Man in the Mirror

Louis is 10 months old and is a ball of energy. He is a fast crawler, a solid cruiser, and he's experimenting with standing with no hands. Sometimes when there is music playing with a nice beat he will 'dance' by bobbing back and forth while sitting down. He is learning new ways to communicate like giving us 'high five' and shaking his head 'no'. He babbles in a way that almost sounds like talking. His favorite "words" sound like "tucka", "Doug" and "Degas" (as in the French Impressionist artist). He'll repeat these sounds over and over.

Louis likes to knock or pull down anything that is stacked up, whether it's blocks or books on a bookcase. He also likes to bang on metal to make the loudest noise possible. He enjoys water in any format. During baths he really enjoys it when water is dripping/pouring down in front of him. He's getting better at drinking water from a cup or straw, and gets a special joy out of drinking sparkling water.

One evening Louis was yelling at his food and at his reflection in the mirror. We thought it was pretty funny and filmed some of it. (He usually is much nicer to his reflection, showing affection by giving himself wet kisses.)

Santa Barbara, CA

Our family traveled to Santa Barbara, CA for Aunt Katie’s wedding to (now) Uncle Jamie. On our first full day in town we rented bikes and rode along the beach. We rented a cool three-wheel bike that put Louis in a car-seat type seat at the front of the bike. Here are some pictures of Matt and Louis relaxing in the shade of a palm tree.

This dolphin fountain is right by the entrance to the wharf.
On the next day we walked to the Mission of Santa Barbara and took a quick tour of the grounds.
The main event was the wedding and all the wedding related gatherings. Even though we hauled our camera everywhere we went we failed to take any photos of the wedding. (We were too distracted by the great ceremony.) Below are two photos stolen from Kathy Harris’s facebook page. We'll post some more when the professional photographer provides photos. The wedding was held in the courtyard of the city Courthouse, which was beautiful. Stay tuned for more of the bride and groom.

The reception was held on the rooftop of the Canary hotel (which featured a pool). In this photo you can see some of the lights that were strung just for the occasion.