Happy Anniversary to us!

It's hard to believe that 4 years ago today Ryan and I were getting married! I will forever look back at that day as one of the best I have ever had. I often wish there was a way to just go back and do it all again, and there isn't one thing I would change. I remember the day I met Ryan and it's amazing to think back on it now. Who could have known that we'd be where we are now, married with a baby? I certainly feel lucky everyday to have found Ryan, and I can't imagine a more perfect person to spend my life with; I can't wait to see what our next year has in store!

We're off (again)!

Tomorrow marks the beginning of a momentous occasion: our first trip without Kate! We're dropping Kate off with Grandma Connie & Grandpa Bill in Bend, and then Ryan & I are heading south to Yosemite and Mammoth Lakes. We know it will be hard to leave Kate, but we're so positive that she'll be happy that we're not worried. We're so excited to take a solo road trip and we KNOW we're lucky to have so many wonderful people willing to watch Kate. Hmmmm....who will be next? :) We'll be back on Labor Day with lots of adventures to share, I'm sure!

Look, Grandpa Bill!

Bill, you will be quite happy to know that Kate is now so intrigued by horses that she "rides" everything--the vacuum being her favorite horse simulation! Her eyes were so wide at the fair when she saw stall after stall of horses that we weren't sure she'd ever blink again. Last weekend, we had dinner with a family who own a horse, and Kate was literally pounding on the window when she saw their daughter riding it. She even touched it, so we're making progress! I think you'll have your little cowgirl soon. :)

Happy Birthday Grandma Connie!

Have a wonderful, happy day! We can't wait to see you on Friday....mommy and daddy think it's especially generous of you to give us the gift of a vacation for your birthday! Kate will love staying with you, grandpa, the horses, the cat and the dogs. We just hope she'll be willing to come home with us when we come back!

Horses, sheep & goats--OH MY!

We just got back from Kate's first trip to the county fair, and I must say that the fair is much more fun when you have a little person to show around! We ate some "fantastic" fair food and Kate tried her first french fry (verdict is still out on that one). She had no trouble deciding that she loved seeing the animals, though. There were barns for cats (?), dogs, horses, pigs, chickens, rabbits, goats and sheep. As you can see from the photos, Kate spent most of the time pointing and "talking" to all of them. We think her favorites were the sheep and goats. She seemed about ready to jump right in the pens with them. We did look at all the rides, but we're thinking we'll save those for sometime down the line.....Ryan and I would like to avoid most of those for as long as possible!! Definitely a fun day at the fair, especially because it was actually sunny!

Now, we're about to round out the day with pizza (we did a long run today, so we figure fair food, beer and pizza was well-earned!) Tomorrow is Kate's first peer birthday party. There will be lots of kids, and it's outside at a park, so I have no doubt that it will be as big a hit as the goats!

More fun with family

Yesterday, Kate and I went to Port Townsend to spend the day with Aunt Courtney, Uncle John and Courtney's boyfriend, Dan. I'm sure it was decidedly less exciting than Courtney and Dan's recent Asian adventures, but they were gracious enough to spend the day watching Kate crawl, swing, empty all the contents of her diaper bag on the grass and devour most of the cheese they'd brought for a picnic. It was so nice to see them, and to meet Dan, but the hours went by way too quickly. Now, Courtney's off for her next adventure in Madison and we wish her all the luck in the world (not that she needs luck, of course, we all know she can do anything! :)

Cheers!

Today and tomorrow are two VERY important days! Today is my very best friend's birthday. Happy Birthday, Jen! You have been such an amazing friend to me since the fateful day we met in 7th grade homeroom....here's to many more adventures (and, hopefully, one day living closer!!) Tomorrow is my brother's birthday. Happy Birthday brother & uncle Blake! We hope you have a great day and that this year brings you all the luck that you so richly deserve. CHEERS to both of you! You are much, much loved!!

Great-grandpa's on the mend

We had a really nice weekend visiting with great-grandpa Mac. He had been moved to the physical therapy/recovery center, so we were able to wheel him around. Of course, Kate liked "racing" his wheelchair, and sitting in it herself. We were so happy to be able to see him, even if it would have been better to see him healthy and in Port Angeles. He still really wants to see Hurricane Ridge, so perhaps he'll give it another try....we hope it's less dramatic next time! After visiting with great-grandpa on Saturday, we went downtown with grandpa Mac. The Bridgeport brewery was having a 25th anniversary celebration, so they shut down a block around their restaurant and hosted a party with music and dancing. We watched a group called Bodyvox perform (avant garde type dance) and Kate has never sat so still in her whole life! She sat on my lap quietly throughout the whole performance, which had Ryan commenting that he wished they sold their performances on DVD!

A day in the park

Yesterday morning began with Kate figuring out that she could climb on top of the laundry basket, much to her delight. She tries so hard with the couch, but it's just too tall for her. Discovering that she could scale the laundry basket and, even better, that she could STAND on the laundry basket made her very happy--and mommy quite nervous. Next, she found out that climbing IN the dishwasher is much more fun than watching it be unloaded. Again, good for her, not so much for me. So, I decided we'd be better off at the park, where climbing is encouraged (though no less dangerous for our little daredevil!!) Kate loved the swing and went down the slide 58 times (approximately, as I lost count). We even went down the bigger slides together, hence the self-portrait. Mostly, she loved the little bouncy horse, which should make Grandpa Bill happy!

One of my favorite people...

is the inventor of Ziploc bags. Bless this person for making our long car rides so much more enjoyable! All I have to do is fill bags with snacks and pass them back to her and--ta da--she's a happy camper (rider?) once again. Many of the snacks don't actually make it into her mouth, but I think she likes the process of getting into the bag as much as anything. This is also why I spent awhile vacuuming Cheerios out of her carseat yesterday. I used to babysit a lot and I always wondered why the kids' carseats and highchairs were SO messy. Now that I have a little Cheerio-muncher of my own I know EXACTLY what caused those messes. Cheerio-multiplication is a truly amazing phenomenon. I'm fairly certain they multiple much like rabbits. To prove this point, Kate's uncle Jason recently went out for his first bike ride after visiting us, only to be stopped by a rock in his shoe. It wasn't a rock, though. It was, of course, a Cheerio.

PS Great-grandpa is on the mend and doing better. He's on a lot of pain medication and my dad says he's been asking "where the cocktails will be served," so I'm guessing he's planning on getting better soon! Seriously, though, he seems to be making a lot of progress and will go home when he can walk more easily. Thanks for everyone's good wishes!

Success!

In a daycare-like setting, that is. Kate has not always been, shall we say, receptive (this is putting it nicely) to the whole babysitting idea. She had some pretty good scream fests months ago when we attempted to bring her to the YMCA play care. Seriously, she lasted less than five minutes and you could hear her everywhere in the facility. Ryan was in the locker room once and heard a child screaming, only to realize a moment later that "yep, that's my kid." It became a bit embarrassing so we quit trying. Well, she's older now and doesn't seem to mind being babysat (at least by her grandparents) so we thought we'd try it again. Since I'm teaching at the Y, it would be nice to be able to put her in the daycare should I need to teach a class during the day. I had to go there for a meeting today, so it was her first time and, although I must say I feared the worst, she did just fine! In fact, when I came back for her, she barely looked at me and just kept playing. Stupidly, there's a small part of me that was a bit sad that she did so well without me...selfish, I know and mostly I'm really proud of her. When I picked her up, they were just starting a thing called Live-Yers in the big gym. Basically, it's a huge kid free-for-all, where they put out balls, slides, all measure of climbing things, etc., etc. The parents stay, too, so it's like a massive kids' group. Kate saw the balls and tried to bolt from my arms, so I decided to stay for that, too. She was the only kid not walking, but she threw herself right into the mix. I was surprised to see her go right up to much older (and LOUD) kids and just start climbing right along with them. As Ryan said the other day when Kate threw a fit because she couldn't go out and mow the lawn with him, "she's not going to be the stand back and watch type, is she?" We stayed and played for more than an hour and she wasn't close to slowing down. She completely loved the slide and, of course, the balls. I will definitely bring her back. Way to go, Kate!!!

Dinner time silliness...

No particular reason for this video, other than that I love to watch Kate giggle! She also loves to watch this video of herself. She literally cracks herself up! We're doing inside stuff today since it's the first rainy day we've had in quite some time. I know I shouldn't complain because we've had such a nice summer, but I don't like having to stay inside....mostly because Kate is much more enjoyable when she gets some outside time!!

Poor great-grandpa!

Kate's great-grandpa Mac from North Carolina was supposed to come visit this weekend, but he had an accident in Portland and broke his hip! He has been in San Diego and then up in Portland, where he fell last week. Fortunately, his surgery went well and he is recovering nicely, but he'll have to stay in Portland until he can walk more easily. We're planning on heading down to Portland next weekend to see him, and so Kate can meet her great-grandpa. Lucky girl, this will be the fourth great-grandparent she has met! We're all wishing great-grandpa a speedy recovery. He was up dancing at his 90th birthday party last year, so we're hoping he's back in dancing form for his 91st this year!

Kate's latest obsession....

is Hickory's bed. Hmmm. We can't quite figure that out, or figure out a way to stop her from crawling all over it and becoming completely covered in dog hair. Although I don't love having to constantly chase her with a lint roller, I must admit that it is quite sweet when she takes little "rests" with Hickory. Now, if I could only get her to actually nap there, I might be on to something.....

Mommy's little helper

Kate, as you can see, is a huge help in the kitchen! When she first started "exploring," Ryan and I thought we'd give her one drawer, and that would satisfy her. Of course, we were completely wrong about that. She does love the drawer, but she also loves ALL the other drawers and all the cabinets. So, with very few exceptions, the kitchen (at least the low part) has become her domain, which is why you'll find things in all sorts of odd places should you ever try to cook in our kitchen. My mom said that I used to tell her that I wanted to be a "drawer cleaner" when I grew up, so I guess this is just payback for all the "cleaning" I once did!

Uncle Jason & Aunt Cyndi

Our fantastic stretch of family visitors continued this weekend with a visit from the honeymoon-ing Jason and Cyndi. We'll feel so lucky they chose to visit us on their special, once-in-a-lifetime trip! We, of course, didn't think it was nearly long enough to see them, but we did enjoy all the time we had. Luckily, the P.A. weather cooperated and we took them out to Lake Crescent (fast becoming like Kate's second home!) We were all kind of wishing we had our swimsuits since the weather was warm and the water felt nice. Kate is getting ever-braver; this time, she held onto Ryan's hands and waded out to chest-deep water. Pretty soon, she'll be dunking her head, if she has her way. We took them to our favorite restaurant and to pick raspberries, as well. Although we wish they could have stayed at least another week, it was so nice to see them. Now, we're awaiting my grandpa from North Carolina who is almost 91 but was bound and determined to come see his great-granddaughter. Lucky us!