ONE rainy day

Ramona turned one on Sunday! I can't believe it. Our one and only gift to her was that we turned her carseat around so that she actually got to look out the window during car rides. She also seems to get jollies from looking at the back of our heads. Maybe she feels she is being sneaky.

At noon we had a birthday party for her at Woodland Park. Unfortunately, at about 12:15.....it started POURING rain. All of our guests rallied, and we moved everything to the covered area.....and the party was saved. We might have had 60 people crammed under a small shelter, but we partied nevertheless.

Courtney had two wonderful contributions to the party. #1 were the amazingly hilarious buttons she made with her boyfriend to honor Ramona. Everyone at the party got a button with her face on it, with appropriate and some not so appropriate tag lines. #2 She also made Ramona's cake, which was the cutest thing ever. Ramona wasn't so sure about digging in to her own cake, so I had to cut a slice for her.....she is much more dignified than I would have been.

We had a great time, and we appreciate all of our friends who came, and enjoyed themselves......even if they did it in the rain. It was so good to see everyone and to see all the kids together.

We are now enjoying some of the marvelous gifts we got from friends and family.....I have to say having new toys is as much of a thrill to me as it is to her. She is playing with new instruments, reading new books (yes, of course she can read!), snuggling with new stuffed creatures, doing new puzzles, and wearing new clothes. What a lucky, lucky girl.

Almost 1

Its a good thing this blog post is the day before Ramona's first birthday, because I have the excuse to use pictures of Ramona when she was itsy bitsy because I'm celebrating her first year and remembering her way back when. In actuality, I've been working the last two weeks while in the process of selling our house and purchasing another one, so I haven't taken any pictures since the last blog.

Looking at these pictures I can hardly believe she is the same kid as this little baby (ok, 9 lbs 3 oz is hardly little, but its all we know!). I'm really looking forward to Ramona's first birthday party tomorrow. Its supposed to rain, and the party is going to be outside, so we'll see how it goes......but I'm still looking forward to it.

The last two weeks Ramona has spent a lot of time with Grandma Horn, and Grandma Fenton even visited my mom for a few days, so they both got to spend quite a bit of time together. My mom did a good job of doing some water play, and Ramona has taken strides in overcoming her fear of the stuff. She likes to sit on the counter and put her feet in the sink filled with water......she even kicks the water around. I'm so proud. Its no swimming lessons, but I'm sure that will be on the horizon.

I'll do another blog with pictures from the party......

More pictures!

Weddings, birthdays and babies

Wow, this has been an exciting week! It started on Friday when the Fenton family took the ferry over to Vashon Island for Dana's wedding. We spent two nights there, setting up the wedding, rehearsing, celebrating and having a great time. We actually spent those two nights in a teepee, yes I said teepee. It had horses on it, and it kind of smelled like mildew......but it was still pretty awesome. The wedding was beautiful, Dana and Brian are the most amazing couple and it really was a wedding to remember. I also got to see my friend Alexis again who has a baby (Eli) who is two weeks younger than Ramona.

After we got back from the wedding we picked up Max from my parents' house and were getting ready to go on our next trip camping at Mt. Rainier. As we were packing up the car we got a call from the Mapps. They welcomed baby Beatrice in the morning of August 4th, 2008 at 8 lbs 8 oz (almost as big as Ramona!). We went and visited the little four hour old baby, and she was beautiful! She was big, healthy and gorgeous. We got to hold her, Ramona did a lot of pointing at her, and we left them to relax in their room.

After our baby visit, we headed out with the Howells for Mt. Rainier. We camped in the State Park, surrounded by amazing sites. We went on some small hikes (since we had the babies and an illegal dog). The next day was my birthday and the Howells cooked us blueberry pancakes that were the most delicious pancakes that I've ever tasted. Justin gave me my birthday present which was a new lens for my camera that zooms in from crazy distances. It would also be helpful for spying on people, but I have yet to use it for that purpose. The timing of the gift was perfect, because I took a TON of pictures that day. We went on another small hike with the Howells, and then sent them on their way back to Seattle. We stayed another day, where we swam in a glacier lake, and drove up to Paradise. We had a great birthday dinner at the Paradise restaurant which is some kind of hybrid between fancy restaurant, a place old people like to eat, and a place where you pay at the register. We had fun........Ramona charmed our neighbors (who were of course old), and it was a great end to my birthday.

The next day we drove back and I have to say I'm glad to be back home.......but the adventures we had were fantastic. I'm so excited to do family vacations every year. We still have one more trip planned......to Boulder, CO for another wedding. For the time being, we're trying to get our life back to normal.

Lazin' in Longview

On Saturday we went to Longview, WA to visit some friends. Justin's friend Chris, his wife Shirley, and their 9-month old, Dominic (you might remember him as Ramona's valentine) recently moved to Longview, and are now in driving distance from us. Justin's and Chris' friend Kristian was there visiting from New Mexico, so we decided it was the perfect time to make the drive. Jason, Andrea and 5 month old Liam caravaned with us from Seattle, and we had a great time together in Longview. Kristian and Chris had BBQ'd ribs, and salmon, and made many wonderful sides that were ready for us when we arrived. So, we just hung out with the three babies, ate fantastic food, and caught up. We decided it is something we're going to have to do every year, it was such a good time. There is something to say for people that you can always have a good time with. I'm already looking forward to next year (or maybe planning a get together sooner).

On Sunday we went to the Ballard Seafoodfest, and had some amazing smoked salmon. That festival is just another reason why we want to stay in Ballard. It has such a great feeling to it, and it is fantastic that we can just walk down to it. After we went to Seafoodfest, we went all the way to Seward Park for our friends' Tour De France party. There was amazing French food that our friends' Verena and Mike made from scratch. They worked so hard, and the food was to die for. Ramona had fun until she completely fell apart, then fell asleep on Justin's shoulder on the walk to the car.

baby's first concert

Last night we went with a big group of friends to ZooTunes to see Josh Ritter. We set up a few blankets and were joined by Ed, Christina, Courtney, Kim, Ben, Shayla, Verena, Mike, Heather, James and little Miller. Ramona was really psyched about the show in the beginning....she did a little boogieing, and entertained our group by climbing all over them. She lasted almost two hours, and then we walked home. It was a great experience, and I would love to go to quite a few of these shows next summer, they are a great compromise between going to a show, and spending time with your family. I don't have any pictures from the show unfortunately, the camera is one of the only things we forgot to bring.

weekend at the beach

We had a great weekend this last week. Justin came home early on Thursday, and we took off for the beach for a nice, long weekend. My parents met us there on Friday, and we were all entertained by Ramona and her antics.

She still hates water. She also hates sand, especially wet sand (worst of both worlds). She mainly wanted to spend her time inside, though she did have fun trying to escape out the door when someone left it open. Those antics made her laugh maniacally, which kind of made her escape a little less sneaky. We stayed there until Saturday, then left that night.

On Sunday we did our usual market walk, and then went to Wedgwood pool to meet our friends Justin, Amy and their daughter Lauren. Justin went to college with Amy, and now they live in N. California. Their daughter is literally two days older than Ramona. She must have been born on a day where they gave out "the love for water", because Lauren was quite the swimmer. Ramona on the other hand, looked frightened to even be near the water. She was much happier when we returned to the shade to play.

That afternoon we went to a BBQ sendoff for my brother at my parent's house. He is leaving for China for two months and should have some great adventures (he even gets to go to some Olympic events, jealous). After that we went to Sabrina and Eric's for Eric's birthday fondue party, yum. It was a full weekend, and we're looking forward to another one next weekend. See you then!