Visitors from the south

As we all know A-Ross loves to travel to visit family and friends but this time the south came to him. Grandma and Grandpa "J" came up for the weekend and of course we put Grandpa to work on the BB-Q. And if you know my Dad's BB-Qing abilities you can imagine the crowd we drew in our backyard. What started as two racks of ribs and a nice weekend visit turned into a full on fiesta. Here is Dad and his protege.

You will notice the "bun in the oven"... Austin should have a cousin in just a few short months. Even the dogs got in on some of the fun.Grandpa Mike came through like a champ too this weekend. A friend of ours gave us their old swing, but we had to take it apart, pick it up and reassemble it. Sounds easy enough except I didn't exactly marry Mr. Fix It. Adrian does amazing work keeping the house clean and the yard immaculate however, when it comes to turning a screwdriver we call in the professional. Mike made this look like stacking legos and so far it has been time well invested because we can't get A-Ross off of it.
Austin isn't too swift at the sliding down part yet. He practices on his little slide but he still face plants everytime when he gets to the bottom. I guess as long as we all laugh when he does it he thinks it's pretty funny too.

Austin AKA Evil Knievel loved to climb up his new slide, he did it so much he had blisters on the bottoms of his feet. This kid's crazy, I think he is going to be the skydiver in the family. You should see the back flips he does on our bed, with complete disregard for the ground, head board footboard, or anyone who might be laying in the bed.

The Cabin

Chillin' on the beach
Mr. Cool tries on his new "locs"

We went to Bass Lake last weekend for a little R& R and it was actually warm enough for little man to get in the water.

The Garcia Family Adopts

That's right our little family is growing by the minute, and this time it's a blonde. His name is Shortee, he is 13 months old. came with his own food and potty trained...does it get much better?

Chongo Kisses

Today we had a VERY busy day. We took Austin down to one of Hanford's Landmarks to get his one year photo. No, I am not trying to rob Sears of their bread and butter, I just like a more natural setting. Anyhow, here are a few of the shots that were taken. None of these were the "money" shot, that won't be posted until thank you's for his birthday go out.

Birthday Boy

Okay, at this point the cake was still pretty harmless.
Getting more interesting...


Ooh, kinda squishy between my little fingers...
Why not share the fun with everyone and fling it like pooh in the monkey cage at the zoo...
Needless to say Austin enjoyed his cake, however it was everywhere but his palate.

Austin now has his own Hardley just like his Dad. If I have anything to say about it this will be as close to a real motorcylce he ever gets.

6 Things I Learned in 12 Months From 22lb Little Boy

Below is a list of the things I have learned from my son in the past year. Who knew how much 9lbs 7oz can change a persons life. Happy Birthday little man.

1. When life gives you lemons...scream at the top of your lungs so you can get some !#%$&% lemonade.

2. True friends are hard to come by, treasure the ones you have.

3. Butt dimples and thigh rolls are cuter than we give them credit for.

4. Always take the time to enjoy a good book. 5.Be careful because as slow and tedious as some days may seem, a year can pass you by in the blink of an eye.

5. Family is everything...

Livestock Man

We snuck away last weekend to San Francisco to be with my Dad when he accepted an award for California's Livestock Man of the Year. It was a truly amazing ceremony held at the Cow Palace during the Grand National Rodeo. So, if you're ever at the Cow Palace for a concert look on the wall and you will see my Dad's picture on the wall until there is not a wall anymore. Way to go Gramdpa "J"Dapper Dan was my date, isn't he handsome. :-) You know who these people are.

We made our way around Sausalito when we met up with Miguel or soon to be Dr. Miguel once he finishes at Cal. It was a great trip overall, but it was kind of lonesome with out the little man around. As we traveled Adrian and I made mental notes of all the neat places we will be able to take him when it's his turn to visit the big city.

Hanging Out San Diego Style

How much did we spend on a crib? Our second child is going to be given a doggie bed instead of a crib, pots and pans instead of toys and a doggie water bowl for a swimming pool. I don't know why we spend a small fortune on material things for this guy when he is just as happy with Raumi's hand me downs.

I would call Austin a "Mamma's Boy", but I have seen first hand that those "Mamma's Boys" grow up to be 6'4" fighting machines. We'll just say he is fond of his mother as long as his needs are being met.

Next Stop, Balboa Park

My parents were able to meet us in SD on Thursday so we decided to make the tourist rounds to Balboa Park. I highly recommend the Air/Space Museum they have an incredible display on our Solar System.

After being married for thirty six years, this is what my parents call mariage counseling. :-) If I was a bettin' woman I would be putting my money on my Mom.

Spring Break in San Diego

This was truly a vacation for the ENTIRE family. Raumi got a chance to sniff a few behinds while we were out of town when we stopped at Dog Beach. Raumi couldn't believe all the hard bodies at dog beach. I guess they haven't been enjoying country living like Raumi.
Austin had a chance to run his fingers though the sand for the first time and he LOVED every minute of it. Had the weather not taken a turn for the worse we would have stayed all day. I can't wait until this summer when he really gets a chance to roll around in the sand, especially sand that is NOT at dog beach...if you get my drift.
Raumi had to defend our honor while we were there too. You know how ferocious those "min-pin's" can be. This sight alone left all pit bulls on the beach terrified.

New Hat

Well, we have a ton of catching up to do so we will start with Austin's new "digs". Austin got this cool camo hat and if you can believe it he actually keeps it on his head long enough for me to take some pics.

Termites? Beaver?

Okay, so the other night Austin was throwing a rare tantrum before bed. We didn' t know what was going on, he was fed, bathed and had his story. This guy is usually like clockwork when it comes to bed time. But Friday night he had different plans. Being the dilligent parents we are we didn't want to give in to his spoiled tantrum so we left him in his crib and let him cry. I had even done the "mommy crawl" into his room to make sure that he wasn't stuck or hurt in any way. Finally, after about 45minutes of keeping the neighborhood awake he either passed out, lost conciousness or just decided to go give up because it was quiet until 8am the next morning. After the coast was clear we went in to make sure he wasn't blue and this was the condition of his beautiful crib. He had used his four little teeth to let us know just how made he was at us. I am assuming he was teething, but we have yet to see any new pearly whites sprouting. I just want to know if my homeowners is going to cover this?

Chucky, is it you?

Shameless Cameo

I should have mentioned in the intro to Austin's blog that there would indeed be a few shameless cameo's of the other star in our family, our precious Corgi. I figure Raumi deserves a little attention considering that this newly mobile little boy has decided to make pulling her ears, tugging on her whiskers, smacking her back and poking her nose his personal mission in life.

We also wanted our devoted readers to know that Austin is not the only one learning new skills in our house. For the past few days Adrian and I have been trying to figure out why the pillows on our bed have been ruffled when we get home. We of course assumed it was Raumi but we couldn't figure out how she was getting up on the bed. We tried endlessly to entice her to jump on the bed for us but she always "acted" like she couldn't jump up on her own. The operative term being, "acted", because the other day I came out of the shower to find the scene in the photo above. I had finally caught her red handed because when I got in the shower she was on the floor. I think the funniest part is that she still pretends like she is helpless and can't get on the bed on her own. Sometimes, I think our dog thinks she is smarter than us. :-)

Hello, are you there?

This picture does not do justice to Austin's newest trick but you get the jist of it. Austin's most recent milestone is to hold his toy phone to his ear and say what sounds like, "hello?" it's totally hilarious. I don't know where he models this behavior from it must be all those hours his dad spends on the phone.

Outdoor man

I see you!!!
Just doing a little upside down reading.

Since Austin was born he has been a lover of the outdoors. When he was a newborn and crying non stop I would just pack him in his Bjorn and stand in the front yard and that would make him happy. I guess we don't have to worry about having a little couch potatoe on our hands. Since our weather has been beautiful the past few weeks he is getting to enjoy some time outside again. We set him and his toys on his blanket and he is happy for hours on end.