More!

Isaiah has been signing "more" lately. Just last night we were sitting at the table and I see out of the corner of my eye him signing "more" because he was done with his snack. It's still amazes me how much he picks up on and so cute to see him communicating with us.

Where's your head?

Gift from Great Grandpa

This is a very special rocking chair and rocking horse given to Dan and I by my Grandpa Lewis. My dad helped put it together when we were younger and now they have it at their house for the kids to enjoy. I hope it will be something that they will pass down to their kids one day.

Little mommy

I was sweeping the other day and went to empty the dust pan. I turned around and there she was sweeping the floor after me. I guess I must have missed a few spots!

Stargazer

My sweet baby girl is growing up! Since Ashley will be 3 next month, she's started transitioning to the Stargazer room at daycare. A couple of her friends from the cozy caterpillar class are moving up with her too so she's pretty excited about that. She loves it and will transition for two weeks before she's in there full time. They have more of a structure to their day like a preschool. Monday they learn a Spanish word, but practice it throughout the week so she'll still learn that even though she's not there on Monday's. Tuesday they learn personal safety (I imagine things like not talking to strangers or touching hot things), Wednesday is show and tell and Thursday is a cooking project. Friday is a science project, which she won't be there for but maybe she can see what they did the next time she's there. I can't wait to hear what she learns each day when we're at the dinner table. It's so fun to have conversations with her about her day.

8 months!

To think of far we've come in 8 months! The other day I was thinking back to when Isaiah was just a few months. He had such a hard time with sleep, I would wake up with anxiety just thinking about how we were going to get through the day. He would get so tired, poor guy would just scream himself to sleep no matter where we were. When he was really little we let the swing put him to sleep at night. Both Brian and I would fall asleep on the couch waiting for him to get into a deep enough sleep to transfer him upstairs without waking him up. When he became more aware we had to put a blanket over the swing so he wouldn't see us. It's funny to think of the things we came up with. Now we just put him in his crib and he's usually out within a few minutes. He has his first cold right now, so his sleep is a little off, but for the most part he's such a better sleeper. He's down to two naps at 9am and 1pm for about an hour in the morning and two hours after lunch. Ashley also takes about a 2 hour nap at the same time, so it's good rest time for mommy! Isaiah just melts my heart. He smiles so big the minute he catches you looking at him. Those dimples and his squishy cheeks just make me want to eat him up. He makes us laugh every day with the faces he makes. He still likes to scrunch up his nose and breath in and out. He's been copying a lot lately, patting his head when we do or clapping. He even started signing "more" when we give him mum-mum's. He makes a clicking noise with his tongue when we do and he started waving goodbye when I drop him off at school. The biggest thing that he's doing now is almost crawling. He's getting up on his hands and knees and rocking and has lunged a few times forward to get things. He grunts and makes all sorts of noise when he's determined to get something. We've introduced little puffs which keep him busy and at the table while we're having dinner. It's cute to see his determination in picking them up, he's getting pretty good at it. New foods that we've added this month are zucchini, summer squash, cottage cheese, cheddar cheese (not too fond of), white potato, and oatmeal. He's a really good eater and finally putting some weight on him.

Caught you little man!



It's pretty easy to get this guy to smile!

eating a mum-mum. He loves these things and they're a perfect snack while we're eating dinner.


He's got the moves already!

Cabo San Lucas

We just got back from an awesome vacation in Cabo with my parents. We decided to cash in some RCI points and celebrate my parents 32nd and our 6th anniversary in style this year. We got the Presidential Suite at Hacienda del Mar vacation club, a two story, three bedroom, full kitchen condo with gorgeous views of the ocean on both levels. We had more than enough room to spread out! We left on Monday at 6:40am which meant getting out of the house at 4am! We had everything packed up the night before and decided to just take the kids in their jammies and change later. This worked out really well and Ashley loved going to the airport in her new jammies (not something she gets to do very often). That day was a long one, but I'm sooo impressed at how well behaved the kids were. We had a stop over in San Diego, which worked out well to get out and stretch our legs. We got into our condo about 4:00pm and gave Isaiah a nap while Brian and my parents took Ashley to the pool. Monday night we ate dinner at a Mexican restaurant at the resort. It was on the top level and had gorgeous views of the ocean. A storm was brewing, so it was extremely humid the first couple days (the storm hit on Tuesday with torrential downpours and lots of wind), but it gave us time to get the kids rested, rent a car, plan out our week and go grocery shopping. Wednesday morning we went to a time share breakfast to get a good deal on a fishing trip. I'm so glad we did though because in the end we scored a 33 foot boat for 5 hours for $100! The time share breakfast was an experience and although it took 5 hours instead of 90 minutes, we enjoyed a delicious breakfast, got to see a really cool hotel (The Mayan), and upset one of their staff because I gave them a piece of my mind. I had enough, they weren't taking no for an answer and the kids were getting restless. I know this is all part of their scam, but I had to get mad for them to listen that we weren't buying anything... we just wanted a cheap fishing trip and had to go through all this rigmarole to get it (of course I didn't say that out loud, but they knew what we were thinking. They just wanted us to suffer for working them)! They are sneaky though and come at you from all angles. It is a good way to get good deals and if the kids weren't with us, we would probably do it again. Since the Mayan was in old town we drove around to check out the city before heading back to our condo. That night we went to a welcome party the hotel put on. It was only for an hour, but they had free drinks and appetizers and a mariachi band. Thursday we hung around the pool and that night my parents took us out for an anniversary dinner in town at the marina. Friday morning we got on the boat about 6:30am. It was still dark when we left, but leaving early allowed us to watch the sunrise as we headed out to where we were going to fish. The scenery was breath taking! We hooked 6 fish, but ended up with 3 dorado (mahi-mahi)... 2 jumped and freed themselves and the other got away when the deck hand was messing around with bringing it in the boat. This was the first fish we caught and Brian was not happy, but good thing that wasn't the only fish we caught! That night we had cilantro/lime marinade for the fish and fish tacos the next night. Dad and Brian cooked and everything turned out delicious! After dinner Brian and I went down to the hot tub to watched the surf. The waves were huge because of the full moon and came crashing up onto the beach. We got a surprise fire works display while we were out there, which was pretty cool. Then we saw red lights floating in the sky from where the fireworks had gone off. After everything was done we started to see grey blobs that were landing in the ocean. I was very curious to find out what it was. So, when I saw a guy from our resort head out to the beach trying to catch one, I followed him to see what it was. Turns out they were white parachute type things with a red candle attachment. I don't know if they were for advertising or what, but they let off about 20-30 of them. It was the weirdest thing! The next day my parents went on their fishing trip and smoked us by catching 10 dorado. I guess they ran into a school and hooked 4 at one time. It was my mom's first time deep sea fishing (well, going and catching fish) and she had a blast. They took our video camera, so we watched it when they got back and had a few good laughs. While they were fishing we spent more time down at the pool with the kids. Isiah LOVED the water. We brought a floaty that Brian's mom had given us and he had a ton of fun kicking and splashing. Ashley was not so fond of the water at first and was content just hanging out on the steps on the kids pool. By the 3rd day she got in up to her knees and surprising all of us wanted to get in the big pool and jump into Papa's arms the last few days (this took a little encouraging, but still to see where she came from at the beginning of the trip was a huge improvement!) Sunday was our last day, so Brian and I took a walk on the beach in the morning. Our flight didn't leave until 2pm, so we had lots of time to pack up and get to the airport. We had rented a car for the week, so my parents dropped us off. Turns out there is not way of knowing what airline takes off at what terminal, so ended up that the wrong terminal and the one we needed was 1/4 mile from where we got dropped off. We were willing to make the walk, but one of the drivers saw us walking in the blistering heat with two kids in strollers, two big bags, a car seat, two backpacks and must have felt sorry for us. Even though we told him we didn't have any money he still got his car and insisted on taking us to the right terminal at no charge. We felt so bad that we thought this guy was hassling us and just saying it was 1/4 mile to get our business, but it really would have been a miserable walk, so we were grateful for one very nice Mexican that didn't try to take our money and give us a rotten deal. The airport was not air conditioned and I'm sure Sunday was the hottest day. Luckily they let us board first because of the kids and we were able to get on the air conditioned plane and get settled. On the way back we had another stop over in San Diego to clear customs and got back home around 8:30pm. I'm so proud of both kids and how well they did on very little sleep both days we traveled on this trip. I had Monday off, so we all were able to catch up from a very memorable trip!

This is the beach in front of our resort. It was so nice not to have vendors hassling you while enjoying the beach.









This is the pool we hung out at. Since the resort had 4 and it was off season, it never got crowded. It was also perfect because it had a little kids pool (to the left) that Ashley could hang out in and a sloped part that she could walk in to the bigger pool when she wanted to swim with us. She's so careful though, that we didn't have to worry too much about her jumping in without us.

One of the Dorado's I caught. It was still jumping around, so that's why you see me hesitantly holding it up.

One of the Dorado's Brian caught. I think mine was bigger!

Watching the sunrise as we're heading out to fish. Perfect way to celebrate our 6th anniversary!

This arc is a very popular place for tourist to go in Cabo. During the day they have tons of water taxi's taking people out to the beach. It's where the Pacific meets the Sea of Cortez. On the Sea of Cortez side the water is calm and peaceful, so they call that beach Lover's beach. On the Pacific side the water is rough and waves crash onto the beach, so they call it divorce beach.



Still dark out when we left, but that full moon was spectacular!

Heading out of the marina to catch some big one's.

This is the boat we took out fishing. Interesting story, I took a picture of this exact boat the night before to show my friend Joana. She always says she never sees her name spelled with one N. Turns out it's the boat we went fishing on the next morning. We got upgraded to this 33 foot boat because there weren't any 28 foot boats available by the time we gave our guy the deposit (darn, huh?)



My parents took us out to dinner at Solomon's Landing to celebrate our anniversaries, we had a great time and the view over the water was so beautiful with a full moon.

This is the marina at Cabo San Lucas. We stayed about 10 miles outside of the city.





At least three or four of these iguanas stayed by the resort while we were there. I think people feed them so they stick around. One crawled under my chair as I was reading one day and about gave me a heart attack! They're cool from far away, but not underneath you!

Kickin' back with a cold one!





What a dude!

Brian made this creative ballon dog for Ashley to play with while the storm was brewing outside. He's got a talent, maybe he should do birthday parties on the side.










This was one of the cloudy humid days, but perfect for walking around checking out the place. Cute picture of Grammy and Grandpa with the kids.

My sweet baby girl

Always such a happy guy

This is the view out of both rooms upstairs. The place we rented was gorgeous.



It was so nice to have a kitchen. Even though it took 3 hours to do the initial shopping trip at Walmart, it was worth it. Being Silly Americans, we didn't really consider that the labels would be in Spanish or that they carry different products than we have at home. Took a bit longer to figure all that out!

Big Helper

Ashley has been such a big helper lately with her brother and her classmates. She has been so sweet and loving towards him, I love hearing about it and seeing her interact with others. About a week after Ashley started daycare a little girl had her first day and was having a hard time adjusting. Ashley put her arm around her and comforted her, showing her where to go for snack time and where the toys were. She told her "it will be ok". Then another day one of the little boys was having a hard time when his dad dropped him off, so again Ashley went up to him and put her arm around him saying it was ok. I've seen her do this to her brother too when he's crying and it's so sweet. She gives him a kiss on the head or arm and sits close trying to comfort him. The other day Isaiah's teacher was telling me a story of a time when Ashley came into the infant room to see him for a little bit. After being in there a while she went up to his teacher and said "Miss Loretta, does my brother need a bottle?" She's such a good big sister watching out for her brother. When I drop her off and go to leave she gives me a big hug and kiss, yells from across the room that she loves me and tells me to have a good day. It's so nice that she's so happy there, I couldn't do it if there were tears everyday. Would just break my heart! Brian told me yesterday when they were leaving she yelled to all the kids "goodbye, I love you guys!"

One of his favorite things to do

Labor Day

We decided to stay close to home this Labor Day, but ended up having a packed weekend. We went to Multnomah Falls, the fish hatchery, and a BBQ at my parents house on Saturday, Seaside on Sunday, and watched the game on Monday at Big Al's, a new Sports Bar and bowling Alley that opened up down the street from us. We had great weather all weekend including Sunday while we were at the beach. It was the perfect weekend as a family.