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!

home before dark...

Getting ready to head home from the beach at sunset.

Hiking Santa Cruz Island

The end of our hike on Santa Cruz Island in Channel Islands National Park. We stopped for some family shots overlooking the bay with Anacapa Island in the background.

Hiking on the islands

Our hike on the Channel Islands took us from the campgrounds up a short hill to an amazing overlook above the Pacific ocean. Braedyn walked a good portion of the entire hike and really had a lot of fun. The views here were spectacular.

Channel Islands

When we got to the island and got off the boat we hung out near the shore for awhile throwing some rocks in and then headed in for a short guided hike. On the way up to the campground we found some fun little caves that Braedyn loved to climb into.

Channel Islands

One of the great places out here that we've been wanting to go visit is the Channel Islands National Park just off the coast from where we live. Since Mema and Papa were out we took Monday and made the trip down to Ventura to catch a boat out there for the day. The boat trip out was pretty fun, but got a little rough. It made daddy get a little nautious, but Braedyn just went to sleep. We spent the day hiking around and throwing rocks in to the ocean and then headed back in the afternoon. On our trip back we were greeted by hundreds of dolphins playing around our boat jumping all around, it was quite the sight!