summer vacation!!!

we're off to illinois and wisconsin for our summer vacation in the early hours of the morning tomorrow - won't be back til July 19! busily getting the garage put away so 2 cars can be parked in side (fingers crossed) and later delivering baxter to emily and adam's house for his little vacation of lots of attention, walks and cuddling with no baby to distract his caretakers. :) then i will finally get around to packing our bags - its WAY easier to pack for a trip to the midwest in the summer. its hot, hot, HOT - so all you need are swim suits, a few shorts and t-shirts and sunblock. oh, and a floppy hat. we can't wait! here's some pics of petey, i guess it was his first time sitting in the grass yesterday? what kind of parent am i depriving my son of playing in the grass? i'm sure he'll get used to it while we are home in il/wi. he looks kind of confused about what the grass is and why its so pokey. :)

look what petey did

this is what happens when petey is really hungry and mommy is trying to cook dinner while feeding him. i turned my back and didn't leave his bowl far enough away so he decided to try and feed himself. he was waving the spoon around putting the peas and carrots mixture in his eye. such a silly baby. and all i could do was laugh and grab the camera. sure do love that crazy kiddo.

He's home!

its so nice to have daddy home before bedtime. the whole family walked to the dog park - and baxter was so pooped from his earlier trip there that he didn't have the energy to chase-and-be-chased as he usually does. there's always tomorrow. now for a nice family dinner and cuddling and a movie.

happy father's day to everyone who is lucky enough to be someone's father! what a simply amazing gift it is to have a child in your life.

Happy Father's Day!

Daddy, we love you and can't wait to see you tonight!
Love,
Petey, Sarah and Baxter

San Diego Fair

we went to the fair yesterday in del mar with adam and emily. so much to see, my goodness! petey was so good, despite having a ridiculous, almost-non-existent nap schedule yesterday.

this is an escondido fire truck from 1926 - so cool! petey really wanted to drive but i told him he had to wait until he was 1 to drive. next summer!

we also really enjoyed the livestock barns, he was especially excited about the pygmy goats. i felt an inexplicable bond with the milking cow they were milking in the mobile classroom.

announcer: "we held them back and waited just a bit longer to milk them today because we wanted the judges to see their milk producing capacity. blah blah blah. anyone want to try to milk her?" (then like 20 inexperienced people came up and tried - how hard is it???)

the whole time this is going on, i'm sitting there in agonizing pity for this poor lady, all these random people groping at her udder as she patiently waits. i was like, 'milk the poor girl already!!!!!'....i guess i just feel like i can relate some days (not that random people are milking ME, just that its not always the most comfortable feeling having to WAIT!).

anyway, it was a great day. we also took baxter to the dogpark nearby which he absolutely loved and has already been asking me over and over today if we can go back.

Red Devils squadron beach party

yes, that's a beach umbrella he is chewing on! :)

daddy is away this weekend, we miss him but are having fun with our friends and san diego "family".....only a few more days to our trip to illinois!

a few to tide you over

here are some recent pics from last week - things are a bit nutty right now, hoping soon to be moved in enough to have time to play blogger instead of playing unpack-the-house!

a quick hello-

there are boxes everywhere but it already feels like home. we love our new place and are busily unpacking boxes and stowing our things in their places. baxter is scared of the darn boxes and can't wait until we are done already so he can have some peace and quiet around here without having to run away every time another box gets broken down. petey seems unphased but seems to enjoy rolling around on the carpeting instead of being restricted to a little blanket.

he had his 6 month check-up today. he is 28.5 inches long (100 percentile, born at 22 inches) and he is 19 lbs 8 oz (75 percentile, born at 9 lbs). the doctor says he is doing great and is a happy healthy little boy.

back to unpacking, but wanted to say hi and give you the news on our big boy and how he has grown. he is a pro at sitting up now, not crawling yet but working on it. looking forward to seeing many of you in illinois soon!

we're moving

alright, we're in the middle of a move. we're living with adam and emily. they packed our life into boxes today and are loading it onto a truck tomorrow. we have access to our new house in Poway sunday but our stuff is getting moved in on monday. be back when my compute is set up.

petey is sitting up like a big boy now with little or no assistance. and the crawling is coming along too...the motion is still mostly just rocking forward and backward but he seems to be working out slowly what to do with his legs. i'm certain it'll be soon!

love to you all!

From Outside Magazine's Christopher Keyes:

When you intentionally push yourself to your physical edge - that is, when you break through whatever self-imposed mental barrier you once believed had limited you - a certain transformational magic inevitably takes place.

yes. yes, indeed.

our weekend

playing on the floor.
tea party with the ladies
snuggling by a fire with friends.
racing a 10K.
trying new foods.

and getting ready to move!

a new petey movie

there is a new movie including petey learning to crawl, harassing the dog and swimming underwater posted here. enjoy!!!!

a night out

wow did i need the night out with my red devil ladies last night. what fun we had (i took the makings for watermelon margaritas!) - and oh man the food was delicious!!! our hostess, jill (the co's wife) is just a doll!

up

life is full of new discoveries while learning to balance in the sitting up position. he seems to like the new perspective.

he's also learning to lift up his arms when i pick him up.

there was a strange fussiness, not outright crying, just on and off wimpering and lots of inching around the crib resulting in bumping into the bumper last night. it was a wierd restlesness, almost. after a bottle at 9:45 he seemed to finally go to sleep for real for the night. we are wondering if teething is to blame?

reflection

it certainly is getting close to summer, the sun is not yet setting at 7 pm. the house is quiet, petey is snuggled asleep on his belly. baxter is snoozing on the back of the couch in the last rays of sunlight. reid is at work for a night flight. this quiet time at the end of the day is such a blessing.

mentally, i can stretch out in the cool grass and let the leaves that are my thoughts, that have been whipped up by the fury of the day's events, finally settle on the ground around me. the calm that comes in these moments is much needed. and much enjoyed.

its been one month since my last day of work and my goodness that month has gone by oh so quickly. in a blink. in a flash. its june and petey is about to be 6 months old. we've had so many wonderful visitors come and go and made a trip to IL. we've had increasing amounts of social activities with friends throughout the days and added swimming as a twice weekly event we so enjoy. in one month so much has happened. and the frenzy of june is sure to be just as delightful.

in june, we are moving out of our condo in san marcos. moving into our house in poway. staying with emily and adam in between. running a 10K race. attending a baby shower and a spouse's club party. celebrating petey's 6 months old day - and watching him grow and learn and wiggle his way to what will soon become crawling. celebrating great grandma jan's birthday. attending a squadron luau. celebrating our first father's day. celebrating great grandma and grandpa handel's anniversary and grandpa simpson's birthday....and to top it all off, flying to illinois and joining in on the Hays family reunion at Grand Bear Lodge! my goodness, i'm excited and exhausted just imagining all the activity we have ahead of us.

a wonderful bit of news - our friend isaac finished his 5th round of chemo. he now has 4 weeks without treatment and a chance to finally breathe and work towards recovering and building up his strength. in a few weeks, he'll be tested to see what is going on in his body (we're praying they'll be amazed that he is cancer free) and determine where to go from there. please keep isaac and his amazing support network of friends, family, people he's never even met - and his amazing girlfriend gina in your thoughts and prayers please. if you are interested in donating to research for the leukemia lymphoma society to wipe out blood cancers, isaac's sister alison and reid's sister bethany are raising money and training to run a half marathon in honor of isaac - they've set up these fundraising websites if you'd like to take a look and donate to the cause. we'd all appreciate it!

hoping you have a bit of quiet time in your evening. a few moments to laugh with loved ones and think of fond memories and plan bits of your next adventure. love to you all!

more swimming and petey fun

this is something new, eh? and he's almost able to sit upright on his own now. a bit wobbly, but he sits with a straight back. its amazing how it JUST HAPPENED one day. saturday he folded in half when i sat him up. sunday, he just sat up!

i think he will be crawling in no time. today is the first time he's done THIS.

and here are a few pics from swim class - emily cam along so we got a few more photos.

and yes, the movie is coming. i just have to put it together. you'll see this little fish in action in no time!

alie (and winter) came to san diego!

this weekend was lovely! the weather was awful but my gal alie was here and we had a great time-
we just hunkered down and pretended it was fall in illinois (overcast, rainy, foggy, windy-it really was all of those things) and stayed inside and played.

wore fleece and hooded sweatshirts. watched Disney movies. baked chocolate chip cookies. ordered pizza. played rummikub (and she won over and over and over). baxter cuddled with alie. a LOT. petey got a little cuddling in with her too, he's quite a flirt.

sunday we'd had enough indoor games and decided to head to carlsbad for fish tacos and a walk along the coast. and we realized the weather wasn't THAT bad. it was 65. it was no alaskan blizzard, to be sure.

i love my friend and am so happy to have spent a couple of days just hanging out. i think staying home actually made the weekend last longer! horray!

have a great reno summer alie. and i am already scanning my 2010 (or 11?) calendar for the first opportunity to visit you in alaska!