Stasia's mom likes to say that Stasia is a very equal opportunity baby, kiss one and she'll kiss them all (even stuffed animals are not exempted).  We very much loved hanging out with this little person and the rest of her awesome family.

More San Francisco pics to come soon!

My computer has officially decided to kick the can, which is a sad day for me.  It sort of feels like I'm moving, and all my boxes have been packed in my external hard drive.  I've temporarily commandeered Tony's computer, but now we're on a sharing system, and he doesn't have a lot of programs I use.  Have I told you that we've moved five times in the past year and a half?  And now it's like I'm moving again... I feel like a vagabond.  Can't wait to move into a more permanent digital space.

Before the rain came pouring in we had a chance to hike to the back of the Hollywood sign.  The crowd we met was very atypical from your average hikers.  We saw a few tourists (maps in hand), a guy holding a coffee cup (a hot, dehydrating drink isn't the best thing to bring), a girl reading a book (while hiking), people in flip flops, and a lot of late risers.  Griffith park is a nice little oasis in Los Angeles.  We could see our goal up ahead, and all around, well, was a bit of LA smog.  No UV filter in the world can quite cut through that haze.





I admit, whenever I have the camera we take weird couple shots.  Hope Tony doesn't hate me after such a close-up in this post. :)



We also saw quite a few horses on the trail (an understatement if you check out the images below).  It made me itch for my half chaps and riding boots, which have been gathering dust for quite a few years now.  I miss riding, though I don't miss the dorky helmet quite as much.



The line of horses look kind of like ants on a ridge.



We reached our hiking destination only to be rejected by a fence.  The Hollywood sign was about 20 feet away, and while most people could sort of peek over, I'm kind of a shortie.  The guys in this shot are actually kind of tall, because if you look at the height of the fence when it gets closer to me, you can see how short I am.  Or rather, how tall the fence is. Argh.




I had to stand on my toes and balance my camera precariously on the fence to get the last two shots.





And the end of the hike... my reward, a Yuppie Joe omelet from Mel's.  Yum.

For the first few years of his life, my cousin was obsessed with Thomas the train.  He collected Thomas and all his friends, and rolled them around a little track lined with houses and signs.  Though now he plays football and other more "manlier" sports, every time I see trains I think about my cousin and Thomas the train.

Though Tony and I have been back in Los Angeles for about three months now, we haven't spent as much time as we'd like exploring.  There is something immensely satisfying about getting lost (or as "lost" as you can possibly get with a GPS) and finding something new.  At least new to us.  So when we found these old trains, we (ok.. I) got really excited and made a pit stop.



We also saw Naveen Andrews there, watching his son in the play area.  Tony got really excited about it because he had been faithfully embroiled in the plot twists and turns of Lost for years now, but after pacing around like dorks for a good ten minutes we finally decided to be grown up about it and not bother him.  We just consoled ourselves with some good old buttered popcorn.

A few days ago I was talking about sunshine and "fall" weather in lieu of winter weather.  Now it's raining buckets.  And while our drains are being flooded outside, I was working on sunny images like the one below.  Somehow it all felt very wrong.



Regardless, I still love this picture of Mya in the sun with sand all over her face, trotting around like a wild doggie. :) 

Anyway, it's ok, because it's nice to listen to the rain.  It always inspires a nap or two.