I am excited for one of my oldest friends! Haha! She is a few weeks older than me AND we've been friends since we were thirteen! She called tonight to share some exciting news! All of us are so excited for her family and I'll share more once she lets me know it is okay...Weeeeeeeeeeee!
I think I've posted all of our pictures/journal from our San Diego trip, so I'm excited to be caught up in that regard. Things are going on high around here as always - I'm off to bed!
Sunday, June 29, 2008
Friday, June 27, 2008
17 Months Post
I'm a day late. It's to be expected if you know me. Always late. We've had a lot going on this month with traveling and volunteering a lot of our time this month at church. William is starting to really verbally blossom and is picking up at least three of four words a week. The catch is that we don't always know what he is saying. He currently has a word "duck" that we can't really figure out. Sometimes he is truly pointing at a duck, other times he sees a truck. Other times, he is stuck between a piece of furniture or strapped into a booster seat/car seat and can't move. I'd like to think he means all three of the words, but we're still not sure. The other big thing we are seeing is a huge independent streak paired with his unstoppable energy. We are seriously tired all the time from chasing him day in and day out. More and more he is insisting on doing tasks by himself and becomes quickly frustrated when he cannot or we will not let him (Yes, we are mean and will not let him shut car doors or cook on the stove). We've recently witnessed him trying to put his shoes on his feet by himself, putting the car seat straps on and off, climbing into his booster seat at the kitchen table on his own, trying to drink out of a cup without a lid, and finally blowing bubbles without putting the bubble wand into his mouth. Very exciting times for us, but exhausting at the same time. Which would explain why we didn't actually take a picture of him on the 26th. On Friday of this week, our church had a small carnival which was a lot of fun...here are some of the highlights:
Icee Popsicle for dinner? Check!
Paired with the ever healthful Cheetoes.
First time in a bounce house. They actually cleared EVERYONE out of the bouncer and let me go in with him for several minutes to play. I'm not sure that he loved (or hated for that matter) it, but I thought it was fun! It has been years since I was last allowed in a bouncing house.
Ears! This has been happening for quite awhile. Sometimes when you are holding him, he'll zero in on your face and then tell you what it is. Above is EARS. He'll say "Errsssss" and pull on them until you start to worry about permanently stretching out the skin on your face.
Peeking at Mama through the sunglasses is always a fun game
He does a good job getting the glasses on his face, but it always feels like I am about to loose an eye when he tries to put them back on my face!
Getting his face painted for the first time....he got a tiny mustache and beard- because it made me laugh!
The very dashing Mr Mustache
It's blurry, but here he is in all his glory. It does appear that the mustache goes up inside of his nose. This would be because he turned his head while being painted and it DID go up his nose.
One of our favorite games - the duck pond. William loved to pull the ducks out - he could care less about the prizes. We just had to watch and make sure all the ducks were returned to the pond at the end of the night.
Icee Popsicle for dinner? Check!
Paired with the ever healthful Cheetoes.
First time in a bounce house. They actually cleared EVERYONE out of the bouncer and let me go in with him for several minutes to play. I'm not sure that he loved (or hated for that matter) it, but I thought it was fun! It has been years since I was last allowed in a bouncing house.
Ears! This has been happening for quite awhile. Sometimes when you are holding him, he'll zero in on your face and then tell you what it is. Above is EARS. He'll say "Errsssss" and pull on them until you start to worry about permanently stretching out the skin on your face.
Peeking at Mama through the sunglasses is always a fun game
He does a good job getting the glasses on his face, but it always feels like I am about to loose an eye when he tries to put them back on my face!
Getting his face painted for the first time....he got a tiny mustache and beard- because it made me laugh!
The very dashing Mr Mustache
It's blurry, but here he is in all his glory. It does appear that the mustache goes up inside of his nose. This would be because he turned his head while being painted and it DID go up his nose.
One of our favorite games - the duck pond. William loved to pull the ducks out - he could care less about the prizes. We just had to watch and make sure all the ducks were returned to the pond at the end of the night.Saturday, June 21, 2008
CV-41 Midway, and more
I guess it's up to me to post anything about the ships we saw or the trip to the CV-41 Midway Museum (Kelly wasn't there anyway). These first couple shots were from the harbor boat tour we took. We got to go right by the piers the two aircraft carriers were moored at. In port when we were there were the CVN-68 Nimitz, and the CVN-73 George Washington. Looks like the Nimitz was in for some overhaul or something because there were a lot of cranes on it's deck and a couple trailers you typically see at construction sites. The island was also surrounded by scaffolding. The CVN-73 George Washington was in for repairs. It was in-route to Japan (Yokosuka?) to relieve the Cv-63 Kitty Hawk. However, on the trip a fire broke out in a compartment, and the carrier stopped off at San Diego for repairs. If I recall correctly, a sailor died in the fire.
A Los Angeles Class attack submarine (according to the tour guide), surfaced outside the entrance to San Diego harbor.
The junior officer's quarters. They had it a little nicer. I had a photo of the shower, but it was behind a plexiglass shield and my flash reflected off of it and it was dark and didn't turn out nice. The interesting thing was the shower was just a slightly walled off area against the outside hull. All the pipes (jet fuel, etc.) still ran through and it was almost like it was a second thought to put in the shower. A sign there claimed that the sailors on the Midway often claimed the water from the showers stank of jet fuel.
On top of the Midway was a number of different types of aircraft that have flown off it's decks (I think). This one here was a Sea King that actually picked up some of the Apollo capsules.
A view looking aft. Sort of gives a perspective of the size of this ship. Although, I admit it was a little smaller than I thought. Another interesting note (at least for me), the Midway only had two steam catapults on the straight deck. The Nimitz class generally has two more on the angled deck. Maybe the conventional power wouldn't produce enough steam to power two more catapults?
Kelly's brother also took us to the Navy base where most of the non-carrier ships are moored. We saw a couple cruisers, a lot of destroyers, one frigate, some amphibious assault vehicles, and oilers. I didn't take any photos, the large sign out front said not to.
I'd add more, but I think I need to keep in mind the interest/tolerance level of some of the folks who read the blog. Now back to your regular blogger.
A Los Angeles Class attack submarine (according to the tour guide), surfaced outside the entrance to San Diego harbor.
Here is a photo of the CVN-68 Nimitz.
The CVN-73 George Washington.
The CV-41 Midway. This is the carrier we toured. It was built in 1945, and originally had a straight deck. Over time, the deck was expanded twice (if I recall correctly) to include the angled deck. The tour guide we had taking us through the island said that because of the added deck which wasn't originally designed for, the Midway had some funny behavior because of being top heavy.
The enlisted berthing. One of the three bunks stacked, and one of those little lockers, that's all you had. The top guy had a little more space since the top of the bunk was open.
The CV-41 Midway's younger brothers, as seen through a forecastle (pronounced focs'le) porthole. I guess prior to one of the overhauls that added the angled deck, the forecastle on the Midway was open to the elements.
Later on in our tour the little audio guide mentioned that head lacerations and injuries were a common sight in the sick bay. Well, no wonder! Look at this nice pointy corner! There were a good number of other "head boppers" throughout the ship. Amazingly, I managed to avoid all of them. This is quite an astonishing feat coming from the guy who typically hits his head on an open cabinet door or something similar once or twice a day.
Grandpa McGarry looks at the wiring on the Midway. Makes your home wiring look rather simple. The wiring looked like this throughout the ship.
The junior officer's quarters. They had it a little nicer. I had a photo of the shower, but it was behind a plexiglass shield and my flash reflected off of it and it was dark and didn't turn out nice. The interesting thing was the shower was just a slightly walled off area against the outside hull. All the pipes (jet fuel, etc.) still ran through and it was almost like it was a second thought to put in the shower. A sign there claimed that the sailors on the Midway often claimed the water from the showers stank of jet fuel.
A good lesson
The brig.
A sign showing how the Midway was updated and changed over the years.
On top of the Midway was a number of different types of aircraft that have flown off it's decks (I think). This one here was a Sea King that actually picked up some of the Apollo capsules.
A view looking aft. Sort of gives a perspective of the size of this ship. Although, I admit it was a little smaller than I thought. Another interesting note (at least for me), the Midway only had two steam catapults on the straight deck. The Nimitz class generally has two more on the angled deck. Maybe the conventional power wouldn't produce enough steam to power two more catapults?
A view of some of all the aircraft on the deck of the Midway (this is the aft side). Taken during our island tour. I'm a little disappointed to find out here that I didn't take a photo of the admiral and captain's rooms. I thought I had. I guess maybe the close quarters didn't allow me to get the entire room or something, I can't remember.
A destroyer coming into port. The DDG-88 USS Preble. An Arleigh-Burke class ship, the same class as the destroyer Kelly's brother is on.
Kelly's brother also took us to the Navy base where most of the non-carrier ships are moored. We saw a couple cruisers, a lot of destroyers, one frigate, some amphibious assault vehicles, and oilers. I didn't take any photos, the large sign out front said not to.
I'd add more, but I think I need to keep in mind the interest/tolerance level of some of the folks who read the blog. Now back to your regular blogger.
Thursday, June 19, 2008
I shouldn't have, but I did anyway
Laughed, that is. At lunchtime today I looked away for a minute to investigate a strange noise made by one of the cats and when I looked back, I saw this:
William decided that it was more fun to spread his applesauce in his hair than eat it. I've been trying to let him feed himself more independently with spoon/fork/hands even if it means most of his meal ends up in his lap. I guess it also can end up in the hair....bath night again tonight it looks like!
PS There is some footage being played on the national news about levees breaking in St Charles as well as some flooding. While this is happening close to us, we are all safe and dry at our house. We'll let you know if that situation changes, but so far we have no worries!
Locked Out
[Please note this was posted about a week later after it happened to make room for San Diego posts. If you haven't read the San Diego posts, go down to read them.]
We had several big "firsts" today that I feel need documenting. First, William learned that he is capable of opening our refrigerator door all by himself. I was hoping we would have to put up one of those ugly refrigerator door locks, but it looks like it might be time. The first problem is all the glass bottles in there that he likes to play with and the second problem is that he likes to try and carry several full gallons on milk around the house at one time. Not only dangerous, but potentially very messy and smelly. Bring on the ugly aisle.
The second big thing occurred while I was outside on the deck hanging up laundry. Yes, I am a nerd and I feel like by not using our dryer and hanging my clothes out to dry in the sun is saving the environment. William was out on the deck with me and started playing with the screen door and sliding glass door. Open and shut, open and shut, open and shut, open and shut, open and shut, open and shut, open and shut, open and shut, open and shut, open and shut, open and shut, open and shut, open and shut, open and shut, etc. I looked up at one point to find him standing inside the house, still opening and shutting. Then I noticed that the opening/shutting noises had stopped and I looked up to find William inside the house looking at me through the sliding glass door. He knocked on the door (with his adorable two fingered knock), so I went to open the door....and I couldn't. I had about ten seconds of panic before I remembered that we have a garage keypad and I had left the door from the garage to the house unlocked earlier (Note to the theives roaming my neighborhood: This door is ALWAYS locked, except for today). I ran around the house through the garage to find William still standing at the door crying beause I had left the door.
I'm ending the story here because blogger is telling me all of my contractions (shouldn't, don't, can't, won't, etc) are incorrectly spelled and that is making me angry. Because I know they aren't. But, I see them flagged and I keep going back and checking and rechecking the words that are marked. But, I don't think they are spelled wrong....until I look at them and look at them...and you know they might be spelled wrong....
We had several big "firsts" today that I feel need documenting. First, William learned that he is capable of opening our refrigerator door all by himself. I was hoping we would have to put up one of those ugly refrigerator door locks, but it looks like it might be time. The first problem is all the glass bottles in there that he likes to play with and the second problem is that he likes to try and carry several full gallons on milk around the house at one time. Not only dangerous, but potentially very messy and smelly. Bring on the ugly aisle.
The second big thing occurred while I was outside on the deck hanging up laundry. Yes, I am a nerd and I feel like by not using our dryer and hanging my clothes out to dry in the sun is saving the environment. William was out on the deck with me and started playing with the screen door and sliding glass door. Open and shut, open and shut, open and shut, open and shut, open and shut, open and shut, open and shut, open and shut, open and shut, open and shut, open and shut, open and shut, open and shut, open and shut, etc. I looked up at one point to find him standing inside the house, still opening and shutting. Then I noticed that the opening/shutting noises had stopped and I looked up to find William inside the house looking at me through the sliding glass door. He knocked on the door (with his adorable two fingered knock), so I went to open the door....and I couldn't. I had about ten seconds of panic before I remembered that we have a garage keypad and I had left the door from the garage to the house unlocked earlier (Note to the theives roaming my neighborhood: This door is ALWAYS locked, except for today). I ran around the house through the garage to find William still standing at the door crying beause I had left the door.
I'm ending the story here because blogger is telling me all of my contractions (shouldn't, don't, can't, won't, etc) are incorrectly spelled and that is making me angry. Because I know they aren't. But, I see them flagged and I keep going back and checking and rechecking the words that are marked. But, I don't think they are spelled wrong....until I look at them and look at them...and you know they might be spelled wrong....
Tuesday, June 17, 2008
Home Again....ahhhhhh
It is good to be home. After traveling for close to twelve hours, it is good to be at our house and have our beds to sleep in. We are currently performing this experiment: How Well Does you Baby Adjust from West Coast Time Zoneness? otherwise known as There is No Schedule right NOW. I've put up some post titles to go back and fill in with pictures and thrilling stories. I'm sure you're on the edge of your seat.
Happy Father's Day!
William's best gift to John for Father's Day this year? He slept until 8:30am!! WOOOOHOOOOO!!! Can you hear me all the way over there? It was amazing considering that would be the equivalent of sleeping until 10:30 at home! Amazing....amazing. It was much needed rest because we had been up a lot earlier the previous days and hadn't been sleeping great all in one room. William is a SUPER loud sleeper. He has recently started babbling in his sleep and he rolls around all the time. The hotel crib was made out of metal, so every time he hit the bars (every time he rolls) it would make a big BANG noise that woke me every time. So, the sleep felt good.
We didn't have any plans until later in the day, so we got up, grabbed breakfast and did some more walking through Old Town San Diego. It was so much fun to stay in this area so we could just walk to different places and come back to the hotel when we were done - I really enjoyed this aspect of the trip. We wandered through an Old West transportation museum and a restored home of one of the first governors (or someone important, my memory is foggy on that point) of the area. John played photographer at the transportation museum (boy do we have pictures for you Uncle Carl!) and then turned it over to me at the house museum.
Playing with the reins on the wall at the Old West Transportation museum.
The courtyard. I've also decided that one of the major flaws of our current home is that we don't have a courtyard like this. Something needs to be done.
The main entryway to the house
Walls of the adobe house
Roof made out of branches
A part of a crate for hauling... something? I don't remember what.
We wandered by an Old School house museum and decided it was too much work to lift the stroller through the narrow doorway and up several steep stairs before wandering back to the hotel. Oh, and of course we did a little browsing of the shops on the way back.
Late in the morning on Sunday, we met up with Uncle Mike (and his girl Jessica) at Dave and Buster's for lunch. Although there is a Dave and Busters just down the highway from us, we've never been there. If you're not familiar, it is like a Chuckee Cheese restaurant, but targeted more towards for grown ups. We didn't take any pictures as we were either too busy chasing after William (me and Grandma) or playing games (the dads). After playing and eating, William needed a nap (totally overstimulated, although totally excited about his new Elmo toy and ball). William went down for a nap and Mike took everyone but me to take a tour of the Navy place where he works. What is the correct word here? Base? Shipyard? Headquarters? Dock? John is sleeping or I would ask him. You'll just have to put the right word in for me.
After the tour (and nap for the rest of us), we decided the day was too beautiful to play around inside, so we went back to the beach. YEAH! I love the beach and it was a great day for it. William was much braver and shocked me by running toward the water and laughing on more than one occasion. He even ran into the wave as it came up onto the beach (shallow, of course) and didn't freak out. It was a proud moment for me.
In the water! And Happy!!
I love the lighting in the picture! Very cool John!
William running towards the water with me close behind. Again, great lighting!
Look at him run! He was giggling so much! A huge difference from the first day! Can I use more exclamation points?!?!
Caught you just in time! The waves were big and strong enough to knock William over - so keeping up with him was pretty important.
Dipping the toes
Trying to get him to play in the sand with Grandpa and Mike
He'd rather play with the big pile of seaweed
We didn't have any plans until later in the day, so we got up, grabbed breakfast and did some more walking through Old Town San Diego. It was so much fun to stay in this area so we could just walk to different places and come back to the hotel when we were done - I really enjoyed this aspect of the trip. We wandered through an Old West transportation museum and a restored home of one of the first governors (or someone important, my memory is foggy on that point) of the area. John played photographer at the transportation museum (boy do we have pictures for you Uncle Carl!) and then turned it over to me at the house museum.
Playing with the reins on the wall at the Old West Transportation museum.
The courtyard. I've also decided that one of the major flaws of our current home is that we don't have a courtyard like this. Something needs to be done.
The main entryway to the house
Walls of the adobe house
Roof made out of branches
A part of a crate for hauling... something? I don't remember what.Late in the morning on Sunday, we met up with Uncle Mike (and his girl Jessica) at Dave and Buster's for lunch. Although there is a Dave and Busters just down the highway from us, we've never been there. If you're not familiar, it is like a Chuckee Cheese restaurant, but targeted more towards for grown ups. We didn't take any pictures as we were either too busy chasing after William (me and Grandma) or playing games (the dads). After playing and eating, William needed a nap (totally overstimulated, although totally excited about his new Elmo toy and ball). William went down for a nap and Mike took everyone but me to take a tour of the Navy place where he works. What is the correct word here? Base? Shipyard? Headquarters? Dock? John is sleeping or I would ask him. You'll just have to put the right word in for me.
After the tour (and nap for the rest of us), we decided the day was too beautiful to play around inside, so we went back to the beach. YEAH! I love the beach and it was a great day for it. William was much braver and shocked me by running toward the water and laughing on more than one occasion. He even ran into the wave as it came up onto the beach (shallow, of course) and didn't freak out. It was a proud moment for me.
In the water! And Happy!!
I love the lighting in the picture! Very cool John!
William running towards the water with me close behind. Again, great lighting!
Look at him run! He was giggling so much! A huge difference from the first day! Can I use more exclamation points?!?!
Caught you just in time! The waves were big and strong enough to knock William over - so keeping up with him was pretty important.
Dipping the toes
Trying to get him to play in the sand with Grandpa and Mike
He'd rather play with the big pile of seaweedAt the end of the day, we ended up back at Fred for more fantastic Mexican food. Somewhere in this post should be a picture of the daddy and his boy. But, there is not. Not yet anyway. I still need to go through Grandma and Grandpa's pictures. They have some great ones from dinner. I'll have to do it later - time for me to go to bed.
Saturday, June 14, 2008
The Zoo, Mission Beach & La Jolla
We decided that Friday would be the best day for the zoo as it wouldn't be as busy. So, we got up and ready to go to one of the top rated zoos in the country: the San Diego Zoo. However, this was a little bit difficult planning for us. William is NOT okay just walking. He likes to run and does not watch where he is going. He also does not in any way shape or form listen (I realize all of this is completely normal). So, we needed to bring something to keep him safe and us sane. It seems like all of the exhibits are built with the fences in front of them, which make it hard for the kiddo to see when in the stroller. Also, William is currently only happy in the stroller if it is moving. If it stops for even a few seconds, he becomes very unhappy - even if the stroller starts moving again. So, we decided to go with the backpack again and hope he would tolerate a good chunk of time in it.
Turns out this was the best decision! William loved LOVED being able to see the animals and look at everything. He was in the backpack for almost four hours non stop and totally happy. The only downside is when we finally took him out, he wasn't happy about getting back in at all.
Checking out the flamingos
And the elephants
More with the elephants - this was so cute! He kept pointing at the elephants and saying "Dee?" Asking us "What is that?" He was so amazed - very cute!
I thought this was a fun thing - wonder where I get myself one of these?
Sleepy koala
After a nap and some more pool time, we had dinner with Uncle Mike at a pizza place. William is very into trying to drink out of cups without lids and/or with straws. Very good entertainment when we are eating at a restaurant.
Pizza
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On Saturday we planning on getting up and finding our way to the beach to get William into the Pacific Ocean. He will have been in both the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans before he is 2!
We went to Mission Beach - FYI: I love signs!
However, it was kind of a chilly day and very close to nap time when we finally arrived at the beach. William was not interested in having any part of his body touch the water. Not even his toes.
Here we got one foot in...
And two feet, but he was NOT happy!
Still not happy....my arms were sore the next day from holding him like this!
Most of the family in the ocean
C'mon John! It's summer in California at the beach! Take off your coat! By the way, when we were actually AT the beach, I was super jealous that he remembered his jacket. I forgot mine!
Here is where Grandma isn't paying attention and gets very wet from a wave. We all laugh...aren't we nice?
More people in the water and one swimmer behind us (get it?)
Just us! Looking at these pictures is making me even more sorry I let someone cut some bangs into my hair.
Seaweed on the beach
Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaayyyy past naptime! After the beach, we went back to put William down for his nap. John stayed with him and the rest of us went to La Jolla.
La Jolla has this gorgeous, rocky shoreline. Very pretty, but not great for swimming. So, a few years ago, residents build a rockwall to make a children's swimming area.
It looks like this. The rockwall is on the left side of the picture. It makes a great, calm area to take little ones to swim. The only problem? It isn't only great for little people, the sea lions in the area now use the beach for teaching their young about fishing, swimming and resting after long dives.
Seems like this would be uncomfortable?
As does this. I thought this one looked kind of like a mermaid...or the letter W.
Cute faces
Looking right at me!
Big claws
Turns out this was the best decision! William loved LOVED being able to see the animals and look at everything. He was in the backpack for almost four hours non stop and totally happy. The only downside is when we finally took him out, he wasn't happy about getting back in at all.
Checking out the flamingos
And the elephants
More with the elephants - this was so cute! He kept pointing at the elephants and saying "Dee?" Asking us "What is that?" He was so amazed - very cute!
I thought this was a fun thing - wonder where I get myself one of these?
Sleepy koalaOn Friday night we met up with Uncle Mike after he got off work.
After a nap and some more pool time, we had dinner with Uncle Mike at a pizza place. William is very into trying to drink out of cups without lids and/or with straws. Very good entertainment when we are eating at a restaurant.
Pizza------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
On Saturday we planning on getting up and finding our way to the beach to get William into the Pacific Ocean. He will have been in both the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans before he is 2!
We went to Mission Beach - FYI: I love signs!
However, it was kind of a chilly day and very close to nap time when we finally arrived at the beach. William was not interested in having any part of his body touch the water. Not even his toes.
Here we got one foot in...
And two feet, but he was NOT happy!
Still not happy....my arms were sore the next day from holding him like this!
Most of the family in the ocean
C'mon John! It's summer in California at the beach! Take off your coat! By the way, when we were actually AT the beach, I was super jealous that he remembered his jacket. I forgot mine!
Here is where Grandma isn't paying attention and gets very wet from a wave. We all laugh...aren't we nice?
More people in the water and one swimmer behind us (get it?)
Just us! Looking at these pictures is making me even more sorry I let someone cut some bangs into my hair.
Seaweed on the beach
Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaayyyy past naptime! After the beach, we went back to put William down for his nap. John stayed with him and the rest of us went to La Jolla.
La Jolla has this gorgeous, rocky shoreline. Very pretty, but not great for swimming. So, a few years ago, residents build a rockwall to make a children's swimming area.
It looks like this. The rockwall is on the left side of the picture. It makes a great, calm area to take little ones to swim. The only problem? It isn't only great for little people, the sea lions in the area now use the beach for teaching their young about fishing, swimming and resting after long dives.
Seems like this would be uncomfortable?
As does this. I thought this one looked kind of like a mermaid...or the letter W.
Cute faces
Looking right at me!
Big claws
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