah roars and bites.

leisure wear

Earlier this week, Micah and Amy put on their bathrobes and enjoyed some warm milk on the couch.

where's the dark?

Micah and I caught the sunset at the beach today. We watched from when the sun cracked the horizon to the moment the last sliver disappeared. At that point Micah asked, "why isn't it dark?"

aaaargh!

Taken at Marina Park.

november 4

As usual, Micah crawled into bed with us before dawn and went back to sleep briefly.


Then he woke us up by saying, "John McCain".

We're not making this up.

halloween

What is he?


Oh, a bunch of grapes.

the rest of Hawaii

Here the scoop on the rest of our Hawaii trip. Sorry for the long delay.
On the day of Alisha's wedding, Amy and Zack snuck off to Tunnels Beach and enjoyed some snorkeling and peace n' quiet.


The wedding was beautiful. Afterwards, I caught up with Lucy and Reece, chatting on the lawn.Meanwhile, Micah exhausted himself on the trampoline.

By the dinner and dancing started, he was pooped.

hot tropical nights

Walking home from dinner last night, we stopped by the beach to enjoy the sunset. It was beautiful...
...and romantic...
Here are the Pakenheimers (Karen Pak, Charlie Oppenheimer):
Of course there was sand and water, so the clothes had to come off:

Na Pali hike

Accompanied by the Pakenheimers, on Thursday we hiked the first two miles of the eleven mile Kalalau Trail, from Ke'e Beach to Hanakapi'ai, on Kauai's spectacular Na Pali coast.
The most amazing cliffs are further in, but we still saw some fantastic views.
After a while, Lucy had had enough, so she took her parents back to the beach at the trailhead.
We continued on to Hanakapi'ai, where a river flows into the ocean at a beach sheltered by some volcanic bluffs.




Spurred on by the promise of a Hawaiian shaved-ice, we sped back in half the time it took on the way out. Micah managed to fall asleep in the backpack on the way back, despite the bouncy ride.

social living is the best

The kids seem to love communal living.

aloha

Aloha from Hanalei Bay, Kauai, Hawaii. Alisha and Paul's wedding was the impetus for this trip, but we're staying here for the better part of a week. We're sharing a house with Melodie, Reece and Melodie's friend Chris as well as the Pakenheimers (Karen, Charlie, and Lucy). We do have wireless, which allows us to keep you up to date in real time as scandalous events unfold.

this is how I roll

yardwork!!!

proof of progress

This picture is from Micah's pre-school. If you look closely at the "Daily Diaper Change" and "pull-ups at nap" sections, you can see Micah's name crossed out.

Rosh Hashanah

Micah helped Amy bake some special challah for Rosh Hashanah.

The Tovarich Trio

Anyone who knows me (Amy) they know I hail from circus stock. My childhood summers were spent pouring over the photo albums at my Nanny and Grandad's house of their colorful past touring Great Britain, Europe and South Africa. Imagine my joy when my great uncle Victor sent this link...all these years of seeing stills were brought to life in an instant (he is the one doing the crazy-st*ff at the top of each move). Here's the video:



I miss my grandad Joe terribly; he died about 8 years ago, a couple of months before seeing his first grand-daughter and anyone in his family graduate from college (me). Thank you to the crazy circus historian out there for posting my grandfather and great-grandfather in action and bringing him a little closer after all these years without him brightening up my life and making me laugh.

Pack it up!

Micah has gotten wise to my weekly disappearances to Anaheim. This week he attempted to stow away while I was packing for my business trip.

(Blogger refuses to orient this picture correctly so I apologize for the neck strain)

Oktoberfest...in September

We hit up Oktoberfest over the hill this past weekend for some fall festivities. I'd like to say there was that crispness in the air that can only mean the heralding in of autumn, but apparently fall SoCal style means a Hawaiian shaved ice sounds more appealing than hot apple cider.

We donned our sunscreen and shades and headed over there promptly at 9am. (What else does a parent of a toddler do on a Saturday morning?) This of course meant that we had taken in a full four hours of fair festivities by the time our friends without children (we'll refer to them as our dink-y friends) decided to make it on down to the fair. Needless to say, we were done at that point, having taken in the wooden trains:



The mechanical trains:


The cow trains:


And the myriad gourds growing about the farm:

And pony-rides:

Like Josh and Lisa, we had spent a pretty penny (it takes how many tickets?!) so that our child could look as thrilled as this on ride after ride:


Yes, in a former life I too would have waltzed in at 2 in the afternoon and made a bee-line for the beer garden, but instead it was nap time...for me included.

What have I come to?