Tapping a Keg

Zola was born in a college town which boasts/laments the number three party school in America. But Zola seems to have a different understanding of what it means to "tap a keg."

[Good girl.]



A couple of weeks ago, Zola and her dad took a little day-trip out to Old Economy Village, a little nineteenth century communistic town founded by the Harmonist Society (and a tourist attraction today). You can read all the boring history and see more photos on Dirk's blog. I just thought this was a cute photo to share.

Happy Birthday, Zola Rae.

We can't believe it's already been a year. So far so good.

We've been celebrating Zola's birthday for a couple of weeks now, since Dirk's family threw a party for her while we were in Utah. Here are some of the highlights from the celebrations.

Thanks to Mimi, Jen, Allison, and Mandy, it was a Princess Party. Since Zola is (temporarily) the only granddaughter around, everyone had lots of fun exaggerating every possible pink princessy point.

I hope it's okay if I post these photos - my talented sister Allison took them. Thanks, Al.

[As always, click on the photo to zoom.]



The cupcakes were amazing, especially Mimi's retro animal candle-holders.


Although this little giraffe seems to have made a little "mess." Glad I didn't eat that cupcake. Even though they looked so good, little Z wasn't interested in eating any.


Sweet action photo of Ed smashing that piñata!


A prettier group of princesses has never assembled.


In the week or so that we've been back, Zola's birthday just keeps on chugging along. Since her biggest interest right now is her stroller, we decided to get her a little toy stroller for her birthday last weekend. It's been a big hit. Here she is pushing Raggedy Ann around. It's kind of fun to compare her to the photo in the background on the bookshelf, taken when she was three months old.




HERE SHE COMES! (Better get out of her way.)


Conveniently, the stroller folds up for easy storage during long cardboard-box journeys.


I've tried to come up for a caption for this one for a few days now. Words fail me.


Finally, today (Wednesday, August 13) was her true birthday. Zola had a pretty big day.

After her nap, this is how she said hello to me - smiling into her blanket with the precious tag held up for all to see.



Downstairs, Mom was making cupcakes.


Zola didn't really help, but she did show off her new birthday shirt that Marme gave her.


Then we headed out to a nearby park to celebrate with some friends.


Zola loves to hang out with our friend Justin. He's a pretty tall guy. I'm not sure that those balloons are moored to anything.


Dane and Dirk tried to talk Zola into eating a cupcake, but she didn't like it (again). Instead, she settled for pizza crust and some bark chips (yum!)


Thanks to everyone who helped us celebrate this birthday. It's been a wonderful year, and it went much too fast. I'm just glad it was a leap year.

The O.C.

We spent the end of July in Orange County, California, living it up near the beach. Here are some of the highlights.

We hit the San Diego Wild Animal Park which isn't even in San Diego, but Escondido.

We don't get to see Jeff and Susanna very often. They're some of our favorite people in the universe. With a little luck, we'll live close soon! But for now, we're really glad they could come and spend a couple of days with us. Uh, hey you guys. Where's your little girl Natalie?

[Hello, Social Services? Yes, I'd like to report . . . ]




Whew! Looks like you found her. Zola and Natalie are BFF's, although Zola here looks like she just wants that tour guide to quit talking (she used the word "weird" about 1,437 times during our 17 minute tour). Special guest appearances in this photo by Spencer, Porter, Drew, Frank, and Marshal)


I guess Ducks are technically wild animals, but they're not all that exotic. They were fun to feed, though, and this one got pretty close.



Somewhere around the gorilla's enclosure, both Zola and Natalie conked out. Even the anonymous little kid in the background is catching a snooze.



A nice picture with mom.



Zola had lots of fun playing with Natalie, but things could get rough.

[Okay, to be fair, Zola didn't really push Natalie over here, although the angle of the picture makes it look that way. Natalie is a walker; Zola is still a crawler. The two were standing together until Natalie dove for the blue cup.]



After all the excitement, it was time for a bath. Zola liked the slip-and-slide features of this model, while Natalie intently studied the bath toys. It seemed like both girls had fun.




It was lots of fun to see Mimi. Zola seemed to play her cards just right and enjoyed the bountiful fruits of Mimi's patronage.



Aaah, the fabled Pine Cone of Truth! Guard it well, young lass.



The 21st was Mom's birthday. We had a bunch of pies to celebrate.



The beach is always lots of fun.



Zola claimed this beach in the name of the Queen.
Jana, Marshal, and Frank look pretty cool here


Zola ate a lot of sand, but there still seemed to be enough for the next time.


We spent some time at a stylish mall called Fashion Island, a 1.3 million-square-foot mall in Newport Beach. I was amazed to see a $1100.00 stroller in one of the stores. I was even more amazed to see someone pushing a kid around in one a few days later. Despite the steep price tag, the company still had to issue a safety recall for faulty front tires in 2007. Sometimes, I guess, you don't get what you pay for.

Instead of dropping a cool grand on a stroller, we settled for Jen buying Zola a ticket for her first ride on a Merry-Go-Round.

Welcome to the DC Visitors' Center

Zola's grandparents, Grandma and Grandpa Rigby, are missionaries for the LDS church at the Washington DC Temple Visitors’ Center . Since they're so much closer now, we cruised on down to the suburbs of Washington DC to visit them.

Here's their cool apartment building, within walking distance of the Visitors' Center. It's hard to see, but there's a fountain out front. Classy living.




Once inside, Zola made herself right at home, playing with the toys Grandma had ready (she's a great grandma. Errrr - not a great-grandmother meaning her grandkids have kids, but great at being a grandmother.)





Maybe one of the reasons that Zola felt right at home at Grandma and Grandpa Rigby's new place was that everything seemed eerily similar to visiting them in California:

Playing in the park. [I guess Jana couldn't handle the g-forces of the swing, despite the protective harness.]



A trip to Baja Fresh for lunch.




Going for a jump in the big.



But some things were definitely different. We spent an hour walking around nearby Brookside Gardens , a beautiful 50-acre preserve that's just up the street a few miles.

"But wait!" you say. Aren't these guys missionaries? Don't they have work to do?

We're getting to that.

After spending their day off (LDS missionaries call this "P-day," meaning "preparation day"), having fun with us, it was time for Grandma and Grandpa to go to work at the Visitors' Center. We took these pictures the night before (I reveal this in the interest of full disclosure), but here's what they do at the Visitors' Center ("VC" for short. It's like they've been doing this for years.).




We saw Grandma at the door, and Zola was really intrigued by her name-tag.




After waving to Jesus (seriously, it was really cute), Zola decided to go on a search-and-destroy mission, looking for animal crackers (Mission: successful.)



Grandpa spends a lot of his time at this desk near the entryway. He answers phones, welcomes visitors, helps with tours, and coordinates the displays and videos, keeping everything running smoothly (I'm mostly repeating what he told me. Chief Rigby, if you'd like to add to this, you should leave a comment.)


And Grandma Rigby runs the LDS church's entire computer network for the Eastern seaboard. Okay, just kidding. But she does use the computer for office work and occasional online gambling. We're really proud of her technological skills (maybe Grandpa will get on board too).


It was fun to see Jana's folks. We'll visit again soon.

The Real World: Zola Rae (2008)

This is the true story... of a baby named Zola ... picked to live in a house... with her parents and have her life photographed ... to find out what happens when babies stop being polite... and start getting real...The Real World.


PART I: The Daily Routine

6:53 a.m. Zola slept in this morning. She's always happy when someone answers her little calls.


Everyone's happier with a clean diaper. Everyone.



Breakfast is good. Peaches and oatmeal. Dad was living dangerously without the protective sheet on the floor. Danger is Dirk's middle name. Bring it on.


I don't have a thing to wear!



Play-time in the Octagon. Right now, Zola especially likes to stack things or make them fit inside one another.


Zola isn't the most thoughtful roommate. She often leaves her dishes out for others to clean up.


PART II: Occasional Excursions

Dirk and Zola did a 13-mile run in Rothrock State Forest on Saturday. The heat, humidity, and bugs were almost more than we could bear.



We're not afraid to show all the details on this program: Diaper change on the trail? No problem.


After the run, we cooled off in the muddy waters of Whipple Dam.

Yeah, that's right. Zola just wears a diaper to swim. We're that kind of white trash family. I was going to make a joke about girls on The Real World who go swimming with minimal or no swimsuits, but c'mon, she's just a baby!




PART III: A Quiet Hobby

Zola is quite the gardening champ. We've been having a pretty nasty gypsy moth infestation this summer. Looks like she's caught a big one.




Part IV: The Dark Side of Zola Rae

Like many cast members of The Real World, Zola has a pretty big drinking problem. I'm guessing it stems from a strained relationship with her father.




"Brooke from The Real World: Denver said what? I can out-scream that crazy psycho! Hey Brooke, wanna go bowling?

P.S. You have a double chin."

[If you get a commercial when you go to the links, just wait. It's worth it.]