The Smith Family

Friday, June 06, 2008

Riding the wonder horse

After the Indy we headed to the farm to ride the wonder horse Ellie. She is one of Bill's favorite horses... sorry, she IS Bill's favorite horse and we now know why. She is so gentle and smart... she even let Maggie ride her!

Cousin Evan riding Ellie

Me on Ellie

There she is on the wonder horse!

Grandma Steph and Maggie laughing at the nonsense.

Thursday, June 05, 2008

Le Bebe Shower

Baby Riley was showered with gifts this past weekend. It was really fun to have all of the girls round the Capitola house for some goodies. Erin looked so pretty and we are eagerly awaiting the arrival of a baby girl at the end of August. I am practising my newborn caregiver skills 'just in case' I get the call that the nightshift is free.

If you can't tell, it was a French theme for the shower. No, mom it was not a parrot theme! Anyways, look how pretty the cake was. Grandma Gayle did it again.

Erin with her stack of serious presents... lucky girl!

AND... I must give a shout out to the MOST beautiful pregnant girl and our MOST favorite Texan! They are so cute!

The Race begins

Mary & Dave ready for the race

A car zooming by!

First Lap... the noise was incredible!

The fans

The Stick... that use to have a 12 inch corn dog on it...

And then after the race... nothing better than... a Funnel Cake! A great way to start & end the day.

The Smith brothers finish off the last pieces of the fair food.

Heading into the speedway

Johnny before we head to the stands.

Top Ten lies told at the Speedway! Enjoy!!

The line on the way in... no comment

The flyby

Indy 500

What a perfect way to start Indy day... with something healthy and delicious. FUNNEL CAKE!

Then maybe some giant Turkey legs...

Whatever that guy had...

And top it off with the Lemonade/sugar drink!

Smith Family Trivia Time

This is a picture of the White Castle outside of the Hospital in downtown Cincinnati. Trivia: Which Smith kid was born while Bill was eating his sliders at this very White Castle?

To the Zoo!

On memorial day weekend, we headed to the Cinci Zoo with everyone else who owned a stroller in Ohio. The weather was picture perfect and we had fun catching up with Cousin Katherine (and her parents too!).

No... Maggie is NOT spoiled

Maggie has her very own horsie to ride at the Farm.
She LOVES him!

The Farm

As many of you know, John grew up on a big farm in Ohio. We spent some time there in May and it was so beautiful. They have horses & cows and a crazy dog, Dundee, that loves to chase the gator (for all you city folk, that would be a 4 wheel thing that carries stuff... how is that for a description?). Check out the horses on www.warrencountykigers.com

Oh I forgot to mention that Steph does wonders with the garden. Look at this Iris! We were so disappointed that her strawberry patch was not ready for picking yet...

Maggie with one of the horses.

View of the farm from the hill.

Ready for the Sun!

Swim Lessons!

The Riley's 31st birthday party

We had the pleasure of heading out to the 'burbs to see our darling pregnant friend Erin and check out her new house (BEAUTIFUL!!). As you all know... I usually take TONS of pictures. But that day for some reason all I captured was the one above. Kindred spirts... both like the bottle. So here is a shout out to our dear friend Todd who is currently enjoying some hot, hot weather in the gulf. And Hiroko... looking mighty comfortable with babe in hand!

Fun around the house

Maggie & Bantry investigate each other

Trying to decide which one of Baba's paintings she likes the best.

Arrived in Capitola

Does that book taste good?

Where to begin...

We are back from the states and I have a ton of pictures to share with all of you. I will start from the last days in England. Maggie was too cute on the trampoline at our local kids playarea. She thought it was so much fun.

Then she was introduced to her first John Deere.

After the excitement of the day... both were fast asleep on the couch!

Wednesday, June 04, 2008

London here we come

"There are two ways to travel in America: First class, and with children."

I finally see the truth in the statement above. Baba, Grandpa, Maggie & old me are heading out tomorrow for London. Maggie has decided to move, move, move and is so darn fast. She now heads up the stairs over and over again. It is going to take a lot to wrestle her down into her carseat for the journey.

I am hoping that the grandparents will venture back to 'traveling with children' half way across the Atlantic! I think I will need a hand off by that time.

John said that England is a beautiful shade of green. There is nothing better than England in the summer. While the visit to the states has been fun, we can not wait to get home.

Friday, May 30, 2008

Another post... no pictures!

Sorry, still no pictures of the Smith family adventures!! You will just have to put up with the narrative until we get home to England next week.

We just got back to California from Ohio. Maggie had her first horse ride on Ellie, toured the farm on the gator, spent some quality time with her cousins and second cousins (she is number 26!!), and mom & dad spent a very interesting afternoon at the Indy 500 (the pictures really will speak louder than words on this one). On the growing front, our little miss is now the proud owner of 6 teeth, can stand on her own (well, for at least 3 seconds!), and is starting to walk while we hold her little hands. She will be nine months next week! I can not believe it. The pressure is on for the walking... she has to be in Gianna's wedding in August!!

We are getting ready for a visit from Uncle Johnny tomorrow and a family celebration at Kelly's graduation this weekend followed by a baby shower at the Capitola house for sweet Erin and Baby Riley.

Capitola is as beautiful as ever. Before we left for Ohio we spent an afternoon painting tiles for the community art project along the seawall. When we went for a walk this afternoon, we were surprised to see that they were already fired and up on display. Maggie did one... her two little feet on a surf board. So, if you are in Capitola... check it out: "Hang Ten Maggie".

Lots of love, The Smiths

Wednesday, May 07, 2008

California

We made it! Maggie & Mom arrived last week and have finally recovered from the trip. We are very happy that there are only a handful of trans-atlantic flights left for us this year. Capitola is sunny and warm with a little bit of morning fog. Could not ask for more. I don't have any pictures for you as of right now... still trying to figure out how to download them to this computer. So, take my word for it... we are having Fun!

Uncle Johnny came up from LA to spend the weekend watching Maggie while we went to good ol Fresno. They went to the kite flying contest on the beach downtown and Maggie had a great time watching all of the little kids running around (I think that the kites were too high for her to see!!).

Tomorrow is her first swimming lesson with my old swimming coach. Should be fun!

Monday, April 28, 2008

Spring time finally!

The blossoms are out and the weather is warming up. Saturday was nearly 70 degrees! Maggie & mom spent the day exploring the garden and crawling around on the grass.