Sunday, September 27, 2009

Cousin Emma Turns 1




Happy Birthday, Emma!
Wish we could be there to celebrate with you!

Monday, September 21, 2009

Cabrillo National Monument




Sorry, this is going to be a long post, but won't have as much reading as "Book It". We went to Cabrillio National Monument last weekend and there were just so many photo opportunities. It was a perfect day.












































The first time Kennedy and I went to the Cabrillo National Monument it was actually to see the tide pools. I was 9 months pregnant then, wearing flip flops, and trying to find my center of gravity from rock to slippery rock. The tide was too high to explore the tide pools this time, but we found some great treasures on the rocky shore anyhow.














I went through the day snapping pictures and noticing a haze in some of them that I just assumed to be a glare. It was a bright day and light was bouncing off the wet rocks, so I was regretting that I left my camera hood in the car. Well, turns out it was actually a smudge on the lens and it showed up in nearly all my pictures. :( In most of them you can't tell after the resizing, but in some it is a very obvious blur (like the sea snail shot above.)




This cute dress was a hand down from one of Taylor's friends at church. This was the first day she wore it and after a while out it was apparent that the straps needed to be adjusted. Unfortunately, the knots were too tight to undo while we were out, so Taylor went strapless all day. Oh well, it was the beach.












Thursday, September 17, 2009

Bubbles - Featuring Taylor's Lips















Beating the Heat



We had some pretty hot temperatures (over 100) around here for a bit. Since we don't run the air conditioning, we had to find creative ways to stay cool. Kennedy came up with the wet bandanna idea. Taylor loves it. She even had me make her a pirate patch to complete the look, but I didn't get pictures of that.

Daddy also decided on the hair braids, which he patiently did. She had them in for a couple days.










Booking it



Ok... have you seen this show? Yo Gaba Gaba? I tried to find a good video clip in case you hadn't, but I couldn't find a decent one. It is bizarre. The characters are strange, and well... it's just plain weird. I know "bizarre", "strange", and "weird" are pretty much the same adjectives, but it's just really something you have to see to understand what I am talking about. I thought it was produced in a foreign country like Teletubbies was, but even more foreign, like... Singapore. Nothing against Singapore, but seemed like the problem could have been something was just lost in translation. But no, it's just plain old United States weird. Taylor only first saw an episode of it a few weeks ago by accident.

A couple weekends back Kennedy and I took Taylor to a bookstore to pick out a book. She's three now, so I really want to get her interested in a variety of books. I set out to find some classics. She tends to be attracted to books that have characters she recognizes, so this time I planned to keep her out of the section with Disney and other cartoon characters from the shows she watches. I headed for the Dr. Seuss/Beatrix Potter/Eric Carle sections.

Daddy went a different direction, not knowing my agenda. Taylor followed him. After mulling over the options, I went to find the duo... perhaps they had found a treasure. Well, there they were... in the cartoon character book section, surrounded by Dora the Explorer and the Disney Princesses. Taylor was holding the only Yo Gaba Gaba "book" that Barnes & Noble carried. I put that word in quotes because it isn't really a book. There isn't a story. It opens up and folds out with character descriptions and has little paper punch-outs. (Which, I might add, were all torn or lost within 2 days.)

She wouldn't let go of it. We tried to distract her with other books. We were even willing to compromise with Dora the Explorer. She wouldn't have it. She didn't cry or pitch a stubborn fit. She just kept stating very calmly that she didn't want any book except that Yo Gabba Gabba monstrosity. (Yes, I added the word monstrosity.)

So, we walked out of Barnes & Noble with likely the worst child "book" they carry. I'm sure we looked like intelligent parents.

I wish she had never seen that show. I suppose it could be worse. Could be Pee Wee's Playhouse...

EDIT: Here is a link to a Yo Gabba Gabba clip. It is no wonder the country is becoming filled with the OCD of complusive hand washing and use of hand sanitizer. The germs in this video could traumatize a 3 year old.

Don't Eat Me!

This one isn't as bad as the clip "Don't bite your friends". Apparently, biting is a serious problem in the kid circles these days.