Camping

Last weekend Braedyn and Daddy decided to make a try at camping! We'd been talking it up for weeks and even had a little paper chain to count down the days to our camping trip. On the day of the trip we packed up the car and headed 2 miles down the road to the Carpinteria State Beach Park and Campground. We had reserved a nice spot right on the beach and got our tent setup pretty quickly. We went and played on the beach for awhile before getting our fire going and cooking up some hotdogs and marshmallows. After sitting around the fire for awhile we decided to get in the tent and get ready for bed and read some books. We got all ready and started into reading, but the darkness and all the new sounds were a little frightening for a two year old even with daddy close by. After many attempts to console him we decided to give mom a call. She drove back over to the campground and we ended up deciding to pack it in for the night for the comfort and safety of home. This made Breadyn feel a lot better and he went to sleep right away once we got home. He still remembers the trip as a fun time with a big fire and tasty hot dogs. We'll give it another try again soon.

 
 
 
 

Santa Barbara Beach Park

Braedyn and Mommy tried to head to the zoo on the day of the Tea fire in the Montecito foothills, but the smoke from the fires had closed the zoo down. So instead of heading home they decided to hit a local beach park for a little playtime.

 
 
 
 

Tidepools and Sunsets

We spent enough time at the tidepools to watch the sunset on this evening. One blessing of the fires that have been going on around here is that the sunsets get a lot more colorful! We are saddened for those that have lost there homes nearby but hold fast to our hope without wavering for He who promised is faithful [Heb. 10:23].

 
 
 
 

Exploring Tidepools

Our local beach has some great tide pools when the tide gets really low. The timing worked out just perfect on this day with the lowest tide of the month hitting right after naptime. So Mommy and Braedyn picked Daddo up from work a little early and headed the 2 blocks down to the beach to check things out.

 
 
 
 

Reading

We read to Braedyn a lot every day. He wants to get in our bed every morning when he wakes up to read some books. We usually read some at Breakfast and Lunch and then before naptime and before bed. Just the other night we were reading one of his favorite ABC books when he started reading it to us.

More Artwork

Some more of Braedyn's art work. The bottom one features sparkle glue, beans, and toothpicks!

Kites

It was pretty windy here on Sunday and so, after carrying around the kite in my backpack for the past 3 months, we decided to stop off at the beach and fly it for a little while. Braedyn really had a lot of fun with it this time and was much more interested than the past attempts we've made. It was a perfect day for flying a kite at the beach with good wind, warm temps, and no people!

Dancing

Hot Lava was playing again at a kids carnival at San Roque school in Santa Barbara, so daddo and Braedyn headed up to check things out. Most of our time was spent listening to the music and dancing. We did check out the bouncy castles for a little while as well though.

Natural History Muesum

We headed to the Santa Barbara Natural History Museum this past weekend. We wanted to catch a special kids show at the planetarium and check out some of the exhibits. Braedyn has been really interested in checking out the stars every night with Daddo, so we thought this would be fun. They had a neat little nature trail that we walked around for awhile while waiting for the star show. Once the show started and it got really dark, Braedyn decided he wanted to leave and since no one else could hear what was happening with his crying we decided to cut it short and go see some other exhibits. All in all it was a fun time, the museum is small compared to others we've seen but had some interesting exhibits. We'll have to go back again another time when Braedyn is a little older for another try at the planetarium.

Piggy Bank

When Braedyn was born his Aunt Michelle sent over a handmade wooden barrel full of hand rolled cigars. The cigars were put to good use quickly, and the barrel was also used. For a time it served as a random decoration and then it morphed into a storage container for pens and pencils. With Braedyn getting a little older and having some interest in money we decided to start him out with an allowance. He gets a dolalr a week right now and he typically wants it all in pennies as that is a lot more.... We typically give him a number of different coins to work with each week. Anyhow, he was having a problem keeping all of his money in one place so we figured we were in need of a piggy bank. Instead of running out and buying a fancy one to take up more space in our house we drilled a hole in the top of the Cigar barrel and let Braedyn paint it to his liking and Wa-La we had a new piggy bank. Money doesn't stay in it for too long, but with just a small hole, it takes a little work for him to get it out of there....

Ronald Reagan

One of the interesting attractions nearby is the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library. While Mema and Papa were here we headed down for a little tour. It had plenty of interesting things to check out, in fact we may go back to spend more time looking at things without Braedyn someday. On this Day Braedyn ran through the entire museum pointing at everything, stopping only to push an occasional button untile we got to the Air Force One airplane and Marine One Helicoptor. There we checked things out for a while then had some lunch...

One of the fun things about working at Microsoft and being on products that the industry considers interesting is that you get to read about your products in the press. The new group I work in at Microsoft has begun announcing some of our recent work and so it is starting to get some articles written. Here are a couple of the recent postings:

• AdECN Invites Ad Networks to Join Pilot to Test Latest Exchange Model
• MSFT Rolls Out AdECN ‘Federated’ Pilot

More Boo

Some more pictures of Boo at the Zoo. Mema and Papa were here so they went with us to the zoo.

Boo at the Zoo

The Santa Barbara Zoo had a costume party called Boo at the Zoo. There were lots of fun games and candy as well as good entertainment. Braedyn dressed up as Superman which he loved every minute of. He was the most polite superman at the party, saying please and thankyou at all the candy booths!