Bathing , a giant Robin, childhood friends

What trip to a grandparent's house would be complete without a traditional bath in their sink? None I tell you! So here it is, in all its splendor!

Nick quite warm and I'm pretty sure it just go warmer in the sink, if you know what I mean!

Enjoying some suds

Papa doing the honors of cleaning the poop

Mom and son, hand in hand

On Sunday afternoon we had the distinct honor and privilege of hanging out with some very dear friends, the Jones', Ferguson's, and Borelli's. We decided to meet up at Red Robin for some lunch, but little did we know we would be harassed by a giant bird. All the kids were pretty good except for the oldest toughest one who will indeed remain nameless, but you may be able to figure it out. Anyway, great time seeing them all and catching up. The Jones', Ashley, Justice, and Avery, used to live about an hour and a half away, but recently moved to Fresno. Justice was the one who got me stoked on the CHP. All of the families we've been friends with since college and miss them dearly. We are blessed once a year by the Ferguson's as they host our college friends retreat every summer...hopefully August next year as I'm on vacation then and can attend! Here're some memories from our visit:

The incredibly creepy Red Robin

Most of the gang at Red Robin

Avery Jones with a little shiner from how much she enjoys coffee tables

Kinley Ferguson just happy to be out of her carrier

Cole Ferguson concentrating on his mac and cheese and not the big red bird

One of Katy's good friends growing up, Brittany Hunt, just had her first child as well. While we were in Fresno, they were able to hook up and show off their new bundles of joy. It was pretty cool watching these two interact with their newborns and just seeing how happy they were for each other.

Brittany's daughter Meghan

Brittany making sure Nick hadn't been betrothed to any new babies yet

The new mom's with the opposite babies

A cousins meeting and a birthday

The second day of our tour in Fresno brought us to Katy's sister Michelle's house and her kids Brieana and Jake, our niece and nephew. Since my brother Jon and his wife Natalie don't have any kids...yet...these are Nick's only first cousins. Needless to say they were all quite excited to meet him and had been waiting a long time (4 1/2 years) for their nephew and cousin.

Nick and Michelle, she's not excited at all to see him!

Nick and his oldest cousin Brieana

Jake not too sure about how to hold Nick, but excited nonetheless

Michelle enjoying some quality time with her nephew

The aunts with their niece and nephews

It was great that we got to go to Fresno on this weekend as Sunday was Brieana's 14th birthday and Gene's 64th birthday was the next Thursday so we were able to celebrate them both on Saturday. Jake feeding Nick with some boob juice while watching Fresno State.

Gene and Brieana opening some color coordinated gifts

Brieana with her new longboard for the killer waves you can find in the valley!

Papa and Nick all swaddled up for bed

Lucy still craving some cuddle time with Katy...ignore Lucy's creepy eyes, they weren't photoshopable by me.

Too long I know...But a lot to come

I guess it's been two weeks since our last post. No excuse really, went to Fresno, got sidetracked, came back to Buellton, got re-acclimated, had to go back to work, lost all track of the last 6 days. So here's some whirlwind pictures from a couple of events over the last two weeks.

My second cousin Trish lives in Roseville and stopped by for a visit on Nick's supposed "due day"

Uncle Jon hanging out with Nick for the last time before we left.

Uncle Jon cleverly showing Nick how to pick his nose with his toes...thanks.

We got to attend our friend Kennedy Garate's 4th birthday party with lots of good friends and their kids. Unfortunately, kids are much more fun to shoot than adults so there weren't too many pictures of them, but enjoy the kiddos!

Here's the birthday girl!

Gwen Garate meeting the newest Grindy

Titus Garate hamming it up

Rachel and Claire Lesiw obviously ready to put Claire down for bed. Check out Rachel's awesome business here! (shameless plug I know, but hey, for everyone that has a little girl these things are darn cute!)

Katy and Natalie Wisner enjoying some quiet talking time without their babies, miss them though they do!
Dave watching one of those babies, Tyler. Ignore the red eyes. They're blue eyed and fair skinned.

In order, the Winans Boys: Tayven,

Dax,

and Harper (Kinda like the Marx brothers but cooler)

And all the kids enjoying some ice cream cake...quite quietly I might add.

The last bit of this post is Nick's first night in Fresno, enjoying the high 90's at the end of September. Quite the long car ride. While Katy and I both love our families very much, 11 days on the road with a newborn is a long time. We still think of ourselves as quite young, but not that young anymore. Definitely the last time we'll be hitting up both towns in the same trip unless it's limited to 5 days total or less in both places combined. What can we say. We're new at this.

Katy and Nick napping after a gruelling car ride.

Nick meeting his grandparents dog Abby who apparently was enjoying his smell.

The Greats and McKinley Montessori

My grandparents weren't able to make it to Nick's welcoming party so they stopped by for a visit on Tuesday afternoon. It's their first great-grandchild and it showed! I haven't seen them this excited in a long time and it brought smiles to both Katy and my face.

The proud great-grandparents

Great-grandma and Nick

Great-grandpa and Nick

Wise hands and young fingers.

Resting with mom after meeting his greats and having some dinner of his own.

Since we had seen my old vocational buddies, the three of us took a day trip to Katy's old work, McKinley Montessori school for some show-off time. It was definitely unnerving being in the cold-factory that is a preschool, but it was cool to see the excitement on Katy's old bosses and co-workers faces, both to see Nick and to show Katy how happy they were for her!

Showing Nick around the school.

Meeting some of his seniors.

I love this picture because it shows the bosses pure excitement.

Nick, Katy, and her old bosses Rebecca and Kathleen.

Katy, Nick, and Christine

Katy, Nick, and Josie

After spending an hour in a pretty dark classroom as the preschool kids got ready for a nap, it was a bit bright outside so I tried to help out my son by providing some shade.

Visit with Uncle Bub and his first volleyball match

Katy's brother Brian (aka Uncle Bub) lives in Vacaville and it just so happened that the girls volleyball team I coached in Sacramento, Inderkum High, was playing Vacaville Christian High on Monday, so we killed two birds with one stone. Brian was nice enough to take us out to dinner to BJ's, one of our favorite restaurants.

Nick and his Uncle Bub

Peaceful as can be.

Afterward, we went to Nick's first volleyball match and witnessed his first volleyball trouncing. Not a great year for Inderkum, but hey, at least he was at a volleyball match and not his first swim meet.

Nick's perspective of the match...ok, maybe a little more blurry.

My old coaching partner Stacy Williams enjoying time with a future middle blocker

Me and Nick with some of the girls I used to coach.

What volleyball match would be complete without a post-game nap in a Boppy Pillow?