Photos from our journey.

I am bringing you highlights from the road. It's going to be awhile til we get the house in any kind of photo-taking state, so just bear with me. And for our first photograph...Notice the pen in hand. That's her thing. She must walk about with a pen. And she calls it "My." We have to take the ink out of whatever pen she picks up and must have. Amy and Rich have this great bench in their living room and I was dying to get Al's picture on it. But she just wanted "dow."
They also have a great leather chair, which I thought would make another great shot. Al had a second of fun and then wanted "dow." (Notice most of these photos will take place either at the Shertzer's or somewhere in Monument, because there really wasn't a lot of photo-taking on the road. We seriously got in the 'just get there' mindset.)
She turned 14 months on the road. Here's the official shot.
Seeing friends was wonderful. Little Sarah.
And her best friend, Caroline.
Watching Alla try out her new walking legs was awesome.
The best part of the journey was how much time Ron got to spend with his daughter. No more papers to write, conference calls, group meetings. Just free time for her.
And us. Me and my girl. (Isn't Amy and Rich's couch nice?) :)

We have arrived.

FINALLY!

We have been in our house since 30 June but just got our household goods 2 days ago.

Alla has mastered the stairs. She goes to the edge, sits down, turns around and scoots down on her belly.

She is a full-fledged walker, and I don't think running is too far behind.

Somewhere between California and Minnesota, she became a toddler.

She has got 75% of Moo, Baa, La La La by Sandra Boynton memorized.

We start swim class tomorrow.

Her favorite thing here so far is 'side' - also known as going outside. Because there she can play in her sand and water tray. Which is quickly becoming a mud tray. And she must be surrounded by bubbles while she does this, meaning I have to continuously blow them.

Ron starts his new job tomorrow.

It is heavenly to sleep in our own bed after a week on an air mattress.

We need a scrapbook work area/office space. Any ideas?

We miss all those we left.

I leave you with Alla's first walk in the rain. Her first rainstorm. I got her out of it just as the drops started coming, and of course the curious girl she is went right back out. And as it slowed she signed 'more,' but sadly I haven't figured out how to turn the rain on and off. Would make watering our nice new yard a whole lot cheaper.

Sunday at the Clark's.

We are having a lovely time in Colorado, and thanks to having Ron's camera and computer, I am able to bring you some images of friends and good times. The Clark's and the Cobb's have taken turns hosting us, and both Sam and Erin are phenomenal cooks, so we are in great hands.

Alla is trying very hard to be gentle around the youngins. Katie (by the way, what happened to the start of your blog?), Alla goes up to Caroline in her saucer just as she does to Kelsea and says right in her face, forehead to forehead, over and over, "Hi!"Just a snapshot of what it's like hanging out with all these great friends, particularly now that we all have kids. It's crazy fun.

Alla wants everything to do with Sarah's food. Doesn't matter what it is. It's what all the cool kids are doing.Story hour with Brent. Boy, all of these girlies love them some books. And they all have their favorites. Thankfully, Caroline has many of Alla's favorites, so her eyes just lit up when she discovered those special ones in the giant pile in front of them. She kept handing me From Head to Toe, I think just to show everyone that she knows how to thump her chest like a gorilla. Yes, she does.

Now if you want real eye-candy, go visit The Pigbear. Erin has posted some sweet shots from our visit!

Checking in from the road.

No photos yet. We only have Ron's computer, so I will have to take one or two shots with his camera to upload later on. But of course I have been snapping with my camera, just can't upload, you see.

We are all doing well, cat included. The drive is smooth and uneventful and we are now unwinding with friends.

We miss those of you we left, are happy right where we are for now, and will soon be eager to get into our own home.

More later.

It's official.

She's officially walking.

For a few weeks now she's been taking random steps here and there, but in the past week those steps have increased. Today she took 12! You know when you can easily get it on video that it's happening regularly.

So watch out Sarah and Caroline! Get moving!

And with that, we bid you all adieu for now. Movers come tomorrow. We set out on our journey later this week. Wish us well!

Last but not least.

Meg, I saved you for last cause you're amazing.
Put this whole shin-dig together for us.
Love my kid like she's your own.
Have me over for dinner because Ron's gone.
Meet at the park cause we need some adult time while the kids enjoy each other.
Give advice.
Give hugs.
Share your lives with us.
You have been our family for 7 years and I am lost thinking that you won't be 10 minutes away.

I love you!

Dads, Grads, Friends & Goodbye for now.

In no particular order come these photos, as I sit here and eat kettle korn from the Redondo Beach Farmer's Market. There's an ocean breeze. I miss here already.

Mom and Bob were in town this weekend for Ron's very special graduation, so they accompanied us to this wonderful gathering of friends hosted by The Stahr's.

Aren't group photos fabulous? (Sorry some of you left before we could organize this!)

Cathy, me and Katie...Sara, we're just missing YOU.

Let me just state right here that Alla will be a mess in ALL of these pictures. She is teething and has a cold, so that just means one giant mess for us. I can only hope her disposition improves before we land in Colorado next weekend!

Ron took this one of the Laughrey's, and while they said it was most unoriginal, I have to say it's rather lovely and sweet.

Earlier in the week we were visited by the Shertzer's, en route to another part of the world. They delivered the most wonderful news to us: they're pregnant!

Yes, the sign says let there be light and after yesterday's graduation, there is. No more group meetings, late nights, conference calls, chapters to read, papers to write. He's done. A graduate once again.

And, as you can see, all worth it.

This morning while taking Miss Kelsea's five month shots, Katie snapped this one of our little family. And thank goodness, cause I hear there's no beach in Minnesota.

New mama and a last playdate (for awhile).

Because little miss Ellery Jean Derenzo was born this morning at 7:05am, weighing 7 pounds 15 ounces, and I don't yet have a photo of her, here is the proud mama, still carrying her.

We drove down to Aunty Lace's in Seal Beach today for one last playdate with the girls. Alla had TONS of fun on all of Jack's ride-on toys. She must get one. This was her fave, the Fisher Price Power Wheels. Whoa, she pushes a button and it just goes.


I miss you girls already.

Full weekend.

We spent a lovely weekend with friends and family, squeezing in as much time as we can in these last 2 weeks. Now we're down to 10 days. So good thing we did all that squeezing.

On Friday we had two parties to attend. First things first, though, Alla doesn't just wake up with party hair, she wakes up with crazy hair, as Ron calls it. So I thought I'd show you all what that means. It actually doesn't look that crazy to me. I love it. But lately he's been saying, please make her look more like a girl and less like a member of the Partridge Family.

Morning hair or not, though, she's still cute. And even cuter with these pigtails and a party dress!This was the first party, for Al's friend Wyatt, who is now one like the rest of 'em. He's an amazing baby who's been walking - ok, running - for months now! Here Alla is playing with Mattie Sue - aren't they sweet?


On Friday night we went to The Stahr's for Jamie's very important Potty Party. What a big girl you are, James!

On Saturday we headed up to Wrightwood to visit my family for one last weekend. Alla and cousin Emily had a GREAT time together. It's hilarious that Emily still calls her "Baby Alla." By the end of the weekend we started to wonder if maybe she thinks that's part of her name and will be calling her that for sometime. Here they are playing in the sand/water tray on the front porch (I think she needs a sand and water tray now!). Emily said to Baby Alla, "Pick up the shovel and don't waste time, Baby Alla." Ha Ha!!

Really is there anything better than an evening spent on the deck with your cousin with gramma there to supervise?Sunday morning Alla was up waaaay before Em, so she made her way out to Em's play kitchen. [Um, I also now think Alla needs one of these.] She made us breakfast (though what I was really hoping for was coffee) which mainly consisted of dirt in a pot (thankfully we had a much yummier breakfast later), but boy did she have fun making it. She banged those pots around like she meant business. See why I think she needs a play kitchen for our new backyard?

Really more dirt ended up on her jammies, but, hey it was a good time.

We capped off the evening at the Laughreys where we had a lovely tostada night and Wally made yummy apple crisp! We are going to miss you friends!!!

Off to Oceanside today to visit another friend and her new two week old baby girl...with camera in tow, of course.

Oh I Had a Good Day...With You.

Another dancing video. I swear the girl just can't get enough gettin' down. This time to a Blues Clues toy "radio" she got for her birthday. She loves it. Unfortunately it only plays 4 little songs that Ron and I then sing all day long. Hence the title above. Part of one of these songs. What other snippets do we go around singing in our heads all day?

"It was a way great playdate with you"

and

"I like to dance and I like to sing, boogie woogie woogie, baby, that's my thing"
______

We did have a good day, as my title would suggest. Alla is napping like crap, but what are you gonna do. We had two playdates today...first Sara and Adam came over and we walked the kiddies to the pier in Al's wagon so Sara and I could get burgers and fries, then they semi ate lunch and got to swing!

After Al's pretend nap (that's what I'm calling them these days - 40 minutes is NOT enough sleep for one day, thank you very much), Ron surprised us by coming home early and we rolled Alla back to the park to meet Mazie and Jamie!

Oh, how we are going to miss all of you, friends. And June Gloom, of course...

Plethora of pictures.

We are enjoying our every last minute here in California. Seems like all too soon we'll be gone. Two more weekends. Just two more. I just want to see one more beach sunset, but it's not looking good, since Alla's going to bed before then.

I'm going to share our weekend with you here...


These two are of our big girl in her pigtails. Have you ever seen anything cuter? And thank you Aubrey for the adorable outfit!

On Saturday Ron had a group meeting up at UCLA, so Alla and I drove a couple miles to Hermosa Beach for our run along the strand. There are swings on the beach there, so she got to swing before we got back in the car. Here she's signing "more," cause apparently I was too busy taking her picture and not pushing nearly enough!

And here was her view. Practically professional volleyball players everywhere, and if you squint you can see where they are setting up the stadium for this weekend's AVP games right there on the sand! We plan on biking up there at least once. Cause I'm guessing beach volleyball isn't really happening in Minnesota?

Here she is in the BOB, when we stopped to get the next picture of the 90210 beach house.

And that, my friends, is all for tonight.

Flashback Friday: 2 June 1999

Occasionally Friday is a date with some significance, and as I am a huge date person, I remember lots of them. This makes Flashback Friday relatively easy for me, because rather than search for some semi-interesting photograph or subject matter, there's a good chance that on this day in such and such a year, something interesting did happen.

It just so happens that on this day in 1999, Ron was graduating from the Air Force Academy. It was hot and I could not see him from where I was sitting, but this photo was taken as he officially graduated, 7 years ago today.

7 years ago today we were off on our first venture, moving to Ohio together.

Kind of fitting that now we're nearly off on another venture, moving to Minnesota together, with our daughter. OUR daughter. We've come a long way, baby.

And in a few short weeks, Ron will be saying sayonara to the Air Force. So I thought I'd post a shot of my handsome hubby in uniform to celebrate him. How great he is.