Shell Beach Weekend

We continued our busy summer travels this past weekend with a trip to the coast. We spent time with Gigi and Georgie in Shell Beach. The weekend was filled with lots of good food, a trip to the Avila Barn for goat feeding, several trips to the beach to play in the sand and a lunch with a surprise concert.

Flashback Friday

Taking it back to the old school. This is the only picture I have from July 20 last year but at least it's a cute one. I can't remember why, but Sophie went out to dinner at Wasabi without me and I got this sweet picture in a text message. Look at those cheeks on my monkey baby!

Summer on the Lake

Last weekend, Sophie, Chase, Lulu and I all headed up to Tahoe to spend some time with Obby and escape the heat. What a difference a year makes. This was Sophie in Tahoe last summer! The weather was perfect, the lake was crystal clear and it was hard for us to leave! Sophie fed crawdads, collected flags, followed the big kids around, jumped into the lake and seemed to get over her fear of boating all in a few short days.

San Diego Zoo

I took so many pictures on our day trip to the San Diego Zoo that the adventure needed a blog post of it's very own.

Ryder studies the map

Dads and their kids check out the monkeys

This little Capuchin monkey was missing his tail!

The gorillas had awesome signage with their names, stats and characteristics like "handsome, charismatic, flirtatious!"

Ryder, Taylor and Sophie liked the monkey statues just as much as the real thing

Pretending to be another baby monkey

Weirdest animal at the zoo, the Okapi. They had zebra legs, horse bodies and deer/dinosaur heads!

Sophie and Ryder decided this was a hippo egg and could not be convinced otherwise

Hippos sleeping underwater

They had an awesome polar bear exhibit with lots of fun interactive stuff leading up to the actual polar bear enclosure. Unfortunately my camera ran out of batteries by then but we were able to see a huge polar get into the water right in front of us and swim around looking for carrots!

Hey, This is Crazy

Call Me Maybe from Sarah Kemps on Vimeo.

21 Months

Another month has passed and Sophie is now 21 months old. I am sort of freaked out by how close to 2 years we are quickly getting! She's growing taller, her hair is getting longer and she is really looking like a little girl these days, not a baby anymore.

Sophie is counting to ten and every now and then throws in an eleven. She sings along to the abc's but still calls most colors blue. Maybe its her favorite color and I should rethink buying everything in pink? She's talking to herself, us, her babies, Lulu and anyone else who will listen. As I write this blog post, she is playing behind me on her slide and having a full conversation with a small doll about her set of golf clubs. "Oh babies. Down. Slide. One, two, three 'kay? Weeee! Nine, ten, eleven. Go! Ball. Hit. Go!" Her language is growing every day and more and more sentences are emerging.

My favorite Sophie phrases right now:

Thank you, Mommy or Thank you, Dada
(most thank you's require some prompting but for some reason with Chase and I, she doles them out willingly and in whole sentences)

Suit on
(this usually comes after she's asked for "pool" several times and I've ignored her request, suit on is the more urgent version)

Run Fast or Couch Jump
(pretty self explanatory but I love that she's starting to describe what she's doing)

Share Me
(we've been working on the concept of sharing so now I have to give in every time she asks to share something of mine, usually food)

Yeah, 'kay
(I'm sure I must say ok or 'kay to Sophie all the time because she now repeats it back to me, almost every yeah she says is followed by a 'kay)

Show Me, Show Me, Show Me
(As Sophie's language is developing, she and I can both get frustrated at times when we can't understand each other. I've asked her many times to "show me" what she's talking about when I can't figure out what she's saying and so now when she doesn't know a word she just yells "show me!")

Sophie has a talent for remembering song lyrics. She surprises me every time she chimes in while I'm singing to her or while we are listening to a song in the car. Right now she likes me to sing "This Little Light of Mine" if we are having some quiet time or I'm putting her to sleep and she chimes in on every single "shine." If we are having a dance party or we are in the car, then she's loving Carly Rae Jepsen. She's a wild and crazy girl these days and we love every second of it.

San Diego Trip

Last weekend we had a great trip down to San Diego to visit our friends the Glass Family and cheer Chase on at the World Beach Bocce Ball Tournament. While he didn't bring home the championship this year, we had so much fun and our kids loved playing together.

Taylor, Sophie and Ryder playing in the RV. It was like a giant fort to the kids. 

Sophie and Taylor digging in the sand

Taylor preferred her watermelon covered in sand

Sophie cheered for team "Chase N' Hookers"

Running from the waves

Telling me she's "nervous" about the water. Its one of her current favorite words and funniest expressions.

This is what Sophie looks like when I ask her to pose with me.

Until a dog runs by...

then she's all smiles!

Quick pics

We've been busy. Sharing treats, testing out hula hoops, dining out and checking out the San Diego Zoo.