Happy Father's Day!

In honor of Father's Day, Carson was a really helpful son all week.



He helped organize our closet.



And he organized the spice rack.



He assisted in putting away the dishes.



And he even offered to taste my beer to make sure it was cold enough.



All that and he made me a nice momento. Yes, those are his hand prints even though it looks like they should belong to a 4 year old.



It wasn't all about me though. He tested out Aunt Colleen's sunglasses.



And he pointed out a small error with this bucket to dear Liza.



As if that wasn't enough, he also managed to take his first steps.

Knee Deep in Relatives

Carson fully embraces the beach lifestyle, and is ready to share his passion for the big waves with his Aunt Colleen who officially became an Angelino this week.


Grandma and Grampa were back briefly midweek for dinner before their red-eye back to Florida.


They were lucky to catch up with Carson, who spent the week running his mother around in circles.


Life is moving pretty fast for Carson now that he's facing forward in his carseat.


But he's got his new shoes on, so everything's gonna be alright.

There was still time to get in some swinging at the park...


And the weekend wouldn't be complete without at least one birthday party. Twins Isabella and Ben celebrated their first year with a shindig in the park.


A party complete with a ball pit that had all the boys (Connor, Carson & Tyler) pretty excited.

Birthday Week Continues

The editors of the blog apologize for the delay as they were awaiting access to the snaps on Grandma and Grampa's camera. Fortunately they didn't have to pawn it off to make it back from their trip to Vegas. While they were there, Carson continued the birthday celebration throughout last week.


Carson still isn't quite ready to walk on his own, but he'll go just about anywhere your two fingers will take him.


Carson continued to receive gifts throughout the week, like this tricycle/big wheel from Ging-Ging & Pops.


We celebrated the actual day of his birth with a family breakfast of blueberry pancakes.


The blue tongue is a pretty good sign that he liked the pancakes.


The month of the birthday party continued with a western themed soiree for Eli.


Proving you can never take a theme too far, Eli's bandana nicely doubles as a bib.


Now that he's started stacking blocks I guess it's time to move onto juggling.


Either that or that dog trick where he flips the block off his head and catches it in his mouth, which I think Grandma was practicing here.

Happy Birthday to Carson!

Grandma and Grampa were back in town to celebrate Carson's first birthday this past weekend.


Carson can't believe a year has already gone by.


In preparation for the big day Carson got his first haircut.


Carson was pleased to have so many fabulous guests at his party. Party-goers included his Uncle Jeff...


Nikhil & Kedar


Isabella & Ben in awesome matching hats.


Alexandra and Lucas find an impromptu high chair.


And Connor, looking quite tough in his bomber jacket.

Sadly, the paparazzi wasn't in attendance at our party, so we don't have shots off all the revelers. However, I have it on good authority that also in attendance were Eli, Tyler, Strummer, C.W., Mary Jane, Vivian, Thea, Aunt Beth, Grandma & Grampa.


As with any birthday party catered by Laura, the real stars were the baked goods. Here's the monkey cake...


and the organic banana cupcakes for the 1-year-old crowd.


As you'll see in the video, Carson took a moment to survey the scene.




But then dug right in.


Here's how the monkey looked afterwards.

Beach Weekend!

Every weekend is really a beach weekend here in Playa Del Rey, but this was especially true with the Monday holiday.


Carson did his best to ensure that his mom got her feet wet.


He's a jar. RIP Jay Bennett




We also got to head out to another fab baby group birthday party. Birthday girl Dylan was clearly enjoying herself.


We had Rachel and Steven Brown visiting this weekend from San Francisco. Although he doesn't look it here, Carson was very excited to have some new people to show off for.


On monday we headed to Fiesta Hermosa. Although we're much bigger fans of the Old Hometown Fair in Manhattan Beach, they did have a petting zoo.


Carson wasn't the only one to eat lunch while at Fiesta Hermosa.


Carson and Rachel wave goodbye to a very fun weekend. Rachel's stated goal for the weekend was making it onto the blog, so at least she was able to accomplish that.

Grandparents and Graduation

The blog took a vacation last week while Carson went to visit his grandparents in Florida. There are so many pictures from the two weeks that you really should visit the photo site if you want the full story, but a few of the highlights are below.


It's truly a small world when you can't even fly through the Atlanta airport without bumping into a fake second cousin. Carson and Sarah Linnemann hang in the ATL.


After a full day of travel, as well as a long drive to Tampa Carson doesn't exactly hide his excitement over hanging out with Laura's sorority sisters Beth & Kristi Sue. Three month old Cooper at least seems happy to be there.


With all the travel behind him Carson was ready to start his vacation in earnest, and got Grampa to blow up the baby pool.


The baby pool clearly wasn't enough to contain Carson.


The third of four pools carson would visit on his trip (not including the Gulf of Mexico).


Carson gets the pin after executing his patented people's elbow.


This was just the kind of relaxation a guy needs after a difficult eleven months on the job.


Pool and a pond. Pond would be good for you though.


It must have been a pretty bright day inside.


Perhaps the camera could have taken this picture if the lens only had Grampa's glasses.


It wasn't all beach and pool time, there was also some serious playgrounding to be done.


What would a visit to Florida be without a trip to the early bird.


Nothing quite like curling up with a good book with Grandma.


For the second leg of the trip Carson stopped off in St. Louis for his Aunt Colleen's college graduation. As always, if anybody in the greater LA area is in need of an aspiring college graduate with a degree in communications, Colleen should be in the Socal area starting the second week in June.


It wouldn't be a visit to college without some time spent in a bar.


Carson knows how to make friends amongst Scott's extended family. Here he steals some shades from Scott's sister-in-law Kate.


Carson got to see some St. Louis highlights during his brief time in town. Here he is in the Budweiser stables checking out the Clydesdales.


Carson didn't just get to experience the Budweiser horses.


When an unexpected flight delay gave us an extra few hours we were conveniently only minutes away from the fabulous (and free!) St. Louis zoo.


The Zebra's were way more appropriate than what the giraffes were doing when we walked by.