One Step Ahead of the Chaos: May 2011

>> Tuesday, May 31, 2011

This is the view from our hotel (the deck). We are sitting here enjoying the view and listening to Caroline cry herself to sleep on the baby monitor. Love modern technology.

We have made it to the west coast, to Carmel to be exact. (For the record it is very different from Carmel, IN). Caroline was a bit out of sorts yesterday, but was a champ given that she is only two. She played a lot during the first leg of our trip and slept almost four hours on the second. We are in an adorable place that is the good parts of a bed and breakfast without the bed. (Cookies in the afternoon, yummy breakfast, little flowered wallpaper and no strained conversation with people you don't know over coffee.)

We got to see Jack's Grandma Jean yesterday for a bit. She was spry and lived the pictures from her great-grandchildren we brought her. (We will have to tell Katelyn that she was particularly impressed by the hugs and kisses on Katelyn's card.)

Today we saw friends from college--Lisa Piini Randell and her husband and son for lunch. What a great time! We went to Big Sur and walked on the beach--beautiful. We came back to Carmel and had a fantastic Italian dinner. Pizza, salad, spaghetti, what a great combination. We were all impressed by the nice restaurant that had a great kid's menu (a full cheese pizza for $5), that had jumbo crayons and a kind staff, but also a pear, arugula and gorgonzola salad and squid ink pasta for dinner for mommy. We are happy to report that Caroline tried beets and olives (but did not like this variety). She ate octopus twice today, as well as clams and crab. She ran on the beach and tried to pick up huge rocks there. After all of that excitement she is passed out on her tent with bubby, dead to the world.

You know you are a good dad when...

>> Wednesday, May 25, 2011

You agree to carry your daughter's baby doll in the new backpack carrier. You're a really spectacular Dad when you agree to the adorable pleadings of a two year old and take the baby for a walk in front of the house. Luckily the neighbors have a two year old too.

Little Moroccan Princess

>> Monday, May 23, 2011

It is finally warm enough for Caroline to sport her fabulous Moroccan outfit at church. Of course, it was sunny so she needed her sunglasses too. She was pretty hilarious with those glasses. She decided she didn't like wearing them, but did like the look. So she propped them on her head. Too funny.

Gardening

>> Thursday, May 19, 2011

We are very excited at our house that it is spring. Caroline is big enough that she can help in her own way. Yesterday she was extremely excited about carrying all the weeds I pulled and putting them in a garbage bag. She smelled the lavender clippings, tasted mint (with appropriate supervision) and patted the flowers. You can't see it in the picture but she is pretty dirty (check out her wet belly). Too cute.

Micah's house

>> Monday, May 16, 2011

We had a great weekend at, as Caroline calls it, Micah's house. She had a great time playing with her cousins. She thinks Uncle Scott is hilarious. We all were big fans of Aunt Deb's yummy food. And, even more exciting, Nana and Papa came too. She also enjoyed seeing Micah's "other Papa" and Grammy (also known as Deb's parents. But, I think one of the most exciting things for Caroline was that Micah has his very own slide in the backyard. Now that was just impressive in her book. We had some rain, but played games ate great food and had a wonderful time with family.

The Zoo

>> Thursday, May 12, 2011

We decided it was finally warm enough for a trip to the zoo last Friday. We went along with some of Caroline's favorite people--Ruthie and Ashley (and their moms and siblings). We checked out the lions (that you can't really see in this picture, but are there), pandas, elephants and several different kinds of monkeys and gorillas. All in all a really fun morning!