Browsing at the gallery

Meg's mom, Ma Judy, and her fiancé, Blair, aka Uncle Blair, have some of their art on sale in a new artist's coop gallery in Cape May Point, and with some Christmas gift certificates in hand, we are currently browsing for tchotchkes.

Our first find: Old Saint Nick.




Here are a few of Judy's lovely books...





Here are two of Blair's photographs (with a BlairSeitz.com card peeking out from the corner of the frame in photo #1).

Photo 1: Cape May Point lighthouse, overlooking the wetlands of Cape May Point State Park...




Photo 2: Uh, technical error.


My ladies...

Merrrrrrrry Christmas!

Sending much love and joyous hugs to all our family and friends! I type this next to the Christmas tree at Meg's grandmother's house in Cape May Point, New Jersey.

Santa's newest reindeer...




And the chief reindeer handler...




Waiting for Grandma Rose to land, in the aviation play room at Philadelphia airport...




En route to Grandma Rose's terminal, Ayla discovers a one-man band...




Dance party in the Philly International Terminal!




Momma joins in the jig--now it's a real party...




White Christmas! Ayla heads out the door for a snow adventure with her two grandmas...




View of Lily Lake from Grandmother Lehman's house, with much of the week's snow melting today. (Canadian geese and ducks if you look closely.)




Grand Uncle Dan hangs the stockings with care...




Blair and Ma Judy enjoy a treat from Santa...




Grandma Rose and Great Grand show off their Christmas bounty...




Uncle Scott receives The Economist magazine's riveting game, "Crisis: The International Money Game." Can you say, "fun for the whole family"?




Cousin Dave eats a snack on the go in his new Radio Flyer wagon...




Reggie Dog dons his Cristmas sweater...




Sisters Sarah and Meg watch the mayhem--er, I mean merry-making...




A rare photo of Young Santa Claus. Ho Ho Ho! Merry Christmas, everyone!



- Posted on the go

So fun

The perils of mobile blogging--I just lost everything I typed about our Thanksgiving when my phone timer went off to tell me our load of laundry was done. In short, we had a fun (and filling) day yesterday. A couple of photos...




Three of the cousins, Scott, Storm (being cheeky with his classic high school photo pose), and Evan.

Gobble gobble

We are staying at the Marriott in Pasadena, while visiting Brick's dad's side of the family for thanksgiving. Ayla began the day with breakfast (Cheerios) in bed.





Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!


- Posted on the go

Howdy, Stranger

I am in the middle of Golden Gate Park. Ayla has just fallen asleep in her stroller. I just sat on a cozy bench. What is an idle man who hasn't updated his family blog in four months supposed to do in such a moment?

Yeah, okay. I've geeked out and downloaded an iPhone application aka "app" that lets me blog on the go... every four months. Before that, though, I guess I geeked out and got an iPhone. Obviously, we have a lot of important things to catch up on.

Live, from Golden Gate Park:



Since my last post, that slumbering munchkin has grown some inches, gained some pounds, learned a bit o' the local vernacular, and strolled the city streets on her own two feets. This magical hyperlink will take you a random sampling of our late summer and early fall adventures.

For the record, this post was finished the old-fashioned way: sitting on the couch in my living room with a WiFi-enabled compact laptop computer. Those young people can have their 3G broadband-driven mobile computing devices.

Video Mountain

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If you build it, they will climb.

(FYI, I will be posting the videos in stages. So if you only see a couple, more are coming.)

June

We took a lot of photos (and shot a lot of videos) in June. There are a couple of fun sequences of Ayla (many shots snapped in a row), and since it's been awhile since we posted a big album to our Picasa Web Albums, I thought we'd post a few teaser photos here and the rest... right here. (Yes, click the link.)

Prepare yourself for Video Mountain. That's my next post, when I pile so many videos on top of each other, I create California's new second-highest peak. (If you can name the highest mountain in California without looking it up, AND you can say that you've caught a rainbow trout bare-handed in its shadow, then you must be cool enough to say "shazam" without seeming silly. Well, not too silly, anyway.)

Enjoy the photos! And remember there are more in the giant online album.

Adeus, Alexandre!

Photos taken on June 14, 2009.


Our dear friend from Portugal, Alex, heads to his next adventure in Toronto, but not before one last dinner with his American crew. We will all miss his jolly nature, quick humor, inimitable finger slaps, and clever short films.






Por! Tu! Gal! Por! Tu! Gal!

More photos of the dinner can be found right here.
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One: The video

Shot on May 25, 2009


Video from Ayla's birthday bash, starring... The Rowes! Dave, Hillary, and Isaac! Mattison! The Kensington crew! Pinto! Other people!

p.s. Oy. Sorry about the squished video. No idea what's going on with the upload. Just pretend you're watching everything in the reflection of a Fun House mirror.

One

Photos taken May 25, 2009.


Ayla's first birthday fell on Memorial Day this year, so lots of family and friends had the day off and were able to join us for bagels and home-made birthday cake, a delicious yellow cake with chocolate frosting whipped up by Momma Meg. I was manning the eggs (for bagel, egg 'n' cheese sandwiches) and the video camera, so a big 'thanks' to Cousin Anne, who took some of the nice shots below, and also to Dave Kilimnik, who took pics of Ayla (and Mom) blowing out the candle.


From fun times at the hospital on May 25, 2008...





To fun times in the back yard on May 25, 2009...

The cake has arrived.


Auntie Jessica, Protectress of the Eternal Flame.


"I've never seen a cake before, but I'm filled with joy at the sight of that chocolatey goodness."


"You blow, I'll grab."


A second view of the candle action.


Daddy Brick says, "Ooh, a woman with a cake. Time to make my move..."


Who says Brick doesn't how to get himself a big piece of cake?


Poke, poke. "Well, it seems harmless."


"If you hold it just so, you avoid any unnecessary mess."


"Hmm. Well, that didn't work."


"I feel so conflicted. On the one hand, I love the taste of chocolate. On the other, I'm deeply disturbed by the sticky mess."


The cake platter lid: All it needs is chrome rims and a bumpin' sound system.

Enjoying her gifts after the party...

"Where does this piece of my Fridge Farm go, Dad?"

"Oh, right--in my mouth."

"Am I still as cute as I was the day I was born?"

"How about if I make my turtle face? Am I as cute now?