Monday, June 29, 2009
Dark and Beautiful
Last night Cliff, or papa as Summer likes to call him, decided that even though it was late and Summer was ready for bed, he wanted to pop the first firework of the year. We found out that yesterday was the first legal day to pop fireworks in Las Vegas and that meant we were ok popping some in our back yard. Summer was already sleepy, earlier in the evening we had a great invitation to go swimming over the Springstons house around 6:00. Papa, Summer and I went and had a lot of fun playing in the 94 degree pool. It was so nice and warm and we stayed about 45 minutes. Here is a cute video of my brave little princess jumping right into the water and even going under!
We have big plans for the Fourth, the usual fun Fourth of July activities, BBQ, perhaps burgers and hot dogs, going to the nearest station casino and watching the fireworks for free, that is IF we can keep Summer up until 9:30, and then maybe sleeping out in the backyard. We have a nice tent that we have used once before and I want to get it out and see if I can get it up, and see if it still works, it should, they don't go bad but it has been in the garage for a few years. It will also depend on how hot it is outside at night, we are hitting 106+ in the days this week and that might make it too hot at night. I also don't know how well we will sleep outside, Summer tends to turn a lot and I never sleep as good as I do alone, even though I really love sleeping with her, so we will see how it goes.
Since I am calling this post the dark and beautiful it is only fair that I show one more photo I took this past weekend. I had to go take pictures of dogs jumping into the water for a friend and I needed to check out action settings. Since I had never really taken photos like this I was playing with the camera and Summer was sitting next to me playing in the curtains. I had the settings all wrong and snapped a picture that I love! Sure it is dark but so pretty!
This coming week should be a lot of fun, I need to take more photos and I only work 4 days, we have a three day weekend coming up and I can't wait! Plus Becca, our friends 15 (almost 16) year old daughter will be spending the weekend with us so I have a model to play with, I am excited!
Sunday, June 28, 2009
Messy Food
I am lucky to have a child who enjoys food. Most nights I cook something that Summer enjoys, or at least it seems that way when most of the food disappears. There are a few meals that seem to hang around but I don't force eating, I know my child and if she is hungry, she will most definitely eat. Last night I made one of our messy favorites, spaghetti. I like to add a whole can of mushrooms and 1-2 zucchini's to my pot of store bought spaghetti. I also use wheat noodles because I think they are healthier. Summer loves noodles, I don't know if she even realizes they are covered in tomato sauce. I am pretty sure she does not eat the mushrooms and I know she does not like the zucchini but at least they are there for the texture and the flavor. When we have a spaghetti night I use the plastic bib. Actually the only meal I use this plastic bib for is spaghetti. Somehow sauce and noodles end up all over the face, shirt, tray, and I would say the floor but thankfully I have a dog who is willing to immediately clean up the mess. As with every meal I provide a fork, but most of the time the fork is picked up and put down and the fingers do the real work here.
At least the fork brightens up the plate right? I find it funny watching Summer suck up the noodles, she is such a little sloppy pro at it. After she was finished eating Kris said I should have just thrown her in the pool to clean her off but the clean up really isn't that bad, one washrag, three or four ringings and we are all good to go. I know Summer enjoys the meal, I can tell by the mess she leaves all over her face.
Tonight we are having turkey burgers which are not very messy. Last week we had turkey burgers and Summer almost ate the entire thing, bun, cheese, turkey, mustard, ketchup, so I hope she is up to the task tonight.
At least the fork brightens up the plate right? I find it funny watching Summer suck up the noodles, she is such a little sloppy pro at it. After she was finished eating Kris said I should have just thrown her in the pool to clean her off but the clean up really isn't that bad, one washrag, three or four ringings and we are all good to go. I know Summer enjoys the meal, I can tell by the mess she leaves all over her face.
Tonight we are having turkey burgers which are not very messy. Last week we had turkey burgers and Summer almost ate the entire thing, bun, cheese, turkey, mustard, ketchup, so I hope she is up to the task tonight.
Friday, June 26, 2009
Party Time
We did end up going to the party but I did not take the good camera, I took the little point and shoot and while it does take decent pictures, not so much indoors, especially with bad lighting like we had in the room. We went to a private suite on the 30th floor of the Encore Resort and Casino, Summer was the perfect child, the kind of child people talk about because they are so well behaved. Upon walking in fashionably late, or just late because traffic in Las Vegas stinks and because I went up the wrong elevator at the hotel and had to go back down and around to another area, we were greeted by a host offering h'ordeuvres - these yummy little cheese puffs. I very nicely accepted and ate half, Summer the other. Next we said hi to a few co-workers and headed straight to the food, and not a moment too soon because the food was delicious, they had chicken kabobs, coconut shrimp, lamb and beef something or other, it was all so tasty. There was also bread, cheese and fruit which mostly completed Summer's dinner, my dinner was spent picking from the yummy meats. The room was high in the sky and the walls were made of glass, Summer enjoyed standing on the ledge, this child has no fear.
The view wasn't spectacular because there is so much darn construction going on around the strip, but it was still very cool and Summer had a great time in that window. I tried to get several good pictures with my small point and shoot camera but with a window and sun and a nice reflection, nice photos escaped me however at least Summer is cute and stood there and smiled and let me try. Look at that dress too - a size 3T, she is such a big girl and looks so grown up. If you look closely at this photo you can even see my reflection standing there taking the picture.
Yep that is me in the purple shirt. The party was actually in a 3 or 4 bedroom suite, we had a nice tour and looked around and found one of the three or four bedrooms. Summer was thrilled seeing beds and immediately wanted "up up" as she likes to say. I thought it best to remove her shoes since the bed was white. I think had I left her there she may have went to sleep, I was told afterward that the beds were really soft and by the look of it Summer seemed to agree. Hey and at least her feet were clean, shew I was worried they would be just as dirty as her shoes.
Overall we had a wonderful time, the food was delicious, my coworkers are friendly and charming and easy to hang around, none of them minded that Summer came either, yes she was the only child too, someone else was suppose to bring their daughter and they were suppose to play together but they ended up getting a sitter and not letting me know...(you know who you are buddy!!!) but the time went fast and before I knew it it was 8:40 and time to go. Summer normally goes to bed at 8:30 so this was a late night for my princess. It was a quick 20 minute drive home and Summer fell asleep almost as soon as we got in the car and slept until we got home, slept through changing into pajamas, and slept while I carried her upstairs and put her into bed. Today she is in a great mood, all the partying and staying out late, eating strange foods and being around strange people did nothing for her morale today. If only we had more company parties.
The view wasn't spectacular because there is so much darn construction going on around the strip, but it was still very cool and Summer had a great time in that window. I tried to get several good pictures with my small point and shoot camera but with a window and sun and a nice reflection, nice photos escaped me however at least Summer is cute and stood there and smiled and let me try. Look at that dress too - a size 3T, she is such a big girl and looks so grown up. If you look closely at this photo you can even see my reflection standing there taking the picture.
Yep that is me in the purple shirt. The party was actually in a 3 or 4 bedroom suite, we had a nice tour and looked around and found one of the three or four bedrooms. Summer was thrilled seeing beds and immediately wanted "up up" as she likes to say. I thought it best to remove her shoes since the bed was white. I think had I left her there she may have went to sleep, I was told afterward that the beds were really soft and by the look of it Summer seemed to agree. Hey and at least her feet were clean, shew I was worried they would be just as dirty as her shoes.
Overall we had a wonderful time, the food was delicious, my coworkers are friendly and charming and easy to hang around, none of them minded that Summer came either, yes she was the only child too, someone else was suppose to bring their daughter and they were suppose to play together but they ended up getting a sitter and not letting me know...(you know who you are buddy!!!) but the time went fast and before I knew it it was 8:40 and time to go. Summer normally goes to bed at 8:30 so this was a late night for my princess. It was a quick 20 minute drive home and Summer fell asleep almost as soon as we got in the car and slept until we got home, slept through changing into pajamas, and slept while I carried her upstairs and put her into bed. Today she is in a great mood, all the partying and staying out late, eating strange foods and being around strange people did nothing for her morale today. If only we had more company parties.
Thursday, June 25, 2009
The Front Yard
There are so many things to do in the front yard, and like most people, I go out with my camera in hand looking closely at our flowers hoping to find a big bug. Ok most people probably don't go looking for bugs but I do, I love capturing a creepy critter sitting on a beautiful flower. Unfortunately I did not capture any bugs the other day, there was this one worm ... he was small and on a flower, and I did go get my macro lenses hoping to capture a cool picture of him but it was breezy and all of the photos were blurry. I did end up getting 2 flower photos that I really liked. The first one was simple, calm, mostly in focus.
The second photo was of another flower with a big middle part, oh don't you love my wonderful terminology, and I think it came out interesting and colorful.
And while I was pretending to be a budding photographer Summer played happily with a few toys on the sidewalk.
Those toys are from Disneyland - well you can probably buy them anywhere but I bought them while we were at Disneyland a few weeks ago. Summer loves playing with "people" type toys. She is starting to pretend play but mostly just likes setting all the little "people" around in different spots. I helped her set all of the people up all over the sidewalk. She has the Disney set and the Princess set. I call Summer my little princess and recently I taught her how to sing like a princess, ah ah ah ah ah - well it doesn't come out right on a blog but you can imagine how the princesses sing on the cartoons, insane opera type stuff I guess but she does it very low and it is so cute. When she does it I tell her - "AH you are a princess!" and I get a big grin from her.
Speaking of which, can you believe with the millions of photos I have taken of her I still have not captured her dimple? I don't get it, I have seen this dimple, she has one, but she has to have her mouth just so, it is a small dimple just like her daddy. Maybe one of these days she will give me a big smile and I will catch it, oh well until then here is another photo.
Summer was not enjoying her time outside as much as I was. She didn't really want to go in, or maybe she did, she was not complaining but kept going over to the door and saying "papa inside" and "daddy inside". It was hot out so maybe she was hot. Look at those feet, see how dirty her feet get when we go outside? We didn't stay outside too much longer, I can only take so many pictures anyway and it was pretty hot out, and windy.
I probably won't get a chance to take photos tonight, Summer and I are attending a company function at one of the new casino's in town, and as much as I would like to bring my fancy camera, I am not sure it is appropriate. I wouldn't take photos of the hotel, well maybe I would, I bet I could find something interesting that would make a great photo, but mostly I would take photos of Summer sitting or standing next to cool colorful things. I can only imagine what we will see, and my friend is taking his daughter so another prop err person to photograph. I might bring it and see how it goes, even if I don't take photos at the event I should snap off a few before we leave because papa bought Summer some new outfits yesterday and I plan on putting her in a new dress for tonight. I will fix up her hair in some cute piggies and put on her sandals, she is going to be so stinking cute!
Off topic slightly, I saw the last episode of Jon & Kate last night, well not the last but the one with their issues being publicized and it was a mother's day special, did you see how cute the little girls hair looked, oh my gosh, I can't wait to do that. Oh and since we are on the subject of cute, I just ordered Summer the cutest princessiest dress I have ever seen off eBay. She will wear it to her birthday party and on her actually birthday. I want to get a second outfit to change into at the party before the cake but this dress is super full and poofy. I can't wait to put it on her, she loved having her Easter dress on, especially when I told her it was her princess dress. I wonder, am I creating a monster?
The second photo was of another flower with a big middle part, oh don't you love my wonderful terminology, and I think it came out interesting and colorful.
And while I was pretending to be a budding photographer Summer played happily with a few toys on the sidewalk.
Those toys are from Disneyland - well you can probably buy them anywhere but I bought them while we were at Disneyland a few weeks ago. Summer loves playing with "people" type toys. She is starting to pretend play but mostly just likes setting all the little "people" around in different spots. I helped her set all of the people up all over the sidewalk. She has the Disney set and the Princess set. I call Summer my little princess and recently I taught her how to sing like a princess, ah ah ah ah ah - well it doesn't come out right on a blog but you can imagine how the princesses sing on the cartoons, insane opera type stuff I guess but she does it very low and it is so cute. When she does it I tell her - "AH you are a princess!" and I get a big grin from her.
Speaking of which, can you believe with the millions of photos I have taken of her I still have not captured her dimple? I don't get it, I have seen this dimple, she has one, but she has to have her mouth just so, it is a small dimple just like her daddy. Maybe one of these days she will give me a big smile and I will catch it, oh well until then here is another photo.
Summer was not enjoying her time outside as much as I was. She didn't really want to go in, or maybe she did, she was not complaining but kept going over to the door and saying "papa inside" and "daddy inside". It was hot out so maybe she was hot. Look at those feet, see how dirty her feet get when we go outside? We didn't stay outside too much longer, I can only take so many pictures anyway and it was pretty hot out, and windy.
I probably won't get a chance to take photos tonight, Summer and I are attending a company function at one of the new casino's in town, and as much as I would like to bring my fancy camera, I am not sure it is appropriate. I wouldn't take photos of the hotel, well maybe I would, I bet I could find something interesting that would make a great photo, but mostly I would take photos of Summer sitting or standing next to cool colorful things. I can only imagine what we will see, and my friend is taking his daughter so another prop err person to photograph. I might bring it and see how it goes, even if I don't take photos at the event I should snap off a few before we leave because papa bought Summer some new outfits yesterday and I plan on putting her in a new dress for tonight. I will fix up her hair in some cute piggies and put on her sandals, she is going to be so stinking cute!
Off topic slightly, I saw the last episode of Jon & Kate last night, well not the last but the one with their issues being publicized and it was a mother's day special, did you see how cute the little girls hair looked, oh my gosh, I can't wait to do that. Oh and since we are on the subject of cute, I just ordered Summer the cutest princessiest dress I have ever seen off eBay. She will wear it to her birthday party and on her actually birthday. I want to get a second outfit to change into at the party before the cake but this dress is super full and poofy. I can't wait to put it on her, she loved having her Easter dress on, especially when I told her it was her princess dress. I wonder, am I creating a monster?
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
The Grand Canyon
Many people have seen the Grand Canyon and it was our turn, so on Sunday, as requested for Father's Day, we woke up at 3:30AM, got ready and hit the road for what was suppose to be a 4 1/2 hour drive. Mapquest is usually right, in fact it usually over calculates the time, or so I thought because it actually took us 5 hours to get there and 6 hours to get back. There was a lovely hour delay going through the Hoover Damn area. Even so, 11 hours in the car in one day was not as bad as you would expect with 3 adults and a little toddler, Summer did so much better than I anticipated.
We arrived at the canyon around 9:00 AM, as we rolled through the access we were surprised with a free pass, apparently Father's Day is a free National Park day, so we saved $25 right away. We started at the south rim and I quickly realized that we were going to be doing a lot of walking and hiking. Well, by a lot I mean more than I had anticipated. It was a beautiful day, mid 70's, slight breeze in most spots, one of the ledges had a horrible current and the wind was strong enough to knock you right off the side. At one point the wind caused Summer to lose her balance and she did fall over, but not hard enough to get hurt. We spent about 4 hours at the Grand Canyon, we had lunch at one of the cafe's in the park and by around 1:00 Summer was in desperate need of a nap and we had had enough sun, wind, and cool views to call it a day. I don't recommend anyone making the drive from Vegas in one day, it was a really long day but we were in good spirits and the trip was still enjoyable. We had breakfast at McDonalds on the way going, McDonalds is such a travel icon, and we stopped at McDonalds again on the way back for a treat.
This photo was taken as we were headed back to the car to begin our journey home. Summer is only smiling because she was delirious and exhausted. She actually walked and ran most of the time, she really enjoyed walking on the rocks and through the trees, more than I realized. I think if I was to ask her if she wanted to go hiking she would most definitely say yes and grab her monkey. We kept her monkey on to keep things safe, do you realize how easy it would be to fall off the side?
I love this photo because it was right after we arrived, Summer loves the dirt and the rocks and apparently likes wiping her hands on her face after touching the dirt and rocks. I thought her face was so cute so I didn't bother wiping it off, well I did eventually, just not right away, besides, she would probably just get it dirty again anyway.
Papa was really not enjoying the day. We were higher up in elevation and it was harder to breath, luckily Kris and I had been working out for the past two months or we probably would have been suffering from the short walks as well. I also think Cliff was a little worried about the edges and Summer falling. Even though we were good about keeping her away from the edges these kids are fast and you can't help to worry, but I think he enjoyed seeing the Canyon and spending time with us.
He, however, was not a big fan of the car ride, I think he would have preferred we stay somewhere and get a room. I rode in the back seat with Summer on the way there and 1/2 the ride back but he got the last part of the trip and had to help keep Summer occupied. Speaking of car rides I have a new weapon to help with what I call the beginning of turning 2, the precursor to what is to come, the annoying part that we are already experiencing, you may know it better as simple whining! Suckers - I find that small dumb dumbs, while crazy messy, are a great way to calm down a whining toddler. I don't understand the whining I mean she has a great communication system going, we understand most everything she says, she can get her point across, yet the whining continues almost daily now.
I hate to resort to candy, I thought about trying celery or carrots but I just don't think it will have the same effect. I think the photo of Summer and Daddy sitting out on the canyon edge is one of my favorites, this was towards the end of the trip, we were just hanging out because we knew we were about to leave, Summer was happy to sit and play in the rocks and dirt and she had such a great view, yet somehow I don't think she really appreciated it yet.
Lucky for her I take so many photos so she will be able to look back and see what a great trip we took when she was little and think what cool parents she has, parent's that do all kinds of cool things, like go to the Grand Canyon in a day just for her. Maybe not just for her, but we took her and she had a great time walking around and seeing new things, getting outside for the day - which reminds me to mention, yes we used sunscreen, actually Summer and I did, Kris and Cliff chose to get a nice sunburn instead, I guess it intensified the experience more for them. No sunburns on this mom or baby! It wasn't a bad burn really, they just got a little red.
So as we were driving home we were making great time, figured we would surely be home by 6 at the latest and all of a sudden, the traffic stopped! The Hoover Damn is such a pain, I am so glad they are adding the new bridge. Since we were going a whopping 5 mph through the Hoover Damn area we decided to stop and get out and stretch our legs, afterall we had been driving for 5 hours already. I snapped a few thousand pictures, of course, but liked this one of Cliff and Summer.
I am not exactly sure what Summer was trying to do, maybe she was counting because she holds her hands out when she counts, or she was trying to make us magically appear at home, wait that is what I was trying to do! Anyway the water in Lake Mead was so blue and pretty, why have we never gone to the lake to hang out, the lake is only 30 minutes away. I am going to find out how much it costs to rent a boat and try to do that this summer, I want to go every summer but I mean it this time! Well maybe, we have only so many weekends and we want to get to the ocean too. One last photo to make you go ooooh and awwww, or not, I am not impressed by massively huge manmade structures, like damns and bridges, but some people are so here you people go - this is a photo of the new road/bridge thing they are building, the bridge that should eliminate that hour delay we had to endure, the bridge that probably costs millions of dollars. This picture does not do it justice, it is humongous, large, and it looks to me like it would be very heavy, especially if it fell! I don't know how long it is suppose to take but it looks like it is almost together, just one more piece in the middle and it should be close. Amazes me how people can build something so ... large!
We had a great trip, we will never do it again, especially in one day, but it was a nice thing to do on an otherwise boring Father's Day. I don't know if Kris and Cliff felt special but they were at least exhausted, sun and wind burnt and they both slept well on Sunday night. As for me, I am going to make sure we do something really cool next Mother's Day. I don't know what I want to do yet but it won't be another quick trip to the park like last time! As always, thanks for reading.
We arrived at the canyon around 9:00 AM, as we rolled through the access we were surprised with a free pass, apparently Father's Day is a free National Park day, so we saved $25 right away. We started at the south rim and I quickly realized that we were going to be doing a lot of walking and hiking. Well, by a lot I mean more than I had anticipated. It was a beautiful day, mid 70's, slight breeze in most spots, one of the ledges had a horrible current and the wind was strong enough to knock you right off the side. At one point the wind caused Summer to lose her balance and she did fall over, but not hard enough to get hurt. We spent about 4 hours at the Grand Canyon, we had lunch at one of the cafe's in the park and by around 1:00 Summer was in desperate need of a nap and we had had enough sun, wind, and cool views to call it a day. I don't recommend anyone making the drive from Vegas in one day, it was a really long day but we were in good spirits and the trip was still enjoyable. We had breakfast at McDonalds on the way going, McDonalds is such a travel icon, and we stopped at McDonalds again on the way back for a treat.
This photo was taken as we were headed back to the car to begin our journey home. Summer is only smiling because she was delirious and exhausted. She actually walked and ran most of the time, she really enjoyed walking on the rocks and through the trees, more than I realized. I think if I was to ask her if she wanted to go hiking she would most definitely say yes and grab her monkey. We kept her monkey on to keep things safe, do you realize how easy it would be to fall off the side?
I love this photo because it was right after we arrived, Summer loves the dirt and the rocks and apparently likes wiping her hands on her face after touching the dirt and rocks. I thought her face was so cute so I didn't bother wiping it off, well I did eventually, just not right away, besides, she would probably just get it dirty again anyway.
Papa was really not enjoying the day. We were higher up in elevation and it was harder to breath, luckily Kris and I had been working out for the past two months or we probably would have been suffering from the short walks as well. I also think Cliff was a little worried about the edges and Summer falling. Even though we were good about keeping her away from the edges these kids are fast and you can't help to worry, but I think he enjoyed seeing the Canyon and spending time with us.
He, however, was not a big fan of the car ride, I think he would have preferred we stay somewhere and get a room. I rode in the back seat with Summer on the way there and 1/2 the ride back but he got the last part of the trip and had to help keep Summer occupied. Speaking of car rides I have a new weapon to help with what I call the beginning of turning 2, the precursor to what is to come, the annoying part that we are already experiencing, you may know it better as simple whining! Suckers - I find that small dumb dumbs, while crazy messy, are a great way to calm down a whining toddler. I don't understand the whining I mean she has a great communication system going, we understand most everything she says, she can get her point across, yet the whining continues almost daily now.
I hate to resort to candy, I thought about trying celery or carrots but I just don't think it will have the same effect. I think the photo of Summer and Daddy sitting out on the canyon edge is one of my favorites, this was towards the end of the trip, we were just hanging out because we knew we were about to leave, Summer was happy to sit and play in the rocks and dirt and she had such a great view, yet somehow I don't think she really appreciated it yet.
Lucky for her I take so many photos so she will be able to look back and see what a great trip we took when she was little and think what cool parents she has, parent's that do all kinds of cool things, like go to the Grand Canyon in a day just for her. Maybe not just for her, but we took her and she had a great time walking around and seeing new things, getting outside for the day - which reminds me to mention, yes we used sunscreen, actually Summer and I did, Kris and Cliff chose to get a nice sunburn instead, I guess it intensified the experience more for them. No sunburns on this mom or baby! It wasn't a bad burn really, they just got a little red.
So as we were driving home we were making great time, figured we would surely be home by 6 at the latest and all of a sudden, the traffic stopped! The Hoover Damn is such a pain, I am so glad they are adding the new bridge. Since we were going a whopping 5 mph through the Hoover Damn area we decided to stop and get out and stretch our legs, afterall we had been driving for 5 hours already. I snapped a few thousand pictures, of course, but liked this one of Cliff and Summer.
I am not exactly sure what Summer was trying to do, maybe she was counting because she holds her hands out when she counts, or she was trying to make us magically appear at home, wait that is what I was trying to do! Anyway the water in Lake Mead was so blue and pretty, why have we never gone to the lake to hang out, the lake is only 30 minutes away. I am going to find out how much it costs to rent a boat and try to do that this summer, I want to go every summer but I mean it this time! Well maybe, we have only so many weekends and we want to get to the ocean too. One last photo to make you go ooooh and awwww, or not, I am not impressed by massively huge manmade structures, like damns and bridges, but some people are so here you people go - this is a photo of the new road/bridge thing they are building, the bridge that should eliminate that hour delay we had to endure, the bridge that probably costs millions of dollars. This picture does not do it justice, it is humongous, large, and it looks to me like it would be very heavy, especially if it fell! I don't know how long it is suppose to take but it looks like it is almost together, just one more piece in the middle and it should be close. Amazes me how people can build something so ... large!
We had a great trip, we will never do it again, especially in one day, but it was a nice thing to do on an otherwise boring Father's Day. I don't know if Kris and Cliff felt special but they were at least exhausted, sun and wind burnt and they both slept well on Sunday night. As for me, I am going to make sure we do something really cool next Mother's Day. I don't know what I want to do yet but it won't be another quick trip to the park like last time! As always, thanks for reading.
Monday, June 22, 2009
Photo Shoot
I went to a new park on Saturday to take some pictures of a friend and her four month old baby. I was impressed with how well the photos looked because I took them all in manual! I really feel like I am getting the hang of the camera settings. This picture of Summer is cute because we were playing peak-a-boo around the tree. I had to quickly snap the picture before she ducked back and hid. It was a nice overcast day, which is always better for good pictures. Like I mentioned, the park was new and nice except most of it, including the play area, was closed for renovation. There was a rose garden but it was locked. It had a small lake so we walked around and enjoyed the smells and green trees. It was a windy day, which is unusual in Vegas. I also met Jessica & Chloe, JC & Betty Mae at the park but didn't get to spend much time with them, too busy taking photos I guess. Does everyone else look at stairs as a photo opportunity? I love the way Summer will do what I ask, like sit on the stairs, play with a leaf so I can take a horrible photo of you. It isn't really horrible but very blah, but at least my little love child is happy to sit there and play with the leaf.
We went to the Grand Canyon on Sunday, I haven't had time to look through all those photos yet, I hope we got some good ones, I will probably look through them tonight and post again tomorrow.
We went to the Grand Canyon on Sunday, I haven't had time to look through all those photos yet, I hope we got some good ones, I will probably look through them tonight and post again tomorrow.
Thursday, June 18, 2009
Pictures Anyone
What kind of blogger doesn't post pictures - a lazy one and I am sorry, I haven't posted pictures in SUCH a long time, I have just been lazy. I take pictures all the time, and by all the time I mean ALL the time, at least 2-4 times a week. I am still addicted to getting good photos, you know, good - high quality photographer style. I almost took a photography class but like any good naturally talented artist I convinced myself that I can teach myself, after all I do have a natural talent right? (laugh) ya shut up I do ok I think.
Anyway I am going to start adding pictures to make you happy, and so I can no longer call myself lazy! I took pictures of Summer on Tuesday night. It was the perfect temperature outside and the weather was overcast, which makes for wonderful lighting if I do say so myself. I always struggle with getting pictures that show how beautiful the eyes are but I think this set captured it nicely, what do you think?
Summer has started to take an interest in dressing herself. I think a lot of kids her age are already doing basic things like pulling up and down pants, taking off shoes but this hasn't clicked for my child yet. Hopefully she is more graceful than her mother, goodness knows I have issues with balance! If balance has anything to do with getting dressed (actually does it?) anyway the norm at our house is barefoot, even outside most of the time can be shoeless because the grass feels so nice on the bare feet. Since it is warming up outside, the driveway and sidewalk are becoming lava scorchers so the need for shoes, at least in the front yard, will probably increase. I put shoes on Summer on Tuesday so we could go take pictures, the plan was to take pictures of ants, but as you can see from the pictures above, Summer is no ant and I did not get any good pictures of an ant, I need a different lens for that apparently. The shoes I put on her little piggies were shoes she doesn't normally wear but still cute and I figured we weren't going to be out there long so who needs socks. From what I can tell Summer didn't like the shoes or doesn't like the shoes without socks and wanted them off. I always take her shoes off when she wants them off, except this past Tuesday, I told her to take them off herself, she is a big girl now, and while she struggled with the shoe monster I took a picture.
Because that is what a good mom does, she takes pictures of everything, even the small things, the unimportant little things that end up meaning the most. No, she never did get the shoe off without help, I had to slide the shoe off the heal and then she was able to do the rest. She was happy, I was happy, and I like the picture.
Anyway I am going to start adding pictures to make you happy, and so I can no longer call myself lazy! I took pictures of Summer on Tuesday night. It was the perfect temperature outside and the weather was overcast, which makes for wonderful lighting if I do say so myself. I always struggle with getting pictures that show how beautiful the eyes are but I think this set captured it nicely, what do you think?
Summer has started to take an interest in dressing herself. I think a lot of kids her age are already doing basic things like pulling up and down pants, taking off shoes but this hasn't clicked for my child yet. Hopefully she is more graceful than her mother, goodness knows I have issues with balance! If balance has anything to do with getting dressed (actually does it?) anyway the norm at our house is barefoot, even outside most of the time can be shoeless because the grass feels so nice on the bare feet. Since it is warming up outside, the driveway and sidewalk are becoming lava scorchers so the need for shoes, at least in the front yard, will probably increase. I put shoes on Summer on Tuesday so we could go take pictures, the plan was to take pictures of ants, but as you can see from the pictures above, Summer is no ant and I did not get any good pictures of an ant, I need a different lens for that apparently. The shoes I put on her little piggies were shoes she doesn't normally wear but still cute and I figured we weren't going to be out there long so who needs socks. From what I can tell Summer didn't like the shoes or doesn't like the shoes without socks and wanted them off. I always take her shoes off when she wants them off, except this past Tuesday, I told her to take them off herself, she is a big girl now, and while she struggled with the shoe monster I took a picture.
Because that is what a good mom does, she takes pictures of everything, even the small things, the unimportant little things that end up meaning the most. No, she never did get the shoe off without help, I had to slide the shoe off the heal and then she was able to do the rest. She was happy, I was happy, and I like the picture.
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
Summerisms
We use icky for anything she should not touch, icky bugs, icky toilet, icky dog butt lol it is all icky. Don't touch that it is ICKY. We clean up doggy poop in the back yard almost every day and ask her to help us find the "icky poopy"
We were watching Sesame Street last night and somehow Summer recognized Marco - the boy that one lady adopted. He isn't on the show much at all and Kris and I were like WTH - I didn't even remember his name, I thought it was Marcus.
If Summer is doing something she shouldn't, like standing on a table or running, I tell her, are you suppose to "stand on a table" or "run" Mr. Noodle to imply she is being silly and knows better than do that. Then I say, "where are you suppose to stand" etc. I think it works pretty good.
She has also been putting her finger up her nose more lately /sigh so I have been trying the "is that where your finger goes Mr. Noodle" lol I hope it works.
Summer learned how to say "octagon" from Sesame Street and loves that word. It sounds SO funny when she says it.
From the other room Summer can spot the bag of suckers on top of the fridge. I keep moving them back so she can't see them. She spots the bag, "candy, mommy candy, (grabs hand, pulls me to the fridge, points) "candy mommy"
When I am cooking dinner and she is under foot I will tell her it is "almost ready" and "10 more minutes" to which she will repeat "almost ready, 10 more minutes"
Summer will grab two pieces of paper and say "two dollars, two dollars" - I have no clue where she got that one from.
Sometimes I will ask Summer for a kiss and she will tell me to "kiss daddy" instead. She likes to see us kiss but if we hug she has to get in between us.
I always tell Summer, "mommy loves you" and then I will ask her "who loves you?" to which she will reply Papa or Daddy - stinker
We were watching Sesame Street last night and somehow Summer recognized Marco - the boy that one lady adopted. He isn't on the show much at all and Kris and I were like WTH - I didn't even remember his name, I thought it was Marcus.
If Summer is doing something she shouldn't, like standing on a table or running, I tell her, are you suppose to "stand on a table" or "run" Mr. Noodle to imply she is being silly and knows better than do that. Then I say, "where are you suppose to stand" etc. I think it works pretty good.
She has also been putting her finger up her nose more lately /sigh so I have been trying the "is that where your finger goes Mr. Noodle" lol I hope it works.
Summer learned how to say "octagon" from Sesame Street and loves that word. It sounds SO funny when she says it.
From the other room Summer can spot the bag of suckers on top of the fridge. I keep moving them back so she can't see them. She spots the bag, "candy, mommy candy, (grabs hand, pulls me to the fridge, points) "candy mommy"
When I am cooking dinner and she is under foot I will tell her it is "almost ready" and "10 more minutes" to which she will repeat "almost ready, 10 more minutes"
Summer will grab two pieces of paper and say "two dollars, two dollars" - I have no clue where she got that one from.
Sometimes I will ask Summer for a kiss and she will tell me to "kiss daddy" instead. She likes to see us kiss but if we hug she has to get in between us.
I always tell Summer, "mommy loves you" and then I will ask her "who loves you?" to which she will reply Papa or Daddy - stinker
Tuesday, June 9, 2009
The Things They Say/Do
The best part about my job and having to be away from Summer is chat, I love IM, at anytime I can send Kris a message and ask him how everyone is doing.
Kris just sent me this in an IM (instant message for those of you who are computer illiterate):
she just ran up and said daddy, I got a booger in it while poking at her nose
I have never actually seen her get anything out of her nose but she has had her finger in there lately, I don't think she is that skilled yet to get anything out but we will begin teaching her the basics of nose blowing and tissue later :o)
he also said this:
earlier lexi snapped at her got her arm a little and she almost cried ...then she told us to get lexi some food lol, maybe she thought lexi was hungry
Apparently she was sitting on the couch next to Lexi our dog and flipped a book and hit her, Lexi is very stupid and annoying dog but I don't think she really bit her hard, she just snaps and pinches.
I love this age!
Kris just sent me this in an IM (instant message for those of you who are computer illiterate):
she just ran up and said daddy, I got a booger in it while poking at her nose
I have never actually seen her get anything out of her nose but she has had her finger in there lately, I don't think she is that skilled yet to get anything out but we will begin teaching her the basics of nose blowing and tissue later :o)
he also said this:
earlier lexi snapped at her got her arm a little and she almost cried ...then she told us to get lexi some food lol, maybe she thought lexi was hungry
Apparently she was sitting on the couch next to Lexi our dog and flipped a book and hit her, Lexi is very stupid and annoying dog but I don't think she really bit her hard, she just snaps and pinches.
I love this age!
Disneyland was a hit!
Summer and I had a great visit to Disneyland, I was worried she would be too young but she had a great time. We didn't think we were going to get to go because last Wednesday Papa and Daddy took her to Chuck E Cheese and she woke up Thursday morning with a 100+ fever but I suspected it would be a 24 hour thing and it was, it was over by Friday afternoon.
We left on Saturday around lunch time, I made sandwiches for the drive which was going to take about 4.5 hours. I hoped we could eat, sleep and then we would almost be there. The plan worked fine for Summer, Ana however was awake the entire time but she was really good and quiet. Summer napped for just over an hour and woke up happy as could be. We got to Heather's house in Huntington Beach around 4:30 on Saturday, everyone else had already arrived, Tina and Aubrey, Lauren, her husband, Thomas and baby Josiah and of course Heather, her husband and Marin were there. Summer was shy at first sitting on my lap and just smiling but she finally found her groove and got up and walked around and started playing. We ate a very yummy BBQ, hamburgers, hotdogs, fruit and tater tots, Summer ate wonderfully as I knew she would. We stayed up late, 9:30, just an hour later than normal and Summer was so ready for bed. I used Tina's pack n play and Summer was out within 5 minutes of laying down. I slept good considering how humid it was :o)
On Sunday we slept in, we were not in a rush to get to the park, I heard Summer talking around 5:15 and grabbed her and put her in bed with me but she fell back asleep until around 7:15, then we got up, brushed our teeth and I took her into the toy room to play until everyone else slowly got up.
We ended up in the parking garage of Disneyland around 10:30 and stayed until after 8:00 - which was the plan, leave late so the girls could sleep for the ride home, and that worked too just like we expected.
We went on several rides, Dumbo, a train, tea cups, the carousel, It's a Small World (but Summer slept through the first time), pirates of the Caribbean, Winnie the Pooh, and back to It's a Small World. We had a yummy lunch, burger for me, turkey wrap for Summer, we saw a street parade and Summer enjoyed a big sucker that Casey bought for the girls, we took photos with Pooh, Tigger and Mickey Mouse. Overall it was a great day, I was really concerned we would run out of things to do if we stayed more than a day but we easily could have done another day. We were 5 minutes from the beach when we were at Heather's house but I didn't realize it, we could have spent some time on the beach, I guess that means we will have to go back soon, Casey said something about going for her birthday in August - I can't wait!
We left on Saturday around lunch time, I made sandwiches for the drive which was going to take about 4.5 hours. I hoped we could eat, sleep and then we would almost be there. The plan worked fine for Summer, Ana however was awake the entire time but she was really good and quiet. Summer napped for just over an hour and woke up happy as could be. We got to Heather's house in Huntington Beach around 4:30 on Saturday, everyone else had already arrived, Tina and Aubrey, Lauren, her husband, Thomas and baby Josiah and of course Heather, her husband and Marin were there. Summer was shy at first sitting on my lap and just smiling but she finally found her groove and got up and walked around and started playing. We ate a very yummy BBQ, hamburgers, hotdogs, fruit and tater tots, Summer ate wonderfully as I knew she would. We stayed up late, 9:30, just an hour later than normal and Summer was so ready for bed. I used Tina's pack n play and Summer was out within 5 minutes of laying down. I slept good considering how humid it was :o)
On Sunday we slept in, we were not in a rush to get to the park, I heard Summer talking around 5:15 and grabbed her and put her in bed with me but she fell back asleep until around 7:15, then we got up, brushed our teeth and I took her into the toy room to play until everyone else slowly got up.
We ended up in the parking garage of Disneyland around 10:30 and stayed until after 8:00 - which was the plan, leave late so the girls could sleep for the ride home, and that worked too just like we expected.
We went on several rides, Dumbo, a train, tea cups, the carousel, It's a Small World (but Summer slept through the first time), pirates of the Caribbean, Winnie the Pooh, and back to It's a Small World. We had a yummy lunch, burger for me, turkey wrap for Summer, we saw a street parade and Summer enjoyed a big sucker that Casey bought for the girls, we took photos with Pooh, Tigger and Mickey Mouse. Overall it was a great day, I was really concerned we would run out of things to do if we stayed more than a day but we easily could have done another day. We were 5 minutes from the beach when we were at Heather's house but I didn't realize it, we could have spent some time on the beach, I guess that means we will have to go back soon, Casey said something about going for her birthday in August - I can't wait!
Thursday, June 4, 2009
Forgot to mention
The following night after the potty incident I got home from work and took Summer into the bathroom where she proceeded to immediately pee it the toilet. WOOHOO I thought, she must be ready so I put on big girl undies on. Not 20 minutes later she pooped in those undies. I guess she isn't ready lol and that is OK, she will be ready eventually and I will too.
99
Summer was hot this morning when I got her out of bed, I suspected a fever and I also suspect that Chuck E Cheese was to blame! This is the 4th trip to Chuck E Cheese and the 3rd time she will have gotten sick afterward. I am hoping since it came on so quickly that it is the 24 hour bug and goes away fast because we have plans this weekend, major plans, we are going to Disneyland and will be visiting cafemom friends, lots of them, so she better be better soon! Figures she would get sick. Luckily I am not even worried about the fever, I am not suspecting the bird or pig flu, I am not anticipating anything serious, I am just thinking she has the little kid cold that all little kids get and need to get so they build up their little immunities and grow up to be a strong healthy person. I have come a long way! Right now she is at home with daddy, last I checked her appetite was fine, she had energy and did not have a fever. I hope she remains healthy by the time I get home, I was thinking about a long overdue photo shoot, grandma bought her a cute little pink OU outfit and I was going to try to capture some photos with a basketball on a basketball court - that is if OU is a basketball team, which I think it is, it is isn't it? I better make sure but I think so.
Tuesday, June 2, 2009
I am not ready for this!
Last night after dinner I decided to take Summer to the duck park. I was so tired but knew if I didn't I would just lay around and be miserable so that was the plan. I took her into the bathroom because we needed a new diaper and clothes and she said, "I want to go potty". I never deny her the chance to sit on her little pink toilet, after all I didn't buy it to be used as a floor decoration, so I took her shoes, socks, pants and diaper off and let her sit while I got my socks and shoes on. She sat, she sat, she sat, she got up but then sat. I wanted to go to the park so I told her to come on and get a diaper on but she didn't want to - she wanted to sit. I was a little annoyed to be honest, I am such an impatient person and she clearly was not going but I waited and she farted, or as we tell her to say, tooted. I thought to myself, maybe she does have to go. 5 or so minutes went by and she gets up and said all done, to which I thought FINALLY we can get your dressed and go to the park. Then I noticed green poop down her leg! I looked in the toilet and sure enough she went - eww and it was kinda runny and I guess when she jumped up some flew on her leg. I was shocked, how in the world did she knew she needed to go and know to come do it on the potty??? I cleaned her and the potty, praised her, offered to go get her some candy for doing such a good job (pieces of a broken sucker that I slowly give her). I am not ready and she may not be, it could have just been one of those things but I told Kris to keep encouraging her today and remind her. We will see if he does, however I am still proud of her. I didn't think to take a picture like Jon and Kate either ewww haha.
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