I know, I haven’t been so up-to-date here. But I haven’t given up, and I’ll do not just one, but TWO posts in the next couple of days to prove it. These first pictures are just random shots. Two of them were taken at a park in San Francisco, close to our old house. The park here is the first that Sydney ever went to. I probably brought her just to get out of the house when she was only a week or so old. 

This one was taken by Daddy while Mom was away. I came home to find the linens completely reorganized – and in a good way! Yey, Daddy! Oh, and just a reminder – if you want to see the color versions, just click on the color thumbnails at the bottom for full size images.

With the holidays approaching quickly, I have had a lot to do on the weekends. And that’s understating things drastically. So as I scramble to get Christmas presents chosen, purchased and wrapped, Christmas cards sent out, oh, and put together and direct an all-school Holiday Show at work, Eric helps tremendously by taking Sydney out for fabulous father-daughter days. They’ve headed to San Francisco, been in a (very short, very dull) parade followed by fireworks, and before it was too cold, taken several bike rides. In this photo, Sydney and Daddy are taking a break from their bike adventure and exploring the wilderness.

We’ve been up to San Francisco for various reasons in the last couple of months. Every time we’ve gone the weather has been perfect and we’ve had a great day. These particular shots came from a day when we all went up, but Eric and Sydney went to a daddy-daughter playdate, while I hung out with the crazies in the Haight. Afterwards we met for pizza and found a couple of fun photo spots – we were especially fond of the grafitti wall. (Sensitive viewers beware – the color version of the close-up on Sydney’s face has some *choice* language – it was part of the grafitti, but we thought it was funny).

Sydney loves the Beatles – thanks to a Mexican tribute band (they were actually pretty good!) and her daddy. Here she is singing one of her favorites (this is my first attempt to upload a video, so let me know if it doesn’t work!)

Last weekend was the first time it has rained in weeks (maybe months). While I was unhappy about welcoming the beginning of winter, Sydney was thrilled. Her excitement was contagious and I found myself embracing the gloom with thoughts of hot chocolate and cozy evenings under a blanket. Sydney, meanwhile, just wanted to drink the rainwater. Whatever happened to worries about acid rain? Do we need to put a halt to Sydney’s rain tasting? J/K.

A couple of weeks ago Eric took Sydney out for the morning to this amazing park outside the Yerba Buena Center for Performing Arts in San Francisco. He got some great shots of her and I’m posting them here to show off his talents. They’re really cool in color to, so be sure to check out the thumbnails at the bottom of this post.

A few weeks ago, Eric got a new bike. He’s been riding home from work two days a week (around 8 miles) which gives him some exercise and gives me freedom in the evenings when I used to go pick him up. It also eliminates (for now) a need for a second car. A couple of days ago he finally got the child seat that Sydney has been eagerly awaiting. Today was her first ride.

So we’re joining the ranks of all the others before us – those who’ve dared to enter the land of blogging. We have to agree that it’s a good way to keep everyone caught up with our lives (e.g., you’ll soon see how boring we really are), and we have to hope that we (and by ‘we’, we mean ‘Emilee’) will have time to keep it up. I tried this once before and it failed miserably. But everyone’s doin’ it and we are certainly suckers for peer pressure. 

So welcome to our not-so-glamorous lives in California. And by ‘our’ lives I mean Sydney’s life. You’re not really interested in her parents anyway, right?