Our Washington Trip

I am still amazed at just how much luggage and heft it takes to travel anywhere with small baby/children. Even with our best attempt yet at traveling light. Still, we had a very nice visit with family from both sides. This trip was primarily for Keith to present research at the Plastic Surgery Conference in Seattle. We stayed at a fabulous hotel for the first few days there. Then G&G Neaman took the kids home with them for a couple nights. That was our first real time (and my first night yet) alone without kids in THREE YEARS! They did great but I think we need more practice (wink wink)

We also enjoyed a couple nights with my Dad & Lisa & Duncan at "the Barn". We had one beautiful, yet cold, day without rain. Kota had the best time running around and of course his big day out with Grandpa N to go see real diggers. We will not likely make it back out there for quite some time though it was so wonderful to breath in that fresh coastal air...

V'Audrey Willoughby (Hall) Saxey

February 7, 1918 - Oct 31st 2009

My dear sweet Grandmother; You were loved and will be missed.
I treasure my memories of you.
May you be in peace with Grandpa forever.
I love you

Gotta luv those diggers!

Anyone who knows my son at all knows that he is obsessed with construction trucks.
He has a secondary fascination with fire trucks but diggers come first.
So yesterday I was able to take him (just the two of us) to a real construction site and have a look around. He insisted on wearing his hard hat and of course his back hoe shirt. The latter is something he wants to wear nearly every day (and night). When it's not available he gets quite upset and I have had to bleach it a number of times. Eventually it will disintegrate off his little body. Anyway, here he is on our special digger outing.

Oh, and in case you never noticed,
there is a bar at the right of this page that links to my YouTube videos.
There you can see him in action!

Summer mornings and two fresh teeth

Look closely and you'll see Lilly's first two baby teeth!
They made it without too much fuss
and she makes good use of them already
particularly on my finger...

Lovely Lilly enjoying a lovely morning

Do-over

I didn't like my easter pix very much because A: it was still snowy and brown outside and B: my indoor lighting is not so good and C: she was still a little too small for her bunny suit. So I thought I'd try it again now that she fits it perfectly and the grass is green. Of course this time she wouldn't smile for me but she's still a cutie, I think.

And while I was at it, i figured, why not try my little catapillar too

Go on, try to resist the cuteness ;)

My girl

Taking his sister for a spin in his wheels

Mr. Beautiful

Recently Keith bought Dakota his first fish.
A pet for his very own.
(this is what happens when I let them wander off in the grocery store together)
Keith says it's a good way to teach him about death!
but I don't know about that.

So when I asked him what we should name him it went something like this:

Mommy: what is his name dakota?
Dakota: Yellow?
Mommy:Oh, is his name yellow?
Dakota: Nooooo...... um, Jesus?
Mommy: Oh, is his name Jesus?
Dakota: Nooooo..... um Paper?
Mommy: Oh, is his name Paper?
Dakota: Nooooo.....
Mommy: What is his name?
Dakota: Beautiful!
Mommy: are you sure it's not Paper?
Dakota: it's Beautiful.
Mommy: Okay, hello Mr. Beautiful....

Update: Swing fling

caught snuggling in a hammock.

I missed a cute shot only moments before when they were sitting back to back with their legs spread out in opposite directions. Once he caught a glimpse of mommy's watchful eyes he began his escape.

But she convinced him to stay a few more minutes.
Too cute!
But that's enough now.

it's a love hate relationship

Our backyard has become a cool hangout area for some of the neighbor kids.
There are no fences and kids living in several houses in a row. It's more like one big backyard really. The swing set in my yard is actually my nieghbor's on the right and there is a stepping stone path to the sand pit in the yard of my neighbor to the left.

Most often we see the girls to the right. The youngest is Annika and she is Dakota's age.
They are a feisty pair to say the least and usual some sort of wound inflicting row arrises between them. He used to scream at the meer sight of here coming our way. Here he is in a typical territorial strike.

Then somehow it all magically changed one day when I suggested to him to try hugging her instead of hitting. He happily (and surprisingly) said "okay" and proceeded to chase after her for a little affection. She resisted at first but now they are pretty good buddies.

At home he used to spontaneously tell me "I don't like Annika"
This time he actually said, "I love Annika"

All I can say now is Pace yourself sweetie...

Strawberry Pickin'

This week we went to a local strawberry farm.

Here is Dakota's first fruit picking experience...

(Disclaimer: I had a hard time figuring out my movie maker and had lots of loud distractions. Also, it's not really 6 minutes, I just couldn't cut the end off for some reason....)