Glenedon Beach, OR

Just for a couple days, but we escaped.

My parents rented a beach condo in Glenedon Beach, OR, and they invited us to crash their vacation.
It was wonderful to see them.
It was wonderful to see Joe.
It was wonderful to spend some time on a beautiful sandy beach.

As we were playing on the beach, after watching Maggie's enthusiasm, a passerby asked if it was her first visit to the ocean. Joe said, "No, but she loves it like it's the first time, every time." Yes she does.

Maggie has a particular joyful shriek that she seems to have reserved for skirting the ocean and getting wet even when it is way to cold. I have missed that joyful shriek, and watching her play in the water made me feel at home. I don't think she has any memories of Santa Monica (tear) but when I see her playing on the beach I see my baby and it makes me really happy.

Jack got his first taste of real beach sand (not just garbage from a sandbox) and  he seemed impressed. He kept going back for more. He did seem to appreciate the sippy cup that I brought along in anticipation of rinsing sand out of his mouth, though.

Joe cooked steak and kaboobs on grill while we watched the sun set over the ocean and I spotted a whale which left me nearly has happy as Maggie was while playing in the ocean.

"Mom, I want to do this again next time."

This summer Joe is working hard and I am playing harder.

So far, I have mixed feelings about Seattle. It feels like a bit of a gloomy city to me. Beautiful, but gloomy. Maybe Santa Monica spoiled me forever. Or, maybe Seattle just doesn't quite feel like home. Or, maybe I just miss Joe, seeing as he has pretty much been owned this summer.

BUT, there is a lot to see and do, and we are trying to fit in as much as possible. It has been awesome. The only thing that would really make it awesomer, is if Joe was able to join in on a bit more of the fun. This post is going to be a jumble of some of the highlight activities so far, because, let's face it--I am never going to catch up if I try to write about everything. Almost every time we have to leave whatever activity we are doing for the day, Maggie says, "Mom, I want to do this again next time!" or "that was an awesome adventure!"

Cheers to Seattle and awesome adventures like . . .

Center for the Wooden Boats
Pacific Science Center
Strawberry picking
Zoo
Pike Place Market
Magnolia Farmer's Market
Pioneer Square
Mariner's Game
Golden Gardens Beach Park
Library (the red room is awesome!)
Museum of Flight
USA vs Panama Men's world cup qualifier
Carkeek Beach
Gleneden Beach, OR
Leavenworth, WA
Parks, parks, parks . . .

See. We have been busy.

Sadly, my picture taking has been abysmal. It is hard to lug a DSLR around, along with a baby and all the kid stuff that I seem to think I need, so instead, I have been settling for quick snapshots or nothing at all. Here is a smattering of pictures that I do have, in no particular order. I think I will dedicate a post or two to some of the larger adventures, so those pictures are not included.

Cousins!! At the zoo.

Strawberry picking before Jack was covered in mud and strawberries He only looks like he has the grumps because he is looking into the sun. He was as content as you could imagine and didn't make a peep until I picked him up to get him cleaned off to leave. Then, he was unhappy.

Pacific Science Center

Center for Wooden Boats Buddies!! At the Museum of Flight.  Carkeek Park. Our first weekend here. It was FREEZING.

Fat purple starfish and sea cumcumbers aplenty hiding in the rocks

Jack's 11 months

My little Jackie boy,

What can I say?

I love watching you grow, but I am sad when I think about how quickly your babyhood is passing. I started writing this letter when you were 10 months, then I changed it to a 10 1/2 month letter. In 2 days you will be 11 months old.

You are such a smiley, awesome little guy. One day one of my friends said that being around you (you specifically!) made her want to have another baby. My response was, "Me too!" You are just so awesome that I wish I could have two of you.

I try to smother you with my cuddles everyday, but you are too busy. You LOVE to be held though; I think you would be okay with me carrying you mostly all day. You are a total mama's boy and it is no secret that I love it!

You have 8 little nubby teeth; yesterday I underestimated their chewing ability when I gave you a carrot stick hoping to entertain you while I cooked dinner. You had the thing chomped to bits in less then a minute and you cried big puppy dog tears when I had to start fishing carrot chunks out of your mouth.

You still army crawl to get around, but you are pretty fast. At our apartment in Ithaca you used to follow me from room to room. Since we moved, you still try to follow me, but get confused about where I am, even when you can hear my voice. When I peak my head around the corner, you smile big and crawl right over. Then, you pop onto your knees, grab my clothes, pull yourself to your feet (usually with the tops of your toes to the ground first . . . ouch?). Then, you cling to my legs until I pick you up.

You love to climb the stairs in our townhouse style apartment and have climbed the whole flight more than once. Because we can't install a baby gate, I tried to rig a stair blocking solution using a beach mat and a command hook. It worked great until you learned that with enough effort you can climb under the mat, so I started blocking the mat with a chair so that you couldn't go underneath. Now, you have learned to push the chair out of the way, and then climb under the mat.

You are a great eater--sometimes you eat more than Maggie. Mostly table food and a little baby food. The last couple times I tried to feed you pureed veggies, you let me know that you were NOT a fan by hitting the spoon with your hand every time I tried to bring it to your mouth. It made me laugh, so I tried a few extra bites even after you had made your point.

I have tried to teach you a few signs which you haven't picked up on yet, but the "all done" sign makes you laugh nearly every time.

You love your binky! So much in fact, that you need two to fall asleep: one for your mouth and one for your hands. You fiddle with the spare binky, spit out the one that was in your mouth, and pop in the spare. Sometimes you do this over and over. You don't seem to mind sucking on an upside down binky. As long as it is in your mouth you are satisfied. On the nights that you have a have a hard time falling asleep, I stroke your hair or gently pat your tummy while you are laying in bed and it soothes you. You are funny because you will not let me rock you to sleep, but even as your eyes are closing, you keep checking to make sure I am still in the room.
You love opening and closing doors and playing with hinges and door stops. You also have a fascination with electrical outlets, cords, the toilet, wall vents, the drawer below the oven, and the dishwasher. Toys? They rarely hold your attention. You are too busy unrolling my toilet paper to be bothered with toys.
You love splashing in the bathtub, but lately spend most of your bath time trying to pull yourself to standing (which you could easily do if I would let you) so each bath is a clash of wills. You manage to face dive into the water at least time per bath. Also, trying to change your diaper is like trying to wrestle a fish. I only win once I find a very good distraction. Usually it ends up being a combination of me making ridiculous and/or animal noises while pulling funny faces and letting you pull the baby wipes out the container.

You are always good for a friendly smile. Sometimes in public places, I see you smiling and look around to see who you are smiling at. It is not uncommon to find someone making faces at you from several rows away.

You adore Maggie. You are always trying to get her attention and will go to great lengths to get it--you talk to her, crawl after her, and pull her hair. She likes you too!

And as for me, I adore you. I can't wait to see what you will do next. You gave me some wonderful slobbery kisses today, and I am hoping for some more of those.

I love you!
xoxo

Ithaca is a fun place when you have a husband

When Joe finished school for the semester, we had one week before needing to frantically pack up our apartment in preparation for our sublettees and two weeks before our flights to Seattle. Therefore, we had one whole week to play hard. I tried to take advantage of every minute of having Joe around.

We started with  a little kayaking exersion. I have been dying to get out on Cayuga Lake. As beautiful as water is, looking at it makes me restless. The more I look, the more I want to go play. Just like the mountains. We were sans kids on this little adventure, and it was quite nice. I was reminded of our courtship and the early years of our marriage when this kind of activity wasn't such a rarity. If I had it with me here in Seattle, I would post a picture of the last time Joe and I were in a tandem kayak. We (or mostly me) looked a lot younger or maybe just a lot less tired. However, our years of marriage have made me more trusting of Joe's ability to correctly steer a kayak which  is probably a good thing. Plus, just this weekend someone told me that Joe and I didn't look old enough to have been married 8 years. Ha ha. Take that gray hairs and wrinkles!

 Also on our activity list for our week was a hike (or perhaps it was a leisurely stroll) to Taughannock Falls.

Kids are so cooky. Just when you think they are starting to get some judgement they prove you seriously wrong. I turned my head for one minute (pulling out my camera I think) and Maggie was on top of the wall.

Cooky and cute

Also, not during this week, but somehow fittingly for this post, we visited Ithaca Falls (a bit earlier in the season as evidenced by it's icyness). I just had to share Joe's happy moment when he is standing inside a culvert with his two kids. Maggie even recognized it as a culvert. What a proud daddy and check out Maggie'e cute muddy bum. 

Maggie turned 3!

In some ways I can't believe how quickly the last three years have passed, and yet, I can hardly remember what it was like to not have this little girl in my life. I feel like there must have been a part of me that was lonely, waiting for her to fill it. I love you Maggie pie!

We celebrated Maggie's birthday by eating watermelon (which is the only thing she asked to eat on her birthday) and cookies at the park with some friends. I think Maggie ate at least 6 pieces of watermelon before moving on to the cookies. She also requested that her cake be decorated with sprinkles and fruit snacks. It is fun to make a child's wildest dreams come true, and so sweet when those dreams are about watermelon, sprinkles, and fruit snacks. Oh, I burnt half of the cake which is the reason for it's unusual shape.

A popular thing to do seems to be to ask your child the same list of questions on their birthday each year. I don't know if we will keep up the tradition, but at least for today it felt like a fun exercise, and Maggie loved it so much that she wanted me to ask her more and more questions which is why this list is so long. So, in her words here is a little bit about Maggie:

Favorite food: blueberries
Favorite color: pink
Favorite toy: music
Favorite Show: backyardagains
Favorite outfit: a dress
Favorite snack: goldfish
Favorite thing to eat for lunch: Pizza (this is what she was eating at the time and is totally not her favorite. I would have guessed PB and honey which is what she requests almost every day)
Favorite game: ummm...princess?
Favorite animal: cow
Favorite song: Twinkle little star
Favorite book: "the animal one" Me, "what animal one?" Maggie, "the cow one?"
Best friend: Natalie
Favorite cereal: oatmeal
Favorite thing to do outside: play with bubbles
Favorite drink: water
Favorite holiday (after I gave her a few examples of holidays): Santa
What do you like to take to bed with you at night: animals
Favorite thing to eat for breakfast: milk
Favorite treat: candy
What do you want to be when you grow up?: a doctor (she said this with no hesitation and I was surprised that she even had an answer to this question) she does LOVE to play with my stethoscope
Favorite flavor of ice cream: vanilla
What do you want to do before your next birthday: Do presents
Favorite sport: I like dancing. Hey Mom, did you know I know how to twirl today? Hey Mom, Did you know I can help my Mini Mouse twirl around? Hey Mom . . .

I love you my little Maggie Pie!!

Mother's Day

I have been trying to make an effort to put myself into more pictures. As much as I really don't enjoy pictures of myself, when I am holding my babies in the pictures, suddenly I cherish them. I decided that I am going to take a picture of myself with each of my kids on each Mother's Day. Hopefully one day it will help my children see how much I love(d) them and cherish the time that I get to have them in my home.

One day awhile back (before Jack was born) I was in San Diego killing some time while waiting for someone. Maggie was sleeping in her stroller and I wandered into a pottery store. I started chatting with the owner/artisan who was a middle aged man. He admired my sleeping child (doesn't every child seem like an angel while they are sleeping?) and told me about his own children who were grown. He talked about the time that his children lived at home, and said he believes each child is just a special visitor that we get to have in our homes for awhile, until it is time for them to move on in their lives and move out of our homes. He said we should treat our children just like we would our most special guests, because that is what they are. To me, it is kind of a sad sentiment, but maybe that is just because I don't get to visit my own parents nearly as much as I would like and because if I am being honest, I don't think I am very good at treating my children like special visitors, and although I often feel very inadequate, I also feel very blessed to be the mommy to two awesome kids!

p.s. I love you Mom!!!

Washington DC in March

We took a trip to Washington DC. It was so super fun to get away as a family.

Highlights: Visiting the International Spy Museum--that place is AWESOME. After visiting the museum, I spent the rest of the trip surveying my surroundings for suspicious behavior, and I am still considering taking up espionage as a hobby. I loved walking the mall and visiting the memorials. Check out the picture below to see how Maggie looked when we went to visit Lincoln. She was TERRIFIED and only her blanky over her face could keep her from screaming. Also, she was a little tired, but she did eventually warm up. I think some chicken nuggets helped.

I really love going on vacations for many reasons, but I think that the very best part of family vacations is that I get Joe for 24 hours a day for the duration of the trip. We were lucky to do some pretty awesome traveling in the beginning of our marriage, and all that time spent together really forged our marriage in a very positive way. I also have such positive memories from all the vacations that my parents brought us on when I was a kid. I hope that I can create such memories for my own children.