Wednesday, June 20, 2012

California, Part 3 (The Last Days)

We are heading home from our wonderful trip to California. Here are some snapshots from the past few days.

We had a fun party with many relatives at Kendall and Shelley's house. Emerson was the star of the show, although he spent a lot of it napping!


Brandon and Alison went to a taping of the Conan show. Cameras aren't allowed in the studio, so we don't have any on-set photos, but this video pretty much sums it up. We did, however, get to visit another location that day. Forest Lawn cemetary is right by the studio, and since we had some extra time, we did explored a bit. It is a huge place, and while we didn't go looking for any of the celebrity graves, within a few minutes, we stumbled across actor David Carradine's marker. Interestingly, we also randomly found the stone of a friend of Brandon's parents. Then we took a few pictures at a sculpture area dedicated to Mesoamerican heritage. Pretty interesting.


At dinner that night, Emerson met his lookalike.



 There was a lot of restaurant eating on this trip. Emerson has now sat in many different high chairs, although at Pasadena Sandwich Company, he ended up chilling under the table!



He appreciated the chance to sample many different foods, including Mom's frozen yogurt.


We stopped by the Cal Tech campus, where he enjoyed watching the fountain.


And of course, since Emerson is such a fan of the water, we had to do a little more swimming. We crashed a friend's pool and let the baby splash.


We think we made the most of our week here, and we have great memories to take back with us. Emerson had lots of new experiences, and enjoyed almost all of them. Except for grass.



Sunday, June 17, 2012

California, Part 2 (The Trials and Tribulations of Emerson)

It's a rough life for Emerson (aka Captain Adorable) these days...



 So many beautiful ocean vistas to pose in front of!


 All that sand to practice standing on...


...and waves to wade in.


Mommy tempted him with a giant burrito and then she didn't even share!

The kept making him wear this silly hat; he cooperated for a few pictures, but his patience was wearing thin.

He got to go to a cool park, but it was filled with that terrible stuff--grass! Thank goodness Mommy brought a blanket to sit on. (No really, he hates grass. It's taken us 8 months to discover this because our yard in Kansas City is full of weeds and is Brisquette's domain, so Emerson has never sat in it.) He suprised everyone with a new skill, but had to work pretty hard for it.

Those tortoises sure have it easy--it's tough to be a baby on the go!

Friday, June 15, 2012

"Liveblogging" our California Trip, Part 1

Greetings from the Golden State! We really needed a vacation and have been looking forward to this trip for awhile.

Emerson was curious about everything on the airplane, including the view outside.

But eventually he got sleepy (and so did his mommy!).



At the Robergs' house, Emerson met the tortoises.




We went out for some Mexican food, and Emerson got to meet Uncle Bill.


We are getting lots of outside time thanks to the California weather--it's nice to be away from the humidity and bugs of Missouri.


The baby has been having a blast, even with the scary buffalo head hanging nearby.


We drove up the coast to Pismo Beach, where we took a stripey family photo.




Emerson has been soaking up the sun...


...and trying some new foods.


He's also been working on splashing and kicking.


Grandma "Mimi" helped him towel off and warm up after his swim.


Yep, it's paradise. Stay tuned for more highlights as they happen!