La cuchara

I think these were filmed on Nov. 14. They capture Ayla's first encounter with a cuchara. If you don't speak Spanish, don't worry--your great grandchildren will.

(No, "cuchara," doesn't mean "cockroach"--that's "cucaracha." It means "spoon." I hope. Otherwise, I wasted a lot of time and money in college.)

How 'bout we view some videos now?

Saturday... in the park

Okay, Sunday, actually. Our local haunt, D0lores Park, with Auntie Jessica. While I enjoy a sunny day in November as much as the next guy, we need rain here in California, so I hope to show you many gray days in future photos. Jessica took off before we did, and just as we were thinking of following in her footsteps, our friend, Rok, showed up for some baby bouncing.

Pinto kicks up some dust on his own personal Dog Ranch (or so he thinks)

Three hot ladies and one hot dog

Trivia time... Rok played a part in my meeting Meg. Ayla says, "Big ups, Roksta!"

Steppin' out in style

Today, Meg went to the baby shower of our friend, MaryAnne. She dressed Ayla up and took her along to give the mom-to-be a taste of just how cute little girlies can be. Before Meg left, she got in a quick photo shoot.

An outfit that makes grandmothers itch to do some cheek pinchin'

"You know you don't have to act with me, Steve. You don't have to say anything, and you don't have to do anything. Not a thing. Oh, maybe just whistle. You know how to whistle, don't you, Steve? You just put your lips together and... blow."

Shopping

A couple of the aunties talked Meg into going shopping. I think it was all a big excuse to play dress up with Ayla, who came home with a couple new outfits, but not the furry cap below.

p.s. I did not post this on Nov. 14, but I'm going to post a few entries and back date them to maintain some semblance of continuity and chronological story telling. Let's hope this scandalous back-dating doesn't get me in trouble with the SEC.

You stop that right now!

Ayla continues to exhibit a disobedient streak as, against my explicit wishes, she keeps growing up. Clearly, she's her mother's daughter.

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Le derriere...

...c'est tres cute!

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Saturday in the Uber Lounge

If you've been to our house, you know that, until recently, we had two "living rooms," one immediately to your right as you enter the front door (now Ayla's room... sort of) and the other towards the back of the house. The former owner had her bedroom in this second room, but with the kitchen at the back of the house and the living room at the front, we knew that any time we had guests over, they would end up trekking up and down the hallway to and from the living room. Or more likely, knowing our lazy bones friends, end up not making the trek and planting themselves in the kitchen. My kitchen. Where I need my space to cook, people.

So, second living room, which we affectionately refer to as "the lounge." When we moved in, we removed the doors of this former bedroom to allow free movement between both the hallway and kitchen. All I've had to do for the past four years is accidentally shove our lazy friends right into the lounge when I pass by them in the kitchen--brilliant!

We spend most of our time in the lounge when at home, and this past Saturday was no exception... except for two special overnight guests, Aunties Rachel and Melissa, who had been out celebrating old birthdays with Momma Meg the night before. For one day, and one day only, the addition of a queen-size blow-up mattress transformed the Lounge... into the Uber Lounge. That's right, people, had we actually stood up at any point that day, we could have fallen in pretty much any direction and hit nothin' but cushiony goodness.

Lucky for you, our crack team of photographers and videographers was on hand to witness this action-packed day.



Take that, President-elect Obama! This team of go-getters could teach you a thing or two about crossing stuff off your To Do list.








Baby butts: they're cuter than your butt.

That mark on Ayla's bum is called a hemangioma, which is a big bad word for a particular type of birth mark. It's fine. She's fine. No idea if I spelled it right.

Baby butt in action...

General cuteness...

Election Night

Our friends, Sarika and Aaron, hosted an election night potluck and projected maps, stats, pundits, and politicians onto two different walls of their living room while folks stuffed themselves with down-home cooking. No photos of my oatmeal raisin cookies or cookie batter being passed around, but take it from me: they were a big hit. Almost as big a hit as that one guy beating the other guy for the presidency.

What can I say?--we have blurry friends.

Those two bright things are a tv and a projected Internet page.
So we know twice as much as other viewers--ha!



Two screens weren't good enough for Mike, so he got his hands on a third. Take that, two-screeners!



I think Sarika might be pointing out a communist to Aaron...



Meg watches the election results. Intently.




The results are in and the champagne is poured. Obama, baby!!



If you look real close... or just drink vodka for awhile... it spells "O-B-A-M-A."



"Peter, I think the next two photos really push the limits of impressionist photography."
"Me, too, Jim. Conway's metaphor-laden images continue to delight and astound."






The ladies, just... being ladies



Alex knows there's only one real way to celebrate the election of the
first black president in the history of our country:
with a big bowl of ice cream.



But by the time the evening was over, Ayla had yet again stolen Obama's thunder.

Birthday brunch

Aunt Janet invited Meg over for a birthday meal, as she does every year, and this year we had a delicious brunch. Anne, John, and Leah (and of course, Thyme) joined us for a fun afternoon.

When Pinto dreams of back yards, he dreams of Janet's

Thyme and Pinto take a break from the chasing

Awaiting the feast, Ayla stakes claim to Mom's cantaloupe

Three foxy ladies and one bald man

Homemade birthday pie never lasts long enough...

Ayla climbs into the cockpit and prepares for take-off after a lovely visit

Halloween

We spent our third year in a row celebrating Halloween night at the house of Melissa, Rachel, and Alex, who live on a street where folks know how to celebrate the holiday with gusto. Kids gather into candy commando units and make surgical strikes on candy stockpiles for three straight hours, before falling back to count and sort their plunder.

If you've read the previous post, you'll know that Meg and the ladies went as Jane Fonda and her workout gals. Ayla was Jane Jr. in her track suit, head band, and wrist bands. The 'ballet slipper' socks that our friend Tina gave to her were the perfect final touch.

Full photo album here.

Auntie Megan wins 'Best 80's Hair' award

Tio Alex mans the candy bowl

The ladies get the crowd in shape

To end the evening, we joined some friends at a favorite neighborhood dive bar, Doc's Clock, to surprise our friend Dave K., whose birthday is on Halloween. The Best Costume award in the group goes to Jon Lau, aka Giants baseball star S. Roid.

Birthday Boy, Dave "Caveman" K., and 70's superstar, Rok Lee

Giants star S. Roid gives some love to the pythons that pay the bills

Halloween morning

No costumes in this post, just some short videos of typical morning activities. But, you know, boo and all that. :^)













Holy Surprise Entries, Batman! All righty, I have some costume pics for you after all. Below are a couple of Halloween Night teaser photos. Meg went as Jane Fonda; Rachel, Melissa, Megan, and Sarika went as the Jane Fonda Workout Video Gals, and Ayla was Jane Jr. I went as Ted Turner, Jane's one-time husband. And yes, these were our costumes from last year. Just as fun the second time around, with the ladies leading trick-or-treaters of all ages in aerobic dance moves. More Halloween Night photos soon.

10 to the 25

Aunties Anna and Melissa stopped by on the 25th of October. Fun soon followed.

October

My oh my, two posts in two days. Something must have gotten into San Francisco's water supply. Speaking of water, it's finally raining here, which is great news, as California has suffered two serious drought years in a row. Keep it coming, sky!

My lovely wife posted some October photos and videos to our usual Online Photo & Video album. If you'd like to chuckle at my baby talk and see Ayla as she closes in on five months old (which she hit this past weekend), please take a look.

Here's the ENTIRE ALBUM.

And below is a direct link to one of the videos. Enjoy!

From October 2008

New improved flavor!

Same old blog with a face lift, people. Truth be told, I may switch looks again. Just to keep you on your toes.

So, we Conways have been busy since getting back home from New Jersey at the end of August. I have included just a few photos and a couple of fun videos...


In early September, we invited folks over to our house for a brunch to catch up after our month away. Instead of our usual homemade feast of cheesy garlic biscuits, pancakes, eggs, bacon, and the like, we decided to buy coffee, bagels, and cream cheese spreads from Noah's Bagels, which turned out to be a genius move, as we got to spend less (zero!) time in the kitchen and more time with friends. San Francisco's usual September-October Indian Summer was in full effect, so we got lucky and had a semi-warm day that allowed us to spend the entire time in the back yard.

At our early September, back yard brunch, Ayla

discovers that Auntie Jessica makes the perfect hammock

Some of our favorite stragglers while away a lovely afternoon with us

So many laps, so little time

In mid-September, my old college friend, John Darling, was in the Bay Area on business, and we were able to spend a couple of nights hanging out with him. It had been 10 years since he and I last saw each other, and Meg had never met him, so it was a long-overdue reunion. Somehow, we only managed to capture two photos.

At Dolores Park

Make that one-and-a-half photos. Nice one, John.
At least we can see the bell tower of Mission Dolores
High School in the background

I'd like to believe that Pinto thinks of Ayla as something more than a potential tasty morsel if the dry food runs low, but I guess his tiny dog brain can categorize her however it likes as long as photo ops such as these keep on coming.

La familia chills in the lounge on a hot San Francisco afternoon

Why babies and dogs were invented.

(And believe me, it's never the dog.)

Finally, despite my repeated requests, Ayla seems determined to grow up. Here are some videos from September that prove it. (She's between three- and three-and-a-half months old in these clips.)

More soon. Love to all.