Awesome trip to San Francisco!

For my 40th birthday, Kevin got us tickets to the King Tut exhibit that is currently in SF. (If you have a chance to go, tickets are half price right now). We decided to make a weekend out of it and contacted my good friend Eric to find out the most kid-friendly area in SF. Turns out he and his family would be in Sweden (Anna is Swedish) for a long vacation and they very kindly offered us their home for our weekend. We can't thank them enough for their generosity. Having a place to put Cam down for naps and bedtime was so wonderful (without having to pay for 2 hotel rooms!) Their home was amazing! Gorgeous turn-of-the-century home, beautifully renovated, typical San Francisco. They were super close to a ton of fun stuff, and we took advantage of it all that weekend!

Cam had a blast running down the hallway of their home! He "played" soccer a lot that weekend. He also had a great time with all of Lucas + Holly's toys - totally different than his stuff at home. :)

We arrived mid-afternoon on Friday, and it was like we were in another world! It was soooooo cold up in SF. It was triple digits in Paso when we left; mid-60s in SF! Luckily we'd planned ahead and brough long pants and sweaters with us :) After boiling at home, it was a nice change.

Saturday morning we got ready and went to the King Tut exhibit. Luckily Eric + Anna's place was really close to the Museum of Science, so it was a quick trip with easy parking. Cam did really well in the exhibit, which was super crowded. No strollers were allowed, so Cam and Daddy did a quick tour then waited outside in the awesome park inbetween the 2 museums while I took a little more time. We unfortunately didn't have our camera with us for this outing, and we missed some great shots of Cam watching a large group of people doing Tai Chi. He also loved watching a group of people practicing being a Chinese dragon but he had the most fun running around inside of an emtpy water fountain with some other kids.

After King Tut, we explored the area a little bit and came across this amazing carousel. Cam loved it! He rode it three times AND WE DIDN'T HAVE A CAMERA! So bummed! We'll have one next time. :)

Later, after Cam's nap, we explored the Haight and took a walk back to the park we'd been at in the morning (the carousel was closed, we were all so bummed). Note the wool sweater and that Cam was totally wrapped up in a blanket :) We had a blast - Cam ran around and totally wore himself out.

On Sunday morning we walked around the park by Eric + Anna's - the sun was out and it was gorgeous! We started our drive south around Cam's naptime but he didn't sleep well, and we decided to stop at a park in Willow Glen to have a picinic lunch and play for a bit before the rest of the drive back to Paso. It was a terrific weekend away from home and THANK YOU again to Eric, Anna, Lucas and Holly for letting us stay at their fabulous home!

Happy 4th of July

We were invited to spend the 4th of July up in San Jose with our friends Derek, Evelyn, Adrianna and Garret. It was a gorgeous day up there - mid 80s - their friends Mark, Cherry, and their two daughters joined the fun too.

Cam's 4th of July was all about food and fun :)

After some time playing in the pool with the kids (without getting wet, natch), it was popscicle time.





Next: back to the pool.







Then it was time for a 4th of July themed Jello bowl! (no alcohol :) )









After Jello, it was time to play house with all the kids running in and out. Amazingly, no fingers were smooshed in all the excitement.




The kids' sugar was low, so cupcakes were brought out for everyone to enjoy.






Hope everyone had an awesome 4th of July!!!

Cam's wagon: multipurpose :)

Typically you'd see a photo of Cam in his wagon (which he can get in and out of on his own very nicely now :) ) but for our Memorial Day BBQ w/our wonderful neighbours, we had to repurpose it to bring over some goodies to share :) Cam had a blast playing with Ryan and we all enjoyed the boys antics (mostly a lot of chasing and yelling). Thanks for having us over, Awesome Neighbours! :)

ps
yes, that is Cam's butt sticking out of Ryan's toy drawer.

Birthday party for a buddy

Today we drove up to San Jose to go to Garrett's second birthday party - Cam had a blast! The party was at The Little Gym (similar to the Wee Workout place in Paso Robles but, oh, about 10x as big!!). There were tons of mats and after Cam watched Garrett jump down from two stacked mats, he started trying to do that himself and pretty much mastered it by the time we left - we'll see just what he's climbing (and jumping off of) on at home this week :)

There were about 30 kids there, ranging in age from 1-8. Everyone had a great time and by the end of it, Cam was lying down on the gym mats saying "nite nite" :)

The car ride was great in both directions; seems that turning the seat around has made a huge difference and Cam slept pretty well, then hung out checking out the scenery until we got to our destination. He was happy to get home and let out a huge sigh when Kevin laid him down in his crib - he was probably tired of being in his carseat, lol.

We didn't bring the camera in with us but if we get any photos from Evelyn, we'll be sure to post them.

Halloween party fun

Our next door neighbour's Katherine, Jason and Ryan had a great Halloween party this afternoon we were invited too. Lots of food, fun games (a piñata!), more food and running around. Cam fell in love with one of the pumpkin pillow decorations, but also with part of Jason's costume, a Nerf sword. Then there were all of Ryan's toys to play with - it was a busy time for him, lol. Kevin and I got to relax in a very kid-proofed home and enjoy ourselves too with a bunch of other parents (Cam ISN'T the only kid that doesn't sleep through the night!! So nice to hear that!!)

Cam did get to wear his costume (which was a giraffe, like George, natch) but it turns out the 18-24 month size was too small!! His torso was longer than it allowed for the hood, with the really cute giraffe head, to come up over his head, although the sleeves and legs were long enough. Bummer!! I'll try to find something else before Friday for him but we're so disappointed this one doesn't fit. :( Cam was still freakin' adorable in it, hood or not!

The highlight of the night for everyone was the piñata, of course :) Cam was allowed to take a few swings at it (we feared for Jason and Katherine's windows but all is well there!) - he loved being able to participate with the "big kids" and joined in when the piñata was cracked open, although he didn't notice when we stuck the candy he collected in the other kids bags (phew!). We all had a blast and are so grateful to live next door to such wonderful people! (Mommy's streak of fantastic neighbours' continues - Charles and Sarah used to be neighbours too!)

Cam's first dinner out

More fun with mommy's $10 sunglasses while our OUR FIRST DINNER OUT AS A FAMILY since Cam joined us last year. He did great in the restaurant and we all had a blast. Should have tried this sooner!!

Adorablest :)

The Caminator was at the beach in Cayoucos with mommy, daddy and Grammie and Grampie today. Gorgeous cool weather (much to Grammie and Grampie's relief after triple digits in Paso) with sunshine, swings and sea gulls - awesome!

Cam's first trip to the beach

On Saturday we took a quick trip to the beach in Cayucos to give Cam his first look at the ocean. While it was 85° here in Paso, it ended up being about 60-65° in Cayucos! Luckily we all brought sweatshirts, although there were plenty of kids running around in swimwear, Cam's a warm-weather kid so he got bundled up :) (yes, yes, overprotective mommy!)

We think he had fun - he did his "judge" thing, so we'll find out if he really likes it next time we go. He did walk in the sand a little, and also tried (succeeded in) eating some, and liked watching the dogs running around, which is what he's doing in the photos. It was nice to get out and just muck around without an agenda, though! We need to do that more :)

Trip to Noah's Bagels

Yep, that's right; our first family meal out was lunch at Noah's Bagels in Willow Glen today. Turns out Cam loves bagels and did a superb job chowing one, all the while checking out the local street scene on Lincoln Ave. He's a multi-tasker! Plus, chicks dig him (see photo).

Loving our vacation so far; Cam is napping AMAZINGLY - so different than daycare! We're getting in a bit of extra rest too, and visiting with friends :) The weather is wonderful too; mid-high 80s and cooling off tons at night. Which is nice b/c the three cats like to snuggle up and that wouldn't be fun if it was hot!

Trip to Bay Area - with (almost) no crying!!

Yesterday we finally did a trip up to the Bay area with the new carseat. Overall, it went GREAT!!

A key ingredient was to leave Paso right around Cam's typical naptime, so he slept almost the entire way up to Morgan Hill (about 2 hours) where our first stop was to visit Auntie Sherry who was playing in a soccer tournament there. Cam got an opportunity to say hello to Mr. Keogh (insider's joke) and he was FASCINATED with him; we're thinking its the beard :) See photo at left: mommy and Cam along with Mr. Keogh. Who, by the way, is Auntie Sherry's husband and is coaching her soccer team. The gals on the soccer team were super nice to Cam, although he was overwhelmed to be the center of attention for the entire team for a bit!

We got there in between games and it was super duper windy, so by the time her last game started, Cam was giving us his "I'm done" signals and we got him back in the car so he could take another short nap while we headed up north to San Jose to visit with Sarah, Charles and their boys, James and Grant, who is just about Cam's age.

Grant is such an easy-going, good natured, happy baby! I'm convinced the two of them will enjoy playing together as they get older. They were both very interested in each other and started to "baby wrestle" when we put them down on a blanket in the backyard - too funny! Each of the boy's bit the other's behind (on the diaper) to keep him from crawling away, which was freakin' hysterical.
It was really nice to visit with Sarah, Charles and their friend Johnny; we all hadn't seen each other since Sarah and I were both pregnant late last summer. We fed Cam some carrots and turkey with veggies, and almost stayed for dinner with everyone, but Cam hit his wall and it was time to get in the car to head south again (thanks again for the invite; next time we'll plan our visit better!!). We battled the setting sun for about an hour (it kept going right into his eyes and we don't have the shade on the Britax that we had on the Graco carseat) but he eventually fell asleep and slept the entire way home, until we had to slow down to turn left onto Rte 46, when he woke up very ticked off. It took a while to settle him down once we got home, but he ended sleeping okay overall last night - woke up around 6:30am, which is a nice change from the 5:15am he's been doing the last few days. We think his ears are still bugging him; we're halfway through the antibiotics, but he's still waking up a lot at night, we think due to the pain, but we're not sure. Hopefully this double ear infection will get cleared up this week.

We're just waking him up from an 1.5 hour nap right now: as you can see he's very happily snuggled up with his buddy George (the Giraffe) and oblivious to the open curtains and bright room. If he doesn't wake up in the next 5 mins, I'll just close the blinds and let him sleep until he does wake up. We're going to see Uncle Steve, Auntie MA and cousin Loretta to give them 3 rose trees from our yard, but that's about all that's planned for today. We'll let you know if we have any other adventures today! Hope everyone is having a great weekend!!

Love,
M + K = C

The new carseat ROCKS!

More details tomorrow but Cam did FANTASTIC today on our trip up to the Bay area to see Auntie Sherry play in a soccer tournament and visit with Sarah, Charles, James and Grant (who is 3 weeks younger than Cam) in Willow Glen.

This is a photo taken from the front seat into the mirror we have on the back headrest of Cam sleeping on our way up to the soccer tournie in Morgan Hill (yes, right next to where I used to live!). Britax is the BEST!!! :)

Happy Monday :)

We had a great weekend down here in Paso; on Saturday we took Cam over to Barney Schwartz Park to play on the swings and also take a walk up to the pond. It was windy as all heck but we all had a good time, plus mommy and daddy got a bit of exercise!

Sunday we spent the afternoon with Uncle Steve, Auntie Mary Ann and cousin Loretta. Had a great time and FABULOUS dinner (thanks again!), plus Cam had fun hanging out with everyone; Uncle Steve had him giggling and Cam loved playing Super-Baby with Auntie MA. Cousin Loretta helped him with his dinner, which was great.

Somehow we managed to not take any photos this weekend - go figure! We'll catch up this week. Oh; Cam's ear infection hasn't cleared up and we were back at the Doc's office today. He's back on the antibiotics (different strength and dosage than before) and hopefully we'll get this cleared up. If he gets another ear infection within the next 4-6 weeks we'll go to see a specialist.

Quick 9 month stats: (a week early but since we were at the Doc's today)
Weight: 25lb 8oz / 96th percentile
Length: 30" / 95th percentile
Head: 19.25" / 99th percentile

Still a big kid! He'll easily hit the one-year-goal of tripling his weight and adding 10" to his height if we keep going this way.

Playin' in the swings

It was a gorgeous Sunday here in Paso and after Cam's lunchtime nap, we decided to head over to the Barney Schwartz Park and go for a walk. There is a fantastic playground there (which we'll spend many hours at in the future, we're sure!) and also some "big-little kid swings" (Cam looked so little in them, which is such a feat as he's such a big-little kid) which Cam tried out and loved, although he was having a lot of fun just people watching. Had to post the second photo: a gal at daycare, as well as Cam's Aunt Mary Ann, tease him by calling him "The Judge" - he just sits and watches things happening with no expression on his face. He was actually tired in this shot after playing on the swings and walking all over the park with us :)

All in all, the whole family got a little exercise and some vitamin D - can't ask for anything more on the tail end of a fantastic weekend. We hope everyone had a wonderful weekend too :)

For just a second...

...Cam was up on all fours this morning! Kevin and I were both shocked, as was Cam, who promptly did a face plant into the quilt he was playing on. He's been able to get up on his knees, or do a pushup, but this is the first time he did both at the same time!

Cam and I went up to the Bay area today and Cam did GREAT! We timed the trip around his naps, and it helped a lot. He slept almost all the way up there and didn't get cranky until we were in San Jose to see Auntie Sherry for a quick hello. We were supposed to go see Grant and Sarah too, but we were running so late for Garrett's birthday party we had to jam right over there. Our trip home was pretty good as well; Cam slept most of the way and only got cranky about 5 mins from the house. He was awesome!

Daddy sort of got a day to himself, although he did a ton of work around the house, mowed the lawn, gave the dogs a bath (and blow dried Charlie) AND cooked up a chicken for dinner! He did get to watch the UCLA game, although it didn't turn out the way he wanted, he had the house to himself to watch the game in peace. We (and all the friends we visited) missed him on the trip, so we will go up again very soon with him too :)

Cam got to try out Garrett's carseat while we were there (a Britax Marathon) and ordered our own new one today; Cam is just too long for his current carseat and we think it might be contributing to his dislike of traveling in the car. Here's hoping we'll soon be able to make more trips to visit friends and family without lots of yelling!!

Stroller-a-go-go

I really should think more before I take photos! Cam looked so cute in his hat, but all the stripes are just mommy's bad fashion choice :)

Hard to find hats to fit his melon-head; trying to win an auction on eBay for a sunhat in the 12-18 month size; can't find anything like it around here in Paso, despite how freakin' sunny it is!! Already have sunblock - no sunburns for the Caminator.

The amoxicillin is doing its job; Cam seems to be feeling better and that little lingering cough is now gone (yay!). There is a new twist to his life this week; he's in the process of cutting his first tooth. (of course) Its breaking through and as soon we can figure out how to get him to not stick his tounge out while we're trying to take a photo of his mouth, we'll share the picture :)

Weekend fun for Cam :)

The Caminator still has a runny nose, but the cough for the most part is gone and he was in a great mood all weekend.

We had a GORGEOUS day here in Paso today, low 70s, so we were outside quite a bit. We took the dogs for a walk, and Cam spent more time watching them then checking out local scenery. After his nap, he played on the back patio in his walker while Daddy brushed enough hair off Charlie and Chance to create a very small dog :)

With the time change, 5pm rolls around and the sun isn't starting to go down, and we played much later than we usually do, so no bath tonight! Grandpa and Grandma Janice will be visiting this coming weekend, so we're all looking forward to that.

Hope everyone had a great weekend!

Hanging out on a Friday afternoon :)

Cam was just kicking back in the stroller with mom and dad on Friday afternoon. Mommy had lost her voice (daycare strikes again!) but Cam had fun sitting up in his stroller and talking to the dogs. We went for a walk around the neighbourhood too; Cam held on to the tray in front and sat upright the entire time!

Christmas tree a-huntin'

We went out today to get our Christmas tree during a dry spell in the midst of our first real winter storm here on the central coast of California. It was pretty cold (to us, although east coasters won't think 50° is cold) but Cam was a real trouper; he hung out (literally) in the Baby Bjorn from Auntie Trina and chilled with dad while we waited to get our tree. Cam wore his holiday Santa hat to get in the spirit of the day - he's not nuts about it because it keeps slipping down over his eyes :)

Cam the Moose-Elf :)

We went down to LA yesterday for Kevin's company holiday party at his boss' home in Tustin. The trip down was ok; Cam got within a half hour of Grandpa and Grandma Janice's house before having a meltdown. It was a rough afternoon but all three of us went to the party and Cam did super there, with the exception of when Sue (Kevin's boss's wife) tried to bring Cam into the dining room to meet the 40 or so people in there - waaaaaaaay too much for the little guy. But he loved being held by Sue (she did this cool semi-squat rocking that calmed him right down when he freaked out after seeing all the people) and was generally a very good boy, falling asleep on one of the bed's there for an hour and a half.

He slept pretty well at Grandpa and Grandma's, with the exception of accidentally punching daddy in the eye during the night :) No permanent damage! We had this cute Santa outfit for Cam to wear to the holiday party, but he ended up wearing his holiday Moose outfit with his Santa hat. We might try to get him into the Santa outfit and get a photo to share :) Aren't the moose-feet adorable?!?

We had a GREAT trip back home; Cam slept for the first hour, woke up at 10:30 so we pulled over, changed his diaper, fed him and played with him for about 45 mins, to let him out of his car seat for a while. He was such a good boy while we stopped, we got the last photo here. We got back on the road around 11:15 and got home around 2pm with no other stops :) Little guy did so awesome today!!

He was happy to be home; when Kevin took him out of the carseat and walked into the house, at first his eyes were all wild, but then he recognized where he was, totally relaxed and smiled this huge grin. We all had fun but were glad to be home. However, yet another weekend goes by without our Christmas lights going up!

Visit to the Bay Area

We drove up to Los Gatos/San Jose today and got to visit with a bunch of people; Juliann, Sarah and Grant and also Carla (who is still promising to teach Cam to ride in a few years!). Cam did great in the car; slept almost the entire way up to San Jose (2.25 hrs), only protesting when he had a very wet diaper - as soon as that was changed, he went right back to sleep. Our fancy-schmancy car seat cover seems to be doing the trick!!

It was so nice for Cam to finally meet some of the people we've told him about, plus he and Grant seemed to get along; they both stared at each other like they'd never seen a baby before :)

The photo was taken while we were waiting to meet Sarah at her office, just before -seconds!- a big blowout. LOL - our trips up north almost always seem to contain a blowout!! Wish he could do those at home where we're better equipted for them!

ps: note the not one, but TWO burpies :)