Summer sun, sometimes

When I did my last post, about Otto turning one, I had intended to follow it up the next day with a post about our general life and misadventures so far this Summer. Now that two weeks have past, I figured I might as well get around to it. I'll keep this short and sweet, with just a couple of photos and captions, to keep the extended family up to date and so that when Sarah and I come back to this blog several years from now we can go "oh yeah, we did that."

Anyhow, here goes...

Father's Day was a pretty low-key affair. We celebrated it by having one of my favorite meals, pho, at one of my favorite restaurants, Ba Bar. Delish! And the company couldn't be beat.

With his one year Birthday approaching, Otto "graduated" to a Big Kid Car Seat™. Look how proud he looks. Unfortunately, Otto isn't a fan of car seats, period, so we still usually have our fair share of crying on the road.

We had out 5th Annual Housewarming Party, which is still one of my favorite annual get togethers, and our largest party each year (this year we had 73 guests pass through). Sarah did a better job photographing the party this year than we have in the past, but you're still stuck with a picture of me acting like an idiot by the grill. Like last year, we had a Build Your Own Hot Dog Bar... which seemed to be a hit again. (Photo by Stephanie Greene, by the way.)

It's probably worth mentioning that the week leading up to our Housewarming Party was chaos. Not only because we were prepping for the party, and not only because Sarah had to travel out of town for work, but also because we finally moved into our remodeled basement. I won't get into that now, since I still want to take some better pictures and do a whole entry on it, but ...yeah... exhausting. Though we are happy to be settled in downstairs now, and definitely appreciate having more space.

Stella and Otto's Aunt Jeanne and Uncle Tim came to stay with us for a long weekend, at the end of June/start of July. It was the first time Otto had met either of them, so it was great to spend some time with them both. Above, Stella hangs out with them at the Seattle Aquarium.

My High School friend, Bazor, got married (or rather, renewed their vows, since they were officially married last year in a small ceremony) in early July, and I was one of the groomsmen in the ceremony. It was an amazing experience and wedding, and I'm really happy for him, his wife Tanya and their lovely daughter Zoe (who was born two days after Otto). I'm sure I'll be getting some fancy photos when the official ones are finished being prepped, but for now here's a blurry photo of me and Stella having our first Father-Daughter dance. Another special experience, even if it mainly involved her hanging like a rag-doll while I swung her around.

Finally, while the weather this year is still less-than-impressive, we have finally got a little sun this July. This gave us the opportunity to do some fun Summer activities, like take Otto to the wading pool for the first time.

Anyhow, that's a quick run down of some of the stuff that's been going on at the Hill-Stack Shack. It definitely doesn't cover everything that's going on, like for example Otto has also started taking his first steps (small detail, that), but at least it will ease my Blogger's Guilt for a bit.

Finally, it probably bears mentioning that at the end of August, we'll be going to Kauai for a week. It'll be Otto's first big vacation, and hopefully will not only give us a chance to unwind a bit, but will also give this blog a chance to be a travel blog again, if only for an entry or two.