Daniel Helps Wash the Car

Daniel loves helping with things these days! He helps put away his toys, unloads the dishwasher, and now he helps Richard wash the car!

We are leaving on Tuesday, June 26 for a long trip! 

Driving across over 4 days, we'll arrive in Highland, IL on Friday at Horst and Barb's house for the annual Driesner family reunion. We've missed this for a couple years, so it will be good to catch up with Richard's Mom's family. 

Sunday, July 1 we leave and drive down to Hot Springs, AR where my family resides. Richard's Dad is coming in, too. They will go to Memphis one night to see Graceland and have Memphis BBQ while Daniel, Walnut, and I go straight to my parents' house. Richard and his Dad fly out that Friday, while the rest of us get to stay until about the 20th! My mother has bravely said she will spend the 3 days it will take to drive back across to Arizona! After  week, she'll fly home.

Just another typical adventure in our family!

Here's a funny picture from the last time we were in Arkansas over Christmas and early January. We went to the Little Rock Zoo and found these cut outs in the petting zoo area!

And what are pictures of when we were in Hot Springs without pictures of going to Hot Springs National Park?! It's so nice to walk downtown along Bathhouse Row and up on the promenade behind on the hill. There are hot springs venting everywhere, and in winter it really steams!

Reading on Father's Day

Father's Day was a great day because Richard was home all day! We stayed local and just enjoyed hanging out as a family. Here are some pictures of Richard reading Daniel a book that morning. Daniel LOVES books and especially reading with his Daddy in bed!

Favorite Beach Pictures

Since I'm catching up on happenings with us, I thought I'd post some of my favorite beach pictures. I was going through all these recently and a few definitely stand out! We love going to the beach when we're in California. It's much easier now that we don't usually do a day trip from Richard's Mom's house that entails a 2 hour car ride in traffic just to spend an hour or so on the sand. We usually stop for the night at Laguna Beach (my favorite!) or stop on our way to or from somewhere else, such as visiting with the Michaelis Family in Encinitas or Aunts Monica and Emily in Santa Monica (we love you!).

These first ones are from September 2011. We went to dog-friendly Huntington Beach. Daniel stayed in the backpack because there are a LOT of dogs on this beach! But Walnut loves the running around even if he does have to stay on a leash. We just have to watch that he doesn't drink the saltwater!

These next ones are from February 2012 at Laguna Beach. They speak for themselves!

I already put some pictures from out last trip to California in May 2012 in the first blog post. Here are a couple more that I like. Had to add one of Linda surfing for the first time! She really did hang ten....for about 5 seconds! Pretty good for the first time out. 

In Santa Monica Beach we met Aunts Emily and Monica at the only restaurant actually ON the beach, "Back on the Beach," owned by our cousin Jim and his partner. Neither Linda nor I had met Jim before, so it was wonderful to finally do so! And the food was DEEEEEElicious!

Let's Get Started!

Welcome to Daniel's blog! This is one way I hope to share more pictures and captured moments as Daniel continues to grow up, play, and travel with Mommy, Daddy and Walnut. I'll start with a few recent highlights and see how it goes. Then I'll try and post new stuff at least once a month. Make sure you let me know what you think!

Daniel has visited Petrified Forest National Park, where Richard is working, a few times now. We have met Daddy for lunch, walked along the rim of the Painted Desert, and explored the Giant Logs area.

Our last big trip was to California, from the end of April through the first week of May. We were able to spend time with both Richard's family and my family! My sister Linda flew out and spent some time, too. Linda and I were able to visit our relatives in Encinitas, Santa Monica, and Palm Desert before driving back to Holbrook. We went to three beaches in three days!

Dropping Linda off in Albuquerque to fly out, we were able to spend time with good friends Kimi and Tom Allen. We also had just enough time to hit the botanical gardens and aquarium. Very cool children's garden and an amazing aquarium!

More to come as new moments are captured!