Griffin's First Artwork

Hello Again! Hope you all are enjoying this Summer as much as we are! We've been absolutely loving having our deck! Every day we spend huge amounts of time out there. We've got a roasting pan full of sand, and a cake tray full of water for G to explore. He has so much fun splashing around, sifting sand through his fingers, getting wet and dirty. His other favourite deck toy is a big sheet of plexi that's been sitting out there, waiting to get cut down for frames. He loves it! He crawls around and around it, and just thinks the whole thing is hilarious.

Today, we had Jonah, and the two of them thought it was great fun to be on opposite sides of the plexi, looking at each other. Ridiculous, and oh so much fun.

On Sunday, Jai found some chalk, and gave a piece to Griffin, to see what he would do with it. So (drumroll please) I am proud to present Griffin's first ever Piece of Art:

He did a great job! I've been trying to get him to draw with a pencil, but he would rather chew it. Anyway, we were so excited and proud to see this appear! (Although there was a little bit of post-creation chalk chewing which resulted in the chalk being temporarily removed.)

His absolute favourite deck toy, though, is a Mommy or Daddy that he can crawl over, snuggle, and/or get wet and dirty. And we don't mind in the slightest.

Another of Nova Scotia's Hidden Gems

Hello! I finally got a chance to sit at the computer for a minute! Happy Belated Solstice! And Happy Belated Father's Day! We celebrated both with a trip down to Sandy Cove, on the Digby Neck. It was our first time there, but I doubt it will be our last - it's an absolutely gorgeous beach, and as you can see, we had it all to ourselves.

The kids loved all the sand - it really was a gorgeous, silky smooth sand - perfect for playing in.

There were even some excellent driftwood logs for practicing the timeless art of Log Balancing.

Griffin had a Ball, and I got to do a little more beachcombing, so I was very happy, too :) More pieces on their way any day now. Although, that "To Do" list is just not getting any shorter.

Yes, he's eating that seaweed - they sell that stuff for big money in the stores! It's that kind of childhood - go ahead and put that in your mouth, it's not going to kill you, and you might even learn something. Besides, it's been cleaned by the Ocean, right? Having said that, I do have limits - dried seaweed (yes), driftwood (sure), sand (why not?), funky feather (maybe not!)

It's another one of those places that the locals all know about, but you would never find on your own. It's a narrow, windy little road that takes you out to this:

And makes you very glad to be in Nova Scotia on a hot, summer day. Welcome, Summer!

Hope you all had an excellent start to the Official Summer Season, and got to enjoy all the Dads in your life, too. Jai was happy with his can of peppered cashews, and Manhood for Amateurs, the latest Michael Chabon book. Griffin gave him a lot of snuggles, some excellent dance moves, and a whole bunch of killer smiles. Who could ask for more?

Exciting-ness

Hello again! Just stopping by for a quick update! Things are going well here, keeping very busy as usual! We've had an exciting week, but I can't really remember just WHY it was so exciting! It just left me with the general impression of exciting-ness. I finished off another piece:

And I revised one of the ones I showed you earlier. I'm much happier with it now, so here's the "after" shot:

Today Griffin and I did a photo shoot with Ambre and Ella. I just loved this picture, so I had to share it here.

Those two play so well together, it's hilarious. Ella seems to love to make him laugh. If you are interested, there are a couple more photos from the shoot at the Lauren Kaye site. Awful cute!

Speaking of cute, Griffin has been growing in leaps and bounds, and has recently doubled his vocabulary. Words he uses that Jai and I can understand now include:

-Book

-Dance

-Touch

-Truck

-Uh-oh

-Meow (kitty)

-Bunnies

-Dada

-Mmmm (snuggles)

-Hi

-Bye

Although the last two he doesn't actually speak, he just uses his little hands to wave.

Words that Jai and I say that he can understand include all of the above, plus:

-Window

-Clock

-Food

-Splash

-Mama

-Bum

-Boo

-Night night

Yes, notice how Mama is on the bottom list. He will occasionally say it, but only under duress. He's much happier to just say Dada for both of us. And I do seem to respond...

It's so much fun to discover what he can do! And he's started to string long conversations of sounds together. He's definitely saying something - we're just not smart enough to figure it out yet.

Anyway, it's getting late here, and I'm sure tomorrow will be another big day. It's supposed to be thirty degrees here tomorrow; I predict ice cream and ocean waves in our future!

A Chicken Named "Uh-oh" and Some New Pieces

Hello! We've had such a busy and eventful weekend around here, and I had my camera with me for almost none of it. Oh well, that's how these things go sometimes. Griffin and I (along with my friend Ambre and his friend Ella) tripped off to the Zoo on Friday. It was so much fun. They loved it - especially the chickens. While I oohed and aahed over the arctic foxes and barred owls, the cougars and the monkeys, Griffin and Ella mostly enjoyed the chickens, the goats, and one especially friendly donkey. Not that I can blame them, he actually got to touch the donkey (!!!!) And the chickens and goats ate up all the food that he generously dropped for them, prompting me to think that maybe we need a "house chicken," just to follow Griffin around all the time. We could name her "Uh-oh."

I also got some time in the shop to finish up a couple of pieces that I've been slowly working on for a while. It's nice when things start to come together. We all went to the beach this morning to search for some new driftwood, because the piece I was trying to use just wasn't working out. Much to my dismay, there was NO driftwood anywhere to be found on the beach - just a lot of beach fire remnants. Drat!

It turned out to be a blessing in disguise though, as we went in search of a less populated beach, and found the perfect one - mountains of driftwood! So I now have enough to last me a good long while. We even went back for a second trip. (Really, can you go to the beach too many times in one day?) Hooray! So here's some of the new pieces for you to preview: (I apologize in advance for the crappy photo quality)

Oh yes, I am having lots of fun.

Tonight we went for a walk along the river to the rail bridge and the old cemetery with some friends. It was the perfect evening for a walk (as seen in the top photo there) and a lovely way to end the weekend. They even brought along a basket of fresh garden strawberries. I love June!

A Quick Trip to the Big City

Hello Again! Wow, it's been a while! This is such a busy time of year! Griffin and I took off for five days to do some visiting in Halifax, and get a little change of pace. Last week had too many rainy days in it!!!!

Anyway, we had a great time in the Big City. Griffin had fun being the centre of attention a lot (although he did have to compete with Kaslo, the puppy!) He got a lot of puppy face washes, and he really loved having someone to share his food with. He always offers it to us, but sometimes we are less than enthusiastic!

Griffin's favourite part, though, was a trip to Lawrencetown Beach. It was beautiful!! Here's some of our favourite shots, and I'll put a couple more up on the Lauren Kaye Photography site, in case anyone (hi, Mom!) wants to see them.

We also met Griffin's newest cousin, Quinn. This is the only picture I got, though. Cute feet, hey?

Griffin also met his Grandparent's Buddha.

And on that note, I'm off to do a yoga class. Namaste!!!

Lauren Kaye Photography Web-site

I did it!!!! Check out my new site:

Lauren Kaye Photography

Whew! I've been spending all my spare time on this little project, and it's finally getting somewhere. Next step - get the word out :)