Annual Julian Trip

This year, Ani and Tess joined us for our annual Julian trip.  We ate a lot of pie, bought a lot of pie, and saw a lot of pie.  Here is what we made it home with; strawberry rhubarb pie, apple cider, bag of apples, chocolate covered honeycomb and chocolate cinnamon bears.

The only disappointment was that we couldn't find the amazing apples we bought last year.  Last year a guy was selling apples at the gas station.  He had bushels of different apples that he cut, with a dirty knife and dirty fingers, and let you try each one.  We found a type of apple that was the best thing we've ever eaten.  Well this year, that guy was nowhere to be found.  According to other apple farmers, he was a thief that was stealing everyone else's apples and selling them.  Where is the thief when you need him?

The Big Apple

Cousins

Aunt Ani

Waiting for Pie!

Our Big Bear Adventure

We just got home last night from our first official family vacation in Big Bear.  It was such a great week of hiking, relaxing and even getting the chance to enjoy some snow.  As we loaded the car up yesterday and started to drive away from our little cabin, I got really sad thinking it was over.  But we have decided to make it a family tradition to do a Big Bear trip every fall.

We loved this little cabin, it was the perfect size for our family.  It even had a fenced in backyard so the dog could run around.  We've turned our city dog into a mountain dog.

We went hiking three out of the four days we were there.  This backpack came in handy and J loved riding in it as we hiked.  He even nodded off a couple of times.  This boy loves the outdoors!

The last day we hiked "Castle Rock" which turned out to be pretty interesting.  On the way there we couldn't find the trail so we ended up just hiking straight up the mountain, climbing over rocks and even trees that had fallen during the storm.  Luckily we found the trail on our way back down.

One of the best things we did was a 3.5 mile walk around part of the lake.  However, it was FREEZING!  We made sure to keep our little bundle bundled.

It's amazing how much gear one child requires!

This was a common scene around the cabin. J, without his pants on.

We spent all day Wednesday hanging out in the cabin because of the crazy amount of rain.  All I can say is cabin fever is real and it is scary.

We had so much fun at the Big Bear Zoo.  It is the smallest zoo I've ever seen but it was very charming.  Scott knew he was in trouble when I asked if they had annual passes.  

We spent a lot of time in the village armed with hot chocolate which we bought everyday.  Nothing like a cup of hot chocolate and a street full of Christmas and candy stores.  Pretty much a dream...or a nightmare, depending on who you ask!

Scott purchased this felt hat and I'm still trying to figure out why.  He keeps threatening me that he is going to wear it out in public which I will not allow.  He justified the purchase by saying I could borrow it and wear it to the Del Mar horse races.  Thanks, but no thanks.

The first of many times that J will be embarrassed by his parents.

Bath Time is a Good Time!

One of the best times of the day is after J has had his bath.  He won't let me dry him off but instead crawls around the house naked and dripping wet.  He loves this...a true exhibitionist.

I love that little face!

In His Shoes

Check out J's kicks.  Those are 29 year old Nike's that Scott wore when he was a baby.  We had to cram J's pudgy feet into them but it was totally worth it.  By the way, can you tell these two are related?!?

Could these two be any cuter?  Notice Rob in the background yawning....that is why you don't run 30 miles before breakfast!

He's a big boy!

How We Spent Our Summer

So I have decided that I'm not very good at blogging.  I let months pass between posts and it starts to nag at me like homework that I haven't done.  I should be better and will be better at updating.  Especially if I remember to charge the camera battery so I can upload the photos!

Anyway, this past summer has been so much fun for our little family.  Scott and I are amazed at how fast J is growing and changing.  He's crawling,babbling and even wearing big boy clothes.  We love being his parents and we feel very lucky.

There have been some growing pains along the way, mostly in the teeth region.  July and August were pretty rough months for us as far as sleep goes. There were many nights when I had to load J into the car seat around 2:00 a.m. and take him on a drive so he would fall asleep. Those drives were brutal but J has six teeth to show for it and I have some pretty nice dark circles under my eyes. The good news, he is officially sleeping through the night.  However I did buy under eye concealer...just in case.

Looking back at the summer, some of my favorite memories were spent at the beach. James loved spending the day at the beach just watching the waves and playing under his umbrella.  He even got used to putting his feet in the water and letting waves rush up against him.  The jury is out on whether he really liked this or not but since he didn't cry, we will take that as enjoyment.

Okay, enough of the writing already.  I'll give you what you really want...pictures.

This umbrella saved us all summer.  I don't know how I ever went to the beach without it.

Cousin Tess bought James his super sweet swimsuit.

This day we met Scott after work for an evening at the beach.

Beach picnic at La Jolla Shores.  J spent most of the time on the blanket with grandpa.

Grandpa and Grandma Olson visited us for Labor Day weekend.  It took J a day to warm up to Grandpa O. but once he did, they were best buds.

Danger Danger

Scott keeps coming home from work on Fridays with a box of these little beauties.  The problem is I eat at least half the box.  This is a very dangerous tradition and one that I really hope continues. Oh yeah, and the empty space is where a coconut cupcake used to be.  Now it lives in my tummy.

Solids

His first bite of solids wasn't so good.