As Joy went to bed on July 25th, she noted her extreme displeasure that the baby’s due date had passed without him making an appearance. As the clock struck midnight, however, all that changed. We rushed to the hospital and welcomed our new baby boy, Connor, at just after 3 AM. Connor Christoferson Daly weighed in a 8 lbs 3 oz and is 21 inches long. He and Joy are both doing great. Kieran and his grandparents dropped by this afternoon for a first visit, and someone is very excited to be a big brother. Of course, that might be because he’s claiming most of the baby gifts as his own. We’re all thrilled to have Connor join the family!
Hooray – the summer camping season has started again! Of course, with Joy now 8 months pregnant, our first trip may have been our last trip for the year. We had a great weekend at Fort Flagler State Park with our friends Joel, Emily and Camille. There were some really low tides which made for great fun in the mudflats. Once the tide came in, Kieran and Camille entertained themselves for hours tossing rocks along the shoreline. Kieran used his big boy sleeping bag for the first time, and slept great at naptime and at night. Truth be told, Joy wasn’t as comfortable with the sleeping arrangements, even though they included an air mattress.
Kieran is off to day care two days a week. He’s having a great time so far with his teachers and all the other kids. I think Joy’s parents appreciate the extra quiet time a few mornings each week. Of course, that will all be over later this summer once Kieran’s little brother arrives.
Joy and I got away to Port Townsend for a quiet weekend by ourselves. We poked around the waterfront shops on Saturday afternoon, had a great dinner in town, and enjoyed several hours of reading with all the peace and quiet that night. After brunch on the waterfront Sunday morning, we went exploring at Fort Worden State Park before driving back to Seattle. Kieran decided he wasn’t going to talk with us for several hours after our return, but eventually gave in around dinner time.
We’re just back from a 10 day vacation at “our Kauai beach house” — as Kieran was fond of calling our condo at the Kaha Lani resort on the eastern shore of the island. The trip was fantastic, and offered plenty of time to relax and explore Kauai. Our condo was next to Lydgate Park, where we often walked to go snorkeling in the pools ringed with large lava rocks, or to play on the giant jungle gym (which Kieran preferred over the surf). We made numerous day trips to explore other parts of the island. Our favorite spots included Hanalei and Ke’e Beach on the north shore, and Waimea Canyon on the southwest side of the island. I also snuck off at the end of the trip for a helicopter tour of the island, which afforded some remarkable views (the helicopter had just started flying without doors for the summer season). Lots of photos can be found here. It was an amazing trip we thoroughly enjoyed, right up through the last morning when a pod of whales swam by the condo as we packed the car for the airport.
For the second year running we celebrated Joy and Kieran’s birthdays in the MethowValley. This year we piled into the Spring Creek Ranch house in Winthrop with Scott, Holly, Nicolas, Jonas, Jamie, Nicole, Spencer and Ben. That’s right, the adults had the advantage in numbers by only one - so chaos ensued. We enjoyed some great skiing on the Methow trail system from the house, as well as farther up the valley at the Arrowleaf property in Mazama. Kieran loved his birthday treat from Cupcake Royale, and the cake Nicole made for Joy didn’t last long either. Kieran begged for us to turn the car around for over an hour as we left the Methow - but he’s settled in well back at home now that he has his pick of new birthday toys to play with.
Another great holiday with the Daly and Christoferson clans in New England! Although the flight to Boston arrived 6 ½ hours late, which was 3:30 AM in Boston, Kieran faired pretty well with the trip across the country. We enjoyed a white Christmas with the whole extended Daly gang – with lots of time for Kieran to play with Moriah and Bridget outside in the snow, and all around the house with their new toys after Christmas. We then spent a few days in western MA with Laurel and Rob, and also squeezed in quick trips to see Kieran’s Great-Grandma in CT, and our old Seattle friends Tim and Rachael up in NH. All of Kieran’s new toys are being shipped back to Seattle, so we expect to further extend the holiday with re-opening festivities in the coming weeks.
We had a great Thanksgiving and long weekend out on Hood Canal. We stayed on the water just south of the community of Brinnon and the Black Point peninsula (which is currently the subject of much debate as proposals proceed for developing a major resort). Grandma and Grandpa Christoferson joined us for Thanksgiving evening at the house, and then our friends Carol, Tor, Else and Aren came out for the rest of the weekend. We mostly relaxed indoors, but we did manage a few quick hikes along the shore north of Brinnon, and especially enjoyed an outing to Dosewallips State Park. The weather was much better than expected, with no rain at all while we there – and the cold and clear nights made for some excellent views of the full moon rising over the Cascades to the east.
Halloween was a lot more fun this year. Kieran loves the decorations that have been up around the neighborhood for the last few weeks. He has insisted on joining me and Baxter for the evening walk so he can see the jack-o-lanterns and other lights. Just before Halloween we had a very fun morning at a farm/pumpkin patch 30-minutes from Seattle. We met Laura, Noah and Eli at the farm and spent the morning navigating the hay maze, taking tractor rides, picking pumpkins, and watching one unlucky pumpkin get launched over 200’ by a trebuchet. Oh yeah, the Red Sox winning the World Series received quite a bit of celebration around the house. The playoffs constituted the most TV Kieran has watched since the 06 World Cup. Kieran loved the fans at Fenway, and has been chanting “Let’s go Red Sox!” whenever there is a quiet moment.
We’re all camped out for this year – and are spending the Labor Day weekend relaxing at home. One bit of irony is that a long-ago backordered screenhouse just showed up this week – just after a wet weekend at Fort Flagler with a whole crew of different folks from Seattle (none of whom had a picnic table cover). Despite the nasty conditions, I got out for a great paddle with Scott, Mark and Jamie around nearby Indian Island. We also need to catch up and report an enjoyable weekend of camping in early August up in Birch Bay, just south of the Canadian border. Joel, Emily and Camille came along for their inaugural family camping trip, and seemed to settle in to the fact that most days involve 1-2 quick strolls around the campground or to the beach between meals and naps – and that is about it. We had a great time, and look forward to getting out a bunch more next summer.
As Joy went to bed on July 25th, she noted her extreme displeasure that the baby’s due date had passed without him making an appearance. As the clock struck midnight, however, all that changed. We rushed to the hospital and welcomed our new baby boy, Connor, at just after 3 AM. Connor Christoferson Daly weighed in a 8 lbs 3 oz and is 21 inches long. He and Joy are both doing great. Kieran and his grandparents dropped by this afternoon for a first visit, and someone is very excited to be a big brother. Of course, that might be because he’s claiming most of the baby gifts as his own. We’re all thrilled to have Connor join the family!
Hooray – the summer camping season has started again! Of course, with Joy now 8 months pregnant, our first trip may have been our last trip for the year. We had a great weekend at Fort Flagler State Park with our friends Joel, Emily and Camille. There were some really low tides which made for great fun in the mudflats. Once the tide came in, Kieran and Camille entertained themselves for hours tossing rocks along the shoreline. Kieran used his big boy sleeping bag for the first time, and slept great at naptime and at night. Truth be told, Joy wasn’t as comfortable with the sleeping arrangements, even though they included an air mattress.
Kieran is off to day care two days a week. He’s having a great time so far with his teachers and all the other kids. I think Joy’s parents appreciate the extra quiet time a few mornings each week. Of course, that will all be over later this summer once Kieran’s little brother arrives.
Joy and I got away to Port Townsend for a quiet weekend by ourselves. We poked around the waterfront shops on Saturday afternoon, had a great dinner in town, and enjoyed several hours of reading with all the peace and quiet that night. After brunch on the waterfront Sunday morning, we went exploring at Fort Worden State Park before driving back to Seattle. Kieran decided he wasn’t going to talk with us for several hours after our return, but eventually gave in around dinner time.
For the second year running we celebrated Joy and Kieran’s birthdays in the 
