California Girls

There's nothing like a pretty girl to inspire a photographer, and two are even better... particularly if they're my grandbabies.  My visit to S. Cal to spend time with my newest grandbaby and her big sister was a photographic feast. Nancy has always felt 4 grandkids was the minimum acceptable ROI for raising 2 kids .  Now, with 2 grandbabies in Seattle and 2 in Newport Beach, she finally hit her number..

Regan Makena Richardson made her entrance on 8/19/12.  She was a healthy 7lbs 11oz.

Likes to cuddle (at 4 days old)


Grandpa's specs are cool


Fashionista


Color me purple

Happy to be here

Sisterhood


































Regan and her happy mom. 

Congratulations, Kristy and Colby!

The Starbucks Experience

Starbucks is one of my favorite destinations.

 The store is loaded with coffee products...

but for me, its about more than coffee... though I really dig the coffee.

Birthdays, Boys, and BFFs

A few years ago, Nancy and I wondered if grandbabies were in our future, but  Shelby May Conway arrived on August 17, 2008.   Her birthday pictures show how she's grown from a baby to a toddler, to a young lady.

Shelby's first birthday... and her first taste of frosting. She wasn't too sure she liked it.

.

By her second birthday, she had sprouted some hair, and figured out that cupcakes are tasty.

Very grown up at 3, Shelby now has long golden tresses...

 
... and knows how to blow out the candles on her birthday cake..

Welcome, Paige Jewel Conway!

Nancy and I flew to Seattle a few days before Brooke was due to bless us with grandbaby #3.  That gave us time to learn Shelby's schedule before her mom and dad left for the hospital.  Brooke and Shelby are so close that I was concerned how Shelby would handle a 3 day separation.

She's two!

Rylee's first two years have gone by in a blur, but it must be her birthday, because this is her official birthday picture and her official birthday cake.

Shelby version 2.5

We traveled to Seattle last week to celebrate Shelby's 2 1/2 birthday.  It's a joy to see her grow.  She talks in complete sentences now, and can appear quite grown up.

But she humors poppop and nana, and still lets us cuddle her.  Her smile melts my heart.

Christmas 2010

The girls came for Christmas, and I had a full week of grandbaby photo-ops.  :-)

Pixie

We spent a good part of last week babysitting Rylee, our 15 month old grandbaby.  She's diminutive, and looks like a sweet little pixie...

but looks can be deceiving.  Nancy and I call her Trouble with a capital T.

What's so terrible about 2?

My son-in-law is a fan of motorcycle racing, so the family flew to town to attend Sunday's 2010 MotoGP Championship at Mazda Raceway, Laguna Seca.  That meant we had our grandbaby, Shelby, for a 4 day visit, which made her grandmother smile from ear to ear.

Stone Age photography

(no zoom, no AF, no VR)

A while back I bought my first manual focus lens for the d700... the 135/2.8 ais. I was lured by the astonishingly low price of $76 from KEH.com, and was delighted by its condition when it arrived.

But I quickly became discouraged by my inconsistent results with it. I worked on my focusing technique and even installed a dk-17m magnifying eyepiece. My hit ratio improved a little, but in the end, I never felt I could rely on the 135, so it has gathered dust. I'm glad I didn't give up on MF lenses entirely, because I had much better results with my next acquisitions... a 41 year old 20/3.5 Nikkor-UD...

A snuggle and a kissie...

We just returned from a quick trip to Seattle. We hadn't seen Shelby May in person since January, and felt the need for some hugs and kisses.

Shelby has grown up so much in the last 3 months... and not just in size. Now she can run, talk, and sing a half dozen songs... on key, too! And she's quite the personality kid.

A hair raisng story

I used to go to a fancy barber shop. After years of paying high prices for uninspired haircuts by pretentious "stylists", I decided to forego prestige. My strategy was to go to Supercuts and audition barbers until I found one I liked,. It took a few months and a few scalpings, but it was worth it. I found Theresa.

I've been very pleased with her haircuts, and her upbeat chatter makes it fun to get a trim. She clalims she's even better with woman's haircuts, so I've been lobbying Nancy to give it a try. She finally did, but she was pretty skeptical.

The other kind of Heavy Metal

Most of the visitors to my gym use the machines, but some of us prefer the clang of heavy metal.  Welcome to the weightroom.

Good boy, Clyde

I met Clyde in 2002. He "guarded" the pickup truck while his partner, Joe, made his daily visit to the coffee shop. Joe always backed the truck in, so Clyde could keep an eye on him and flirt with passers-by. And could he ever flirt.

Clyde was a Golden Retriever/Yellow Lab mix, bred to be a helper dog. He flunked out of training school, and was sold as a pet, but he still had the empathy he was bred for. It was impossible to look at Clyde and not come over to pet him.

Rylee's New Home

We drove down to S. Cal last week to see Colby, Kristy, and Rylee's new home in Newport Beach. We brought some tools and muscle to help them get it ready for their move-in later this month.  Rylee has spent her first 8 months as an apartment dweller, so she enjoyed the new experience of picking the grass in her  very own front yard.

Mr. Excitement

There's something about dare-devil bikers that attracts the ladies.

But Andrew is just a weekend biker. On weekdays, he's a 9-5 salary man... and the most exciting person in my grandbaby's life. She can't quite say his name. If she's looking for him, she'll walk around the house wailing Ann-Due, in the same tones as Stallone cried out for Adrian in Rocky.

Shelby is thrilled when he plays "predator" with her.

"Gonna get you"

Twas the night before Christmas...

Shelby, my 16 month old grandbaby, had no idea what was going on. But she sensed that something was up.

It was a normal night. Grandma read books and cuddled with her while grandpa took pictures.

But, whoa, the next morning things looked different. What's all that stuff on the mantle?

Kissing Cousins

Shelby is 15 months old and Rylee is 5 months old. I've decoded their baby talk and body language so you can eavesdrop their conversation.


Rylee: Nice outfit. Where'd you get it? My grandma gave me mine.

Shelby: Hey, that's my grandma, too, and you kind of look like me. I wonder if we're related?

The last hurrah (photoshoot) at Almaden Lake

I looked through my front door, and fall has finally reached San Jose.

I stopped by the lake to check out the action, and there wasn't any. There were a few ducks and coots, but the rest of the lake birds have departed for warmer climes.  So I took some location shots... folliage and structures.

A Weekend With Shelby

We've been travelling grandparents for the past two weeks. We visited Rylee in LA two weekends ago, repacked, and visited Shelby in Seattle last weekend. The visit to Seattle was at my daughter's request. She asked if we could stay with Shelby while she and her husband took a weekend holiday to celebrate their 3rd anniversary.  Naturally we jumped at the chance.


We attended Shelby's birthday party in August, and it's hard to believe how much she's changed in 6 short weeks. She turned from a baby into a little girl, with longer hair, a bigger vocabulary (I'm officially "pop-pop" now), and a surprising sense of humor. Her favorite trick is to hold out something for me to eat, but as soon as I make a move for it, pull it away, stuff it into her own mouth and chortle.

Rylee at 3 months old

My newest grandbaby, Rylee Jewel, was a tiny 6 pounder when she arrived on June 18, but  just 3 months later, she's a sturdy 10 pounder with a commanding presence.  We had a chance to visit her last weekend, and found out she likes to hang out with her dad and watch football games.

Shelby's Birthday

Talk about modern!  Nancy and I received an evite to attend our grandbaby's first birthday party - lol.  Of course we didn't hesitate to book the flight to Seattle. Her first year has flown by in a blur, but I think I froze some precious moments in still pictures, and will work on composing a small book to host them.


When we arrived on Thursday evening, Shelby was polite, but clung to her mom. However, when she saw we were still there on Friday morning, she decided we were family, and flashed us 100 megawatt smiles.