A Day In Our World

For now, just a picture. I’ll write more later.

Amongst all of Olivia’s toys there are dolls, cars, Littlest Pet Shop, Barbies, trains, puzzles, etc…. and dinosaurs. She has found a new love for dinosaurs! Check out Olivia and Clif playing as though they are in a different world. A world where dinosaurs are the giants of the jungle and there are no people. Where dinosaurs fight, play, and ROAR! Her imagination has gone wild…and we just follow along.

Here is Olivia at another game of soccer!

The sun has been hot, the beach has been calling to us, and the surf…well, I’ll just say that added to my title. There is no surfing here! We picked up Justin and Dustin and headed off to the beach. We were lucky to have Uncle Al off this week as well so he brought Mya!! Check out our day at the beach.

Olivia couldn’t get enough of the water! She would race away from the waves, jump over them, skip through them or just sit down in the water - she’s ready for CANCUN!!

Looks like 3 different pictures in 1! What a fun day!

We love to play “fight” or chase as well.

We even burried Justin and Dustin in the sand. The girls thought this was super funny!

They escaped!!

We even saw a sea monster! Ahhhhh!

Then we switched beaches and Olivia got a wild ride…

Clif showed Olivia how to throw the frisbee the right way and they played forever…

The one thing that disturbs me most about the beach…sand. (2nd is seaweed)

Olivia screams as soon as she sees Justin or Dustin, her cousins. She thought it was the funniest thing when she put on Dustins hat…

Today Olivia had a job scheduled in Rancho Palos Verdes at the same time I was shooting a vow renewal at the Trump National Golf Course in Rancho Palos Verdes.  My mother came along to take Olivia to her job and when we arrived the production team decided to reschedule due to the cloudy weather. A beach shoot with cloudy weather is horrible. So instead of Olivia working all day, she got to play! They headed down to the tide pools and I got to hang out with an amazing family and some of their closest friends. We all enjoyed ourselves. It was a fun Saturday. 

Check out Olivia when theycame to meet me for the ride home. This place was amazing!!

Today was a special treat because it was Papa’s birthday. Not only was it Papa’s birthday but he came to Olivia’s soccer game! We surprised him with some yummy edibles and a bunch of balloons. Happy birthday Papa! Hope you enjoyed your day!

uh oh!

A true Aska…Thank you Aaron for teaching her this, haha!

Today was “vacation day”. You’ll soon find out what the day had in store but for now…enjoy a sample of our day.

Tonight Mya came over to play rockband with us and to dance the night away with Olivia. They looooove to dance when we play rockband. Olivia even has her own keyboard that teaches you the keys in true rockband style! She’ll be ready for the new and improved rockband! Anyhow, Mya came bearing gifts and Jessie is her name. Jessie from Toy Story! Thank you Mya!!

What does it spell???? SOCCER!! This is officially the first team sport that Olivia has been a player with. She loves it. LOOOOOOOVES IT! She’ll tell you that she likes soccer practice better than the actual games because they get to kick the ball A LOT. Her first game she was so aggressive! She scored the very first goal of the season and yes, I was the parent jumping up and down screaming YAY!!!! She’s also an amazing goalie too. Check out some pictures of her first few games and practices…

She is #5 in all of them.

Silly kid-o

Time to stretch.

This is what soccer looks like with a team of 4 year olds.

On her way to her first goal!

That’s hard work!

Throwing in the ball is fun! You actually get to touch it with your hands!!

Olivia which way is the goal?? (You have to ask so she remembers, lol)

#1 - after her first game!

Practicing with Daddy before a big game.

The best part about soccer…snacks!

We LOVE dirt!

A fan.

Yay! It’s gotten warm enough to visit the beach and we can’t get enough! Today it was just Olivia and I running and playing. The wind picked up really fast so we only stayed for about 45 minutes. Darn wind!

Her expression when she can see the water…

It’s not the beach without some seagulls…

When it comes to dress-up pink is in. Olivia will choose pink or purple over any other color. Today she played dress-up and I sat in the corner and watched her. She is very maticulous with every detail. Lip-gloss, gloves, rings, wand, shoes, and you can not call her a princess unless she has a dress and crown on. She’ll make sure you know each time.

“Let’s get ready to go princess” (used as a nickname)

“Daddy, (in a serious voice) I don’t have my crown on. You can’t call me princess.”

All Clif wanted for Father’s Day was to do nothing. Absolutely nothing. This worked out perfect for me until he decided that he wanted to go shopping. We all got ready and headed out…after all it was his day. While he was trying on clothing Olivia was looking at herself in the mirrors. She thought she was hot stuff…

With 4th of July coming quickly we just had to take some patriotic pictures! Watermelon is always a favorite and our fruit of choice, lol! Enjoy!

I’ve talked many times about Olivia coming along with me to some of my sessions, well this again is the case. At the last minute realizing that I was headed straight into rush hour traffic I scooped up Olivia and she was my carpool buddy! Gotta love the carpool lane. :) 

On the day of a park session Clif and Olivia came by for some moral support and help setting up. To set the light I decided to take a few of Olivia and that turned into Clif taking a few of Olivia and I. I’d have to say it was a fun few minutes and Clif did a bang-up job! Thank you Clif!

Olivia calls her new school her “5 year school”. She doesn’t accept the name Kindergarten or Elementary School. When you ask her about preschool she calls it her “3 year school”.  At this pace she’ll have a million different names for school - we’re working on it. Today I have to admit I had tears in my eyes. When she got up and sang songs about school and her journey through education my eyes welled up. When each child walked through the arch to receive their diploma they were asked to stop for a moment for pictures. Olivia was first because her last name starts with “A” and boy did she stop. She stopped - posed - looked all around - posed and smiled, then walked through. Everyone was giggling. I tell ya’, this girl…

This school has been nothing but amazing since we first moved her there and I highly recommend them to anyone. Check them out and be sure to take a tour! The tour will tell you all. It will show you their modern classroom, extremely clean everything and above all the amazing staff. If you’re in the market for a daycare or preschool - any age (nb-after school care) then give them a call. OC Kids in Cypress: Visit their website HERE.

Today we had the luxury of meeting up with a friend and taking a cruise through Long Beach! We set out to find the perfect beach location for the “Vacation Days” sessions. Olivia hasn’t been on a boat much so she was thrilled. She was jumping all over the boat and she even got to steer the majority of the way! They pointed out houses and boats with pirates and we even saw Jack Sparrow! We had a blast! We saw tons of amazing houses too. What more can you ask for on a warm summer night? Great company, warm weather, cheese and wine, and a breezy boat ride. I’ll answer that question…nothing. It’s pure bliss.

Thank you Dana, Jillian and family for the invitation and we had a wonderful time!!!

Since Olivia first started eating solid foods she has been head over heals for vegetables. Steamed, raw, grilled, sauteed, you name it. I can remember at Olivia’s first birthday party she walked around the entire time munching on raw, plain broccoli.  When anyone is cooking she wants some of the vegetables to eat while your chopping or preparing them for your meal. Tonight I was adding the cabbage to our corned beef and she just had to take a leaf of cabbage. Not only did she finish that piece but she ate another! This kid is crazy! She took the 2nd piece with her as we headed out the door so I thought I’d snap a few shots to show you how crazy she is. Enjoy!