Summer Zoo

We own an annual pass and have made the trip to the zoo in the winter and spring, but this was our first visit in the summer. We picked a mild day to go, got there early and left before noon. Not having to sweat made it much more enjoyable for all of us. Chad is crazy because he suggested the three of us go, just two days after his Half Dome trek, on a Sunday morning. Apparently his body recovers quickly from excruciatingly long hikes.  Anyway, when we got there we found out it was one of the giraffe's first birthday at the zoo and they were having a party, hence the party hat on Maggie. While there we looked at some of the animals, watched the bird show (Maggie wanted to tickle the owl after the show...yikes!) and had a nice morning. We like the zoo.

Grapes, our second summer

I thought we'd remove our grape vine after last year's buggy attempt (see here for a refresher) but before we got our lazy butts around too it, our vine started to grow. This year it really took off. We have leaves and vines all over and these past few weeks we started getting ripe grapes. I'm not sure why we didn't get bugs this year (still working totally organically) but the good news is that we didn't. And the grapes are delicious! Maggie's been scarfing them down and I'm happy to report that we have a few more large bunches soon to be ready. I'm glad our lazy butts didn't take the vine down last year because this year it was totally worth it.

Happy Birthday, Maggie (again)

Last week we visited our family up in Northern California. They threw Maggie a birthday party filled with swimming, food, cake, music and presents. She had a blast. It was super fun seeing our family and the only way it could have been better is if Chad and my dad were there with us. Hopefully next time.

Yosemite, part 2

While Chad was hiking to/from Half Dome, the rest of us explored Yosemite Valley. I took a billion photos of waterfalls and I'm not going to bore you with those, so here are a few of the people shots. It was a fun trip and we all had a great time.

Yosemite, part 1

Last Thursday we went to Yosemite for the night because Chad had a permit to climb Half Dome. He trained diligently for the past three months and I am so proud to say that he made it to the top! He left our camp at 4am and reached the summit at 10:45am. He was back down to greet us at the parking lot just before 6pm. The hike was 17.2 miles. Since I wasn't there, I can't describe how intense the trip was, but I can post a few of his photos. Such an amazing journey for him and we are so stoked that he made it. Awesome!

Summer Reading Program

This summer Maggie participated in our local library's summer reading program. She had to read (or have read to her) six books in order to reach her goal. Lucky for us, we do that in a day so it wasn't hard for her to finish. After reading the first two books Maggie earned a plastic rainbow Slinky. We keep it in the car and she loves playing with it. Since we don't have stairs, who knows when she'll learn what Slinkys are really all about. After she finished her last four books, she got to pick out either another toy or a book. Smart girl that she is, Maggie chose a new hardcover book called We All Have a Heritage. It's out of her age range now, but in a year I think it'll be relevant. The library's summer reading program is over for this year, but we hope all of Maggie's friends participate next year. It's great!

Birthday Party Videos

As promised, here are a few little videos from Maggie's party. As I mentioned before, there were 8 kids there to help her celebrate. A few of them are shown in this video. 

Maggie's Rainbow Party

On Saturday Maggie's best friends came over for her second birthday celebration. It was a rainbow-themed party filled with water playing fun. We had a kiddie pool with toys and balls and a homemade car wash (kid wash?) for the kids to run through. They seemed to enjoy it. It was a fun party and I know Maggie had a blast. Thanks to everyone who came to help us celebrate our sweet girl's big day!

(A video or two will be uploaded soon.)

The following shots were taken from our photographer friend, Josh. Click here to visit his website.

Happy Birthday, Maggie!

Last Friday was Maggie's big TWO birthday. For the most part the day was spent getting ready for her birthday party, but we did take a couple hour break in the afternoon to hit Tumble America for some fun. We went with Maggie's friend and her mom (my friend) and the girls jumped and climbed and got some darn good exercise. Later that night we went to sushi for a celebration dinner (Maggie had her share of edamame and shrimp) and opened a few gifts before bedtime. Fun day! Happy birthday, Maggie!

Car Seat

On Sunday we gave Maggie an early birthday surprise and switched her car seat from back- to front-facing. I have been strict about keeping her back-facing until age 2 and finally gave in 5 days before her birthday. Chad and I anticipated some sort of party from Maggie but instead she smiled for the camera and then really didn't show much care at all. Huh. Chad and I like being able to see her when we're driving, so at least two of us are excited about the move.

Just for Fun

On Monday afternoon before Maggie's nap we went to an ice cream shop in town called Maggie Moo's. It was my first time there and we had a groupon to use up so we figured a hot holiday day would be the perfect time to use it. Chad got a malt and I got a strawberry banana smoothie, which, as you can see, I shared with Maggie. Being the nerd that I am I took photos of all the signs they had in the store with things about Maggie. Why not, right?

Maggie in Utah

Maggie was a great traveler during our trip to Utah. She flew both ways like a champ, toured the area well, and was in great spirits most of the time. The last night she got a stuffy nose and fever and slept terribly, but turns out she also cut a tooth that night so obviously her little body was under stress. Other than that, though, she was great.

Heading Downstairs

The last night we were in Park City Chad and I had dinner and then went to the club, Downstairs. I say club because that's what it was. An L.A., pretty people, dark room, loud music, dancing kind of club. And while it's been a long time since we've been to and enjoyed something like that, we wanted to hit up this place that night because Samantha Ronson was on the schedule. She started off the evening playing an acoustic set with Jimmy Messer. (I got brave and told him he was great and shook his hand. Go me!) Their set was somewhat pop-y and folk-y and the show was pretty decent. I'd say there were probably 30-40 people in the audience for the acoustic show and then, in typical club fashion, the young and beautifuls arrived fashionably late and ended up packing the house.  Samantha returned to center stage later that evening and spun records for the rest of the night.