As Promised, Geneva's Photographs of Our Wedding

The waiters!

This is my favorite!

How close were the fires?

Freaky close. Yesterday, I started out on a walk with the boy, but our neighborhood smelled like a barbecue pit. So we high-tailed it to Orange for a visit to the folks, where Zack was in rare form, saying all his words, dancing, playing a rousing game of "Where's Zack?" Really fun visit.

On the way out, I saw this enormous plume of smoke and my first thought was that there must be another fire in Orange. But nope, I was seeing the fire near Glendale, all the way from Orange. I took a bunch of pictures of the gigantic plume of smoke just over the hills near Glendale. I snapped them with the iPhone while driving, which wasn't the best idea, but as you can see, I was focused more on driving than composition. I saw flames just before I changed from the 5 to the 134. Crazy.

The boy was still asleep in the car when I arrived home, so I extended the trip by driving to Target. The whole way up Vineland I was driving right into this thing.

And there it is again. Mordor encroaches upon our local Target.

Except for the fact that the world is on fire, we had a great day. We bought some necessities and then went to the YMCA for family swim. Really fun day with Zack.

Happy Belated Anniversary!

Blurry but oh so in love.

We're way behind on the blog. But super quick, here is a shot from last year taken by Geneva. She captured a lot of our wedding day and I'm going to post all the pics, as they are awesome and so clearly taken from a five-year-old's perspective. Here you can see the bride and groom and the beautiful flower arrangements sent by all the siblings that couldn't be there for our last minute ceremony. We had a lot of fun that day, and more importantly, we have had a lot of fun so far being married.

Griffith Park Train Ride

Today Zack and I met Jennie and Leyla for breakfast, and then after a meandering lead by a very confused Julie, we ended up in Griffith Park near the train rides.

Zack wasn't as impressed as I would have expected, but it was just before nap time.

Jennie and Leyla

I was trying to capture the different expressions here, but the iPhone camera is a little wonky.  But I think you can see that Leyla is having the time of her life, whereas Zack is like (as Jennie said), "Frankly, the car goes faster."

Fun Zack Pics

Zack has been doing a lot of solo "reading" lately.  He likes to sit behind the glider.

Small boy, big shadow.

Hey, what's this?

Wow, it's still here....

Higher, please!

Doing Mommy Double Duty

Washington usually hides behind the Lego bins.  Jeff left the kitchen gate open a couple nights ago, and I really panicked that Washington would hide someplace we'd never find him.  Jeff put flour all over the kitchen floor, and when we saw footprints, we knew he was somewhere in there.  His new hiding place turned out to be the broiler!  Jeff blocked his entrance in the back of the stove and also glued some foam core around the base of the fridge to block that hiding place.  Having to move appliances to find this guy is too much.

This is the kitty after his bath.  Holding him by the scruff makes him feel like Mommy is around.

We've had some great lap time.  He is very affectionate.

This is a love bite.  He's gentle when he plays.

Witness the cuteness.

Cuteness close up.

My new pirate kitten, eating his formula on my shoulder.

After bragging to my friend Tekla on the phone that Washington is now totally tame, I let him loose on the living room floor and immediately lost sight of him.  He's now under the couch and won't come out.  He hisses and spits.  I think it's a two person job to move him, so I'm waiting for Jeff to wake up.

We have made a lot of progress every day, though.  Yesterday I got him to come out from behind the Lego bins with just the lure of a toy.  He is such a lap cat and loves being petted, lots of purring and licking.  Really a sweety.  In some ways he is more tame already than Bridget ever was.  It's frustrating that he reverts so quickly to hiding, but it's instinct.  I still have to drag him by the scruff out for his twice daily bath and love session.  He digs it a lot, but when it's over, right back to his hiding place.

There are some cat adoption fairs around so I'm going to look into those and keep taming him.  I saw a flea on him, which is a total disaster for me.  Fleas love me better than any other animal.  I was dreading bringing any of them into the house.  He must have been way infested with them and the bath at the vet didn't get them all.  That and the litter on the floor, and the fact that when Zack naps, I have to be a mommy to the kitten....well, it's just a lot, that's all.  I'm glad I saved the little guy, but I hope we can find a place for him.