What's Going on Now and September Visitors!

 

 

Andrew has turned a corner with Addison, and no longer acts out on a daily basis towards her... no, we no longer worry about sippy cups to the head or sneaky pinches... instead, we worry about the death grip "hugs" and over zealous kisses that knock her over.  He truly cannot get enough of her.  You know that feeling you get when you see something so cute, you just want to squeeze it?!  Well, that's him with her ALL THE TIME. 

 

In other news: Andrew is still bike riding and ruling the playgrounds by conquering any and all obstacles at the "blue park", "brown park", and the "school park".   Our community has a wonderful natural path around a creek with tons of little playgrounds tucked into different neighborhoods.  We try to get out for walks a couple times a week, but they usually end up being one of us running to keep up with Andrew (and no, its not always Mike running!). 

 

 

 

Foot ball season is here!  Proudly supporting our home teams! 

 

Had to include this one for Ben Tizer after seeing Karen's last blog post. This is how Mike tailgates. 
In the car with a beer and a kid, listening to the Eagles on Sirius radio.

 

Addison is starting to scare me with how fast she is growing... my baby is now crawling, pulling herself to standing, cruising, eating many table foods (in small pieces), waving "hi", and making us smile all the time.  She is truly a delight, and although she has just started the "stranger danger" phase, her teachers at school always comment on how she's such a "good baby" and is always so happy.

Standing at the table the Mooney's gave Andrew a couple years ago.

 

 This is how she greets us in the morning now... and she's got a thing with her tongue lately too...

 

This is a picture of a picture that school gave me... isn't she cute playing with her friend in the sand?

 

 

Mike commented the other day that Addison only has Andrew's old toys like trucks and tractors... so, when at Costco she literally squealed at delight when she saw this little pink doll (dressed like a bunny), I had to get it for her. 

 

 

One of her favorite sleeping positions

 

August:

September:

August Photo Shoot Bloopers:

"I looove paper"

Special Guest Appearance

"Oh no you didn't!"



Give me that back!

Silliness.

"Get outta my photo shoot!"

 

We were soooo fortunate that the Russells made a stop to see us on the last leg of their cross country move!  And, now they are within an eight hour drive!  We are already planning a trip to meet up in Santa Barbara in the next few months... soooo excited!  

 

Above: Temp getting comfy cozy... and Andrew loving every minute of it. 

Below: Andrew walking Temp. (Notice Josh carrying Andrew's bike.)  Andrew loved, loved, loved having a doggy in the house!

 

 

Temp getting the royal treatment.

 

At Music in the Park... love these two.

 

 Andrew after the wineries with the Russells... looks like he was the one drinking... and like he got in a brawl.

He didn't... he just enjoyed making "smoke" in the dust with his trucks.

 

 

 

Tahoe, Take Two

This month, we finally cashed in our free, two night stay in Tahoe that we received a year and a half ago. We got suckered into a timeshare presentation while in Tahoe with Grammy in 2013, and we either had to use it or lose it!  So, Mike and I took a few days off work, packed up the kiddos and headed for the lake.  About an hour outside of Tahoe, we noticed some magnificent clouds, which we quickly realized weren't clouds at all.... but smoke from a nearby forest fire.  Pollock Pines had just caught fire (suspected arson) a couple days before we left, and by the time we left Tahoe, the road we entered in on was closed, and as of today (2 weeks post the start of the fire), containment is at 75% and nearly 100,000 acres of forest has been destroyed.  It is extremely sad to see this, but it is awe-some to see as well...  the smoke plumes and the heroism of the fire fighters and rescue pilots we saw was breath taking.  We pulled over on our way into town to watch a little pilot plane lead in what looked like commercial jet liners to dump retardant over the blaze.

 

 

Above - before we decided to pull over... and after.  Andrew with "Dusty" from Planes, Fire and Rescue... the movie.  How appropriate we just saw this (Andrew's first ever movie at a movie theatre)!  He loved watching the planes, but did ask to go home when we got back in the car.

Below - you can see the little plane leading the big plane below.

 

 

Our accommodations at the Forest Suites Resort were nothing like our first stay in Tahoe... but it was a) free and b) nice to have the extra space with a full kitchen, living room, and separate bedroom. 

Lunch at Base Camp... a pizza joint that's one of the few restaurants in Tahoe to be frequented by both tourists and locals.  It was pretty decent, and Addison loved the orange that came with my beer. :)

 

A walk down to the lake - smoke settled across the lake, but was still far enough out that it made a pretty scene rather than hiding the view altogether.

 

Addison did not like sitting in the sand for some reason... she has always liked it before!

We were so bummed that we couldn't ride the gondola... apparently in September, it only runs on the weekends! 

A hike around Fallen Leaf Lake.

On Wednesday night, the M.S.Dixie runs the "Pints and Paddles Cruise" with Ike and Martin.  Who are Ike and Martin, you ask?  Only the best local musical duo that I've ever seen play.  They were amazing and even pulled out an electronic violin for a Beatles cover of Dear Prudence.  We were the only ones who brought kids on board... but you'll see below, they were so darn cute, no one minded.

Waiting to board the boat!

Checking out the paddle!

Notice her cute anchor pants?!

That's smoke behind us as come off the M.S. Dixie II.

Hiking somewhere on our way home from Tahoe.  It was a cool 60 something, and it finally felt like fall.  There is nothing quite like the feeling after a walk through the woods in crisp fall air. 

Yes, Andrew brought Blue Bear for a hike, and yes, I wore flip flops.

We switched off for the hike back up the hill to the car!

Mike ended up carrying all 3 of them - Addison, Andrew and Blue Bear - after Andrew scraped his knee and refused to walk.  (For the record, I offered to carry Addison... but  I think Mike wanted to show off.)

Oh, and did I mention that Mike and I are suckers?  We attended another timeshare presentation, and now have 2 free tickets to Hawaii and accommodations for 6 nights!  Looks like we have a vacation to plan for next year!