The County Fair

Yesterday we spent a few hours at the Placer County Fair.

 

Noah is such an observer, so this place was perfect for him.

In fact, we don't have a single picture of him looking at the camera, because he was just too busy looking at everything else: lots of people, race cars, rides and the animals.  Oh, he loved the animals, especially the goats. 

 Here's a short clip with his new found friends.
 

(I love the big hug at the end, as if he's saying, "Thanks Mom for letting me meet the goats.")

The majority of our time at the fair was spent with the animals.  Noah loved being up close to the pigs, sheep and sort of liked the cows.  The prize winning rooster, however, scared him to death every time it crowed.  We couldn't help but laugh and then try to be consoling parents.

The fair food didn't disappoint either.  Of course it's overpriced and hardly healthy, but we definitely enjoyed ourselves without feasting too much.  Just the smells alone is a treat!

Noah is a kid of simple pleasures.  It didn't matter that all of that fair food was right at his fingertips.  He was completely content with a free sucker.

Berry Picking

Yesterday we headed up to Apple Hill for a little berry picking.

Olivia, Sammie and Abby were all champion berry pickers and just kept going until the buckets were full.

This guy, on the other hand, was pretty much just a blueberry bandit.  Every time I turned around he was stuffing his cheeks like a chipmunk with berries. 

 I could hardly blame him though.  They were perfectly ripe and just the right size for those little hands.

And when picking blueberries off of the bush got a little old, he tried to get some from Grandma's bucket.  The girls kept saying he was going to throw up from the massive consumption.  I kept my fingers crossed that he was just on antioxidant overload and would be o.k. 

After and hour and a half of picking, we were happy with our harvest.  That's seventeen pounds of blueberries that Grandma is carrying!

 

Most of all, I think we were just happy to have fun as a family.  These kids all love each other like crazy, and they love doing fun things with Grandma. 

 

I love this blueberry boy!

 

Father's Day

Father's Day was a two day celebration so that we could spend time with each side of the family.  On Saturday, along with my sister, we took Papa down to Burr's for some dinner and ice cream.  Really, we just went for the ice cream, but the dinner part was good too.

Things aren't great with my dad.  It's been six months since his dementia diagnosis and, wow, this disease is a fast mover.  He likely won't be at home for much longer and definitely won't be there for Father's Day next year.

So, I wanted to get him out to do something we've been talking about for far too long.  My dad will rarely pass up the chance for a chocolate malt, and this one didn't disappoint.

It was nice just spending time together and kind of forgetting for a while that Papa's daily care is such a concern and stress.  Ice cream and good company will do that.  Noah loved that Papa was playing peek-a-boo with the menus and wanted to share his malt.

On Sunday we celebrated with the Boyces.  Noah just loves his Grandpa.  I am increasingly grateful for him and the important role he'll play as grandpa for our kids, particularly as my dad's health worsens. There are so many things that my dad would have liked to do that this grandpa will make possible.  Oh, how we love him.

 It was a great evening of family, playing with cousins and, of course, delicious food.

We are so blessed to have so many wonderful dads in our family.  They are such examples of hard work, putting family first and sacrifice.

Celebrating Daddy

Noah and I may spend all day together, but Daddy is definitely his best friend.  He loves to sing, "Daaa Deee" in the sweetest voice over and over.  When Noah wakes up in the morning, he calls for dad.  When I tell him daddy is coming home from work, he runs to the kitchen window and watches for him.  And you'd think that Daddy's arrival home was Christmas morning.  Oh, the squeals of excitement we hear for Daddy.  I love that already there's something special between these two.

I'm so glad we get to celebrate him today.  Pregnancy #2 has, so far, been pretty rough.  Nate has stepped in, often put off what he wanted to do, and, most of all, loved more.  I couldn't be more grateful.

Happy Father's Day!

18 Months

(Looks like I forgot to hit the 'publish' button a couple of months ago.)

Noah is 18 months old!

This kid is just buckets of fun right now. 

Talking:  Real words are still pretty sparse right now, but this kid talks in paragraphs.  And he seems pretty convinced that we know exactly what he's saying.  He does have some simple words down besides mom and dad.  The words hot, outside, thank you, hi, yeah, grass, apple, cracker and 'what's that' are words we sometimes hear.  But they are definitely spoken on his terms, when he feels like it.  Even though he's not talking a lot (in our language at least) it's amazing to me that he understands just about everything we tell him and can identity many common (and not so common) objects in our home. He can make animal sounds for a dog, cow, horse, bird, snake and bees.

Silliness: This kid is hilarious.  He loves to play peek-a-boo.  Sometimes I walk in after nap time and he's playing it with his bear and laughing.  Noah also likes to do things with his eyes closed.  He thinks it's pretty funny to eat that way and has found it's a little bit dangerous to try walking around without looking.  We love the big squint and funny smile on his face as he does it.  Noah also loves to be chased.  He squeals with excitement when he can find someone to chase after him. 

Sweetness: Noah just started giving really big hugs, and it's awesome.  He blows kisses when we say good-bye to people, but my favorite is that when we put him in his crib at bedtime he pops back up, waves and blows a kiss.  Oh, melt my heart.  He also waves bye-bye to his bear when we take him out of his crib.

Noah loves 'using his muscles' and lifting heavy things.  Such a boy!

And, he's getting good at feeding himself with a spoon or fork.

I love that he can do some of the big boy things.  He's starting to like coloring too...as a lefty.

Bakersfield and the Beach

A couple of weeks ago we took a trip down to Bakersfield to visit the cousins.  As soon as we got there Noah was squealing with excitement to see and play with the girls.  It's amazing that already he understands that Olivia, Sammie and Abby are more than playmates or friends.  They're family and that's the very best thing of all.

Noah loved trying out all of the girls' toys, and was pretty excited to be a big boy on Abby's scooter.

 

We really had the best time that night doing nothing: dinner at home, sitting in the driveway while the kids played and played, and taking a little walk to Rite Aid for some Thrifty ice cream.  We just love being with these guys.

The next day, however was a little more adventurous as we packed up and drove to the beach in Carpenteria.  It was beautiful, relaxing and the weather couldn't have been more perfect.  

It didn't take long for the sand toys to come out and the fun to begin.

 

Grandma and Grandpa's new puppy Buster loved the beach too.  

 

Noah stayed busy playing in the sand...

...looking around and people watching...

...exploring...

...and, of course, playing in the water.

We had to keep a firm grip on this guy because he kept wanting to run into the ocean.

 

 Such big day with no nap and too much driving made for a very, very crabby Noah in the end, but it sure was fun while it lasted.  Most of all, it was just fun to be together as a family.

He couldn't wait any longer...

 Noah's been a good secret keeper for weeks, but now has some fun news to share.

If all goes well, sometime around Thanksgiving we'll have another little one joining the family.  

We couldn't be more excited or feel more blessed.