My Fears Are Qualmed

Yesterday Momo wore socks. It gives him a more complete look, dontcha think? :)

Here is a close up of the socks. They happen to match Mr. Jackson's...

Just a little while ago, Momo got a diaper.

Hugs for Momo!

Kisses for Momo!

Ever since we found out we were having a boy, I have had random worries about things I want boys to like doing. I have peppered Josh with questions as to whether boys like to do certain things too. Off the top of my head, my worries have included: coloring, reading Charlotte's Web, doing art projects, cooking/baking, and playing house. Just recently Jackson has really gotten into pretending with his Little People and Momo. It is super cute to watch! Today before lunch, I told Jackson I was going to change his diaper, and he ran to get Momo, laid Momo on the couch, and waited for me to give Momo a diaper. It was really cute to see what a big smile he had when I started to put a diaper on Momo! Momo is not only well-diapered and clothed, but Jackson makes sure to "share" some of his milk and snacks with him too :)

Laurie Berkner and Two Small Friends :)

I LOVE finding surprise pictures and videos on my camera! The Yanceys came over for dinner Sunday night (and were willing guinea pigs for my first go at Balsamic Vinegar Pork Roast). Susie and I were upstairs working on dinner and chatting, and Jackson and Rachel were downstairs watching "football" with their daddies. Some lucky kiddos got some Laurie Berkner songs going on the computer, and it looks like they had a good time sharing a seat and spinning to the music :)

A Full Stroller Ride!

For the longest time, Jackson didn't want to let anyone or anything have a ride in his stroller, on his firetruck, or on any other cars or trucks! Now, he loves piling up toys to see what a big stack he can push around! He got quite the stash going, but his face when they all fell over was so sad :(

Pumpkin-ing 2010!

We embarked on year two of our annual Fall tradition of visiting Cox Farms for their Fall Festival! We looked up lots of farms last year and settled on Cox. It was SO much fun, and we knew we would go back. We are at the end of our most recent heat wave, and while this morning was still toasty and sunny, it was still a nice day. It was so fun to do everything we did last year with Jackson being (almost) a whole year older! He spied the goats from the parking lot, and he was super excited to visit with them! He was pretty gung-ho about following them around and petting them right away. Then, he seemed to re-think that decision and asked to be carried for the rest of our visit to Goat Village. We saw lots of farm animals: pigs, cows, turkeys, hens, rabbits, chicks, horses, and and ducks. Jackson loved checking them out and making "their noises" to them :)

Jackson LOVED the slides even more than last year! He had huge smiles on his face while we went down, and asked to go again each time!

The corn maze (The Corn-undrum) was fun to walk through again this year. We thought Jackson would have fun running through it, but he just wanted us to carry him. I tried to focus on how nice it was that he wanted to be carried even if he was getting heavy... He didn't have much interest in the cute props throughout the maze, but overall he seemed to like it!




Again this year there were samples of apple cider and apples. Jackson loved the apple cider, and the apples were a perfect snack! I haven't given him a whole apple in a while, but he got some great bites out of his little apple!

Our house is ready for Fall, officially, since we have our two little pumpkins that came with our admission fee, and then our larger pumpkin we bought at Cox ready for carving in a few weeks! We also bought some apple butter that we can't wait to taste!

After Lunchtime Activities

Where's Momo?

Saturday

Today is definitely one of those days where I'm overwhelmed with how stinking cute and sweet my son is :) As an added bonus, it was not even 60 degrees this morning when we got up and went for a run, so it was the perfect time to break out Jackson's new turtle sweatshirt that I got on major sale at Gymboree! LOL He LOVES it! He especially likes wearing it as a cape with just the hood hanging off of his head :)

We spent a little time after breakfast and running in the family room watching some "Elbow," but then we moved on to running some errands. This also gave Josh a chance to catch up on some much-needed sleep in a quiet house after flying from San Francisco to Chicago to DC overnight Thursday night/Friday morning!

Once we got back, Jackson was playing in the living room and I found his blocks stacked in the window like this:


We are now getting ready to go for a family walk on this beautiful early-Fall day, and then heading over to the Yancey house to celebrate Joe's birthday belatedly while his family is in town :)

Fireman Jackson Off To Work!

On Tuesday we went to meet Brandi and Kaitlyn for lunch (and exchange Paxton back to us!). Jackson insisted on carrying his firetruck lunch bag out to the car--it was super cute! He too his job very seriously :)

San Francisco 2010: Day Four/Travel Day

Monday morning was my last bit of time in San Francisco, and Josh had his Fellows program meeting in the afternoon. We got up and drove back to the Wharf area. I wanted to look in a few of the touristy shops and then we had a very early lunch before I headed to the airport. I needed my fix of one more clam chowder bread bowl! After dropping Josh back off at the hotel, I drove to the airport, dropped off the car, and checked in for my flight. This flight departed San Francisco at 1:45pm PST (4:45pm EST) and arrived at Reagan National at 11:50pm EST (8:50pm PST). Another long day of flying, but I loved it :) I have always loved flying and traveling--it's not just a new found love without a toddler... ;)

We had a WONDERFUL getaway, and it was made even better by the fact that I had no worries about Jackson since he was in very capable hands with Mimi :) It sounds like they had a good time we were gone! Here are a few pictures my mom took while we were gone. They were busy visiting the grocery store, having snacks at Starbucks, going to story time at Borders, walking in the woods, having a play date with the Shapiros, checking the mail, befriending caterpillars on the back deck, checking on the ants in the front yard, and just enjoying each other!

San Francisco 2010: Day Three

We woke on Sunday morning and enjoyed a yummy breakfast of egg sandwiches that Becca made :)

Shortly after that, we set out for Morgan Territory Regional Preserve. It was about a half hour from the house, and we took about a two and a half hour hike and got some really pretty views! Grant was such a trooper and had the best seat in the house in a backpack that George carried!

This was the last picture Becca and I took together at our friend, Cassie's, wedding in July of 2005!

We had parked our car in the parking lot of an In-n-Out before jumping in the Langstaffs' car, so we naturally stopped there for lunch before heading out! This was my first In-n-Out experience, and I was not disappointed! The food was yummy, and to be honest, this is what kept me going at the end of our hike! LOL


After lunch Josh and I headed off back towards the city. Our plan changed many times during the day... Plan #1: Drive back to the city, check into the hotel, shower, drive along the Pacific Coast highway a bit, find a yummy seafood restaurant for dinner, head to Ghirardelli Square for dessert. Plan #2 quickly evolved as we decided to head out of the Pacific Coast highway first, then check-in and shower before dinner. Little did we know we would stumble upon Point Reyes National Seashore! We stopped at the visitor center and set out for the lighthouse. When we got out at the lighthouse area, the weather was quite different than that from our morning hike! It was windy and a bit chilly! We got out our fleeces, and jeans would have been nice... We walked to the lighthouse look-out point and the views were so pretty! Again, such different terrain than what we hiked in (obviously), but so peaceful!




After we finished up at the lighthouse, we wound our way back through the park and stopped at the area for Chimney Rock. We made it out to the point, but we think we might have missed something... It was still worth it since we saw tons of deer and a whole harem of sea lions (I admit I just Googled what the name is for a group of sea lions, and harem was the answer!). As we really started to leave the park, we stopped at South Beach, and wandered down on to the sand. The waves were really heavy--it was just pretty to watch for a few minutes.


At this point we moved into Plan #3: find dinner in a little town on the way back to the city, check-in, shower, dessert. We had driven through the small town of Olema on the way to the park, and we saw some possibilities for dinner. We chose The Farmhouse Restaurant, and it was a wonderful choice! The restaurant was very cozy and welcoming. Josh had a huge bowl of venison chili and I had mussels and clams in a delicious broth. We both were pleased with this change in plan since we can eat at the Wharf next time we are in town :)

As it was approaching 8:30pm, Plan #4 was set in motion. We decided to drive straight to Ghirardelli Square for dessert and then just stay put at the hotel after checked in. My how the day changed... :) Dessert was delicious, just as I anticipated! We FINALLY checked in to the Hilton San Francisco Financial District around 10pm. Phew! We were wiped out! It was too bad because as much as we enjoyed our day and all of the new things we saw, we both wished we had been able to get settled into the hotel earlier so we could really relax and enjoy it. If only there were more hours in the day...