Little Girls, They Steal Your Heart

They are the emerging power trio in the extended clan: Grace, Kiana, and Gisella. They live close enough to each other that they share a lot of time, and by the time they're in their teens they will own everything we have. They started with our hearts, after all, and any pickings after that are much easier.

Trying to keep track of who is related to whom and how in this family is hard without a scorecard, so here's a quick refresher: Grace is my granddaughter, my late son Doug's daughter, and she turns 9 this August. Kiana, age four, is Reva's daughter; Reva is my son Adam's half-sister. The youngest of the three, Gisella, is Adam's step-granddaughter. For simplicity, we think of them as cousins -- hell, most of the time we all think of each other as cousins.

The power trio gathered in Grace's back yard today, Easter, to hunt down treats.

Kiana and Grace debate the merits of different kinds of bubble solution.

Grace (yes, she changed her outfit -- she does that kind of thing, being a girly girl and all.)

Grace, Kiana, and Gisella on the hunt. (The gray fuzzy thing at left is an actual bunny -- Grace's soon-to-be-stepdad, Ryan, brought a pair of rabbits to the family.)

Gisella, admired by Adam.

Kiana a-hunting.

Gisella with loot.

While all girl, Grace defies stereotype and has been a nimble tree-climber since shortly after she could walk. Hiding Easter eggs for her is a three-dimensional process.

Gisella and Kiana in awe of their cousin's aerial prowess.

A milestone: Grace's first picture with Granddad's big, clunky camera. After just a little bit of initial hesitancy, she banged off this shot: Reva's dad Parris, Reva, Kiana, me, and Adam. Not bad, eh?

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Three Thousand Words

Last Saturday (May 16th, 2009), Adam and Lynda took Adam's nieces, Grace and Kiana, to a little beach on the east side of San Francisco Bay. Adam captured some arresting images on that outing, including these three:

To Grace's left is the skyline of San Francisco. Directly beyond her is the Golden Gate Bridge. Slightly to her right are the hills of Marin County. She is looking directly toward the place on the Bay where her father's ashes were scattered two years ago.

Kiana tries to give her passenger ladybug the benefit of the doubt.

We can all fly, you know? We just have to try. And we just have to believe.

(All photos by Adam Harrington, who, I hope, will post them to his Flickr account without too much nagging by his father, who really wants to reference them from his own Flickr account. But I'm not pressuring him, no, of course not.)