Coast to Coast

Yes, that's right. Our little Kaiya bear has been coast to coast in just one month!

July began with a family vacation to California to visit an old friend and his family. Chris and I hadn't seen Tim since our wedding in Dec. '99. Since that time, Tim has gotten married and had three children. With great airfare on Skybus, we decided it was time to get caught up in person. Not only was this Kaiya's first time to California, but it was also a first for both Mommy and Daddy.

Here is a run down of our trip...

July 3: Drive up to Columbus and spend the night with Grandpa Branson and Aunt Sara. We celebrated Father's Day and went to dinner at Dave and Busters.

July 4: Fly to California. We woke up at 1:30 a.m. Pacific time to catch our flight. Praise the Lord for a direct flight into California. Once again, Kaiya was a champ!

We got into CA about 8:30 a.m. and drove about 3 hours from the airport to Hanford, which is near Fresno. Spent the day recovering and getting to know the Kochendarfer family. That evening, we went to a church Fourth of July picnic. It was over 110 degrees! The three of us couldn't stay awake for fireworks and went back to the house a little early. Even with the 3 hour time difference, Kaiya kept us up until 10 p.m.

July 5: We decided on a day trip to Sequoia National Park to visit the giant redwood trees. MapQuest said it would be about 1:45 hour drive, but with road construction on the mountain it wound up being about 3 hours! The Koch kids were great at entertaining Kaiya during our long wait.

Once we got to the spot, Chris strapped Kaiya on for a walk. At the higher elevation and under the shade, the weather was actually quite nice.


The highlight of the trip was seeing the The General Sherman Tree, which is 274.9' tall and 102.6' in circumference at its base. With 52,500 cubic feet of wood, the General Sherman Tree is the World's Largest Tree.

Family photo next to a redwood cross-section:


We rode a bus back up to the parking lot. With all the traveling she has done, Kaiya is a pro at riding public transit :-)

July 6, 7: We all decided it was just too hot, so we went to Pismo Beach for an overnight trip. The weather was perfect -- low to mid 60s! It was - surprise, surprise - about a three hour drive! But, on the way there, we stopped for lunch at In-N-Out Burger (yummy!)



The hotel we stayed at was on the coast. Here Chris and Kaiya are chillin' on the gazebo.
Here is the beach area at the hotel. It was a bit of climb to get down there, so it wasn't very visitor friendly - beautiful nonetheless.

July 8: We worshipped with the Kochs and really enjoyed the service. Our brothers and sisters in Christ at New Hope OPC were very welcoming.

July 9: DISNEYLAND!
Disney was totally worth the 4 hour drive. Chris and I have visited Disney parks in Florida, Paris, and Tokyo, so it was time to visit the original.

We decided to ride on the new Nemo submarines first. It must have been the right choice, because one of the boats was named Scout - that's what we called Kaiya before we knew we were having a girl!

Here she is on her very first amusement park ride!

Her favorite ride was It's a Small World, so we rode it twice. She just looked around and couldn't absorb it all fast enough. Too cute. Watching her on the ride was really the highlight of our trip to Disney.

July 10: We flew back home to Ohio. We got into Columbus at 1:30 a.m., so we spent the night in Columbus. We had a great time with the Kochendarfers. Lord willing, we won't go 7+ years again without seeing them again. And, now, we can say our longtime friends Tim and Leeann!

Top 10 firsts on her trip to California

1. Flight with Daddy: She and Daddy were inducted into the mile high diaper club!
2. Seeing "brown mountains"
3. Temperatures over 100 degrees: We made sure she had plenty to drink to stay hydrated. (It was kind of sad to see her with red cheeks.)
4. Visit to the Pacific Ocean: It was too cold to go in the water.
5. Sleep over: Kaiya absolutely loved Kaelyn, Lannie and Iden (Sorry if these are misspelled!).
6. In-N-Out Burger: This was one of Daddy's favorite parts of the trip. We wound up eating there 4 times!
7. Worship at an OPC: And maybe soon she will get to hear her Grandpa Knodel preach.
8. Disney park: The legacy continues... Disney World in September!
9. Amusement park ride: She was absolutely adorable on every ride.
10. Mouse Ears: Just like Mommy!

She was such a good girl the entire time, even though we spent about 24 hours driving just in California. I can't wait for our next family trip!

State count: 9

Country count: 1

It's Good to Be Queen

Well, I hope you are ready for a much needed Kaiya update. The last couple weeks have been quite eventful for us. So, here is a recap:

Saturday, March 24
Kaiya began the day ready to impress. She must have known it was going to be a big day. As we were playing in the morning, Kaiya decided to roll over for the very first time! Not even quite 4 months old, and she’s rolling from her tummy to her back! Now you can watch her in action.

After wowing us with her physical capabilities, Kaiya wowed us with her fashion sense. She sported cute little baby jeans for the first time. (See "Some new Weekly pics" post below.) They are still a little big, but cute none the less. Then, Kaiya made the ultimate sacrifice for beauty… yep, she got her ears pierced!

Grandma Branson and Aunt Sara came to witness the big event, too. Kaiya barely cried at all – I think the noise scared her more than anything. She was very consolable, and she was even smiling afterwards.

Monday, March 26
Kaiya figured out how one of her toys works. When she kicks it, the lights and music go off. It’s now one of her favorite things to do. Plus, she’s learning cause and effect. Watch this adorable video of her playing.

After a fun morning of playing, Mommy and Kaiya went to the doctor. (See "My Poor (Little) Baby" post below.)

Tuesday, March 27
The sitter had to take the day off, because her son was having a medical procedure. So, Daddy stayed home with Kaiya. I’m not sure what he did, but Kaiya was exhausted. She went to bed a couple of hours early – we thought she was taking a late nap, but she decided it was nighty-nighty time. In fact, she slept through her diaper change!

Wednesday, March 28
The sitter had an emergency, and her backups had to watch Kaiya a couple of hours. She was a real challenge for them when she got up from her nap. I think it is because they didn’t know the tricks to feeding her. First, they were giving her the wrong bottle and nipple. Secondly, they didn’t warm up the bottle, and our little girl is really picky – she likes her bottles really warm. And, finally, they were giving her formula! This was the first time K Bear had anything other than breast milk, so I’m not surprised she refused to take it!

I picked her up after lunch, and we went by The Western Star office. Here is our little cutie pie!

Thursday, March 29: Happy 4 Months!
The sitter was sick, so Mommy stayed home with Kaiya. This worked out well, because Aunt Sara went to the hospital. She had developed a kidney infection and sepsis. (She’s doing much better now!) Kaiya and Mommy went to visit her, and there is no doubt that Kaiya was her best visitor! We also realized that Kaiya had been in the hospital a month earlier. Here is the picture Chris sent to brighten Sara’s day.

Saturday, March 31
Daddy bought Kaiya her first pair of sunglasses. She doesn’t really know what to think of them yet, but here she is sporting the Amelia Earhart look.

April 2-4
Daddy had training in Columbus, so we all took a family trip. Kaiya enjoyed swimming in the pool, visiting with Grandpa Branson, shopping, and, most of all, being “queen.”

Notice that the King is bigger than Kaiya :) (And, look! Mommy is back into her pre-pregnancy jeans! Oh what a glorious day…)

Cold Front

Cold weather meant we had to bundle Kaiya up in April, and it gave Mommy an excuse to snap a few pictures.

Check out her cute outfit. It was a gift from our friends the Brauers, who live in Ireland. I know there are a lot of photos here, but I just couldn't narrow them down any more. Kaiya's just too cute!

Chattin' with Dad

Finger Lickin' Good

All Smiles

A detailed update with lots of photos is in the works. Hopefully, this will hold you until then!

Some new Weekly pics

Ok I took these two pics last week so they are pretty freshy fresh! Here we see kaiya chillin as her daddy is making dinner. Yeah thats right shes thinking "not only does my daddy bring home the bacon but he fries it up too!" She loves her bumbo seat and I gotta give a shout out to Jason Otoski (a co-worker of mine) for insisting I buy this for kaiya. She loves sitting in it and just feels so grown up when she does.


Speaking of looking grown up check out our little miss thing as she sports her first pair of denim. Sure their not D&G but that comes later. ^_^ Now whats cool is that not only is her outfit super duper chic but check out her accesories...Yes thats right in her front left pocket shes sporting her daddies mobile. Ok so I put her jeans on and I was like WOW these are huge pockets. Whats a baby need huge pockets for??? SO then I thought " huh I wonder if my RAZR would fit in her pocket" and it did!
Well I hope you all enjoyed some new happy pics of kaiya.

Cheers!

I Shake My Little Tush on the Catwalk

At 10 weeks, Kaiya is ready for Vogue. Look at how stylin' she is! She's sporting the latest in Tarjay khakis, an Old Navy bodysuit and a sweater that Isaac Mizrahi wishes he designed. She's even practicing her runway walk.

Although she is a little chunkier than most models, she still wears a smaller size! It's the hours of exercise she does every day: the equivalent of 50 push ups during tummy time, all those crunches and bicycle kicks (you should really check our her six pack), leg and arm lifts... Plus, she's on an all liquid diet. (Take that South Beach!)

All Smiles

After looking through Kaiya's posts, we realized we didn't have any photos of her smiling! Quite a shame, because her smile is so precious. Every time she was smiling and talking to us, we were enjoying the moment so much we never grabbed a camera. So, we decided it was time to share with you what we've been enjoying for weeks!

BTW, this outfit is from Gran Knodel. It has adorable little bear ears - now that's worth smiling about.

A Sad, Sad Day

Well, Monday was a big day for Kaiya. Not only did it mark her two month birthday, but it also was her first round of vaccinations :-(

Here is Kaiya right after they measured and weighed her (and before she knew what was coming): 10 lbs. 2.2 oz. and 22 3/4". That means she gained a little less than 3 pounds and grew a little more than 3 inches in just 2 months!

Kaiya was so pathetic. She was great at taking the oral vaccination, but she screamed when they gave her three shots (Mommy cried, too!). She was a bit fussy and didn't really want to eat for a couple days. Here she is with her badges of courage (nope, not red, just Snoopy and sparkles).

But it wasn't all bad. She got a new toy. She loves to swing, and we were getting tired of buying tons of D batteries. So, she's got a cooler swing that plugs in!

Two more months until we have to do it all again (sans swing).

Our Little Model

Isn't Kaiya cute snuggling with her daddy's teddy bear Mr. Beeps? Well, even though we are a little biased, she looks cute in every picture! We finally got Kaiya's first portraits, and she is so photogenic. Here is our little angel at about 5 weeks. Enjoy...

Notice the bear? Kaiya has her own Baby Beeps! Like father, like daughter :-)

7 week picture

First swim EVER!!! Ok this afternoon we took our little Kaiya bear to the YMCA for her first ever swim in the pool! It was sooo much fun and she is a total water baby. She was great and didnt cry at all and we stayed in the water for close to a half hour. SO it was pretty cool. Enjoy the pics!

All wrapped up and snug in her froggy towel!

Cheers!