The Joy of Camping

I have a Love/Hate relationship with camping.

A few things I LOVE:
*Eating guilt-free s'mores (it's not a true camping trip without them, right?)
*Lay's Potato Chips and French Onion Dip
*Being out on the boat. It was Ellie's first time. We were pleasantly surprised that she loved it (after a 10-minute rough patch when she wasn't so thrilled about wearing a life vest.)*Playing cards, Catch Phrase, etc.
*Not wearing a stitch of make-up or drying my hair. No one cares.
*Drinking coffee early in the morning and relaxing. Sort of relaxing. There's only so much of that when you have a 13-month-old.
*Feeling like you have warped back in time. It's a simple life.A few things I DON'T love:
*The flies. This is a huge one for me. I hate flies more then spiders, snakes, or any other kind of pest. Yuck.
*The heat. It was the end of July. Everything was kind of hot and sticky.
*The bathroom facilities. Enough said.
*It's not necessarily the best night of sleep.
*The set-up/clean-up. There's kind of a lot of dirt, laundry, preparation, etc.

Overall, we had a great time. Angel's Camp made for a perfect July weekend. Thanks Mark and Claudia for letting us use the RV (no, we weren't in a tent, otherwise I would have a lot more to add to my DON'T love list). I hope we can go again soon, but I probably need a couple months.

Catching Up

I feel like I used to blog about more random thoughts, events, etc. and that lately my blog has become more about catching up on past events. Because catching up takes a lot longer to do, I've started blogging less. Maybe these things just go in waves depending on my mood. Anyway...it has been a fun month and summer has been in full swing. We have been staying pretty close to home and enjoying all that the East Bay has to offer (there's a lot).

Poor Knute sort of got the short end of the stick when I never made a Father's Day Post. He is a wonderful, involved, and loving father. Ellie is a lucky girl to have him as a dad. The Saturday of Father's Day weekend we went to Tilden Park in Berkley. Knute wanted to take Ellie on the carousel and didn't realize that other parents stand NEXT to their children when on the ride. He decided that he wanted to ride the giraffe with Ellie.

We had a nice picnic lunch with Kaden.

We visited the petting zoo and saw cows, pigs, chickens, etc., but everything was still "doggy."

We dragged Ellie's first birthday out for almost a week. There were presents, friends, family, cake, cake, and more cake. Who could ask for anything more?Doesn't everyone look like they're having fun?

4th of July came around again. It felt like we had just celebrated this holiday. It was Ellie's first year to be in the parade. She had fun "driving" her pink love bug.1st Fourth of July @ 10 days old We ended the parade at Mark and Claudia's house for a BBQ with friends and family complete with watermelon enjoyed by Ellie.

A Year in the Life

Ellie's first year of life will draw to a close on June 24th. I've been reflecting a lot about it this last week. Although I'm excited to see what the next year has in store, it makes me a little sad to say goodbye to a year filled with firsts. I realize that I'm probably being a bit dramatic, but this is my BABY.

Looking Back...

June. Taking your first bath at John Muir Hospital. We would spend hours staring at you in amazement. I thought you were the most breathtaking sight I ever saw.

July. Your hair is so dark and spiky. I almost wouldn't recognize you.

August. Here you are celebrating Dad's 30th Birthday in Aptos. It was your first trip to the beach.September. What a little Peanut! You started to enjoy your Bumbo seat. Your sweet personality really started to emerge.

October. We dressed you up as a Dalmation for Halloween, but most people thought you were a Cow. I think you wore that hat a total of 10 minutes.

November. The spiky hair I loved so much began to relax. You went through a big growth spurt and started to get "rubber band" wrists.

December. Here you are for a night out in the city! You are always the life of our party.

January. Your hair started to get blonder. Do I talk about your hair a lot? Here you are eating Saltine crackers. They were your favorite at the time.

February. You were my funny Valentine.

March. We took our first vacation as a family to Hawaii. You weren't really interested in relaxing on the beach, but enjoyed looking at the fish in the hotel lobby.

April. I dyed you two dozen Easter Eggs and you could have cared less, but you sure were happy!
May. You started to look more like a "big girl" and less like a baby.

June. We've come almost full circle now. This is where you enjoy spending the majority of your day (outside).

Wherever did the time go???

Say Cheese!

We had some new pictures of Ellie taken that I can't resist showing off. Knute's Senior Partner's daughter (follow that?), Courtney Steffens, came over a couple weeks ago for the event. I say event because it involved two hours of constant singing, dancing, and anything else that could get Ellie to smile. Courtney graduated from the Brooks Institute of Photography in Santa Barbara, and although babies aren't her typical subject to photograph, I think she has incredible talent. She even got Rudy to cooperate for a short while (and that is an extremely hard thing to do).

Where the Month Went...

For Mother's Day my very nice husband gave me a new camera, but I haven't really figured out how to use it yet. The manual is pretty thick and I feel incredibly stupid every time I open it up because everything is in a foreign language. Foreign to me at least. Apparently Wolf Camera offers free classes on Thursday nights, but that sounds pretty boring. I will put this on my list of "Things to Do." That list grows bigger every day.

What we've been up to lately:

*Ellie and I took a week long trip to Denver to visit my mom and dad. The weather was gorgeous and we spent time entertaining Ellie with trips to the park, Children's Museum, and Tiny Town. We had so much fun and were sad to leave. The plane ride there and back was not so great. It was actually kind of miserable to be honest. I feel really bad for anyone who sat within a ten row radius of us.

*After spending a couple days at home we headed up to Angel's Camp for a fun Memorial Day Weekend with friends. Ellie stayed behind at home with her Nana and Grandpa. It was our first overnight trip without her. I don't think she was hurting for attention. I missed her, but it was good for us to get away for a little adult time. We enjoyed cooking, staying up late playing games, drinking too much beer, and going out on the boat during the day (I even got up to Wake Board). Knute was impressed with his invention of a S'Moreo. It's pretty self-explanatory: a S'More with an Oreo cookie included. Sick.

*We've adjusted to our everyday routine again this week. I have a tornado that lives in my house. Her name is Ellie and she's eleven months old. She pretty much destroys everything in her path. She no longer enjoys playing with her toys, but rather throwing them. Also, how many times does she have to try eating dog food before she realizes it's nasty? I've never tried it myself, but I'm just assuming. When she goes down for a nap I try my best to clean up the wreckage, and when she wakes up, we pretty much repeat this same cycle. I like to get out of the house a lot for this reason. We need a fun, focused activity during the day.

A Few Pictures of our trip to Denver:Visit to Tiny Town

At it again. You can't tear her away from the stuff. My favorite...Cuddle Time
Who doesn't love ice cream?

First Mother's Day

It was 10 months and 16 days ago that I had the great pleasure of becoming a Mother. Elizabeth, thank you for blessing me with one of life's greatest gifts. Thank you for bringing so much joy, love, tears, dirt, and laughter to our home. Thank you for being the wonderful and lovely daughter that you are. Because of you, I am a better person. Because of you, I lead a much richer life.*Ellie has a new obsession with dirt. Yes, dirt. She likes to go outside and throw around bark. I think she would do it for over an hour if I let her. I thought that when you had a girl they would love baby dolls, but my daughter is more interested in dirt.

The Perfect Weekend

I LOVE the weekends. Sometimes they're crammed with so many activities that I feel like we need a couple days to recuperate after the weekend (which is supposed to be a time of rest, right?). Sometimes they're lazy and we spend most of our time hanging out on the couch. Sometimes they're highly productive and the garage gets cleaned, projects get done, etc. Sometimes the combination of a happy child, well-rested mother, and beautiful weather make for a perfect weekend. That was how this one went.

On Saturday morning I made breakfast burritos after Knute took Rudy out for exercise, and then we headed to Anthropologie (I had a gift card that's been burning a hole in my pocket since Christmas). It's my favorite store. Knute and Ellie stayed outside and watched the ducks while I took my sweet time. On our way home they dropped me off at Tomatina to have lunch with Shawn. She was in town from San Diego for a couple days. I love Shawn and I love Tomatina.

On Saturday night we headed to El Charro for a 30th Birthday Party and left Ellie with her first babysitter (that wasn't family). She didn't even cry when we left which I was relieved about, but it secretly made me a little sad. I called about once every hour, but I was OK. I was in the company of good friends and I was still able to enjoy my Margaritas.

Ellie slept in until about 7:30 on Sunday. She's been doing that lately and I love her for it. We had a leisurely morning drinking coffee, reading the paper, and eating toast. We headed to the Oakland Zoo in the afternoon with the Schroeders. I think Ellie is more entertained with her own dog then the zoo animals, but it was still a nice time. On the way home we stopped at In-N-Out for an early dinner. I had been craving fast food for weeks and today I had to succumb to my craving. It was totally worth it.
When we got home I spent time in my garden (see...I told you I was serious) planting seeds, tomato plants, and then watering them. Mark really likes to stress the importance of watering. That's all I have to do...just WATER everything! I don't think he realizes that this is what I've struggled with in the past.
Later I went on a run with Ellie and Rudy (well...sort of a run/walk).

Now it's Sunday evening and I just got finished reading my exhausted 10-month-old "Goodnight Moon" and putting her to bed. No, I can't believe she's 10 months old. It sounds so much older then nine.

I'm contemplating ending my Sunday night with a warm bath before snuggling into bed with my favorite person.

It was my version of the perfect weekend. I know they can't all be like this, so I will try my best to treasure these memories.

My 10-Month Old!