Spring Training

We're officially El Segundo residents now that we've signed up for Little League.


Since the Reds weren't an option, a certain Ohio friendly coach chose their neighbor to the north.



The Boys of Summer get started quite early in El Segundo, with the Little League parade starting the season in late February.


This action shot makes carson look quite quick. As anybody who watched a game will know, the true speed didn't start until the batting helmet fell off.



The first half of the year already saw the Indians batting from the black tees.


Aunt Caroline made a brief appearance in tinsel town to celebrate the Oscars.



Summer got dressed up for the party at the Pimentels. Here she's wearing Dulce & Gabana.


On one of the last grey days of the spring we decided to take some beach photos.

 

Whatever you do, don't call her a baby. Summer finally hit big girl status with a new bed. In a surprising move she decked it out in purple to match everything else in the room.

 

In the water in March! How can the same kids be so cold when visiting the Midwest, but able to withstand Ocean temps in the 60s?






Aunt Peg visited in March, and we immediately gave her some heavy lifting to accomplish.



We gave her a bit of LA culture on a trip to the labrea tar pits.


As with all of guests these days, Peg was treated to a night around the pizza oven, concluded with some smores.

 

Also thanks to Peg we got all the bows upon our Easter bonnets.

Winter is the Best Time to Eat Frozen Bananas

I've been more than remiss in keeping the blog updated, so as an early mother's day present to the three people that probably follow it the closest, here's a few posts that bring us up to date. The level of excitement and activity to start the year for the California Jordans hasn't exactly been fully captured in pictures. A few moments have made it to digital film, like our trip to Newport Beach for frozen bananas.

We picked up our equipment for little league season, and despite being on the Cleveland Indians it appears our equipment came from the Cubs.

 
Summer and I were super in the Redondo Beach Super Bowl 10k, finishing a respectable 10th in the always competitive baby jogger category.

 
There are so many things the average kindergartner experiences that I have absolutely no recollection of doing as a kid. For instance, I don't recall anybody dressing up like a 100 year old on the 100th day of school (or really noting it in any way whatsoever).
  Friends Dan & Danielle procreated, and Laura and I stopped by UCLA Santa Monica Hospital to check out the finished product.


Valentine's Day brought a bag full of (felt) cookies from Grandma that were definitely well loved.
  
A new Feinbloom baby means it's time to get dressed up for another ceremony. It seems like we were just doing this for Julia, but as this post shows, it's been a while.

Big Bear, Little Snow

Behind us the Big Bear snow patrol lights up the hill as part of the New Year's Eve festivities. The Jordan kids often see the need for hats and gloves in Los Angeles, so Laura and I decided to take them somewhere for New Year's where they would really need it. Carson and Summer were joined by Olivia Gerry (and her parents) on our winter sports adventure.
We got our winter sports weekend kicked off with some sledding, a winter sport that even Laura will participate in.
 
We happened to pick the craziest year of drought in recent memory, and daytime temps had us in t-shirts for skiing. Regardless, Carson was all thumbs up for ski school, despite looking nothing like the early 90s b-movie comedy I remember. The ratio of ice to water was off significantly for early January at Big Bear Lake, but much like Sochi, snow machines and at least close to frozen overnight temperatures can make anywhere Winter Olympics worthy. One lesson was more than enough for his sister, who just wanted to ride the "big chair lift". I don't believe they've introduced a pairs slalom competition, but Summer and I have started training regardless.
 
Carson liked ski school so much he decided on a second day. Thanks to a little trained ski instructor encouragement we managed to get him to join us out on the slopes that required a chair lift. Bob and I display the major downside of taking 3 kids to ski. Summer not only excels on the slopes, she also holds her own in her mother's favorite winter sports activity, the après ski dip in the hot tub.

Destination Destin

Our meandering travels eventually led us to the white sands and grey skies of Destin Florida.
Once there we could continue the I Spy games that occupied much of the drive across the gulf coast. Time away from coach Sergio hasn't caused Carson's backhand to get overly "tin-man". It wouldn't be a Jordan family gathering without a picture of everyone on a sofa of some sort.
Emily does her best to make the classic Christmas day step pic nipple free. As Pops can attest, nudity in this pic isn't uncommon.
Santa made it a zoobtastic Christmas for Carson. Aunt Caroline got a lot of love from Summer for her gifting efforts. Knuffle Bunny didn't give her squat and got similar treatment. Uncle Ken looks ready for the real thing while caring for Gina Corrina's infant daughter. While the gulf is typically warmer than the Pacific, that was only marginally the case in this pic. While our first day in Florida was quite warm, the remainder of the trip required vests Thankfully it wasn't so cold that we couldn't have the occasional pose off.

Show Your Kids! Show Your Kids!

For the second time in two years we spent a long weekend in New Orleans prior to the family fun days with the rest of the Jordan's in Destin, FL. Although during our last visit he was only 3 years old, Carson didn't seem to have forgotten his love of Beignets. Summer refused to be licked by the long day of travel the night before. Eating like this had her prepared to hang with Uncle Ken for the week. Grandma made an excellent dinner recommendation, and despite a rough start to the meal, the night ended with smiles all around. Making a last minute bid for Parents of the Year, we took the kids out on Bourbon street to collect some beads. An earlier pass yielded nothing, and had Laura sprinting for a touristy stand to buy some beads. By the end of the night even the strippers were throwing the kids a set of beads. Sadly Laura wouldn't let Bill throw them back.