sweet siena

Last weekend Mike and I hosted the Salinas family (Branden, Chelsea, and Siena). Branden was an invited speaker at a pharmaceutical conference here, so he flew out, and his girls came with him. In the last year, Chelsea and Branden have both finished their PhDs in chemical engineering, become parents, and moved from Boulder to Philly. We sure are glad they could take a little siesta here in Seattle with us.

I learned quickly, however, that there isn't much rest at all when you have an 11month old running around. Precious Siena was born 7-6-08, so she is just around the corner from her first birthday. This is my favorite picture of her from the weekend. Look at that smile and her 'whale spout' hair.

Sweet Siena. She has 7 teeth!

In this visit I noticed a definite shift in my relationship with Chelsea. In the past, we were sure to snap photos of ourselves with any chance we can get. Now we both take 40 pictures of sweet Siena to try to capture each adorable moment. After attempting to capture smiles, claps, crawls, cries, etc, I realized just how difficult it is to get her to face the camera. I now very much respect Chelsea's blog (http://www.salinasbaby.blogspot.com/) and her ability to get good pictures. I have also decided that I need a much faster camera before I have children.

On Monday morning, we girls packed up and headed to Alki Beach. I felt honored to witness Siena's first 'toes in the sand' moment. She was a little nervous at first, but after a while she dug right in and even tasted some. Her mommy and I tasted our grande, skinny, decaf, iced caramel macchiatos. It's amazing that we haven't lived in the same town since 1999 and our coffee preferences are still the same. Monday morning was amazing catch up/girl time for me. I LOVED it!

Miss independent. Forget the toddler sippie cup. I want to be a big kid. She actually does quite well!

She will be walking in no time. Look at her getting a kick out of herself.

Siena playing with Uncle Mike. She brought her favorite toys: plastic Easter eggs. I love watching him with kids.

We did manage to capture one self portrait with the Puget Sound in the background. Spending Monday with Chelsea and baby girl Siena was the absolute highlight of my month. It was so refreshing to have precious girl time!

The Salinas Family in front of a dilapidated yet 'quintessentially Seattle' fishing boat. Thanks so much for making the trip across the country!