Update

Well we took Sam to the Doctor a few days ago. He is 27 pounds ( I know, I know) and 27 inches long. He also had 4 shots, and for the rest of the day was super clingy, which is not normal, but very nice. He has a new look, where he sort of tilts his head to the side and gazes up at you, we call it his "coy" pose. I think he is going to be a huge flirt!! He also has several tricks, when you say "bouncy bouncy" he will bounce up and down, he will also do "rocky rocky" when he is on his hands and knees. He has, much to my chagrin, not said "Mama" yet, but I know its coming.

Why is radio so bad? I have taken several road trips- long ones- since I have moved to Orleans, and I must say that the state of FM radio has sadly declined. I must have heard every song I TOTALLY hate at least 3 times, including many by Joe Walsh, whom Jeff will tell you I completely despise, "Black Velvet" twice, "Mony Mony"- both versions, I even heard that horrible "Mambo number 5"- remember that horrible song? And then, to add insult to injury, whenever a song I liked came on, like "Keep on Lovin' You" the radio station would get all static-y. Oh, I rue the day I spilled formula on my ipod. I must have listened to the new REM
and Rilo Kiley 12 times each. Oh, and much Smiths- thank you Justen. While I was listening to "Strangeways Here we Come" I remember when I was listening to it with my mom when I first got it- freshman year of high school I thing- and she thought it was the most depressing thing ever. Well, duh! It's the Smiths, that's the point.

I have been baking a lot lately. When my dad and Mary Ellen came up to visit, we did and authentic North Carolina Barbecue, I even made hamburger buns, and I made 2 pies- blackberry (Sam and I picked them that day, he hates to stay still in his stroller) ans peach. Daddy, don't read this, but the reason the crust was so good on the peach pie was because i used bear fat- it made it really flaky! I also make really good whole wheat bread. Sam loves it!

San Diego

I ate 10 pounds of sand, and subsequently pooped it out. We are at Coronado Beach, it was beautiful!
I crawled right into the waves!

Home

Well it took 14 hours, and I drove 800 miles, but Sam and I traversed California and made it home in one piece. Thank you to Aunt Nadine and Uncle David, we had such a great time! It's so good to be home and to sleep in my bed, though. And Grandpop Steve and Grandma El are coming up to visit on Saturday. I don't have much time to blog today, but more soon. Grandmom Lee- my thoughts are with you and I love you so much.

Failure

Well, I am officially a failure on the Maple Syrup Diet. I lasted 2 and a half days. I think I just did not drink enough of it because I really did not like the taste, and also, I was not home, which made things complicated. Also, I craved EVERYTHING, even things I would not normally even think of eating, like Subway meatball subs and Burger King. Also, the laxative tea- well, never mind.
Sam and I are pretty homesick, we are having such a wonderful time with Nadine and David but we miss daddy SO MUCH!! I also really just like to be home, in my own bed, with my things. So we are going to leave Sunday, make a pit stop with Bebe in San Fransisco, and then head back to Orleans.
Sam has been incredible. He is a bit cranky because he has a third tooth coming in, and I think he misses Jeff and his cousins, but he has been a trooper. He has played in the Ocean, the bay, in parks and in the bookstore, which he loves. He just took a shower with Nadine. He has eaten much sand, and had many sandy poops. He is pulling up in everything and kind of cruising around. We are worried that he will be walking soon, and we are not sure if we are ready for that.
Anyway, I am going to go EAT something!

The beach and Sea World

I will post pictures when I unpack my computer, but, truly, Sam at the beach was the funniest thing I have ever seen. After sitting on the beach and enjoying many handfuls of delicious sand, we took him closer to the ocean and that baby crawled right into the surf! We had to keep dragging him back, but he kept crawling out for more. I held him standing in the waves up to chest height on him, and he loved it and can't wait to go back. Of course the next morning's poop was filled with sand, but I guess that's good for cleansing out your system.

The next day we went to Sea World with Bebe, Uncle David and Aunt Nadine. We saw the Shamu show, and the dolphins. Sam seemed to like the Beluga whales the best.He is such a happy baby and was well behaved the whole day. He even took a well timed nap while mommy, Aunt Nadine and Uncle David checked out the free beer samples (Sea World is owned by Anheuser Busch) We even got to to a fancy tasting of Bud light with lime and pepper Jack cheese, which seemed a little silly but oh well.

This morning Bebe left to go back to S.F., and Sam and I are going to go exploring when he wakes up from his nap.

Here we are!!

Here we are in beautiful San Diego. The first stage, Sam and I traveled to San Fransisco, and we had a good time with Bebe there. I got to see Indiana Jones and I smiled during the whole thing, though it was not as much fun to watch it without Jeff. We took Sam to a park and he crawled all around. It was good to be out of the car!! Then off to San Diego. Bebe drove the whole time, and, as usual, Sam was an awesome travelling companion. It was a long day- 9 am till 8 pm, but he was a champ! Today we are going t o the beach, and tomorrow, Sea World. Aunt Nadine and Uncle David have a Wii, and its pretty cool. I want to get one with the 'rock star" game for Jeff.
More later!

Taking off

Well, the fires are so bad here, and the smoke is so thick, that I think is has become not safe to be here for the time being. There is an advisory for babies not to be outside, and, well, the thought of keeping Sam inside all summer is intolerable. Thank goodness for my sister Nadine, who has kindly invited to take us in for a while in San Diego. We are very excited! We are going to Sea World, and maybe Lego land, and the Zoo, and we will sit on the beach and walk around.

We are, however, very sad to leave daddy for three weeks, and will miss him terribly. He is sad as well.

We think Sam said his first word- "hippo" because we were playing with his purple hippo. Janet heard it too so I am not imagining things, I swear. Now we are teaching him "up." No "mama" yet, though. He is pulling up on everything, his new came is trying to pull the wine out of the wine cabinet. Eek!

Wish us luck on our road trip. I am bringing my laptop so I will keep everyone updated!

Portland

This picture is not Portland. He just likes the outside shower.
Got into Portland Friday night. The road we usually take was closed, so we had to drive on a dirt road up a mountain. It was really pretty, though. Then I met Brian and we had a ton of Sushi.
We went to Galaxy first, but it was pretty busy, so we went to the Ambassador, where Justin was working the backroom. It was like those private booths in Japan, just all of our friends.

I sang a lot of Karaoke last weekend! Then Saturday I went by myself and had coffee, did the crossword, went to the bookstore for hours and saw 2 movies. Heaven!

Bari and the girls took Sam camping. When we picked him up at the campsite he was happy but very dirty.

I only posted pictures of Brian because he never reads my blog, so how can he be mad at me?