San Diego - Day 3

Another day in beautiful San Diego. Were doing a great job at keeping it simple and staying away from any kindof schedule. woo-hoo! it's such a liberating feeling. it's like running down the hallway of your hotel with just a hand towel yelling woo-hoo, woo-hoo!!! ..um, not that i would know but i imagine it would be like that. :) So today we had breakfast caught up on our down time. jake read and sydney watched some tv. It's funny the kids would be completely content with staying in the room the entire time. if it wasn't for the parents out to show that what they would be missing they would definitely do that.

Today was pretty cool. we went to see the air and space museum in balboa park. at the entrance they have a replica of the the sr-71 lockheed blackbird. for those of you who may have forgotten, it's been around since the 60s and can go mach 3 past light speed, and when it's on the ground it bleeds fuel from it's tanks but only until it's airborne and the fuselage heats up. After that the segments expand and it seals right up. :) so it flys super fast and super high, something like 80000 feet. I'm kindof a fan. anyway i think it's final flight was in 1999, after being retired a couple of times. I actually impressed jake for a whole 20 seconds with that information. HA!! sydney was not impressed at all and kiley was too busy waving at strangers to be either impressed or embarrassed. you can read more about the blackbird on the wiki.








The rest of the museum had it's highs and lows for the kids. one of our favorite moments was sticking kiley in a couple of the small models build especially for the youngins and trying to put a play space helmet on her. very cute!! We had burgers, chips and soft drinks before leaving.

the kiddos were feeling a bit tired and uncertain about where we would drag them off to next. The beach was the obvious choice. We visited coronado island and the famous hotel del coronado. very nice resort type hotel on the beach. it's funny how the beach has such a powerful effect on kiddos. kiley was getting a nap in and we decided it would be best to let her do that instead of waking her so courts and i took turns having fun with the kids at the water's edge. it was way cool!

one of my favorite moments was seeing jake running back toward me after being at the waters edge just like a kid, with his hands waving around, a big smile on his face and very eager to tell me all about his adventure and what we needed to do next. there is nothing like that experience. i imagine he'll remember this beach over several of the others he's visited.

kiley finally woke up and we took her down to the icy water. :) it was quite cold but not icey and after a while she loved both the water and the sand. We stayed for a few hours and plan to make another trip over there before heading back to Austin.

it was a good day....no a GREAT day!!

San Diego - Day 2

we are enjoying not having a schedule and having the flexibility of going into many of the parks and other places with our "go cards". today we went to the san diego zoo wild life park. it was really cool. most of the animals in the park are not confined as in other zoos. they have wide open spaces to run and play and appear to be very well taken care of. they do have smaller habitats but most seem as close to a natural preserve as you can get when you have a bunch of people wandering through the area. Kiley has been holding up to our non-schedules very well. she naps when she can and hangs with us every step of the way when she can't. she's been pleasant and happy on the travels.

the exhibit i enjoyed the most was seeing the giraffe and rhinos and other various deer type animals. it was the largest of the fields and watching the giraffe walk out from behind one of the hills was really beautiful. I think kiley liked the elephant habitat the best. we were about 40 ft from a small one.

at the elephant exhibit

this is an elephant

notice the recommended first aid in case of a tiger attack

something to climb on :)

a gorilla

Kiley pumping water all by herself

mom and kiley with a tiger....GRrrrrr!

hanging with the cool kids

after getting back to the hotel for the day, sydney decided to take me out to the pool again. two consecutive nights. the pool is heated but the temp is reading 40 degrees so heated or not it's still very cold. but she loves it and i think it's important to do what the kiddos want within reason when they are on vacation. so I'm sure my nights in the pool are not yet over.

mostly the kids are having fun but every once in a while realize they are brother and sister and make each other's lives difficult. it seems to get better with each day that passes.

right now the kids are up with courtney, hopefully getting ready for bed. I'm out doing some laundry in the hotel. it's been very crowded. we thought it would be great to pack only a few days worth of clothes instead of bringing and checking larger bags. The kiddos like to pack and have their own bags for the trip. I don't really get that, but that's the way it is and it helps them learn to be responsible for their own stuff. if it were me i would prefer to have the parents lug my stuff around. Ha!!! ....anyway i'm on my last load of wash (just three) and the dryers are actually working well so i may be out of here soon. I hope so. :)

....although it's strangely relaxing sitting here with very little to do.

San Diego - Day 1

I'm calling this day 1 but actually it's the first full day. So Day 1, we had a fantastic time. We got up and had a great breakfast downstairs in the hotel lobby. It was very yummy. They had bananas which was extremely important to Kiley. :) She kinda loves them right now.

The time change has us all a little off our sleep patterns and that made for a tired day but we still managed to get in a few boat tours. There are a few boats and submarines that you can wind your way through. I think Jake enjoyed the subs the best but the old galley and storage vessels were pretty cool too. I have a great picture of jake in behind one of the cannons and some others of the rest of the crew too. I'll get them posted later this week.

Touring old ships

Jake below deck with a canon

Jake on a Russian sub

After a harbor tour which lasted an hour or if you ask jake and syd, an eternity we headed back to the hotel for some swim time in the heated pool. Kiley got a very very brief nap in. She is very excited about having been on her first flight.

We've had a few wonderful games of hot potato and some new board game that sydney just loves and seems to make it wonderful for everyone anytime we play it.

Kiley's first flight

Kiley helping to unpack

Kiley's killing some time on the plane

ciao for now!

The first few hours of Christmas at home

This year we decided to stay home for the holidays (in Austin). My parents went to see the new addition to our family (Rishi) in KY. I can't help but laugh as I type KY because all I can picture is Sam in the I <3 KY t-shirt and how funny that was....I can be somewhat of a child sometimes...back to Christmas.

We made a trip to SA last week so that we could see the ortiz grand parents, visit jacqueline, ryan, mia and reid, virginia and jonathon. It was a very short stop but it was the only time that we were going to see my parents before the left to KY. (hahahaha).

Courtney and I have been laboring a little because we wanted to give jake his first real desk and chair and that led to getting a few other things. Courtney used craig's list to vanish some of his current stuff and make some additional room that we still hadn't gotten to since I joined the familia. While there, she found a couple of perfect pieces for jake that needed a little work. Courtney has some expertise in refinishing and making things look really good so we agreed that was a good way to go. And she was right on. She's done most of the work on the desk and side table but I've been able to share in the experience as well. What a task? All the getting ready for Christmas, cards, gifts, gift wrapping, selling, buying, and planning a short jaunt to San Diego has left us feeling slightly tired. Last night we got all ready to go to church and realized that we messed up the time. It's the only service that we would have been able to go to at our own church and we missed it. We caught most of it online....because our church is so progressive, but really missed being there and seeing a lot of our friends that were sure to attend. It was kindof a bummer for the evening. So instead we got the kids up to bed a little earlier than normal and started back at our furniture duties.

...Veronica and Sam's new baby arriving, the extra time that I've had off from work and the time that we have been able to spend with family and friends has been such a blessing.

Since we're leaving early early the day after Christmas to visit the San Diego Zoo and Legoland and other sites, we let the kiddos start opening gifts today. They were thrilled, of course. Most of their gifts are modest which we like since they have so much already. Thank you to all that thought to send something. They kinda like it when they get extra gifts. :)

....just thinking, with the family so spread out this year everyone should be ready to skype. :)

Merry Christmas!!

Christmas Cards are ORDERED!

I think it is a record for me to have my Christmas card order placed before the first of December. Some of you have gotten many of my cards the week after Christmas - but not this year! I may be speaking too soon, as we still have to address and stamp them and actually put them in the mail, but at least I'm off to a good start :)

And, for just a tiny preview - here are the mailing labels:

Head Shots

Today I did head shots for my business. In speaking with a couple of ladies who own High Wire Creative and are wonderful local web designers, I described my business and what differentiates me. One of the things I hear the most is that I am a programmer that people can communicate with. I also think that being a woman in a mostly male dominated business is a differentiator. Our conversations led them to believe that my image should be part of my 'branding' in re-doing my website, so I took the plunge and had headshots done. It seems a little weird and I feel kind of self-conscious about it, but these entrepreneurs have designed absolutely stunning business cards for a couple of other businesses using the logo and contact info on the front and a head shot on the back. And, in considering images to use on my website it seemed to make sense to have a decent business-related picture of me there as well. So, here are the results below, and I'll keep you guys posted as I get the final logo and business card designs and start to work on the overhaul of my website. If anyone needs something like this, I would highly recommend Korey Howell. She does family shoots and other stuff as well.

Christmas Ideas

It was great seeing the family for Thanksgiving. We talked about Christmas a little bit and maybe this is a little tacky... BUT, we've been asked a lot about gift ideas for the kids and thought that with such a big family, this might be a good way to get the word out. So, here is a list. Maybe you won't mind putting a comment on the post if you get something from this list? We'll see how this works this year...

Kiley (13 months old) - we don't have many kids' toys for her, but did save a LOT of our books. In clothes, she is a size 18 mos for any winter/warmer items and a 24 mo. or 2T for summer things. She is a shoe size 4 right now - but she has very wide feet so some don't fit, and she won't be a 4 for long. Here are ideas for toys:

• a jack-in-the-box for $16
• Hasbro Playskool Busy Ball Popper for $28
• a bath tub toy for $19
• gogo caterpillar for $15
• LeapFrog Fridge Phonics Magnetic Alphabet Set for $15

Sydney (8 years old) is pretty easy to shop for... in clothes she is more difficult because she is kind of picky and big for her age. She is mostly a size 14-16, a child XL or an adult XS, In pants, we typically find a 12 or 14 for her, but have to shop around to get the length right. Her shoe size is up to a 4 or maybe even a 5. Here are my ideas for Sydney:

• Bella's mystery deck - $14 - she loves games and dogs and I like toys that encourage critical thinking and logic
• customized Monkey plate - I know this one sounds crazy but she LOVES monkeys and the color blue, and I think it would be a winner. It's kind of pricey at $26 + shipping, but I found a coupon code for $10 off a $50 purchase in case anyone has another purchase to make from this store.
• Frigits magnetic balls and ramps - $30
• Zoingo Boingo Freestyle Pogo - $22
• Justice gift card
• Target, Barnes & Noble, Bath & Body Works, or even Gamestop gift card

Jake is by far our hardest to shop for. His attention span is brief and he is picky. And, he is limited in what we allow him to play compared to what he can do with his Dad (in terms of electronics, T rated video games, etc.) He wears a size M in shirts and a 10 in pants and a 4 in shoes, but is picky even about the color of the denim so I can't just go buy him a few pairs of jeans. Here are our best ideas:

• a Gamestop gift card
• Safari Rush Hour - $18 - he enjoyed Rush Hour Jr. and it was a fun game we could take on trips
• Black Max football - $10 - Jake is loving football and this sounds like a great ball to try
• Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Last Olympian - $8 - the final in a series of books Jake is currently reading
• Boys from Brooklyn - $10 - another book that sounds good

When we get a comment that someone has bought something, I will mark that on the list so it stays current, and I can add to the lists if needed. Thank you all so much for trying this out with us!

Santa Claus is Coming...

Can't believe it but he's already at the mall. We were there last night and there was NO line. Yes, you read that correctly. So, even though Kiley wasn't dressed up or fixed up and her shirt was dirty from dinner, we took the shot anyway. At this age, Sydney was TERRIFIED of Santa, but Kiley sat right down and even patted Santa's chest while she sat on his lap. Maybe Santa will be extra good to her this year... Sydney and Jake were there too, but I couldn't convince them to get in the picture. Sydney keeps asking me 'is Santa real?' over and over this year. I told her I think Santa is awesome and she's not satisfied with that at all. Jake's not saying anything - I'm sure he's afraid his big gift will go away if he's a non-believer.

2nd Anniversary

My wife is incredible! Our anniversary was really nice. She left notes all around the house for me to find letting me know how wonderful I am. She and the kids made me a pillow that says that im the best papa. kiley stamped her hands and feet all over it.

Courtney also found me the most wonderful towels (cotton is the traditional 2nd anniversary gift). she is very particular about soft towels and i try to make sure that she has the softest towels and bought her a set for last christmas to add to what she had already. Well my wonderful wife thought it was important for me to have towels that were just as nice and comfy. She got me the manly color of olive. VERY VERY NICE!! VERY SOFT!!!

I got her some girly pjs. She has plenty but none that are pink and girly. now she has a few other choices. :)

She also arranged to have megan watch the kiddos so we could go to dinner. we went out to one of our favorite spots. Corazon at Castle Hill (the name changed but the menu is mostly the same).

Happy anniversary love!! xoxoxo

jibber jabber about the kiddos

The family is really all over the board in terms on staying on the go. Jake is going to be finishing up football this next week and Sydney will be doing the same with soccer. That means a couple of end of season parties to go to. It should be fun.

Kiley is continuing to amaze me with all that she is picking up and doing on a daily basis. The whole learning process is amazing. Children truly are miracles. She's walking but no talking yet. I continue to listen for that moment. There have been a few times where she has blurted out the word 'dog', 'ball', 'mama' and the other day, even 'papa' it was nice to hear those words. If you ask her where her tummy is she sticks it out and pats it with both hands. It's really cute, but then again, I'm her papa. :)

For her birthday she got lots of toys. Courtney kept books from when Jake and Syd were younger so we have plenty of those and we continue to get clothes from friends with children just a little older than Kiley. We are so thankful for that. So, yeah, lots of toys. Gran got her a beautiful bracelet. A keepsake that kiley will most like not wear for very long as quickly as she is growing. It's beautiful! She also got the cutest little pony that plays music when you wind it up from grandma and grandpa. It bobs it's head back and forth too. she loves it almost as much as her little black and white puppy. That says a lot! Her uncle Jeff got her a toy that she loves playing with too. it's one of those toys that has a character pop up when you push a button, or turn a key or toggle a switch. If you have little ones, you know what I'm talking about. We play with it enough that she is remembering where the lion and panda are. All in all I have to say Kiley is the cutest little girl in the whole wide world.

A couple of other things that she is getting good at. She can pat my nose when I say, "where's papa's nose?" She can also give you a high five. She has the cutest little grin and scrunches up her whole face with her mouth wide open showing 2 little teeth on the bottom of her mouth when she shows it to you. It sounds alittle scary but it really is cute.

I also like it when she snuggles with me at bed time. She'll rest her head on my shoulder when we are heading upstairs and give me a little hug. It's extremely nice and sweet.

I've said a lot about kiley but we have two other wonderful children getting all smart and precious. they fight tirelessly but i think that's what we did with my mom growing up too. When they are not fighting they are learning math and reading. Jake is reading like crazy. Since he finished the Lord of the Rings books he's moved on to others of the same caliber and enjoys them. We practically have to tear them from his hands at night. Sydney is not quite there yet but she loves to read too and she's playing with two hands on the piano now. She really owes me a concert. Maybe this weekend?

...So jake has his final game tonight. He has played incredibly well this year. Huge improvements that make the game so much more fun. He catches, throws, runs and plays defense really well but I think his running has improved the most. I think it was a good idea to encourage him to play flag football again this season so that his skills are more refined for tackle. That'll be a whole other game for him. I think he'll like it.

Sydney loves to play games and seems to be in a board and video game stage. When were not doing that she's asking us to play school with her. very very cute. She loves being a teacher and loves to correct us. i mess up some on purpose but I think she likes it. She still enjoys kicking the ball around in the yard and lately has asked me to go bump the volleyball back and forth. Neither of us are very good but she likes it so we do it. Her friendships are really developing now too. she has so many friends. Which isn't surprising as active as she is. Brownies, soccer, gymnastics, runners club.... all kinds of stuff.

Birthday, Halloween and more ~ lots of pictures!

Kiley turned 1 on October 21st. After tomorrow, we'll be able to update her stats - where she is in growth compared to others, etc. We actually missed her previously scheduled appointment. I kind of feel like I'm losing it lately trying to keep up with our calendar, and I've missed more than one thing like that, which is unusual for me. But, we do have lots of fun pics to show for all of our busy-ness. Here are some starting with the Birthday, which spanned actually a period of weeks as we celebrated with Martin's family at the wedding, then our little family on the actual day, and finally with my family this past weekend. I will post pictures of that final celebration next time. We know Kiley loves cake and chocolate and she's had way more than any one-year-old probably should, but surely she'll have her share of indulgences being the youngest of three.

The kids each picked out two things for her - Sydney got her a stuffed dog and another stuffed thing (not sure what you'd call it). Jake got her a talking Winnie the Pooh book and a Santa outfit, which we had to try on, of course.

Matthew stayed with us while he did the Longhorn 1/2 IronMan

Martin and I have been trying to have a weekly date night, and we went out with friends on Friday night. We went for dinner at Cover 3 and then to the Cool River costume contest, where we saw some amazing sights and got a few fun pictures.

My beautiful girlie friends

random costumes - the MJ one was really freaky

random guy sleeping at Cool River before midnight - poor guy!

For Halloween, Jake was with his Dad again this year, and again, we went to celebrate with friends at their house. Thanks so much to Karen & Bryan for another great year of tricks and treats!

And a short little video of the peanut toddling around with Abby's candy basket:

Logo Design

I can't thank you all enough for the feedback on the logos. I had one person work with me on these and I wasn't thrilled with her throughout the process, but in the end I think she gave me some good ideas to play with. I am awaiting another three design concepts from another designer, but I wanted to have something to use for a business card for the Austin InnoTech conference on Thursday. So, I incorporated as much of your input as I could and merged the ideas from several of the designs. I actually am using a couple of them - one for the business card and then potentially one for my website. This could all change depending on what I get back next week, but I am happy with what I have for now. (I put all of the comments at the end of the post - if you go to the bottom, you can see what I thought about some of the designs I didn't use. It was a tough call and I really liked the font in #2 and the clean look of #6 as well.)

Here is the business card that I sent off to the printer last night:

A coordinating logo that I can use in the header when I redo my website:

And a blog header:

Below are the comments, and you can see the original set of logos here.

Karen C. posted a comment on the blog with her vote for #2 & #4 and Kristen for #2 & #5.

Kelly K Clark - I am posting my thoughts here. I like 1 and 2. 2 the best. :)

Sonja Kraeff - #2 and #6

Erin Oman Patterson - I like #1 and #6 best, with #2 coming in at a close third.

Courtney Ryan Ortiz - Thanks so much for the feedback - I really appreciate it! (Please keep it coming!) Something I probably should have said too is that it is for my IT consulting business - the current site is http://www.starlightsystems.com.

Ritu Machavarapu - #1 and #2. Like the font of #2

Mona Goodwin Yamasaki - for a professional look that is more in-line with the industry we operate in... i think 4 and 5 look good... the others are pretty, but wouldn't really provoke the image you would want in the professional services industry.... i like the colors, too..

Mary Keglovits Mathieu - I like #1 the best by far, with #3 in second. White lettering on a yellow background is more eyecatching, I believe, than a black/graytone on white. I prefer #1 to #3 because it adds the image of the star which will help people with recall of your company name.

Melanie Watkins Cravey - #6

Shannon Romo Soliz - #4 the best - then #3

Ed Mello - #6 clean but stylish, will reproduce easily on paper

Dawn Kuntschik Gunn - #3 caught my eye first...I #5 as well.

Courtney Ryan Ortiz - You all are awesome. Thank you to every one that took time to look at these. I am a novice when it comes to graphic design and so it helped a lot to get your input. I incorpated aspects of #1, 3, 4, and 5 into the final designs. I love the font in #2 but think that's just not a fit for the kind of biz I'm in. #6 was the first one that the designer did for me that I really liked, but when I played with it on my website mock-ups, it just didn't stand out. For now at least, it's more about a web presence than print materials. Thanks again!

Drew & Erin's Wedding

A few weekends ago we went to Dallas for Andrew & Erin's beautiful wedding. We drove up for the rehearsal and BBQ dinner on Friday and spent the night in the hotel. Kiley was not happy in the pack and play in a strange place and she screamed for awhile, but finally just fell asleep exhausted. The next day we were up and I was off to get Sydney some warm clothes since we left all of hers in the dryer at home. We got ready and went to the wedding at 2, then back to get the kids settled at the hotel. They had three cute young babysitters lined up in their presidental suite for just a handful of kiddos. So, they got lots of attention while we got to go to the reception and relax with dinner, drinks, and grown-up conversation! Sunday, Erin's parents invited us all for breakfast at the hotel before we left for home.

Congrats to Drew & Erin as they start their new life together and thanks to Erin's family for the hospitality! Below are some pictures of us and a few of Kiley's beautiful aunts and handsome uncles. Somehow, we ended up without a single picture of the five of us all in our dress clothes, and almost none of Sydney because she was having so much fun off playing with Mia. But, we did get some good pictures.

the Bride & Groom - beautiful!!

Kiley in her dress

Kiley's Grandpa and Aunt Theresa - I love this picture of them

Mama and Kiley

Jake & Kiley - before we stepped out of the ceremony

Sydney & cousin Mia - they were GREAT during the service

Kiley at the rehearsal dinner

Martin & me at the reception

Aunt Veronic & Uncle Sam are due with a baby boy in December - we can't wait!

Aunt Virginia with her beautiful smile

and Aunt Jacqueline who is always so classy

Mama & Kiley again

Jake on the iTouch