Not quite a county fair but close enough

Someone mentioned funnel cake last week and since then I've had a hankering for an old fashioned county fair.

Hello Santa Monica Farmers Market.

I almost had to take a valium to deal with the crowds, but Addie had an awesome time. I had been getting kinda wonky in crowds last weekend. We hung out on the lawn at LACMA on Friday night with hundreds of other families and a big squadron of kids from daycare. I sort of went into turtle mode and by the time Cap arrived I was ready to run home in a half panic. I realized that wasn't fair to him or Addie so I managed to hold it together until the sunset when it Time To Go Home NOW.

The farmers market definitely had more people clad in designer footwear (children included) than your average county fair, but we did have a picnic of omelets and strawberry crepes, listened to a band and Addie got an orange balloon butterfly. She also rode on her first pony. No matter what you may think of pony rides, I was so proud of Addie for riding Blondie all by herself while we waved from outside the ring. I'm already getting excited for pumpkin patch season. I think the influx of costume catalogs months in advance may also have started me on it.

Last Comic Standing

In case you are wondering what Addie thinks of her charming, 

eloquent parents, take a look.  Sorta reminds me of 

adults according to Charlie Brown.

so much for nostalgia

Have you had a push-up pop recently? Well, I don't think you need to 

chase the ice-cream truck down the street for one.  Tastes like chewable, 

orange flavored aspirin shoved into a toilet paper tube. Give me tart 

frozen yogurt any day (and recently it pretty much has been).

Twinkle Twinkle

Topping the charts at #1, Addie with "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star"

22 Hours

I know, I know. I am totally milking our Hawaii trip, but this will be the last post on the subject I swear (pinkies crossed).

For most of the trip we pretended to be locals and stayed with friends of my mom in Haiku. For one night though I fully embraced my pasty-skinned, tourist-loving self. My mom became Extra Super Gran (if that is possible) and watched Addie, while Cap and I snuck out to the Sheraton at Ka'anapali Beach for one extravagant night in an amazing resort. Man, I LOVE resorts. 

We were miraculously upgraded 2 levels to a Deluxe Ocean Front room. Above is the view from our private balcony; nothing between us and the ocean but a manicured lawn and a long drop off a cliff. In 22 hours we attempted to relive our 7 day honeymoon, and I think we did a darn good job. We crammed in the entire resort experience complete with mai tais by the pool, wine and appetizers in our room at sunset, and dinner at a fabulous restaurant in Lahaina.


At sunset, we raced (and I mean I really ran) from our room service bottle of wine on our balcony, down to the beach to see the ceremonial cliff diver, and then a few minutes later hauled butt back to the room to catch the sun sink below the horizon. The next day we slept in (until 8 am but that still counts!), went snorkeling with a green sea turtle, and then topped it off with more pool time and a bloody mary. Did I mention that I love resorts? I LOVE RESORTS. I'm spoiled and I know it.



And to Po, thanks for sharing 22 hours with me in paradise.

Yucky

The top picture especially is Addie’s "I don’t like it, Mama. It’s yucky" face.

“I don’t like rice. I’m sorry.”
We’ll at least she was polite about it.

Sometimes she’ll also use the scrunchy nose face when she wants to remind me of rules involving what not to eat.

“Addie, do you want to go outside and look for roly-poly bugs?”
“I don’t eat bugs.” (scrunched up face)

"Today we're gonna go to the beach!"
"I don't eat sand." (scrunched up face)
That is also not always the case as Addie has been known to get down on all fours and lick the sand.

“Oh Addie, Look! A hummingbird!”
“I don’t eat hummingbird.” (scrunched up face)

“We’re going to the swimming pool today!”
“The big swimming pool? I don’t eat swimming pools.”

How much do I love you?

There are sunsets . . .




. . . and then there are sunsets from the top of the world . . .





The Summit, Haleakala Crater



"Addie, guess how much Mama loves you?"
I stretched out my arms really wide, "this much."
Addie replied, "Too much."

Blow Dolphin, Blow!

Addie takes on the dolphin exhibit at the Maui Ocean Center - headbanger style.

Promise from Heaven

Want to see your soul?

8,800 feet in the sky when the sun is shining from behind, we were blessed to see our own shadow cast onto the clouds below with a rainbow surrounding it. The Hawaiian legend around this phenomena is that your own soul is revealed to you as a promise from heaven that you will be cared for.

Pretty neato.

Return from Paradise

In case you happen to bump into me, I want to warn you first.

I am not tan. I am also not sunburned. This might be why (plus the 4 cans of continuous spray SPF 70 we went through).


Addie totally dug the ocean. We've taken her to the beach several times in LA but she refused to even dip a toe into the water. Of course, maybe the crystal blue water and warm ocean temperatures of Maui beaches may have something to do with her new love, and who could blame her?

Addie loved jumping into the waves holding hands with me, Cap or Gran. "One, Two, Three, JUMP!" she'd shout. I also found a new love - snorkeling. It is one of the most amazing things I've experienced in my life (after my wedding and giving birth to Addie of course, but it does rank way up there). After a day at the beach, we'd strip Addie down to her birthday suit and Cap would wade out and give her an "Ocean Bath." Ah, we're gonna miss Ocean Baths.


There was so much we did, I don't know what else to say really except it was a wonderful vacation and I can't wait until Addie can swim! (and snorkel). I think instead of trying to summarize our trip here, you can check out photos of our entire trip by clicking on the sidebar, and I'll try to break it down over the next few posts.

I do want to at least show the view from where we stayed. Our beyond-gracious hosts Dave and Irene have a gorgeous place in Haiku with views here:

and in the other direction. Seriously. They LIVE here.


It's back to work for me on Monday. Gulp! And we miss you Gran!

Aloha!

Aloha Maui!

We're leaving on a jet plane in a few hours for 10 day glorious days in Maui and we can't wait to meet up with Gran!

Two Things I Love About our New Place

Our back yard *

* and the red melamine plates I got at Target for $1.25 each

and our front yard

Two, or . . .

When you ask Addie how old she is, she immediately says, "One!"
Then she pauses, and shouts, "Two!"

In this photo though I wonder if she should say 18?

When I went to my flickr site to grab the image, I saw that Jamie had made almost the exact same comment on this photo, although noting the age as more like 14 than 18. Kids sure are growing up faster these days.

attack of the lorikeets

For those who blog, or write anything, you might be able to relate. I write the Funniest, Wittiest, Most Entertaining, Deep-diving, Divulging and yet Oh-So Self Deprecating blogs in my head. This usually occurs when I am falling asleep or driving my car to work. This does not often happen when I am actually sitting in front of my computer. I am thankful that my subject matter is happy to take over for my own lacking. This is one of the reasons I don't, say, write a political blog, because I couldn't just post a photo of McCain and write "poop" next to it. Or could I?

So, I have quite a backlog of Miss A photos from the past 7 days that I'll try to parse out in increments to fill my blog entries whether or not I accompany them with text.

Today we went to the aquarium for the fourteen millionth time. I never get tired of going with Addie, but I sort of wonder why I still lug my camera. Can you have too many grainy photos of Addie plastered up against the acrylic tanks? Well, here's another!


Her favorite thing right now is the sea horses which she imitates by making her forefinger and thumb into a feeding sea horse snout. Oh and if you get a chance, ask her what a roly-poly bug does. She'll lie on her back with her legs up in the air since that is what she saw when I picked one up in our yard in the palm of my hand. Great fun.


At the aquarium we have our usual route - head straight upstairs for the bright colored tropical fish, sea horses and sea dragons (my favorite), and the giant green sea turtle. Today however, we took a spin through the lorikeet area sans bird food which makes us rather second class citizens in their 'hood. They were flying at us like green darts. You can see that at least Addie was keeping her eyes open when the green blur of a lorikeet went whizzing by.


Check out a few more photos of our aquarium trip on the left side bar.

Happy Fourth of July!

Patriotic Art

Our Lil' California Gal

Taco Tongue

As I recall from Miss DeMott's Freshman Biology, "taco tongue" is genetic. 

Can you taco tongue?

On the Merry Go Round

Saturday was my office Summer Family Picnic. In my usual cynical state, I was skeptical that people would even show up but I was proven wrong. The soccer match between "Buildings" vs. "Consulting"* was the talk of the office the entire week. My 130+ office mates actually like hanging out together - or they just like free food and booze. While my co-workers were kicking each other's shins on the field, Cap spun Addie around on her first merry go round. I took a few turns with her and almost barfed. Ugh. I'm old.


* In the engineering world, "buildings" refers to structural, mechanical, electrical and plumbing engineers, while "consulting" is telecommunications, acoustics, and energy engineers.

Frosting Good, Cake Not So Much

I've been feeling super busy lately, so surely I must have stock piled a zillion photos of Addie and hilarious anectodes to share , but alas I'm not sure where all the time has gone. We've been enjoying a flurry of toddler birthdays (if two can be a flurry). This photo is from Addie's best daycare pal Rya's birthday last Saturday. Addie of course just licked off the frosting and left the cake remains behind which a 1 year old swipped off the table and gobbled up. At least it didn't go to waste.

Good Advice

"Poo-poo diaper. Don't eat it."
- Addie

The Ouch Game

Addie invented a new game.

Touch mama's leg
Scream "Ouch"
Giggle
Repeat

"Other Leg!"

Touch mama's leg
Scream "Ouch"
Giggle
Repeat

I guess I need to shave, but that wouldn't be fun now, would it?