Well into the Fall

It's been too long since our last update and Summer has gone. Not that you would know it with the heat here in Southern California. Here's a bit of the action from the second half of Summer through our favorite holiday: Halloween!

Lots of water action continued through the summer. Beach trips & splashing in friends' pools.

We did our first 2 night camping trip with another family, the Scherrer's, it was a blast in spite of super dirty feet!

The backyard was also a favorite place to play and became the site of the Griffin & Raymond stunt show.

Another trip down to San Diego to hook up with Jill's side of the family and meet baby Andrew for the first time. Lots of fun at Sea World!

Griffin had a big crush on the blonde girl in the front! He sure likes the island girls!

(see previous post from Hawaii trip)

Jill going head to head with baby Andrew

Whoa Shamu is big!

Shamu 2?? Just joking having fun with Jeff & Daisy

Griff's favorite park of camping.... S'mores!!

I think it was high on Nathan's & Luke's list also.

Thar she blows.

Cannonballs at Aydan's house. Perfect form!

Notice my Olympic style camera work

Showing cousin Stephanie the Getty Center Gardens

Backyard fun

Me Tarzan

After this action packed afternoon we had to retire the big blue ball.

Here's a few shots from Halloween time.

We were by far the first house in the neighborhood to have the Halloween decorations up!

The cape crusader lives again!

Holy Batman, Batman which one of you is my true crime fighting partner?

The jack o lanterns

Hanging with kitties & cousins.

One of the many fun moments from the numerous beach jaunts.

This one is known as "The Takedown!"

This was a great present from cousin David.

One of the joys for summer nights, outdoor movies & dancing at Jeff & Jean's

Summer is in High Gear

It's been a while since our last post and we have gone through Spring,(ok in LA it lasts a week) and right into summer! We've had a few adventures and some firsts.

With the change of seasons came the NBA basketball playoffs. We're not sure how it happened, but Griffin is suddenly a huge Lakers fan!

Griffin finished his first year of preschool and now is going to summer school, which is pretty much playing in sand and water. Water is definitely one of the keys to summer fun at the beach, backyard or park.

Jill and Griff discovered Paradise Cove in Malibu and have been going every chance they can.

Griffin & Pal Jackson playing in the surf.

First roller coaster ride ( the arm up in from of Griff is Daisy Mitchell)

Lorakeet feeding at the San Diego Wild Animal Park. Thanks Mira!

Water Rocket

Griffin the Human Dam

The flood of 09

Summer school activities

Team Lakers

Being hustled on the court

Desconso dance party with Max and Bella.

Griffin's busting out the break dance moves! Watch as Bella tries them too!

More Snow Bunny Action

We went up to Lake Tahoe to give Griffin an introduction to some of the cultural heritage of his Swiss bloodline. We met up with long time friend Brian Lee & family, for some ski adventures, and boy did we get an experience!

First day up, we went to Squaw Valley. It was a beautiful perfect day for skiing & boarding. Well, that's what we all thought. Griffin not so much. He didn't really want to be left at the ski school. Once we got reassurance for the ski instructors to blow out of there, we snuck back to see him riding up the magic carpet and schussing down the slope!!

The second day we thought we would try Northstar and this was not what Griffin really had in mind! After a morning of calls from the ski school about Griff's unwillingness to go outside, they finally said come pick him up! The good thing was they were willing to let us attempt a private lesson. This also looked like it was going to snowball down hill, but thanks to a great ski instructor name Tim, Griffin got some more runs down the mountain!

Uppppppp

Downnnnnnnnn

Jill & the Skiing Lee's-Dee, Sydney, & Brian

My little snow bunny in action

One cool shredder!

Aladdin's Magic Carpet

Downhill Racer

Downhill Racer pt 2

Griffin did enjoy playing mule and Sydney doesn't seem to mind the ride!

Both kids putting their backs into it!

Sledding & Super Heroes

Got to love Southern California. We went sledding the other day. Drove up to about 45 minutes to 5500 ft and found some great snow in the Angeles Crest Forest. We went with my old high school buddy Jeff Mitchell and his wife and daughter, Jean & Daisy.

We weren't the only ones in the mountains that day, we got caught in a traffic jam due to Lance Armstrong & the other riders doing a stage of the "Tour of California" bike race.

Here's some fun footage of our sledding adventure.

A few weekends ago, we had a different sort of adventure. We went to the Japanese American Museum & created our superhero alter egos!

Jilly Kitty & Batman Kitty

Able to creep as quiet as a cat & as strong Batman!

The new Caped Crusaders


Super Rooster & side kick

The super trio!

Hot Wheels

Wow, I have to say Hot Wheels have come a long way since my day.... I remember just trying to make the biggest drop and have the longest track I could. Maybe a jump for some excitement.

Now they have created Trick Tracks! They are pretty cool. The latest ones combine dinosaurs and cars, a boys dream come true. Here's a little footage of some of the track Griffin's got for his birthday from his Grandma Sofia.

Batman aka Batman Leopard aka Batman Kitty

We are now into the Batman or the hyper creation by Griffin...The one and only Batman Leopard sometimes known as Batman Kitty! You will notice the Leopard utility belt!

This is a sign of the marketing madness that is out there. Griffin has never seen a Batman cartoon, TV show or movie. So, how in the heck does he know about Batman!

It all started at Halloween when Jill bought Griffin a Batman costume. Of course, I had a Robin outfit from a previous Halloween, so the dynamic duo was reborn!

It carried over to Griffin's big 4th birthday bash, including a caped crusader jumper!

And we wrapped up the year with our Batman Holiday card! Who knows what future adventures are in store for Batman Leopard! Batman is facing a bit of competition as Santa brought Griffin a Spiderman Bike and shoes...

Griffin's first reaction once putting on his Batman costume

Batman's Cape

Batman & Robin

No, no, no This is how I defeated the Joker. With my double armed over the top move!

Watch Out Green Lantern... Batman has now got a power ring of his own!

Gotham Cupcake City

Is that the Joker and Riddler doing battle?

The human catapult, Jeff Mitchell!

Hey Jeff, a little higher! then I'll be able to climb on the roof.

Some of the other shots from the Xmas 08 card shoot...

POW!

BAMM

The final 08 card.Big Thanks to Mike Firth for the photoshop work!

Creative Inspirations

Griffin is a budding, multi-media artist. Jill & I might be a bit biased, but we think he has talent!

For fun, I have posted some more of his creative expression for you to peruse.

He has his own kiddie camera, which does not produce the highest quality images, but sometimes cool shots.

His auction at Sotherby's will take place on 11-11-11!

Here are some of Griffin's creative endeavors.

One medium he has discovered all on his own is "Soaked Chalk" In this process, he throws his color chalk into a bowl of water and let's it soak for a few minutes. Then when he uses it on the cement, it leaves a very thick and colorful markings

Chalk Still Life

(Shot by Griffin)

Drive Way

Another discipline he likes is creating sculpture aka Parking Lots with his toy cars

(Another of Griff's photos)


Indoor Lot #732

Shooter in action

The following are some of his "shots"

King Dad

Mom's Beautiful Eyes


Dad's eyes


Jeff

Rocket

Sunlight

One of Batman Leapord's (more details about this in future posts) favorite mediums is markers and paints.

And Both Jill & I hope this does not lead to extreme tattooing