November Birthdays and Clay Fall Photoshoot

November is a crazy time for the Sasans.  We have SO MANY BIRTHDAYS in November!  This past weekend, we went home to Fairfax to celebrate all of the November birthdays, including my own! Usually whenever we all get together for this birthday month, my parents have us do a family shot.  My dad always wants to wear SF Giants gear.

So here we are in our Giants gear!

Below are pictures of Clay that I took in our backyard.  We're getting ready to cut Clay's hair, so I tried to do a fall photo shoot with Clay to capture the cute essense of those golden locks.  He's basically impossble to photograph.  He's either not sitting still, or he won't look at the camera, or he won't smile.  Below is the cutest one I could get and that's not even his real smile.  So frustrating!








Clay's first real Halloween!

I'm usually a grouch on Halloween since I hate scary things and I'm not into dressing up.  But this year as a parent, it was so fun!  I loved the idea of the homemade costume and then the challenge of making it for cheaper than it would be to just buy it.  You can buy costumes for SO cheap now! At Costco, there was an adorable puppy costume for $13, so that was my budget.  I had to make Clay a costume for less than $13.

I picked a puppy since Clay loves animals.  Every time he sees a dog, he gets so excited, so I thought it would just be adorable to dress him up as one. 

This will probably be the only time I'm able to get Clay to wear little girl tights and a headband, and that I get to put make-up on him.  It was fun getting him ready.  I tried to explain to him that he was a dog, but he didn't get it.

We brought him to his daycare's party. Although I don't think he knew he was in costume, or really that anyone else looked particularly different in their costume, he was excited since everyone else was excited.  We went to about 3 houses to visit friends and let him ring the doorbell at each house. 

What a fun Halloween!

Steidlmayer / Merino Hawaii Trip!

We were in Hawaii for a week: October 11 - October 18th. It was Clay's first trip to Hawaii and the first time he was able to meet his Sasan Great Grandparents and family.  We planned this vacation with the Merinos (hopefully the first of many!).  We booked a condo through VRBO on a part of O'ahu that I'd never been to before: Ko Olina, near the Disney Aulani Resort.  Our two bedroom condo was steps from a really baby oriented pool, and this beautiful blue lagoon with baby-friendly, gentle waves.  Clay LOVED the water! The first time Ali and I walked our boys to the water, Clay started laughing when he noticed the waves washing back and forth on the shore.  He continues to be our water baby!

Our days were pretty relaxed: breakfast and coffee, followed by swimming and sand, nap, more swimming, cocktails and something deliciously home cooked on our balcony overlooking the sunset.  It was fun spending a whole week with the Merinos. Clay and Teo played side by side with the occasional toy steal / cry.  It was really fun to see them interact (the little that they did). 

Although we got back from our trip, both probably needing another vacation from our vacation, it was totally the relaxing, fun packed, hilarious trip we were looking for! What a treat!

Right before our Saturday morning flight from the San Jose Airport.

Look! Planes!

Clay was relatively good on the airplane in comparison to the nightmare I had imagined he'd be. Except, he was awake the ENTIRE time. No rest for his parents on the5.5 hour flight. On our decent into Honolulu, he finally fell asleep. Only to be woken up minutes later to get off the plane. He's still working on timing...

Here we are on our first exploring trip at our condos. Welcome to Hawaii!

The pools...

And the pretty calm blue lagoon!

The JW Marriot was about a 5 minute walk away. We made that trip a few mornings to enjoy a Starbucks coffee.  The JW Marriot had this amazing tide pool with sting rays and small sharks.  The little boys were really into these creatures!

Starfish!

It was nerve-wracking having a baby on the beach. I was so nervous that he'd get a nasty sunburn and be out for the rest of the trip. Luckily, our lagoon had these cool shady places for us to hang out in. Plus, we made Clay wear a hat, shirt and sometimes sunglasses....

Walking to the ocean with Clay's dad!

Sunset drinks on the beach with babies

Chris bbq'ed these delicious pineapple burgers.

I think Clay was deliriously tired here... but he was sooooooooooo happy to be running around!

He tried to run straight for the water again!

Clay with the Merinos

Steidlmayer Family Portrait!

Part 2

The boys tried to steal the ball away from each other and kept falling since the ground was slanted towards the water. It was hilarious. I couldn't stop laughing watching them inadvertently wrestle for the football.

Grandma Diane and Clay!

Clay and his great grandparents

One night, Luke and I went for dinner just the two of us at a place called Roy's, near where we were staying. It was a really fun night out while Chris and Ali watched the boys.

Starbucks morning!

One day, we decided to hike Diamond Head. 

It was a pretty easy, well defined hike. But, again, I didn't have a 30 pound baby on my back.

I think there were something like 200 stairs we had to climb?

Waikiki from Diamond Head view



Sweaty Steidlmayers

Clay was pretty hot and tired on this trip.

After the hike, we got malasadas from Leonard's! I was very excited to share this with Clay.

He liked the malasadas! I would have been very surprised if he didn't like the deep fried dough rolled in sugar...

The view from our 7th story balcony.

We went to the North Shore one day and explored the pretty beaches.  Here, we stopped in Haleiwa for some shaved ice at Matsumoto's.

For dinner that night, we went to Turtle Bay for burgers on the beach.  The boys had their own little picnic table right next to ours.

Dole Pineapple Plantation Tour!

This is a fun, extremely touristy place.  There were lots of Japanese tourists.  One of them asked us if they could take a picture of Clay... and they did! Maybe Clay is now Japanese child star on billboards.

There was this little kid's train that we took Clay on through the fields.

Waiting for the train..

Here is comes!

Clay got pretty quiet on the train, but towards the middle of the ride he got more into it.

That night, my grandparents took us to this really fancy and delicious dinner with my Uncle John, Auntie Marion, and their two kids Justin and Jason.

Clay got to sit on Grandpa Jay's lap.

And then Grandma Diane wanted to hold him!

It was a really special evening with family.

Each time we got into our elevator, Clay would get in the middle and spin around. He LOVED the elevator.

And then he and Teo would run down the hall to our condo. They loved it.

Here's my third attempt of trying to get a family picture.

This was such a beautiful setting.

Family shot! Too bad Clay is looking at something else.

People asked us a few times if Clay and Teo are twins.  Although I definitely don't think these guys look similar, they are the same exact height and body type.  Such cuties!

On our way home for another sleepless flight! Clay was good again! Hawaii was such a special trip, and I can't wait to return!