Calen and friends at Rock Rose School

Calen loves his school. We have to pull him away every afternoon. This
is on the swing set at the school. He is playing with Kalia and
Phoenix.

Rock Rose

Bryce an Calen both really like their school out in ramona called Rock
Rose. This is a photo with Mrs. Kat. She is Calen's teacher and a
great person. Bryce loves being with her every morning while the
bigger boys play outside.

Steph at the range with the FBI

I was doing the FBI citizen's academy which is a great program that I totally recommend and Steph was able to attend the last day with me and go to the shooting range. We shot all the FBI weapons. Steph looks like a natural!

new addition to the family

This is a little frog that just changed from being a tadpole a few days ago. He is the latest addition to our family that now includes 2 frogs in a vivarium and a planted fish tank that includes shrimp and sucker fish.

At North Island with Uncle Steve

The boys when to work with Uncle Steve and had a great time exploring the types of helicoptors that he flies as a reservist. It has been great having Stephen around with us for the last couple of months.

I just saw a Frog!

This was a really funny photo that Steph took when we were out at the lake by the creek. Calen had just seen a frog jumping and wanted to catch it. He is becoming quite the outdoorsman!

Calen the craftsman

This is a great photo of Calen sanding a table for us to refinish. He had a great time doing it though he did not quite finish the job. Then it was on to making a skim board for the beach.

Bryce and Calen playing together

This is a great example of how close Bryce and Calen are becoming. Sometimes Calen is a little tough on Bryce, but over all he is a sweet brother that likes to share and play. I love the one with Calen sticking his tongue out. Brycie is having a blast!

Bryce loves to swing

Bryce is just like his brother in that he loves to slide and swing. He was climbing up the slide before he was walking and just wont stop swinging wants he gets into the seat. Today he was on with dada and loved it!

The family garden!

Calen and Bryce love their garden (and so does mom and dad). The sprouts are oru second crop of beets, letuce and radished. It has been a really cool to watch the boys explore the garden and pick and eat some of the plants. Calen is getting good at finding the good stuff like the large japanese cucumbers.

picking blackberries in Julian

We have a secret spot to pick blackberries in Julian. Here is Calen enjoying the results. We probably picked 8 of the containers that you see in his hand. That is a lot of berries.

First riding lesson

Calen and Mom have been feeding the horses for the last few years. From there, Calen rode ponies in a rink at Victoria Gardens. Riding Roxy was his first time he rode in the open. The instructor was impressed at how well he did. Calen got to hold the reins by himself and ask Roxy to turn, trot, and stop. We were all pleasantly surprised to see that he was ready for lessons.

YaYa in SD

Yaya came to see us and we visited the flower fields

Bryce's first Birthday

Bryce loved his first bite of home made carrot cake. It was the quietest that he has been in a while!

New addition to the family!

I'll have to rename the blog Calen and Bryce not since it is photos of both going forward. Our family grew last week with the arrival of Bryce. Calen is such a sweet big brother. He is so happy to have his brother around. One morning he even woke up and said "I want to go see my baby brother." We look forward to new adventures with the two of them together.

Christmas in the keys

Long time since I have blogged about the little man, so here is a photo from awhile back. We rented a house in the keys to get away for a bit and had a blast. A couple of days we went fishing off of a boat and Calen really enjoyed going fishing. It helped that we happened on a spot that had him catching a fish on his pole almost every cast! He caught more than I did! Of course, when it came to cleaning, Miami and I got to clean all the fish!

I figure Calen is permanently jaded with this fishing adventure. They practically jumped in our boat so that any future trip will not be as good.

17 June 2006 - At Del Mar Beach

With his best friend, Anya, Calen has a blast at the beach at Del Mar. There is a play ground right by the beach whereDada surfs so it is perfect for all types of activities.

In this picture, Mama poses with Anya and Calen on the shore. They are just finishing building sand castles. 

17 June 2006 - Uncle Steve with Sandia

Calen Loves watermellon (aka sandia). He really enjoys it here with his uncle Stephen. Mama is preparing the next cut so that no seeds touch his magesty's lips! 

11 June 2006 - Hunting Hot Air Balloons

OK, I am back in action after taking some time to try the Apply website, I am back to Blogspot/picasa combination that makes it so easy to blog.

Calen loves to see the hot air balloons. in this shot, we are lucky enough to see one as it is filling up and taking off. As you can tell, it was impossible to get him to look at the camera. It was all about the Hot Air Balloon and getting on it if he could. 

6 May 2006 - A Taste of Mexican Lime

We had dinner on the beach at a place called Zippers in San Jose de loe Cabos, Mexico. It is by a surf break by the same name. They served our meals with a little bowl of cut lime. Of course, Anya and Calen had to have a taste of the little fruits. You would think that one taste would have been enough but he went back for more. He is showing signs of his Mama because Steph loves sour.

Food was OK at Zippers, view and mood was pure surfer style. Steph gave it a thumbs down, I gave it a thumbs up. Get anything off the grill if you go.
http://www.bookit.com/travel_guide-m0gtc-Mexico-Restaurants-Bar_&_Grill-Zipper's_Restaurant-882.html 

5 May 2006 Vacation to Cabo, Mexico!!!

We went for a week to Cabo San Jose in Mexico and really had a fun time. The Beaches there are absolutely beautiful and the dry air keeps you cool by the pool or ocean. It was actually just starting to get too hot during the mid day to go outside. We stayed at a place called "Casa del Mar" in a one bedroom condo and enjoyed the ocean views and pool side location.

We tried an experiment by traveling with another family with a baby Calen's age. The experiment worked well and I think that we will likely try to travel with friends and other kids in the future. It had a couple of advantages. We trusted each other to watch after the kids as a group (more eyes are always better). We had common interests and common restrictions and common schedules. We understood when the baby came first and were all very flexible and not stuck with doing everything together

20 April 2006 Incline Viliage lake

We went to the NV side of Lake Tahoe for the www.koverroos.com board meeting staying at the Incline Village Hyatt. It is a stunning place and is now on the long list of places that Calen can say that he has visited. There was a beautiful beach to play on and a restaurant that views the beach and the lake. There was still plenty of snow to play with as well so plenty of snow men were built.
http://www.laketahoe.hyatt.com/hyatt/hotels/index.jsp

I learned the power of running creek water in soothing a baby. With Mama at the spa, Calen and I sat by the creek and relaxed, soon he was fast asleep in my arms after listening to the creek for 10 minutes and sitting quietly. Anyone that knows the be-bot, knows that a 10 min time of sitting quietly and then going to sleep is a blessing. 

April 16th 2006 Papi plays in Julian

This is another picture from our day trip to Julian. Calen ran around the steps over and over again playing with Papi and the rest of the family. He loved all the attention he was getting as well as all the new sights and sounds. He probably liked the little bit of apple pie ala mode that he was getting from Mama's milk as well!

That's right, friends of Calen years from now, he was still nursing at almost 2 years old!!! 

Mami and Papi come to visit

Calen had a great time with his Mami and Papi coming to visit him in San Diego all the way from Miami. This picture is in Julian, a small town outside of San Diego in the mountains that is famous for apple orchards and apply pies.

Calen loves to swing between two adults. He holds back just a little then collapses his legs and swings forward laughing. The only problem is that he does not necessarily warn the adults! That can make for a surprise sometimes.