Sweet & Sassy

These show the true personalities of my girls. The pictures say it all...

Summer is Over!

I went back to work today. {Waaaah!} This was a great summer! It seemed to go by so fast... as they always do. I have to admit, it was actually fun to be back. I loved seeing my friends & getting caught up on their summers. And, of course I enjoy getting the classroom set up. Everything is so fresh, new, & clean! {Check back with me in October!!}

Edited: This is not my class. {Casey was worried that I might be mistaken for this lady!} This is a photo from April 1971. That seemed like a very good year.

Home Again

After stopping at the Carlsbad Outlet Mall & Starbucks {of course!} we began the long drive home on Wednesday. We drove all day & night & got home Thursday morning. The girls were great travelers! Alison was so excited to be home. She ran around the house - I think she checked every room - & then immediately dug into her toys. It’s always nice to be home after being gone so long, but it’s a sad reminder that I go back to work on Monday!

San Diego Zoo & the beach

The last two outings during our vacation were to the San Diego Zoo and a day at the beach. We enjoyed the zoo & were amazed at how huge it is! We took a tram over the park to see everything, and then hopped on the zoo bus for a guided tour. {Very interesting!} Our last full day in Oceanside was spent at the beach near our condo. After a moment of hesitation, Merilyn was fully engrossed with the sand. She had sand everywhere!

LegoLand

Another adventure... this time to LegoLand! It was another HOT day! The rides were a little slow for our girls {they have gotten used to fast roller coasters}, but everything that was built with Legos was amazing! A complete replica of Washington D.C. all in legos? Amazing!

Crawling and Shamu

Merilyn is finally crawling! Yea! It's not that I want her to grow up quickly - I definitely don't! However, by dragging herself everywhere she managed to get every outfit she owned completely filthy. I probably should've taken advantage of this and created an outfit for her made from mop material. That way when she "slithered" around she would be serving a purpose!! :)
Travis flew in Thursday! We missed him! SeaWorld was another stop on our journey around California. It was fun... and HOT! It was amazing how sunburned we all got - Even after 3 days in the sun at Disneyland!! The sun is different closer to the ocean - whew! {One of our stops on the way home was for “After-Sun” lotion.} Ali went on the ride “Atlantis.” It was a huge water ride - with a steep drop - that turned into a roller coaster. She was tall enough to ride it and was so excited to give it a go. {I think I was more nervous than she was.} She went on with Daddy and Uncle Greg and completely loved it and wanted to go again. {Is she really my daughter?!} So, Casey and I tagged along for a second ride. My throat is still sore from screaming through the whole freakin’ ride!

Disneyland

After returning from the coast, the girls and I hopped in Mom’s motorhome and left for California. We arrived late Sunday night, and hit Disneyland first thing Monday morning. Ali is an old pro now, so she had it all planned out... which rides she wanted to go on, and where we would go next... We took Merilyn on all of the rides that we could; including Small World and Dumbo... and even Pirates of the Caribbean and Haunted Mansion! She LOVED it!! She cracked up and clapped the entire way through the rides. Daddy will be so proud!

Family Reunion

We had a fun few days in Tillamook. It’s always nice to see family - especially when we get to see them so infrequently. We spent a few hours on the beach playing in the sand. It was a beautiful day!

Family

Yesterday we came down to Tillamook for Trav's family reunion. Merilyn got to meet Great-Grandma Dorothy and Grandpa Ken for the first time. Grandma kept saying how delighted she was that the girls were here. Merilyn has caught a little cold and isn't her usual laid-back self. That, and being in a new place and off-schedule has gotten her a bit off kilter. But, she's taking a nap now and Daddy's off to get some baby cold medicine. Hopefully all will be well soon!

Love these girls

I had dinner at Henry's last night with my best friends from college. We try to get together once a month for dinner and shopping, and just catching up on our every day lives. When we lived in the sorority it seems like we did everything together. We were always together... parties, classes, road trips... we helped each other through so many of the highs and lows during our college time. It was such a bittersweet feeling when it was time to leave Corvallis and move on after graduation! Today we all have kids of our own, jobs, and busy lives. But I cherish the time I get to spend with my friends - there is still nothing that can make me laugh as hard!! I heard someone say recently that "time is too precious. Spend it on things that you value." I would add "spend it on things and people that you value." This is what makes my life so blessed.

No Baby Food!

Merilyn has started to refuse to eat baby food - she pitches a fit when I try to feed her sweet potatoes {or anything else, for that matter} from a jar! However, if I give her bites of what we're eating, she hums all through the meal! Her favorites right now are turkey and cheese. {But, she'll try anything that her big sister is eating!!} Now, what to do with all of the baby food that I got such a great deal on...

Big News!

Merilyn is sleeping through the night! {Now that I've said it out loud will I jinx myself?!} She had been only waking up once or twice a night - usually due to a lost binky... and then again at 5 or 6am for her bottle. The last two or three nights I've put her to bed at 8:30 at night and she's woken up at 7:00am!! Yea!! And the beautiful thing is she wakes up so happy! It's so sweet to see her big grin when I go get her.

Independence

There are some days {more and more it seems!} that Ali does not want any of my help. She is becoming so independent! It's nice when I'm chasing Merilyn all over, but on the other hand... she's growing up so fast! On this day she wanted to make her own sandwich and wanted to do it all by herself. "I don't need you, Mommy. I'm going to do everything." Although, after she thought about it for a minute, she asked, "Could you get me the bread, the mustard, the cheese, the turkey, a knife... and then I don't need you."