Los Angeles: Maya Meets Jackson

Before heading back to San Francisco, we got to enjoy breakfast with Beth, Jenny, and their beautiful 3 month-old son, Jackson. Maya enjoyed her time admiring the little guy, chasing their kitties and watching Jenny pick avocados out of their backyard tree.

Beth holds little Jackson.

Jenny and Maya talk of many things.

Thanks to the timer on Beth's camera, we captured this photo. Unfortunately, Jackson was already asleep...but if you look closely, you will see him sleeping in the baby monitor.

Never enough time. Goodbye LA, we hope to see you again soon.

Los Angeles: VES Awards Night

While Maya is person that most people are wondering about when they read the blog, there are occasions when her parents do something slightly interesting or, at least, slightly fancy. On this night, Todd and I were very excited to be going to the Visual Effects Society (VES) Awards for the second time. This year, Todd (together with three of his co-workers) was nominated for Best Compositing in a Feature Film for his work on Avatar. The awards represented a rare chance for us to dress up fancy and take advantage of some free babysitting.

This guy is sorta good at compositing.

This is about as fancy as we get.

Good luck kiss.

The venue...it was televised on some random cable channel.

Jim Cameron receiving a Lifetime Achievement Award.

Last time, Todd got to hold up his shiny trophy after winning for Transformers. This year, Todd and his fellow nominees, Beth D'Amato, Eddie Pasquarello, and Jay Cooper settled for water pitchers after the award went to District 9. Lookin' good!

While Todd didn't win this year, we were very excited to be a part of such a special event. I am very proud of the great work that Todd continues to do in his field. It's exciting to see that work celebrated by the very people who inspired him to become a visual effects artist in the first place.

Los Angeles: Maya's New Parent Training Service

Maya offers up her parental training services to soon-to-be parents every time her daddy is nominated for a VES award (twice so far). Two years ago, Maya trained Sam and Jess before Maddie was born with great success. This time, we left Maya to test the skills of Allen and Annabelle (6 months pregnant). We are proud to say they made it through the training with flying colors.

Daddy schools Allen on storytime the night before.

Annabelle and Allen, slightly nervous but determined, with Maya on the big night. Thanks for babysitting!

Los Angeles: Maya's First LA Boyfriend

Maya had a great day in LA living it up in the Valley. We went to Paty's for breakfast followed by a trip to Burbank playground with the Kender/Page. See more pix here. The kiddies had a great time playing together, but there was a surprising development when Maya made quick friends with a little boy named Cooper. Before we knew it, Maya had a new boyfriend. This does not bode well for the teenage years.

Maya's amazing rope hanging ability attracts the interest of Cooper.

After some seriously fun play together, Maya is literally swept off her feet when Cooper hugs her goodbye.

Los Angeles: Maya Meets Max

After far too long, Maya and the fam braved the 5 freeway headed for the City of Angels. Even though Todd is super busy at work, they let him miss a day of work so he could attend the VES Awards since he was nominated for ILM's work on Avatar. So cool! We were grateful for a chance to briefly catch up with some of our favorite people in the Valley and get dressed up fancy for award night goodness.

We decided to stay with the wonderful Annabelle and Allen this time around, but we made sure to visit the Kender/Page for afternoon play and kiddie dinner. Maya has had a strong relationship via blog with Max Page (7 month-old son of Sam and Jess and brother to the nearly 2 year-old Maddie), but she was very excited when she finally got to see him in the flesh (her parents were very excited too). The three pals had a great time together.

Maddie, Max, and Maya...a force to be reckoned with.

Crib madness!

Hugs...

...followed by dinner.

We love LA...or, more appropriately, Burbank!