Memorial Day Weekend

This post should be titled Alaska-the trip that almost was. Saturday morning we were all packed and ready to go, so we loaded into the car and headed over to the airport to begin our Alaskan adventure. We had talked about going on a family vacation to Alaska when the kids were a little older and would remember more and have a fun time, but when Jake's parents were called to serve a mission in Anchorage, we figured it was the perfect excuse to go now. We can still go again when the kids are older. But alas, it was not to be. Yet. After checking our luggage, we got to the gate to see a looooooooooong line of people. The 7am flight was delayed. But that was okay because we were on the 8am flight. Oh, wait, we were on US Airways, so naturally it was not okay. I think part of their policy is to delay as many flights as possible. At least every time I've flown with them that's how it's worked out. So our flight wouldn't be leaving Tucson until after our next flight was supposed to be leaving from Phoenix. It being Memorial Day weekend, every flight was full, so getting another flight from Phoenix was not a guarantee. (Though with the delay policy, we could be fairly certain that half of the people on any given flight probably couldn't make their connections, so there would probably be seats that would open up.) Anyway, after scoring seats on a flight from Phoenix, we would still have one more leg to contend with. As much fun as all that waiting and fighting for seats sounded like, we decided that with two kids along it would not be worth the headache and trouble, so we cancelled the trip for now. Boo. The good news is we got a full refund on our tickets and were able to get new tickets in a couple of weeks that were cheaper and at better times (though flying from Phoenix rather than Tucson). The bad news is I have to pack all over again. :/

So, all of a sudden on Saturday we had the whole weekend ahead of us to fill. We decided to head up the mountain a little ways to one of our regular picnic spots, just past where the pine trees begin and the weather is a bit cooler than the valley.

It was a lovely day. And at a neighboring picnic table there were 2 little girls Rachel's age who invited her to come play.

They had lots of fun finding pine cones, kicking leaves around, and playing hide and seek behind trees. And they brought cool toys, like balloons and bubbles. Rachel had a blast.

Monday we decided to go out and enjoy the wonderful weather. This has been the mildest May I can remember ever. It maybe got close to 100 twice. And it was in the 70s and 80s for most of the month. Monday may have been the last mild day, as today it got pretty close to 100 and the immediate future looks like that'll hold for a while. Anyway, we went up to Sabino Canyon on a short hike and really enjoyed the beautiful day. We found some shade on one of the bridges that sometimes has water flowing under it, but as it has been an incredibly dry year (I don't remember it raining at all yet this year, though rainlog.org tells me there's been about an inch) there was no water to be seen this time.

We brought Annie along in a backpack carrier, which she was loving for a while, cooing and talking. Until naptime hit. Then she was out:

Rachel claimed to be tired and I carried her on my shoulders up a decent hill, getting a good workout. At the top I put her down and she and Grandma Knight apparently got their second wind and ran almost all the rest of the way back.

Except when Rachel found out that Annie had fallen asleep she announced that she was all of a sudden tired and was going to start sleep walking. She held our hands and proceeded to snore the rest of the way back to the cars.
Jake and I squeezed in Kung Fu Panda 2 while the girls played with Grandma and Grandpa Knight, before heading back home. Overall it was a nice weekend and we enjoyed being outdoors and spending time together. But it still didn't quite make up for all the fun we're missing out on this week in Alaska. Luckily, in a couple of weeks all that fun will be waiting for us. :)

Bubbles

Annie

Here are a few pictures of Annie lately:
Eating her toes and some baby food:

Getting her first haircut:

I guess I should post an after picture, but I don't have one right now. Not that you can tell a big difference. I just cut about an inch off of her mullet. It's funny because she's mostly blond, but the bottom inch or so is light brown, so there's a line where it looks like her hair has been dyed. Needing a haircut at 6 months old? Wierdo.

And here are a couple of videos of the little ticklish cutie:

And of her talking. I especially like the fake laugh/cough. She does that pretty regularly. :)


She sure is fun to have around. She can get anywhere she wants by rolling and scooting, and this week she has been getting up on her hands and knees in preparation for crawling. A little too early, in my opinion. This has made her falling asleep for naps a chore, since she generally likes to fall asleep on her tummy, but once she's on her tummy it's like a reflex to get up on her hands and knees and try to crawl. Even as she's crying her eyes out because she's so ready to sleep. She has also begun having a bit of separation anxiety lately. Nothing too bad yet, just if she sees me leave the room she gets mad, or if she hears me, but can't see me she gets mad. But if I slip away while she's focusing on something else she's perfectly happy to be by herself or with other people. This also affects her falling asleep at naps, as she watches me as I walk away after laying down and as soon as I'm out the door erupts in a scream. Oh the joys of having a baby who loves me. ;)

On a very happy note, however, last night she slept from 6pm until 6:30am, only waking up at 9pm to eat. For the first time ever going that long. So I was in my bed for 7 1/2 hours straight! That is the first time that has happened probably since I was 6 months pregnant. Annie has been very good at falling asleep, but has only slept longer than 4 hours in a row maybe 6 or 7 times in her life before this last week, and then it was maybe 5 or 6 hours, half of that when I was still awake before I went to bed. About a month or two ago I read Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child, and halfway applied it, and got some better sleep, but after a week or two it went down hill. But finally last week I moved her bedtime a half hour earlier and let her cry a few times and we have success! Yay for sleep. :)

Rachel

Our Rachel is quite the character. She loves making us laugh and does so often. She decided to be hick Rachel the other day, putting on just her overalls, no shirt:

When we were watching my parents' dog, Reese, while they were visiting their newest granddaughter, Eloise, Rachel decided to give Reese a bath, without me knowing.What a helpful girl. :)

Here's a sampling of some of what we hear from our 3 1/2 year old:

Rachel: When I was a little kid I had a mom. But now I don't have a mom any more.
Me: Really? What happened to your mom?
R: She died.
Me: Oh? How did she die?
R: She didn't brush her teeth in the morning and at night.

R: When I was outside I got a little cold. And even my toes got bird.
Me: How did they get bird?
R: Oh, you know. When your toes get red and are cold and brrrrr-ed.

When Rachel was having a hard time falling asleep I went in to see why she was crying. Her response: "My yawn won't go down!"

After turning right on a red light: "Oh, that's stupendous!! Thank you for going when the light was red! That's what I always want you to do!" (She is constantly telling me to stop when the light is green or go when it's red--she thinks she's so funny.)

And lastly, this morning Rachel turned on the fan in Annie's room, which is just slightly shorter than Rachel is, and started using it as a microphone. She loves how it makes her sound (you know, the classic "Luuuuke, I am your faaaather" from Tommy Boy). Apparently it was time for testimony meeting: "I know that big sisters are true and baby sisters need big sisters. I know that the testimony is true and that kitties need to go to the veterinarian. And I know that my favorite song is Twinkle. Mom, your turn!" She then had me go share my testimony, then it was her turn again, and back and forth about 5 times. And every time she got up it was something different. Very entertaining. :) We love our big girl.

Dancing

Rachel recently finished a dance class through the parks and rec department. She had a fun time every week. They didn't really do much as far as choreography, but they allowed parents and grandparents to come on the last day to see what they'd learned during the course of the class. Rachel had a fun time showing off (when she wasn't totally distracted). Here they are stretching:

And at the barre:

Her favorite part of every class was the scarf dance when they all got a scarf or rainbow ribbons and got to dance around however they wanted.

And here's the whole class:

And here's a sampling of Rachel's mad dancing skills doing the Freeze Dance. Notice every time she "freezes" she puts her one foot up on her other knee (I'm sure that has some technical term, but I'm not exactly a ballet aficionado, so I have no idea).

We have a friend who teaches dance out here closer to home and does a better job, actually getting 2 songs choreographed and does an actual dance recital at the end, but I was a little slow signing Rachel up this last time, so we settled for second best. So Rachel has that to look forward to in the fall, if she still likes dancing as much as she does now.

Annie update

Annie hit 6 months a little over a week ago. That's right, half a year old. Crazy how time flies. She sits up well by herself now, and LOVES putting things in her mouth. Including food:

She was overjoyed when I let her have a graham cracker of her very own.

Baby decorations, thanks to big sis:

Annie is generally a HUGE fan of the water. We turn on the bathtub and she starts kicking her feet and smiling and getting all excited in anticipation of getting to play in the tub. It has been pretty darn warm here lately, so Rachel has been asking to swim more and more often. The other day it was so hot we let Annie join in the fun for a short time. We'll have to go to the city pools sometime soon for some real fun. :)

Following the 6 month post-shot tradition, Annie pulled off her bandaids to taste.

Boy, was she mad when I took it away. She quickly found a substitute: another bandaid conveniently attached to her leg. Yeah, she was mad when I took that one away, too. She sure knows how to make her displeasure known.

And for good measure, a random picture of Rachel playing with her toys:

Camping--or not

Last week we decided to go camping down at Patagonia Lake. After quite a bit of prep work (and telling Jake that next time we go camping he has to take the day before we go off to help me get ready) we headed down. We got there 10 minutes after the last campsite was taken. Boo. There would have been plenty of campsites, except they had roped off 35 because they are upgrading them to campsites with electricity. No one was doing any work on them, and there weren't wires sticking up all over the place. In fact, it looked like they hadn't even started any of the "upgrades" aside from roping off the area. But we couldn't camp there because of the stinkin' rope. Yes, I was a little peeved. Note all the junk piled high that took hours to get ready:

We decided to stick around and enjoy the afternoon by the lake anyway. I took Rachel out in my parents' raft. She wasn't a huge fan, mainly because the life jacket was uncomfortable.

Rachel preferred playing in the swimming area, and trying splash whoever was fool enough to go play with her. I gave Rachel a plastic cup to use in building a sand castle, but she promptly recognized it's potential for carrying water and chased us around (mostly Grandma Knight) trying to throw water on us.

Annie is always quite a fan of the outdoors. Though she was getting a bit sleepy here:

The sand castle Rachel and I made:

Rachel enjoyed the boat much more when it was on land and she was free of the life jacket.

We stayed at the lake long enough to cook and eat our tin foil dinners and roast some marshmallows in one of the grills there. Roasting marshmallows (or at least eating them) was probably the highlight of the whole trip for Rachel. It was certainly what she looked forward to the most. After all the fun in the sun we packed up and headed home. Not to have our plans completely thwarted, we set up the tent in the back yard and slept out anyway, except Annie, who got to stay in her own comfy crib.

Rachel absolutely LOVED sleeping in a tent. And she didn't wake up once, which only happens maybe 50% of the time in her own bed. Maybe I should let her sleep in a tent every night. :)
There is a ward campout coming up in July, so our camping adventures will continue, hopefully some place besides our back yard next time.