The New Blog.

Since Reece has made it clear he wants to blog, and neither of us can really type yet, dad has decided to consolidate everything into one new blog:

Griffin Happens

Of course, I reserve the right to pick this blog back up once I've mastered the whole spelling thing.

Reece!

I'm officially a big brother! And now that mom and dad finally brought him home, I'm ready to blog.

Here are the crucial details:

Reece Patrick Griffin

Born: 12/4/08 1:40 p.m.

Weight: 7 lbs, 2 oz.

Length: 19.5"

Coolness: Off the charts.

Here are a couple more photos. There will definitely be more to come soon.

One Last Day

Today was my last day as an only child. So, since I've been so enthralled with Christmas trees and lights, mom and dad took me to the Festival of Trees. We met my friends Juliet and Kenzo there too. It was fun running around.

This was one of my favorite trees, because it combined two of my favorite things: golf and the Utah Utes.

As for this so-called brother of mine. The scheduled c-section was delayed until 2pm tomorrow. They can delay it for another 50 years for all I care.

Anyway, we'll keep you posted.

A new place to rest my head.

Over the weekend the mattress for my new bed came. I'm not sleeping in it yet. Though it is really fun to play on. I'm already planning how I can sneak out the skylight and party with my pals.

The best part of the bed is that it makes my mom jealous. She says I have a nicer bed than she does now. I guess she'll have to come snuggle with me.

What sound does a turkey make? Yum!

OK, I guess that's the sound I make when I eat turkey. Anyway, we had a great Thanksgiving dinner at my Grandma and Grandpa Griffin's.

Both of my great grandmas were there.

Great Grandma Timper was giving out lots of hugs.

And Great Grandma Griffin had some good stories for everyone.

Of course, I finished off the evening with a helping of pumpkin pie. I actually only liked the whipped cream on top. But who can blame me? I can't believe people like to eat pie made from jack-o-lantern innards. Yuck!

Oh baby!

Things are getting crazy around here. Yesterday, dad took my bookshelf out of my room and moved it downstairs. Today when I got home I had an extra bed in my room. Dad said it was going to be my bed. He mentioned that my crib will be for my baby brother. Don't know what he means by that. My baby brother is in my mom's belly. So I don't know how he'll sleep in the crib. Whatever, it's cool having two beds to choose from.

They're also telling me that this baby brother will be coming on December 4th. Again, I don't get it. My baby brother has been around for awhile. In mom's belly. I don't know why they're telling me these things, like something's going to change.

Anyway, they also say that Thanksgiving is coming up in a couple of days. We'll be going up to Grandma and Grandpa Griffin's. It's supposed to be a big dinner. So I'm excited to show off my latest food-throwing techniques.

Smell my feet.

Well I ended up wearing the skeleton costume on Halloween. Dad tried to get some pictures with me and the pumpkin I made at school. (Along with this creepy skeleton-hiding motion-sensing headstone that totally freaks me out.) But this is about the best one we got.

Then Grandma and Grandpa came over and we went trick or treating. At first I didn't get what it was all about, but after a few houses I really got a kick out of knocking on the doors and yelling "trick treat!" Then they gave me stuff that I got to put in a bag. So that was cool too.

In other events, a few weeks ago (when we went to Wheeler Farm) my friend Jack's mom took some pictures of me. She's a really good photographer starting up her own business. You can check out the highlights at this link:

http://www.erin-beth.com/darkroom/share/?n=Andrea

Rock the Vote 2008

At long last, I've decided who I'm going to endorse for the election on Tuesday. (Well, sort of.)

In search of the Great Pumpkin

This month the baby group met at Wheeler Farm for our annual Halloween activity. We met in the pumpkin patch in search of some festive photo ops. But mostly I just wanted to check out all the pumpkins. I made a point of tapping on every one I could. We did manage to get a couple of good photos though. These two were taken by Juliet's dad Trent. (Juliet is the peacock).


It was a costume event, so I unveiled one of my potential costumes for this year. I really like my skeleton outfit. We might add some white face paint on Halloween. My dad's also pushing to get me a white hoodie to wear, so I'll look like the Cobra Kai dudes who beat up Daniel on Halloween in "The Karate Kid".

I also have a horse and a koala costume available that I borrowed from my buddy Everett. But I'm not too keen on putting those on.

After the fun and games with the pumpkins we took a stroll around the farm. I got to see some cows, horses, a couple of ponies, sheep, rabbits, a big stinky pig. And those were cool and all. But most of all, I liked all the old tractors and rusty farm equipment.

It was another fun morning with my friends.

Worst. Weekend. Ever.

So Friday morning I woke up and was breathing fast. Kind of like the last time I had to go to the hospital a couple of months ago.

Anyway, mom and dad tried the Albuterol but nothing really changed, so they called the doctor. He said to try the inhaler again and, if nothing changed, to take me to the ER. Sure enough, an hour later I was up at PCMC with that damn nebulizer in my face.

I was breathing about 68 breaths per minute and it didn't really go down much. So they ended up having me stay the night. That's when things really got annoying. Not only did they give me more nebulizer treatments, they also felt the need to stick oxygen tubes in my nose. At first that wasn't too big of a deal, because I could just rip them off. But then they used the industrial strength "stickers" (yeah right, I didn't see any cool cartoons on these stickers), which ended up ripping little patches of my cheeks when they took them off.

To make things worse, they said I wasn't drinking enough (well excuse me, I've got shortness of breath and tubes up my nose--sorry if I don't want to throw back a couple cold ones). So, what did they do? Gave me an IV, that's what. NOT COOL!

Anyway, after a crappy night's sleep, when they kept waking me up to shove that stinkin' misting dragon mask in my face, they finally took all the tubes out of me.

So Saturday, I watched some college football with mom and dad. Grandma and Grandpa stopped by to play. And, by around 6pm the doctors decided that I didn't have to spend another night in the hospital because I was doing so well.

OK, to tell you the truth, the nurses and doctors were really nice to me and helped me out a lot. And the weather was so bad, we weren't going to do anything fun last weekend anyway.

The doctor said that they pretty much would say I have asthma (virus induced), but they don't make that official diagnosis until I turn 2.

Well, even if I have asthma, at least I also got a new bike out of the deal! (Ha! Ha! Mom and dad bought the whole charade! Suckers.)

Don't call him a zero.

Last week my Aunt Megan sent out this video of me.

http://www.makemesuper.com/r.php?i=9_383b4-123851-m-Colin

I've pretty much wanted to watch it nonstop ever since. I especially like the part with the "lawnmower" and the part where they sing "Kaboom!". So check it out.

Touchdown!

OK, I'm logged on and I thought I'd give you a quick recap of the events of the last few weeks.

Saturday, I went with mom and dad to the Utah vs. Weber State football game. It was tons o' fun. Grandma and Grandpa Griffin were there and I had a great time with them. I mostly liked to make noise by banging on the seats, clap with the crowd, and point to the guys wearing "helmets." I also yelled a few "Go Utes!" here and there. Just before halftime I kind of had my fill of the excitement--it was past my bedtime--and let everyone know I was "all done." But it was a great time. I was still talking about the "game" today. Oh, and Utah won 37-21, and are now #15 in the polls.

Two weekends ago, I went to the zoo again. This time with my friends Juliet and Kenzo. Here is a picture of me and Juliet riding in the wagon, and Kenzo hanging out in the stroller. Usually I just like to push the wagon myself, but since Juliet was offering to ride with me, well, I couldn't pass that up.


After awhile, we all wanted to try walking together holding hands in a row. But that didn't last long. Why walk when you can ride in a sweet wagon?


I also got to play on the playground. They have a cool little tunnel that's fun to climb through.

It's September Already?!

Once again, it's been awhile since I posted. Sorry about that. With more than a month between posts, obviously a lot has happened. But I can't really remember it all. So I'll start with the activity this past weekend.


I met a bunch of my friends up at Silver Lake near Brighton on Sunday. It was fun. We all took a walk around the lake. I saw some ducks, some fish, a squirrel, and a few other critters that were running around.

Also, going back through the photos of the past month, here are a couple from the day I went to the zoo. A lot of people like to see the monkeys, or the tigers, or the elephants. And those things are cool. But my biggest thrills are the train and the carousel. I can't get enough!

Beach in a Box

Enough about my brother to be. Let's talk about my favorite new toy. Mom and dad got me a sand and water table last weekend. It's pretty cool. I get to splash my hands in the water, and dig in the sand. Dad was trying to show me how to make sand castles. But mostly I liked to I dump sand all over myself, so dad would hose off my feet. Anyway, if you're into sand and water, but don't live on the coast, I recommend it.

Belly Video

Just for those interested, here's a video of the ultrasound of my brother to be. He seems pretty cool so far.

(Note: The video is sped up 3x, so take that into account when you're trying to gauge his heartrate.)

O' Brother!

So, I've been sick the last couple of days with a fever of 103+. My mom took me to the doctor this morning and they said I had a double ear infection and a sinus infection.

Then, Grandpa Griffin came over later in the afternoon and watched me when my mom and dad went somewhere. We watched "The Jerk" which I found pretty funny. Then I mostly just slept.

When mom and dad got back, they showed me this picture. I think they said it was my brother. But I do have those ear infections, so maybe my hearing isn't that good.

From what little I know about the English language, I think brother means someone who is going to live in my house and take attention and toys away from me. So, I'm not too thrilled about this. But, again, hopefully I just heard wrong.

They also showed me this picture, which I thought was bizarre.

June Stuff

Hi all,

Once again, my dad has been slacking on his duties, helping me write a blog entry. And to think I created two great masterpieces for him for Father's Day:

This first one is pudding on wax paper titled (as you can see) Pudding for Pop!
I created this one at school.This one was a collaborative effort with my aunts Megan and Kate, and my Grandma Griffin.
It's crayon and marker on copy paper and it's titled "Have a Colorful Monkey Father's Day"

Also for Father's Day we had a BBQ at my aunt Megan's house. The picture above is me playing football in the backyard. The whole family was there, even my great aunts Barb and Wendy showed up from Portland. It was fun.

Another event was bittersweet. Last week we had a farewell party for my frield William and his family. They're moving to California. It was at my friend Juliet's house.

Here's Will, his little brother Harrison, and his Mom and Dad.

This is me giving Will a goodbye hug.
Hopefully we'll be able to see them next time we go to California.

And that's the main news for June. Hopefully dad will help me post again soon.

Say Uncle!

My uncle Bryan was in town last week. He just graduated from officer's school for the U.S. Navy. So we were really proud of him.

We got to hang out quite a bit and that was lots of fun. He's really good at hiding behind things and jumping out at me, which I found hilarious. It must be the stealth skills from the Navy.

I also got to see my grandpa Martinez for the first time in awhile. He's always good for some laughs. He gave me a cool lunchbox, too.

Walkin'

So, I've been walking for pretty much two months now. Don't know why I haven't blogged about it. Anyway, here's a little music video that pretty much sums up the whole experience thus far. Enjoy.

SF = Super Fun.

Hey all. We just got back from San Francisco a couple days ago. Here's a rundown of just some of the excitement.

The Arrival.

We flew into Oakland early Wednesday evening. After a quick BART ride we were in downtown SF. The first night we stayed with my friend Jack at his grandma and grandpa's place. They have a great condo on Nob Hill right on Powell St. After hanging out with Jack, playing with his toys (and trying to get into his grandparent's cabinets) I hit the hay.

The next morning we hit the streets early.

We ate breakfast at Sears Fine Food.

I had a couple of their "world famous" little Swedish pankakes.

They were tasty.

Then we headed down Powell to do some shopping.

This is where they turn the Powell St. Trolley around at the base of the hill.

Just off camera there was a crazy old hobo gabbing to me about something.

Later that day we checked into the Westin St. Francis.

The room had a great view of Union Square.

I also liked the bathtub there.

I've heard SF has some "bath houses"

but dad told me I probably shouldn't go to those.

Fisherman's Wharf

The next day we headed down to Fisherman's Wharf.

Dad's holding me extra tight here.

Probably because he lost his wallet in a cab earlier that morning.

He didn't want to lose me, too.

We strolled down to Pier 39 to watch the sunbathing sea lions.

I, however, preferred to refer to them as "dogs."

Hey, they bark, don't they?

The wharf also has some nice views of the Golden Gate Bridge.

So nice that I didn't want to look away for a picture.

I was also very happy to see the Ghirardelli chocolate factory.

North Beach

Dad needed to file a police report about his wallet so he could get on the plane back. So we headed over to North Beach, home to the SF Police station.

Here we are in North Beach,

with the Transamerica Building in the background.

Hey, is that Jack Kerouac over there?

Yerba Buena Gardens

The next day we got back together with my buddy Jack, as well as my friend Milo. We visited Yerba Buena Gardens, a great little park in the middle of the city.

They have a fun playground there.

Here's a video of dad and me going down the big tube slide on the playground.

I just kept wanting to go down that slide, over, and over, and over...

But the slide was nothing compared to the carousel.
We took two rides on that. Then I started crying when we had to get off.

Yerba Buena Gardens is also home to the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial.

He's cool. He was born on January 15th. Same as me.

MLK, also said some pretty inspiring stuff.

The Haight & Golden Gate

Then mom, dad, and I took the bus over to Golden Gate park. We decided to stop a few blocks short and walk down Haight. The scene there is basically a bunch of tourists gawking at a bunch of dirty hippies. There are some quirky shops and restraunts. But nothing too interesting. Some guy asked my dad if he wanted any "'shrooms". Dad said no. I can't blame him. I don't like vegetables either.

Here's a crappy picture of the corner of Haight and Ashbury. Dad took it because you're required by law to take a photo as you pass it the first time. Apparently this place used to be a big deal back in the 1960's. But it's kinda lame now.

Then we got to Golden Gate Park. It's so massive, we probably only saw about 15% of it. But there was some cool stuff to see there (not to mention a lot more dirty hippies).

At the GGP there's a lot of space in which to roam. Here I am pushing my stroller by the Conservatory of Flowers.

Here's mom and me in front of a big clock in front of the conservatory. I think there are usually some flowers in there too. But, I was excited. I really like clocks. I'll point and say "clock" whenever I see one. I just want to make sure you don't miss it.

They also had a great playground. This is only one section of it. We had to get back for a dinner with all my friends, so I didn't get to play here though.
Next time I'm in town, I'll definitely hit the slides.

Bay to Breakers

On Sunday the fog rolled in (Picture Below). That was actually a good thing because it cooled things down for the big Bay to Breakers race. Mom and her friends (Jack's mom and Milo's mom) all entered the 12 kilometers of debauchary.

I was so proud of my mom for finishing the race. By the time we got to see her at the finish party there weren't many naked runners around, but there were quite a few funny costumes.

The five days of sightseeing and peoplewatching were a lot for a little guy. I was so tired, I even passed out in the middle of Union Square.

In fact, I slept the entire plane ride home. Though, I still managed to win the little competetive trivia quiz they had going on the seatback screens.

It's good to be back home. It'll probably be a few years before I go back to San Francisco. It's not the most baby-friendly town. But it was still lots of fun.