Hume Lake

Last Friday Chad, Maggie and I went to Hume Lake for a long weekend. It was busy and fun and we managed to fit quite a bit into the trip. I will put more photos from our vacation up in the next few days. Click here to compare our family photo this year to the one we shot last year.

1 Fish, 2 Fish

On Wednesday morning Maggie and I met up with our friends at a local pet store. The store sells fish, birds, rats, guinea pigs, frogs, cats (the usuals) and also has a "doggy daycare". The girls were able to watch all of the animals for a bit from their cages, pay areas and/or aquariums, and even got to watch a few little dogs get haircuts. The girls didn't identify any favorite animals from this trip, but both continuously mimicked the frogs, so maybe they were the biggest hit? Anyway, can't wait to give a big rat to Maggie's friend for her birthday. She is going to love it.

More organic veggies...

...but not from our house this time. We went to the seasonal Organic Farm Summer Field Days & U-pick sale at Fresno State and enjoyed harvesting food as a family. If you remember (if you don't, shame on you--just kidding--click here) the last time Maggie and I went she was only a few months old. She's changed so much since then and now loves picking out and sampling maynos (tomatoes). Fun to have Chad along with us this time too. The bummer was that at the end I somehow managed to squish some of our juicy strawberries all over my shorts. Frustrating! Anyway, here's what we bought this time: Heirloom tomatoes (cherokee purple and tigerella), strawberries, zucchini, cucumbers (diva), cantaloupe and honeydew melon. Yum!

Wild Water Adventures

This month my mom, Maggie and I went to Wild Water Adventures twice. My dad came with us once. All summer my friends have been taking their kids there and I wasn't convinced it was an age-appropriate place to take Maggie. In high school (when it was called Clovis Lakes) I went a number of times and then Chad and I hit it up once pre-Maggie. I didn't remember it being particularly toddler-friendly. Wrong! The park has a huge section of water slides and play areas for the toddler and younger kid set, complete with a shallow 1-foot deep pool. Lots of squirty, bubbly, wet entertainment for the kids. To say that Maggie has a blast there is an understatement--I think right now it's her favorite place to be. Too bad her mom didn't realize this earlier in the summer...

Finger Paints

Last week Maggie and her friend experimented with finger paints. Her friend totally dug getting her hands dirty and playing with the goo. Maggie? Only kinda. She dove in at first, but after about 5 or so minutes decided she wanted her fingers clean. We need to work on that and will try again soon.

Hair, again

On Sunday Maggie got her hair cut. This time we took her to the same place Chad goes to when he needs a trim. Thanks to her iPad, Maggie did pretty well. She was a bit curious and squirmy in parts, but for the first 90% of the time she sat still and watched a recorded episode of some Disney show. She loved the blow drying.

New Bed

Maggie's crib converts to a toddler bed and then to a regular double bed as she grows. We decided she was ready for the switch a few weeks back and this weekend we finally went for it. Let me tell you, she has loved it from the first time she saw the new setup. More than the "new" bed, she loves the new bedding and the idea of laying with a sheet over her. It's such a fun novelty that throughout the day on Sunday she climbed in and would pretend to sleep. So far naps have gone OK and bedtime has been great, so fingers crossed that sleeping well in this bed continues.

Family in San Diego

Chad's parents and grandma live in San Diego so we got to spend quality time with them while we were down there. Maggie had so much fun playing with her grandparents and I'm pretty sure they felt the same way. Maggie also enjoyed snuggling with her great-grandmother, Hazel, and I'm glad we got a photo of them together during our visit with her. The bottom left photo shows the four generations on the couch: Ross (Chad's dad), Hazel, Maggie and Chad. Neat!

San Diego

Chad, Maggie and I went to San Diego last week and had such a fun time. A beautiful city to visit, for sure. We spent time with family and friends, ate good food, hit the beach, shopped, napped, enjoyed Chad's 20-year high school reunion, and overall had a great vacation. Here are some shots of Maggie playing at the beach. I don't see any particularly wonderful photos here, but a fun morning so I figured I'd document it on the blog anyway.

Portraits

We were in San Diego last week. I don't have any photos ready from that trip, but I do have a few shots of Maggie that I took in July. I was trying to get her to smile naturally, not her super-happy-photo-cheese smile, but instead I got no smile at all. While these are not her typical look (she almost always has a big smile), I do like the simplicity and softness of them.

Tomatoes

Those of you who are around Maggie regularly know how much she loves tomatoes. Her favorites are the warm ones she picks straight from the vines in our garden. As happy as I am that she likes the fruit, we'd feel much more comfortable with her eating them after they're sliced, while she's sitting down and supervised. The tomatoes we grow are small and delicious and the perfect size for getting stuck in your throat. Yikes. So...we've started a new thing where after we pick our tomatoes for dinner, Maggie brings the basket of them into the house and helps me wash them. We move a big chair to the sink and she gets to stand on it and give the tomatoes a good scrubbing. She loves it and it's one less (easy) thing I have to do. Now, she may fall off that big chair and break her arm, but at least she's not going to get a tomato stuck in her throat...

Dentist

Maggie had her first trip to the dentist last week. I know I'm a year late getting her on the dentist train, but sheesh, she still doesn't even have all of her teeth so give me a break.  We went to a pediatric dentist near us and the office was great. I am not going to brag about Maggie and her bravery because she left that in the car for this first visit. The visit started with the hygienist showing Mags the dental instruments, which thought were pretty cool. The hygienist then put the spinning brush on Maggie's fingernail to show her how it worked and Maggie thought that was OK too. When it came time to get that brush in her mouth? Forget it. She didn't even want to sit in the chair anymore. So instead Maggie showed them how well she brushes her teeth with a regular toothbrush (standing up).  After waiting just a minute the dentist came in to examine her mouth and teeth before giving her a fluoride treatment with a little brush. Once again, she did just OK. This exam consisted of Maggie laying on my lap, me holding her arms down and the dentist gently exploring her mouth. The office assured me that it's typical for a 2-year old not to want to be there, so I'm not going to be hard on her about it. At the end Maggie picked out an orange balloon and an Elmo book to take home (to go with her new toothbrush, paste and floss) for being a good patient. The photos above were taken when things were going well. Ha!

Playland

After the zoo that Sunday we went to Playland. It was our first time there and our expectations were pretty low. Chad knew they had a carousel and Maggie totally digs those things so he wanted to take her. We bought tickets (cheap!) for the ride and we couldn't wipe the smile off her face. She hugged and kissed her horse before they exited the ride. Then she and Chad went on a little helicopter ride, which she also enjoyed, before we headed home.