A Beautiful Photo Album

Our cousin Danielle, who is a talented photographer, met us at Mission San Juan Capistrano for a photo shoot. Rather than upload all the photos, I'll just utilize her hard work and post the link.

CLICK HERE TO VIEW PHOTOS

(while you're there why don't you check out some of her work - and hire her! She's wonderful!)

Thanks Danielle! They are so beautiful.

 

Mandy took the kids out for a picnic. This concept is made more difficult by the fact that Graham detests the feel of grass. He's even been known to throw a fit if he is just being held and I walk out on grass.

  Simone pausing for a moment while we poke around the museum of the San Diego Mission

 You try getting the two of them to look at the camera at the same time! We were lucky enough to catch this one while they were able to sit up on the wall.

 Graham pulling one of his "oooh, I hate that texture" poses

 This is what happens when we set them down and allow them to walk. He goes one way, she goes the other.

 A little summer fun on the balcony with a spray bottle.

 Simone looking her best for Father's Day

 Hanging out with Uncle Wil on Father's Day

Mandy and I took a two night trip up to Morro Bay to celebrate our 9th anniversary. The kids stayed at their parents one night, their great-grandparents the other. It was an incredible trip for us - we came back in such a refreshed, relaxed mood. The shot of her was taken on the beach right off the rock, the one of me she snapped while we toured Hearst Castle. 

Time Flies When You Have Twins

Hello Again.
Let's just move past all of the apologies I could offer up for not posting since November and get in to updates, shall we? Thanks for going along with that one.

As we are in to May, that means the kids are already a year old! Wow! Of course, we have had Christmas, a trip to Salt Lake City to visit aunts, uncles and cousins, Valentine's Day and other such festivities.
And on top of that, the kids have taken their first steps. Although, it has been difficult to replicate the feat.

This picture of the kids was taken the day after their party when we opened the gifts. We had such a fun time at the party - so many people were there and the gift pile just kept growing. It took us over almost 90 minutes to open all the gifts, and although we wish we could have shared the expressions with everyone, it might have been a logistical nightmare. We are so thankful to everyone that was able to attend and are gracious for their generosity. 

The older they get the more fun they have with each other, which is delightful for us as we aren't required to entertain them on a constant basis.

 

We visited another mission (that makes three for the kids so far) San Luis Rey in Oceanside. It was a beautiful day and a nice way to end a busy party weekend. As the gift shop attendant pointed out, at this rate we will have visited all of the missions by the time the kids are seven, though that means Mandy and I will have to return to a few that we saw before we were four. 

We are so constantly amazed, excited and perplexed by these two. We still ask each other: How did we get TWO of these? And as much work, as many diapers and gallons of milk they demand, they are worth every penny and energy spent.

 Happy Halloween (and other such Holidays)! Scroll down to see the cutest condiments you'll ever put on your hot dog. We've had a great few weeks since our last post, visiting friends Rachel and Brian in Santa Barabara to meet their new daughter Margaret. On the way back we passed a pumpkin patch that had the largest pumpkins I'd ever seen. Although the kids weren't terribly excited about the gourds, they did pose for some fun pictures.



They were 7 months on the 9th of November, and a trip to the doctors the week prior put them at 15 pounds each. They've had a smattering of fruits and vegetables, all made by their wonderful mother (I particularly liked the pears with vanilla bean and balsamic vinegar - yum for dad too!)
The kids are really interacting with each other now. He seems much more interested in what she's doing than she reciprocates, but on occasion they have great moments of giggly glee (we are trying to upload a video, but do the sudden influx of over 2100 pictures in the last seven months our computer has had some issues).

An Early Dose of California History for the Twins

A few weeks ago, Rob and I loaded the twins into the Escape and made our way down the I-5 to San Diego. I had made an 'appointment' with my sister Kelly and her family to take some family photographs in Balboa Park, which has a myriad of picturesque gardens, groves and architecture, for the blog they are creating for their adoption service. We marched all over the park hunting for good lighting and good scenery, but the truth is that they are a handsome enough family to render any setting ideal. The pictures came out, for the most part, better than I thought they would (I'm always a bit nervous about people's expectations--I'm no professional).

That night we ate an amazing meal (Kelly made carnitas and provided all the fixings--I'm so amazed by my sisters' cooking! They all make everything from scratch and are so open to trying all kinds of foods), and played with Kelly's son Ashton and the babes. Ashton had loads of fun 'sharing' his toys with our little Graham; he ran back and forth to his room bringing out toy after toy, fulling considering each for their size and suitability. Later, after getting the wee ones in bed with surprisingly little fuss, we talked late into the night with another visiting friend I hadn't seen since high school.

In the morning Loren kindly cooked us breakfast, and we went our separate ways. On the way home, Rob and I decided to stop at Mission San Juan Capistrano, la joya de los misiónes. We lathered everyone with sunscreen, capped the kids with sunhats, put them in the Björns and went inside. Rob and I opted for the audio tour, which I always have mixed feelings about. They often offer interesting tidbits of information that would be otherwise unavailable to the visitor, but they are at the same time rather distracting from one's direct experience of the environment and rather clunky to carry about. A sign warned us that the chapel would be closing early in the afternoon for a private event, so we decided to begin there as opposed to the suggested Number 1 spot near the entrance.

The mission is an active Catholic church, so it's a bit strange to enter the tiny chapel, where people are worshiping, as a tourist. Inside the chapel are several numbered stops on the audio tour, so in addition to the prayerful kneeling at the pews, there were always a dozen or so visitors listening intently to the devices as they gazed about the interior. The inside of the church was warm and stuffy, the smell of wax thickened the atmosphere, turning it heavy and strange. This air, along with the intoxicating Catholic iconography (it's violence, rapture and communion), makes for a heady experience, and I found myself skipping some of the audio stops and heading back outside.

The grounds are beautiful, and the pathways seem labyrinthine and generative. Everything seems somewhat tucked-away and private, hidden. Everything is lush and flowering, a mix of ruin and vitality. The twins divided their time between looking around with that skeptical baby look and dozing lightly against our chests. Wandering around the ruins of the original cathedral, which was destroyed in an earthquake, we overheard one fellow visitor talking about us with her companion. "Twins!' she exclaimed, pointing us out. "They can't be more than 6 months old!" She made some unintelligible cooing noises and said "Those are some brave parents." I have to say that this is not the first time we've heard this sentiment expressed, but we still aren't sure what all the fuss is about. It's such a pleasure to be out and about with the babes, and more or less manageable when we are both on hand. The odd thing about these overheard exclamations over the twins is that they are always entirely within earshot, but I have noticed that we are not meant to respond to them, either visually with a look or smile, or vocally with a comment or a laugh. Have I complained about this before? Suddenly I have a nagging feeling of redundancy...

Anyway, after a few hours we decided we'd seen enough of the mission and sought air-conditioned refuge and cool beverages in the Starbucks across the street from the mission. From there, home and naps for all.            

Happy 5 months to the kids!

How any parents of twins are able to maintain a sanity while having the time to blog about it is beyond us. The kids are doing very well, 5 months old on the 9th. They are eating cereals, fruits and vegetables. Mandy has been making all their foods. So far they've had banana, apple (sauce), squash and peaches. Next up is spinach with white yams, pears and carrots! They have taken all of them very well and are turning into good eaters. So far they've had no signs of allergies.

 

For some reason I see them as an old couple in this picture

Hi Again. The world cup has been over for some 12 days now, so there is really no excuse for not posting. Oh wait, we have three month old twins, and they sort of take up a lot of time. But the conundrum is that we want to share all of the stories and the pictures we have on a regular basis. Darn the life of a blogger. 

The kids are, in a word, wonderful. They are still healthy, in that they have not required us to take them to the doctor's for any unannounced visits. They could, in fact, be growing three spleens each, but as long as they look good, we're all happy. They have an appointment with their occupational therapist on Monday, so we will get a more accurate weight, but I would peg him at just about 9 pounds, her at 8 and a half.
She has woken up a few morning with an extremely clogged nose that makes her sound wheezy, but a few suctions from the 'snarker' and she is sounds a lot better. The 'snarker' is the baby turkey baster that sucks nose goop right out from their brain. The kids hate it but they can breath easier after, so I think they forgive us.
We are very excited about the next 2 weeks. 
This weekend our friends Aaron and Rita are getting married in Pasadena. I am a groomsman so we will be going up on Saturday for the rehearsal and Sunday for the ceremony. The kids won't be joining us, they'll be staying with their great-grandparents on Saturday and their grandparents on Sunday.
Mandy's sister Melissa and her two kids, along with Mom and Mike will be visiting starting on Tuesday. We haven't Melissa, Porter and Adie since our trip last June so we can't wait to see how much they've grown, and of course they will all be excited to meet the kids. 

Who wants to go in the water?

As soon as they leave, Rob's sister Dana will be heading out. She is very anxious to see her niece and nephew, as are her son and husband. 
We had our first trip to the beach last week. The kids did not seem to mind at all, and were quite good all day. Oneta did eat a handful of sand, but didn't fuss in the slightest. The water was a bit cold and it was shorebreak so we were unable to take them in the ocean, but it was a fun day nonetheless. Only the parents got a bit of sunburn, me on my legs and Mandy a patch on her shoulder. Oh well, we were so concerned with the kids not getting burned that we missed a few spots on ourselves.