Summertime!

Birthday BBQs, Big Kid Glory, & Sun Hats!

This weekend, these Kondo gals hit up Milwaukee for a belated celebration of Grandpa Bob's birthday, a delicious Mexican BBQ for Chen's birthday (of which we're not allowed to speak), and visits with all kinds of awesome folks - including the infamous St. Louis Peters family!  Although Scarlet battled a massive cold and put up with a zillion nose-wipes from Mommy, we had an absolutely wonderful weekend!  Bonus for this Mommy: I got to photograph my girl in her new sun hat.  :)  LOVE.

Party planner extraordinaire getting reacquainted with baby-carting.  :)

New grill for El Gallo Atómico!

A snapshot of some of the multiple storylines at play in this epic backyard.  :)

She had multiple confrontations in which this tire swing took her out- including when
she pushed it herself and it swung back and nailed her - but this girl is not easily deterred!

Scarlet has a seeeeerious adoration for her big cousin "JuJu"!

The Chenhalls backyard is basically dreamland for our Aika.
You never know what amazing thing you're going to find back there!

"Ruff-ruff!!" = endless fun (thankfully Duncan is world's most patient canine...)

Many thanks to the Chenhalls for hosting us, and everyone we saw who made this weekend a great one (minus one broken arm for our favorite Deacon...).

xx

Garden Gangsters

After the reasonable success gardening last year (under the watchful eye and helpful hands of Grandpa Bob & GiGi), we decided to give it a go again this year, so we got a plot at the community garden here in Eagle Heights.  Once I finished exams, Scarlet & I reunited and took advantage of our free week before I start work (tomorrow!) to check out our garden-to-be.

Our plot, while beautiful, was a wee bit daunting.  Although it's not enormous, it was completely overgrown.  *Gulp.*  (Scarlet's face in this picture below says it all!)  Our first day was originally going to be mere exploratory, but then I found out they had shovels available for everyone to use, so Scarlet and I got to work.

Scarlet took to the garden right away.  She romped around, helped me put weeds into a bucket (more or less), analyzed dirt at length, and -- of course -- performed occasional taste-testing on said dirt.  Fortunately, she seemed to determine that the dirt wasn't as tasty as it appeared, so the sampling subsided.

We got lots of use out of our Ergo -- and buffs!  :)

And Daddy came to visit this weekend and was a willing and enthusiastic helping hand and fellow gardening gangster (in sandals from a packing glitch -- but not to be deterred!).

Success!

Now fingers crossed that these wily Wisconsin seasons don't surprise us with a late frost!  Grow garden grow!

A girl and her pig...

She thinks this is hilarious.

Mornings with Scarlet

I wasn't sure if I wanted to post these at first (embarrassing morning pictures, et al.), but I just so cherish these morning snuggles, and I wanted to capture a little taste of this amazing -- often giggle-filled -- time we steal before the day gets started. 

(Especially as I am missing her so incredibly while she stays with GiGi and Grandpa Bob so Mommy can survive final exams!)

Manta love

Whoops!  I just found this in my drafts, but I obviously never completed it.

Awhile back, Daddy got Scarlet this stuffed manta ray, and we often "make him swim" when we play, which she loves.  Then, I decided to take it to the next step and show her the video I had taken diving in Bali with manta rays.  Not sure she really made the connection, but we'll just take baby steps!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

One of the good things about the St. Patricks Day parade occurring on the Sunday before the actual day is that come March 17th, I have great pics of our girl all in her finest greens.  :)  We braved Scarlet's touch-and-go mood and the crowds to meet with one of Scarlet's daycare friends, Hazel, and her mom Steph.  Together this fearsome foursome hit Capitol Square to take in the Irish festivities!

A few things I learned:

1. A one year old doesn't care much about the parade. She DOES care about running away from you at any cost.
2. When you have a freaking cute kid, and then you put her in an adorable green dress and bi-colored green pompom hair clips... you just need to accept that strangers are going to come up and snap pictures of your child.  The first few times it weirded me out, but then I just decided to take it all as an indirect compliment.  :)
3. The aforementioned freaking cute kid also prompts total strangers to give you candy on her behalf.  Score.
4. Spring is fantastic.

We had good times...

And weathered the not-so-good times.  :)

All in all, an Irish success!  (Except in retrospect, mum should have gotten a pint!) 🍀