Some Things Are Best Left to Professionals

It's a great age we live in that for a couple hundred bucks you can get a camera the size of a deck of playing cards that takes pretty good snaps. Combine that with a memory card and you can carry around hundreds of photos. Neither of those facts exactly make you a photographer, so in those instances you can always call in a pro. So, it's probably safe to assume if a photo looks really good in this post (like the one above) it was not taken by me.



Instead it was taken by Kevin (he's the guy that is neither me nor in a bjorn above) or possibly Nicky who came all the way from New York City to check in on Carson.



So, photography doesn't really pay Kevin's bills (Deloitte & Touche does), so I guess he isn't a professional photographer, but it was nice of him to bring out the fancy camera regardless. If you'd like to check out Kevin's work (no not the accounting stuff), you can do so here.



Since it led to great shots like the one of Laura and Carson above.



The other major event of the weekend was a slightly early celebration of Halloween. The Manhattan Beach business district celebrated five days early on Sunday, with candy at all the stores. However, before we could jump into Halloween we needed to get Carson in the proper mindset. First we tried some fancy socks from Ging-Ging...



Then Nicky talked up the idea of wearing something green...



and just to make sure it worked we got him a little liquored up.



Here is the end result.



Ho Ho Ho.



We went to Beckers for some Halloween cookies (which Nicky and Laura felt they could participate in too, despite not getting dressed up).



I guess they deserved it after making my Jolly Green Giant costume from scratch.



The whole time we were out people kept coming up to us and complimenting the coordinated costumes. For all the single guys reading this blog hoping to attract the ladies this Halloween (which I'm sure makes up at least 70-80% of baby-blog readers), here is my foolproof plan for getting random women to come up and talk to you all night:

1. Find an infant
2. Dress in coordinated costumes



Kevin got in on the act dressing up as well. When you think about it, this picture represents a tough spot for a pea-pod. The person on the left wants to freeze you, the person on the right would have you sautéed in butter.



It's the kind of thing that can really take it out of you.

Tickle Me Carson

We're a little delayed in getting a post out this week, but hopefully we'll get back to our regular Sunday/Monday schedule next week. In the meantime, better late than never here's a little recap of the end of Uncle Ken and Aunt Emily's visit, along with the other goings on last week.



Before we let Uncle Ken and Auntie Em' out of town they took a trip to the Manhattan Beach Aquarium, where Carson got to check out a variety of fish.



Where is the MB Aquarium you ask? Well it's right on the end of the pier.



With only the three of us around this past weekend we did some swinging in the local park.



A favorite friend from the gym, the whimsical Lobsterman got his own song this week as well (sung to the tune of the theme from Spiderman)

Lobsterman, Lobsterman
Doin' the things that a lobster can
He tastes good with a butter sauce
Kinda like stone crab claws
Look out, here comes the lobsterman



We also moved into the big bathtub this week, which Carson enjoyed immensely. We have a slightly more r-rated video, but it was not deemed blog appropriate, so this tasteful nude will have to do.



Our typical pre-bath activity is playtime on the changing table. While this picture shows some of the enjoyment...



It's not the same as seeing the video:

Enjoying the Finer Things in Life

We had the pleasure of having Kemily visit this past weekend from NY and DC (I can't imagine anybody who would be able to keep that long distance of a relationship going), and in addition to doing a great job playing with Carson Ken also stepped up to handle the blogging duties. So, without further ado, I'll hand you off to your guest blogger Ken:

When Mom and Dad first told Carson that Uncle Ken and Aunt Emily were coming to visit, he did not know what to think


When his parents reminded him how much fun the visit would be, his fears were quickly alleviated, and a sense of hopeful optimism took over.


But when Uncle Ken arrived, Carson wasn't sure what to think.


Ken explained to Carson that the goal of the visit was to teach Carson about how to become a sophisticated gentleman of the 21st century. The two got to work right away with some light reading about emerging vacation destinations.


When Emily and Ken began to explain to Carson that being a man of leisure involved learning to relax and unwind, he started to wrap his head around the idea.


Carson displayed great aptitude in his studies and impressed his visitors with a display of his musical abilities.


Carson understood that he needed a strong body as well as strong mind, and the crew went to work on his upperbody, particularly his abs.


His trainers approved!


After a long day of working out, Carson expressed a desire to hit up a bar, enjoying the libations, without any whining.


While at the bar, Carson impressed many of the ladies with his repartee and knowledge of wine culture, "Dad, you know you can hold the red by the bowl," he quipped.


Finally, it was impressed upon Carson that a truly refined gentleman always looks his best. So the following day when he awoke, he got dressed in his finest clothes, looking his best for more family action.


Carson appreciated the tutelage of his cousin Vivian, a stylish young lady, already skilled in life's finer topics.


After such a rigorous weekend of astute learning, Carson was able to take repose with Aunt Beth and cousin Mary Jane.


When everyone returned home to L.A., Uncle Ken, Aunt Emily, and Carson reflected on their weekend, and commented on just how much fun they had.

Who Are You (who who... who who)

So I was wondering who has visited the blog recently, so I paid a visit to our Google Analytics page. Turns out people are looking at our pictures from quite a few different places as you can see in the map below:

That's right, we've had hits from 32 states, the District of Columbia, and a handful of foreign countries. Frankly I have no idea who I even know in most of those places, but it's nice that people are visiting.

Based on the occasional feedback I've received most of you seem to like it, so we'll keep doing what we're doing. If you have any comments, feel free to send them along to either Laura or I via email, or just by adding a comment to one of the posts (you can use either your Gmail or AIM account to avoid creating a login).

This week what we were doing included a trip to the Manhattan Beach Hometown Fair. There we witnessed Pony Rides:



A petting zoo with goats, pigs, chickens and bunnies:



A very big lizard:



and some very lazy lizards (yes, it's alive):



The seasons have definitely changed in Playa Del Rey, with temperatures dipping all the way down into the 60s. Carson's wardrobe has changed accordingly thanks to some really nice hand me downs including a surprising amount of cashmere:



When not quite so bundled up, Carson has learned a new trick of sucking his own toes:



Finally, we've gotten requests for some more video, so Carson went back into the studio to produce the following: