There's a Puma in the house!

Check out Amelia in her new kicks... super-cool Pumas from Aunt Gina!

Gina gave them to us before our little nugget was born. We've patiently waited 18 months for her feet to grow big enough for them to fit.

Doesn't she look super-cool?!?!

California Girls

Last month we had great trip to Southern California. Lee was in Los Angeles for X Games, so Amelia and I headed home to play with Grandma and Grandpa Kemp. When the games were over, Lee came down South to join us and the real fun began!

This trip was jam packed full of new experiences for Amelia... she saw Shamu at Sea World, explored a dinosaur at the Discovery Science Center, and road an elephant at the Santa Ana Zoo. She also mastered sliding down the waterslide at the lagoon all by herself!

The best part was that Maddie joined us for most of our adventures, including the requisite trips to Fashion Island to ride the carousel and train. A favorite stop of the girls' mall tour is the "rain drop" fountain - where they play until they're soaked! (It's a good thing we've learned to bring a change of clothes.) We also celebrated Maddie and Grandpa's birthdays in grand style.

Once again, mom and dad spoiled us like it was Christmas! We hit all of our favorite restaurants, shops, and stops. Even caught a movie or two, which is a rare treat for Lee and me. Lots of time was spent with Jon, Gina, and Madeline, which always makes for a great trip. And just before we left, Matt made it home from a summer working in Utah. He's starting grad school this fall, joining Jon in the adventure of post-graduate work. What a treat to see him before we left.

Thought we'd share few videos from our summer vacation...

Giggle girls
Riding in the car on the way to Fashion Island... the carousel is calling us!


Feeding the goats
The highlight of our trip to the Santa Ana Zoo... feeding time!


Maddie on the waterslide
Maddie is such an expert slider... showing Amelia the best techniques


Following in Maddie's footsteps
Amelia has to do everything her best friend does!


For more pictures of our trip, be sure to click here.
There are also other videos to view as well!

Blogging Matthew-Style

Can you feel the excitement?! Matt-hew Demp finally has a blog!

Check out Insert Life Here for regular musings about life Matthew-style. To start, Matt has posted a summary and photos of his recent High Uintas, UT, camping trip. He has taken some unbelievable images of an incredible landscape, not to mention a cute moose or two.

Matt has just returned to California, Venice & Malibu to be exact, and is about to embark on an MBA program. We're looking forward to hearing stories about his grad school adventures.

Pigtails! Pigtails!

Following in Maddie's footsteps, Amelia finally has pigtails! She's not fond of mom putting on the elastics, but once they're in, she doesn't realize it... yet. She's such a big girl now - I can hardly stand it!

Keeping cool... it's hot, hot, hot!

It's been a hot, hot, summer! Thanks to wonderful grandparents, we have a great way to stay cool... the Meadowmont Swim Club. Just about every day, you can find Amelia splashing about and keeping cool.

Today, the thermostat topped out at 100 degrees and the Brinson girls raced to the pool. It was so hot out that the water felt like a warm bathtub. None-the-less, it was refreshing to take a dip.

She's very friendly at the pool and likes meeting the other kids. A few days ago, Amelia befriended a little girl who wouldn't stop hugging her. Evidently, the little girl found Amelia to be very snuggly!

You have to keep a close eye on her as she's been known to "pick-pocket" toys when kids aren't looking. One of her favorite things about the pool is the green wheelbarrel filled with toys. We make many many trips to the wheelbarrel to check out the treasure it holds.

Amelia sometime spends more time out of the water than in. She loves to carry her bucket into the pool and then out of the pool... and then back in and out once again. This can go on for our entire visit!




At the beginning of the summer, Amelia and I took "Mom and Tot" swim classes to learn the basics... kicking, scooping, going under water, blowing bubbles, and "jumping" off the side. I can't say that Amelia loved our classes. She was pretty tried for most as it was really nap-time. Since then, we've made great progress! She goes under water like a fish, blows little tiny bubbles, and has been known kick once or twice. (Truth be told, her favorite place to "swim" is the bathtub. She blows lots of bubbles and kicks like a fool in her tiny "swimming pool.")

Each day we end our swimming with a little snack time. Today it was raisins. Amelia loves raisins and especially the little boxes they come in. You better have more than one box on hand to keep the raisin monster at bay!

Summer Strollin'

After my meeting at the office today, Amelia, Lee, and I took a "stroll" around the parking lot.

Amelia got a kick out of pushing her teddy bear "Savannah" in her new stroller from GG. (Savannah is named after the city where Sam and Jo Brinson live - Amelia's Great-Great Aunt and Uncle. They gave the teddy to Amelia at Granny & Poppy's 60th anniversary party a couple weeks ago.)



Lee and I chose a rather unique mode of transportation. SportsMEDIA has just acquired a Segway and will let you ride it after you watch a video on the basics and sign a waiver promising not to sue should you wipe out. Confident I could stay upright (I've "surfed" in Hawaii for goodness sake!) I hopped on and took a spin - literally. Check out my first ride...


One guy at our office lost control when he missed a turn and ended up ramming the Segway into a large pile of dirt. He was rumored to have been overheard telling the next rider to "eat my dirt!"

Lee has ridden it several times and qualifies to use the "red" key. I'm only at the "black" key level, which thankfully restricts your top speed. Whereas I stayed strictly on the smooth walkway, Lee throws caution to the wind and goes off-roading...



The instructional video say that riding a Segway is very "cool" and one of the "most exciting things you can do." I can't say that this beats mountain biking down the back-side of Haleakala in Maui in terms of "exciting", but I think you'll agree that we certainly look "cooler". Wink-wink!

Houdini meets the Energizer Bunny

I think the times of hiding things from Amelia are gone. She can now open doors and drawers... leading her to all kinds of "wonderful" things. Mom is not thrilled.

This morning she discovered our battery drawer, AKA Disney-battery-land! She played in the drawer for hours - emptying it, reloading it, climbing in, climbing out, giggling as she knew this was forbidden treasure.

Mom shut down the ride when Amelia started to suck on the batteries. She was NOT happy upon discovering that I had relocated her new treasure trove of "toys". Looks like I know what I'll be doing today... toddler-proofing the house!

Take me out to the ballpark

Attending two games in less than a week, Amelia is fast becoming a baseball fan! In Durham we're lucky to have a great minor league baseball team, The Durham Bulls. Our first game this season was with our friends the Butler's - Jeff, Karlye, and their little one, McCoy. We attended game #2 with Lee's ESPN X Games counterparts.

The ESPN folks are currently in town getting ready for this summer's games (Aug. 3 - 6) in LA. After a number of late nights at the office,
they all took a break to sweat at the ballpark (it's was about 90 degrees out with what felt like 100% humidity!).

The Durham Bull's ballpark is fantastic. It's very family friendly and is just about in our backyard. There's lots for kids to do - if they're not interested in the game... a playground, air-slide, pitching cage, putting green, between-inning silly games. It's a three-ring circus of baseball fun!

Amelia enjoys the game by coloring or wandering our row, making friends with all the fans near our seats, eating hotdogs, popcorn, ice cubes, and cheering for the home team.

We've left both games early, due to one super tired little girl. It's hard to stay awake when the games starts at your bedtime. Maybe one of these days we'll make it to the last out!

Aloha from Maui!

Well... I wish we were still in Maui!

I apologize for the belated entry about our wonderful Maui vacation. We hit the ground running upon arriving back in NC and it's taken a few weeks for the dust to settle. We're finally getting back into our normal routine and have resumed our blog entries; we're so far behind!

In late May, the Dick Kemp family (Matt, Jon, Gina, Maddie, Lee, Julianna, Amelia, Dick, and Carolyn) loaded up a few different 777's from points all across the country (Chapel Hill; Austin; Los Angeles) and headed for magical Elua Village (in Wailea on the beautiful island of Maui). What a time we had!

Somehow I gained "Mr. Smoothie" as a nickname - must have been the fresh concoctions I made for our crew each morning. After a quick breakfast and some delicious Kona coffee, we'd load up the strollers and head down to the beach for a few hours. Cousin Maddie and Amelia loved playing on the beach and swimming in the pool. You might have mistaken them for fishes, given all the time they spent in the water.


The little girls would play in the sand, running back and forth from the ocean to their sandcastles hundreds of times. I think we're still cleaning sand out of Amelia! They kept trying to bury Uncle Matt in the sand, but he was hard to pin down - no wonder he was so successful as a wrestler!

Lunch was either back at the condo or at The Maui Onion - one of our favorite spots. Then it was nap time! You might think it was only for the little ones took naps, but you'd be wrong. Who can resist taking a snooze on a comfortable chaise on the lanai, gazing at the Pacific Ocean?! I couldn't! Babies, moms, dads, grandparents, and uncles rested up for a full schedule of afternoon activities.

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Our days consisted of family, food, and fun! If I wasn't out golfing with Dick and Jon, mountain biking with Matt, or zip-lining down volcanos with almost everyone, I was eating great meals, relaxing with my family, and thoroughly enjoying my fantastic company. Each night brought out the chef in a different family member who would cook a favorite recipe for everyone. Boy did we eat well! After dinner we'd connect the cameras to the TV to check out the day's pictures. Between four photographers, we had plenty of entertainment.

It was an amazing vacation... many, many thanks to Grammy and Grandpa!

To see more pictures of our trip... click here.

Aloha!

Will Lee Survive Game 7?!?

We are so behind on our posts! Still in the works are blurbs about our Maui trip, Amelia's first visit to the NC Zoo, our trip to Bald Head Island for a friend's wedding, and Amelia's first swim lesson. But, before all of that, this couldn't wait... Lee has a smile on his face going into Game 7 of the Stanley Cup!!!! Miracle of miracles!

I've never seen Lee so stressed out about a sporting event, not even for his beloved Tar Heels. He had to Tivo Game 3 because the anxiety was too much to watch it live. He went to Game 4 and came home without a voice. It's not clear yet if he'll be going to tonight's game in Raleigh... but we're hoping a ticket comes his way.

As he headed off to work today, he was smiling. Let's hope that he's still smiling tomorrow. GO CANES!!!!