Trip to California Part II - It is all about the family

Hello again! Clearly it took us a while to get to the second post...the Graeter's ice cream was just that good. And away we go on the second portion of our California trip. Most of our travels revolve around family, and this trip was no exception. It continues to be important to us to have Callie know her amazing relatives on both coasts and everywhere in between.

Grammy Gayle could not wait to get her hands on her granddaughter after not seeing her for almost five months. So it is fitting that we begin with a picture of the two of them and Sarah. Or as Sarah labeled the picture, "three feisty women".




Grammy Gayle is very happy that Callie is showing signs of feistiness - perhaps Sarah will soon understand what it is like to raise a daughter with some spunk, as they say.


Feistiness is not the only possible hereditary link here. If Callie takes after her mother and grandmother, a love of candy will also be a factor. Here Callie reveals her potential sweet tooth in a candy shop in Old Town Sacramento. John had to stand outside the shop with the stroller while this was going on. "Old Man Bowes", as he has been called, is no fun in the candy department.






Although Uncle Zac has been busy traveling all over California for work, buying his first house, and starting renovations on said house, he certainly made time for his niece. The two of them were joined at the hip whenever he was around, and Callie loved every minute of it. Here he is reading her a story before bedtime.





We also got a chance to hang out with the Nice family in La Selva. For the non-locals, that is a cute community outside of Santa Cruz. We had a blast hanging out on their patio, catching up with all the latest news, and eating some good bbq. Callie enjoyed not only hanging out with her cousin Sophia and Great Aunt Isabel, but also could not get enough of Louie and Dusty, the two dogs. As you can see here, she just had to hug the dogs and love on them. If this is more than just a phase, we will either have to get a dog or convince our neighbors to get one.




This next picture is of Callie and her cousin Brian. She did her best to impress Brian by wearing her pink Vans. Hopefully one day Brian will think she is cool enough to take down to the beach and teach her how to surf. First she'll have to learn how to walk. But it's always fun to look ahead.



Callie is no longer the youngest cousin in the bunch. All three of us were lucky enough to meet Brady Anthony Lucas, pictured here in the arms of his dad, Tyler. We must admit not only is he adorable, but seems to be a very well behaved young lad. This probably is due to the fact that his parents, Tyler and Sara, seem so comfortable in their new roles. Sometimes, though, Sarah [Bowes] has to do a double take when she realizes that Tyler is both married and a dad. Clearly he is not her "little cousin" anymore. One thing that this visit highlighted is how much fun the holidays are going to be in the years ahead when we all get together.


For those of you long time readers, we finally managed to capture Great Aunt Teri and Callie together on camera. Although it was difficult to tear her away from her new grandson, Teri was happy to get the chance to talk to Callie about all the latest news. Callie doesn't have the manual dexterity to start quilting just yet, but when she's ready she'll know who to talk to.





Tyler and Sara weren't the only ones introducing new family members to the crowd. Haley and Ryan also have started a family and introduced Ziggy, their new goldendoodle, to everyone. Ziggy was also very cute and Callie spent the afternoon wrestling with her. Both little ones seemed to have no fear, and Ziggy was fortunate that Callie's teeth haven't grown in just yet.


We have saved the best picture for last. Great Grandma Lucas was in seventh heaven surrounded by all her family. But she was especially excited to have her three great grandchildren around her. She is Callie's only living great grandparent, and the two of them love spending time with each other.




We can't wait to see everyone again at Christmas time. Family is so important and the time always seems to go by so fast. See you soon!

Trip to California Part I - Monterey

Here we are...the first of a two part report on our trip to California at the end of June through early July. So much happened on the trip and we saw so many people that it is going to take the two posts to tell all about it. We begin with the first part of our journey - the six days we spent in Monterey. By the way, there are 17 pictures in this one, so make sure you are well fed and hydrated before you sit down to read.


As many of you already know, Katherine Elyse Perrone was born on March 18, 2008 to her proud parents, Lauren and JP. It took a little over for three months for Kate and Callie to meet, but they finally did. And from the way that Callie cried every time she was separated from Kate, it looks like there might be a lifetime of friendship here.



So we did everything we could in the short time they were together to keep them next to each other. Here Lauren manages the two little ones. It really was incredible how much Callie was into Kate. She certainly likes other babies, but not quite in the same way.




We (and by we I mean Sarah and Lauren) also managed to do a photo shoot of the two young ladies in their swim wear. Due to the forest fires in California and the ashy skies, this shoot took place inside. Nevertheless, the results were fantastic. Both Callie and Kate are very photogenic.



Making an unannounced and quick visit was Callie's Auntie Gretchen. She arrived on Saturday afternoon and left early Sunday morning for a flight to the East Coast. But Callie loved every second she got to spend with her and can't wait for her next trip to Kentucky.







We were lucky enough to get a good number of Callie's other California aunties together while we were out there. It was definitely a full house and we had a great time. We went to Cannery Row, enjoyed a bottle of wine or two, and watched Denise's stand up comedy routine once or twice. Keep an eye out for her at a comedy club near you.



All in all, it was great having everyone there. Of course, the days passed too quickly and it was soon time for most of the crew to head back to Los Angeles. But before everyone left, we had a few more visitors.


Pictured here are three generations of Yee women. Lauren's parents took the opportunity to drive down to Monterey and say hello. Since Sarah and Lauren were college roommates and have known each other for seventeen years, it was a great opportunity for the Yees to meet Callie as well.




As all grandparents can imagine, Grandpa Dan enjoyed every moment he could with Callie. He hadn't seen her since she was three weeks old. And now that she is a whopping nine months, she is very different. She is crawling, making lots of noises, and loves to play.



As Grandpa Dan also found out, she also loves to read books. No Herman Melville quite yet, but she definitely likes to sit down in an easy chair and have a good book read to her. It was so great to see the two of them together and Callie can't wait to hang out with her grandpa again.




We also got some time to just hang out as a family. One of Callie's newfound joys is pictured here. Although she cannot walk yet she is beginning to train to be a fencer. We are starting with straws and working our way up from there. In just a few years she will be ready to learn the real basics from her Uncle Chris.




It was amazing to be able to take Callie to the Monterey Bay Aquarium since Sarah went there when it first opened. It is such a wonderful place and they have so many things for little kids to do and learn about sea life. In one interactive room, Callie and John used different shaped blocks to learn about what different sea animals like whales and dolphins like to eat. Please note that these animals do not in fact eat blocks. Just a learning tool for the kids. We try to be educational as much as possible.



But there is more than just one interactive room. That's just how good this aquarium is. Here we see Sarah dressed up as a sea horse while Callie is dressed up as a clown fish. It is going to be so much fun to take Callie here as she gets older.






How is everyone doing so far? You hungry? Thirsty? We are over halfway through this first post, and we are a bit tired. But once we finish typing it is a reward of Graeter's mint chocolate chip ice cream. Trust us, it is worth every typed word.



Although we didn't get out to the beach a ton, we were able to take a walk along the seashore. This picture is hopefully one of many we will take in Monterey over the years. At this point, Callie hasn't realized how many times she will have to put up with the "this is where we got married" stories. You can just see the innocence in her eyes at this point. Poor girl.



We also got the opportunity to visit Sarah's cousins Heath, Ola, and Bella. Not only did we get together one night for happy hour, but we also took a fun road trip to Roaring Camp in Felton, CA to take a steam train through the redwoods. This first picture shows the two dads trying to assert control of their daughters before the train had even started. Good luck with that.



The train ride was a lot of fun and even though we claimed to be doing it for Callie, she had no real clue of what was going on. She did like the breeze in her hair, and we were fortunate that the random spider/wasp/or other stingy thing chose to bite John and not her. We chose not to include pictures of John's slightly swollen right ear. Seriously, it hurt!




This picture shows the growing Rocha family - Heath, Bella, and Ola from left to right. There is another baby due to arrive in December. This time a boy will be joining the family, and it looks like someone will finally snatch up the name Lucas. Sorry, Haley.




Any good family attraction has a gift shop, and Roaring Camp is no different. Sarah couldn't pass up getting Callie a little engineer hat. As you can see, she is absolutely adorable in it.





And we end this post with one more family photo. In this picture we see John, Sarah, and Callie the train engineer. Just so you know, there was another picture with Callie facing the camera and a train going by in the background. Apparently, however, it did not show off the engineer hat well enough. Just thought you would like to know.



We should also note before we end that all of the above was made possible by the generosity of Sarah's Aunt Teri and Uncle Ron. Without them we would have been staying in a tent in the park where we got married. And we would not have looked so good in many of the pictures.


Wow. Are you still with us? Impressive. On to California post number two.

School may be out but the learning has just begun

It may be hard to believe, but this post is going up less than a month after the last one. Impressive, don't you think? And even better than that, this post actually has a theme. So here we go. The theme for this month is learning. School is pretty much done, except for two more weeks of summer classes for John. But while he wants to take a break from learnin', Callie's all fired up for new things. The following includes just a few of her new tricks. For the record, the following is not in order of lesson learned or level of difficulty.

The first picture shows Callie holding her very own sippie cup. She doesn't use it very often. But on hot summer days like the ones we are experiencing now, she likes to hydrate with some cool water. No need for Gatorade yet, but it's only a matter of time. Just yesterday we went to the store to buy a puzzle and came away with a ball. She showed no interest in the puzzles and went right after the rubber balls. It is not a soccer ball, but that will come eventually.




The second picture is of Callie clapping. She started "putting her hands together" at about 7 months. Although we are pretty proud of this skill, she lets us know who's boss by refusing to do it on demand. At this time it is also safe to say that she is not what one would call a loud clapper. She's more of a "good golf shot" clapper.


We should also point out that in this picture she is sitting in John's old chair that is still in Madison, CT. At one point John could sit in that. Hmmm. Not pictured here are all the folks we saw on a quick visit to Madtown that included water fights, wiffle ball, and quality time with Nana Taffy and Grandpa Jay. Much to her parents delight, Callie also traveled like a champ, sleeping soundly on 3 out of 4 flights.



Now for the third installment of Callie cam. Here we see our hero learning how to travel from one spot in the room to another without the assistance of her parents. This is the most recent skill of note.



As you can see from the video, she has not completely mastered crawling. Like some cars in need of a wheel alignment, she tends to veer right. As everyone told us, our life is increasingly changing. We now find ourselves sticking covers over electric sockets and worrying constantly about the cleanliness of the floors. Unfortunately, despite the constant use of the Swiffer, Callie manages to find the one dust ball that escaped.



True to our goal this summer, we have conquered another hike. This time our feet took us to Raven Run, a small nature preserve on the outskirts of Lexington. We were better equipped in a number of ways. No flip-flops this time, and Callie rode in style in our Ebay-acquired backpack. We are proud of our bargain hunting abilities on this one - got it at less than half price!






Callie definitely appeared to enjoy her time in the backpack. She was able to observe all the wonderful greenery and listen to the cicadas who were in fine form. The three of us also shared the experience with our friend Karen Ross who was too busy hiking to pose for pictures. All in all, the exploring Kentucky summer is going well. Hopefully the temperatures will cool down so we can keep up the momentum.




As we write this, Callie does not have a smile like the one below. She has just finished a bath and is a bit...how do I say...cranky? Fatigue must be the cause, because only minutes ago she had bottle and wolfed down some peas and carrots. Although she is trying to eat the TV remote at the moment. Of course, the crankiness may also be related to the appearance of the first tooth. Don't get too excited, it's only just coming through the gum. And like the elusive Yeti of old, it is rarely seen. But if she sucks on your finger there is definitely something sharp in her mouth.




That covers most of what is new. However, the months to come will surely provide more and more firsts. Hope all is well with you and yours. Callie and her giraffe hope to see you soon.

School is done and summer is here!

Hello, hello, hello. So we skipped April...oops. We kept to our monthly update promise for just about one month. Oh well, enough of that. There is so much to share, including a couple of videos of young Callie. Clearly the blog is getting high tech. In any case, let's get things started.

We begin with a picture of Callie's latest pastime, the swing at Ecton Park. She is very good and enjoys the swing tremendously. Here is one of many pictures we took of her in the swing.



Hopefully Callie will continue to enjoy the park as the months go by and the weather gets warmer. We certainly know that we are going to enjoy it. During the summer months on Tuesdays there is live music in the park in the evening. Come on by and join us.


Fortunately, this spring did not bring a cold snap like we had last year. That means we were able to see the true blooming of Kentucky as winter faded into the background. UK's campus in particular was showing some fine colors with tulip displays right and left. And no, those are not monster tulips...Callie is still a little tiny. And this picture shows a more serene Callie, as opposed to the little girl who enjoys ripping up tulips.





We skipped our blog post in April, but as you can see from this picture, we did not skip our post time. Here we see Callie taking a closer look at the racing form for Keeneland during the first Sunday of the spring meet. Of the three races she bet on, only one played out. We will forgive her because it was her first time. But that honeymoon is over when the fall meet arrives in October.


That brings us to our first video of the post. These videos may very well fall into the category of interesting only for the parents of the child. You just never know. In any case, we hope you enjoy this one of Callie enjoying one of her meals. Or perhaps she is just enjoying the aftermath. Listen closely for the sounds she makes. She is cute, but she is not a delicate flower.





April brought a visit from Grandpa Jay and Nana Taffy. They got to spend some time alone with little Callie while we were at work, and from all appearances everyone got along famously. And Callie could not get enough of her grandparents.



Here is the happy threesome enjoying some downtime after a tour of the Woodford Reserve Distillery. After spending the morning at Keeneland watching the horses work out, it only made sense for all of us to check out a bourbon distillery. Unfortunately the visit had to come to an end, and Callie was forced to once again spend time with her parents. Oh well, not everyone can get what they want.



Clearly, everything happened in the month we skipped a post. Lexington and its residents welcomed a wonderful new life into our midst on April 18th. Our friends Charles and Fiona finally got to say hello to their "little" boy Iain Xavier at the ripe weight of 9lbs 15oz. And Callie could not wait to meet her new friend. As everyone in the room said "gentle", Callie placed her hands on his sizeable noggin and appeared to bless him. Or she was just trying to balance. You never can tell.




As mentioned earlier, we didn't get a cold snap this year once spring arrived, and that meant we got to enjoy all of the blooms of our neighborhood. And that includes the dogwoods in our yard. Sarah and Callie are looking very cute sitting in our front yard under the blooms of the dogwood. Not pictured here are the various new tools we purchased to make our front and back yards look as good as possible. The fight against the dandelions is on, and we just need to make sure our weeds don't invade the neighbors pristine habitats. We'll let you know how that goes.


Ahh, bath time. In the early months, Callie had a tough time with the bath. Sometimes she didn't mind it, and other times she would cry until we got her back into her dry and warm clothes. Well all of that has changed...Callie now loves the bath and won't stop splashing in the water.







Indeed, the following video captures one of the last baths that took place in the living room. Callie's splashing has led us to place her bath within the downstairs tub to limit the water on our floor.



Although not illustrated on the above video, Callie usually spends most of her bath chasing these two duckies. Amazingly enough, those two duckies can prove quite elusive within a contained space.


One last picture for the post, and it is of the Bowes family in the midst of a hike just yesterday. It's amazing how green everything has gotten in such a short period of time. We had a great time and learned quite a bit about the forests of Kentucky through the shared knowledge of Dr. Neil Pederson, professor of Biology at EKU. We highly recommend going on a hike through the forest with him.





So there you go, a lengthy post to make up for those missed. And, because of the day of this post, we also need to add a heartfelt Happy Mother's Day to Gayle Lucas and Taffy Bowes, two amazing women who taught us so much about being a loving parent. Until next time...whenever that may be.

Spring has sprung!

We are barely on track to make an entry a month. Looks like this one is coming in just under the wire. Hopefully spring has arrived in your locale. We did have some snow flurries today, but it does appear that spring is on the doorstep. The birds are chirping, the daffodils are blooming, and Callie is making some crazy faces. Wouldn't you love to know what is going through her mind in the picture below?




Tough not to start out with that picture. But we have a whole host of pictures to show how much our little monster is developing. Seems like something new happens every day.


This photo is courtesy of Sarah "Ansel Adams" Bowes. Notice the use of shade and light to capture the wonder of a little girl looking at the snow falling outside her back door. And yes, Callie is standing up and holding herself up by grabbing the door frame. Pretty crazy.







This should give you some idea of what Callie was looking at in the previous picture. About 5 inches fell in Lexington a few weeks ago. John dutifully shoveled the driveway, because anyone who grows up in New England knows you have to shovel it quick before the snow can turn to packed ice and make your life miserable. If he had grown up in Lexington he would have known there was no need to shovel because it would all melt in a couple of days. All the neighbors knew this. Interesting.




Two weeks ago we drove to Dublin, Virginia to hang out with some friends at a state park. Three couples and four kids ages five months to 4 years. Definitely a different kind of vacation. This picture shows Callie and her new friend, Ella Skonieczny. Ella was a big help all weekend and she did everything she could to make Callie's visit fun.






And now for an incredibly important picture. This is an action shot of John and his friend Mike playing a board game called Pro Conference Football. It came out in the 1970s and the two of them used to play it for hours on end when they were kids. It has been twenty years and they still have the same passion. Sarah was a bit frightened at this glimpse into John's childhood. John, on the other hand, was bummed that he and Mike were only allowed to play one game.




You might be asking yourself, why a picture of food? Well, Callie is starting to eat solids, and her tastes are moving beyond the simple rice cereal we started with last month. Pictured here is the vast array of delectable foods that will be pureed for her culinary pleasure. Sarah is on the ball with this and is doing a fantastic job making sure Callie is eating well. Soon she will be eating far more veggies than her parents.



Everyone needs to pitch in if the household is going to work like a well oiled machine. And you are never to young to start.



Unfortunately, Callie has yet to learn to fold properly. The creases aren't perfect. So we just have her sit in the basket and hand us the clothes. Okay, so she can't do that either. But seriously, how do you not include a picture like this. We are so unbelievably biased, but her cuteness is dangerous.


Although Callie has grown quite a bit in the past five months, there is still some room for improvement. So far she has only made it to John's knee. We are hoping for big things in the near future and are tempted to sit her down in front of the NCAA Women's basketball games so that she can get a sense of how big she can grow if she eats all of the veggies Sarah purees for her. It's worth a try.





Who's that cute kid in the bunny ears? This past Easter Sunday we were fortunate to be invited to lunch at our neighbors. Both Sarah and Callie were dressed for the occasion and we were able to take the first of many Easter-mother-daughter pictures. They make quite a couple.



We end with another picture of Callie in bunny ears. Again, the cuteness is dangerous. What is also cool here is that she is sitting up on her own. That is another recent development. Although every once in a while she tumbles over and makes a thumping noise, we think she should move beyond that pretty soon.




So from all of us here in Lexington we hope you have a wonderful spring. In just about a week the horses start racing at Keeneland, which means the Derby is right around the corner. You can smell the excitement in the air...it's mixed in with the bourbon. Hope to see many of you this summer!

A long awaited post...

Clearly we have had some trouble getting pictures up on the blog. Indeed, it is unclear if anyone ever really checks it anymore because they don't believe we will ever put up a picture again. Well here I am to say that we are back. For the first time, this is a solo post. I, John, am sitting at home watching the Oscars while Sarah and Callie are in California having fun with all the California aunties. Truth be told, fun apparently has not been the order of the weekend, since everyone has somehow caught what has been dubbed, "the Kentucky Plague" that I gave to Sarah and she has passed along to the Hermosa Beach Crew. If any of them will ever want to see me again I hope to be able to make up for the chain reaction of illness I set off.

In any case, the true focus needs to get back to Callie. I am sure most of you have been wondering what she looks like and what she has been up to. Hopefully the below photo array will help slake your thirst for all things Callie.


We start with a classic pose. Callie is nothing if not graceful. This is a move she is looking to incorporate into a future beam routine. Unfortunately, the beam will have to wait for the whole balance part of her development to work out. She may be graceful, but she has yet to stand independently. No rush I guess.





Callie knows that accessories make the young girl, and nothing screams accessory like a good hat. At the same time, Callie is a mellow child, and nothing says mellow like some good reggae music and a good rasta hat. She wears it well, don't you think?





Callie does enjoy a good bath every now and then. Here you can get a sense of how she relaxes as she is pampered through and through. She has yet to understand the joy of a splashing while in the bath, that is sure to change in the not too distant future.






What's that, you say? Something other than breast milk? Could it be? Here we have photographic evidence of Callie's first rice cereal adventure. It gives you a sense of how delicate the young digestive system must be if rice cereal has to wait until about 4 months of age. I mean rice cereal does not seem to have any substance. And yet it has seemed to help her sleep a little longer during the night. So I have no reason to criticize it.


In a scary sign of the future, Callie's daycare had a Valentine's Day party. Nothing like having to get little cards for infants. Sarah had a great time writing phrases like, "Can't wait to see you by the swings later," and so on. Much to my surprise, this card exchange really did occur. Here Callie tries to gnaw on her favorite card. I'm still coming to grips with the whole experience. I had to run to the store at 8pm at night to get Valentine's Day cards for 6 month old children. Wow.


This picture illustrates a current problem of ours. Callie has a wonderful smile. It is one of the greatest parts of my day to see her smile. And since she smiles often I have a lot of great moments. Interestingly enough, the smile tends to disappear when the camera comes around. We think the flash gives her a bit of a deer in the headlights look. This picture is exhibit A. Another cute outfit, by the way. She definitely wears stripes well.


Tummy time is seen as an important thing. One way to fight the bald spot on the back of the head that comes from so much time on the back, I guess. And it should theoretically encourage some time of crawling or perhaps rolling over. No such luck so far. Callie has become a bit more content with tummy time, but rolling over has only happened twice accidentally. And I am convinced she will walk before she crawls. She seems to enjoy being on her foot more than anything. I guess time will tell.


What do you think is going through her mind here? That is truly the most important question. These exersaucer contraptions of craziness are something to behold. We are so thankful to our friends Stephen and Lynda who were generous enough to lend us this and other fine toys. But wow, Callie is just sitting there wondering what to do with it all. Which button provides the rice cereal?


And we end with a picture that I think is absolutely adorable. I miss these two so much at the moment and can't wait to get them back to Lexington.





Oops, forgot a thing or two. Just some basic stats from Callie's latest doctor's appointment. 12 lbs 4 oz and 25 1/4 inches. That is correct, she is maintaining the Bowes body type with the 85th percentile in height and 20th in weight. And I really don't think the rice cereal is going to alter that too much. It won't be until the Cheerios start entering the diet. Then we will see the ratio shift a bit. Until next time...