Grandpa's Birthday

Dear Sadie,

What your Grandpa wanted for his birthday was to have a picnic at the park and watch you swing.









Then we all walked to the beach to watch the sun go down.





Here you are practicing your wave:


Happy Birthday Grandpa! We love you.

Than and Randi's Wedding and 4th of July

Dear Sadie,

We had a fantastic trip to Madison, WI over 4th of July weekend for Than and Randi's wedding. I was a bit worried about the travel, but you were really good on the flights, except for about a 20 minute stint on the way home when you fussed and your daddy had to sing the theme song from Happy Days to get you to settle down. Other than that you were a sweet, happy baby the whole trip. We loved Madison and it was good to see old friends.

Out to dinner with Dan G:


More pictures of you playing on giant hotel beds:



Lecturing on literacy, punctuality and good oral hygiene:


Mark Roth pontificating:






It was a long day getting from Cardiff to Madison. You conked out and I needed a glass of wine:


And then the next day was the wedding! The reception was held at the Museum of Contemporary Art on the Sculpture Garden rooftop overlooking State Street. It was really lovely.



Than's niece Nora loved you! And you were completely enthralled with her too. Whenever you got bored or grouchy she would come over and cheer you up by doing the chicken dance.



This one is my favorite:


Bride and groom on the dance floor:




We looked like bad parents for having you out so late. In our defense, you were still on CA time and you are a little night owl anyway. You had fun dancing with us until the DJ packed up.


Everyone was having a great time.








You celebrated your first July 4th in Madison, the capital of Wisconsin.



Not impressed by Lady Liberty:


We met up with everyone on the Terrace at the University of WI for lunch. Your dad and I had veggie bratwurst. The bride and groom went for the real thing.




Then later on, Josh and Ronnie procured a car seat for you (because they're awesome) and took us to the Brooks family favorite fireworks display. Unfortunately the fireworks really scared you. After about 5 minutes you stopped crying at all the noise, but you didn't cheer up until the show was over. Aside from scaring the baby, we had a good, wholesome Midwest 4th of July. Next year you are going to love fireworks like Nora and her little brother Dexter.





Love, Mama

Jes and Clive's Wedding Part Two

Dear Sadie,

As promised, here are more photos from Jes and Clive's wedding. You and I seem to be the subject of many of the pictures. It's a good thing your daddy takes such good photographs.

We stayed at the Blue Lake Ranch outside of Dolores, CO which was absolutely charming. You were funny playing in the giant bed.





The rehearsal dinner was there at the Ranch. It was a fun evening. Your granddad gave a hit speech about Clive taking him caving. There was also a funny slide show of Clive and Jes through the ages.








It was such a nice occasion to spend time with our relatives and to meet Jes' family too. Everyone was so excited to see you. You got passed around quite a bit.




And then the wedding was beautiful too. We danced all night.


















The day after the wedding we spent with Clive and Jes at their house. We had a good time relaxing and reliving the weekend's highlights.












The wedding was such fun and it was so good to see everyone. We are going to have to plan a family reunion or something to get everyone in the same place again.

We love you Clive and Jes! We are so happy you got married.